First Annual BookFast: Results

Last week saw my First Annual BookFast! (For the introductory post, go here.) And now it's time to announce my accomplishments - and my failures.

It went really well...for a while. The first five (of seven) days I completed my word count, even though the 1k days proved a struggle. Then Thursday I put out 1.5k in just the morning! It felt like such an accomplishment - and for me, it really was.

And then the office holiday luncheon came on Friday. This threw off work and my day, and by the evening I was exhausted and in no mood to write at all.

Saturday saw me horribly busy, what with Christmas coming up, and by the time I got all my errands run and chores done the whole family just wanted to watch a movie and go to bed.

So here are the word results for the week:

Sunday: 1,000
Monday: 500
Tuesday: 1,000
Wednesday 500
Thursday 1,500
Friday: 0
Saturday: 0

So 500 words less than the 5,000 planned, but overall not too shabby for me.

As far as the whole "fasting from books" angle of this experiment, that bombed on Wednesday. I was doing so well! And then this showed up at my door from Epic Reads:

O.O ... Yeah. So needless to say, the temptation was just too great, and not reading became impossible. But then I made the requirement that my daily word count had to be met before I could read, and the BookFast and I were back on track.

So all in all it was a good dry run, and I think I'll try another BookFast sometime next year (just not around a major holiday). Although it will be with a few alterations, based on two very important facts I learned:

1. 500 words is a good daily requirement for me. While 1k is doable, it can prove difficult if I have anything else at all to do that day (like, say, living).

2. Not reading any sort of novel is torture. By making a few chapters out of my current read the reward for fulfilling my daily word count, both writing and reading became more enjoyable.

And so ends my First Annual BookFast!