PaWriCo Bootcamp Results: How Well Did I Do?

As of last Friday, the PaWriCo Bootcamp has officially ended, and it is time for me to reflect on all that I did and didn’t accomplish. My results were mixed, and there is still plenty of room for improvement, but doing a challenge like this in the middle of a move certainly isn’t easy.

Without further ado, though, let’s look at what I did accomplish in each of my focus areas.

Reading

I may have not read every single day, but I did manage to finish a whole book during Bootcamp, and I have succeeded in getting myself out of my reading funk. After I moved, I picked up A Summer of Fire and Blood, a nonfiction book about the German Peasants’ War, and it was certainly interesting to learn about an era that I’m not even sure was intimately covered in my history courses. I also started The Taxidermist’s Daughter at the end of last week, but I haven’t gotten far into it yet.

Maybe because I’ve started work, but the idea of curling up with a book on the weekends has been something that I now crave. I could probably spend half of the day just reading, though I unfortunately have other tasks that need to be tended to. I haven’t had this kind of reading excitement in a while, and I hope that it lasts for a long time.

Writing

On the writing side of things, I did great until the last week of the challenge on writing nearly every single day. I made tremendous progress with the new draft of The Unwanted Sacrifice, and I got my writing groove back after a hard semester.

What happened the last week, you may ask? Well, turns out that full-time work on top of streaming and author work is tiring. And unfortunately, writing takes brain power and energy.

Now, I don’t think I’ll completely slide back to how I was during last semester, but I do have to readjust my work schedule and when I give myself the time and space to get writing done. I have way too many projects to simply stop, and I care too much about getting The Unwanted Sacrifice to readers this year to slow down, so it’ll be a challenge, but I am going to do all I can to ride the momentum of this challenge through the this draft and beyond.

Getting out of My Apartment

It turns out that getting out of the apartment costs money most of the time, and spending money is something that I have a difficult time doing. While I’ve managed to get out into the real world most days through daily walks, I haven’t yet been able to get myself out with people as much as I’ve wanted to.

Writing in new places hasn’t happened much, either, mostly because of my impulsive concerns over money. Hopefully, as I get more settled and comfortable with my budget, I’ll be able to get myself to coffee shops to drink nice chai lattes and write more, but overall, I have to really push myself to get out more to meet some more people in my city.

There’s only so long that I can hide in my apartment before my parents get concerned.

Exercise

On the exercise front, my goal was simple: exercise once each day, and stop pacing so much.

Technically, I’ve been good in the first part. Though I haven’t ran or lifted as much as I maybe should have, I have been getting a thirty minute walk each day, which I believe counts as exercise. I am a bit disappointed that I didn’t get working on my goals for a faster 5k and training for an eventual triathlon, but I also understand that I need to give myself some grace after my move.

Moving counts as exercise too, right?

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Overall, while not all went according to plan when it came to my goals, I have to say I’m proud of the work I did accomplish through my move. This phase of life is so different from anything I’ve experienced before, and I am certain that as I settle more into my routines as a 9-5 worker that I’ll be able to create like never before.

And by the next PaWriCo Challenge in November, I’ll be unstoppable.