While preparing for my latest book release during the latter half of 2024, I entered severe burnout concerning editing.

Even though I was excited to revisit the characters in my next publication project, after reading each book in The Ballad of Emery Brooks trilogy three times each last year, I was tired of reading my own words and needed time to escape into other authors’ stories.

In my time off from editing, I’ve had a few of the best reading months I’ve ever had! Taking time to escape into those amazing books allowed me to refill my own editing cup, and in mid-March, I decided to crack open On the Flip Side for its first full read-through after finishing the first draft in September 2023. Here’s how it went!

March 2025: The First Full Read-Through

On the Flip Side is my first writing project that includes dual POVs, so figuring out how to do that well involved a steep learning curve. If you were following my WIP Updates while I was writing the book, you may remember that it took me a year and a half to write the first draft. Not only that, but at some point during writing, I decided to re-outline the entire book and start from scratch. Needless to say, remembering all the headaches this manuscript gave me during the drafting phase made me wary about what I’d find during the first read.

And the absolute wild thing about all this? I was scared for no reason.

Instead of finding an incoherent, unsalvageable dumpster fire in this first draft, the story gripped me from the beginning and didn’t let go for the entire weekend I spent reading it. I even binge-read the majority of the book on a Sunday afternoon at my parents’ house, which I haven’t done with my own books in a long, long time, especially after being burnt out from editing.

Is On the Flip Side‘s first draft perfect? Not by any means. I made several notes on scenes to add and aspects that need fixing. Like any first draft, there are a slew of typos and grammatical errors. But the story itself? It’s unlike anything I’ve written before, and I’m head over heels in love with it. It’s a story that this generation of teens need, and one my generation could have benefited from when we were in high school.

My aim is not to brag on myself when I say that, because all the credit for this book goes to God alone. It’s a story I was only able to write because of a difficult, yet not as dangerous situation God Himself ushered me through a decade ago, where like one of the characters in the book, I had to learn to fully rely on Him to rectify the situation.

I haven’t started implementing edits yet, because I always save those until after the second full read-through. Another update will come once that round has been completed. However, in the meantime, just know that for once after the past several months of being burnt out, I’m actually excited about editing one of my own books again. 🙂

Catch You Later, Arrowheads!

If you’re interested in On the Flip Side or want to learn more about it, please check out this post and/or add it to your to-read list on Goodreads!

If you’re a fellow writer, are you editing any projects at the moment?

Aim high, stay strong, and always hit your mark.

-Allyson 😀