Bout of Books 20: The Roundup

And just like that...it's over. Bout of Books week flew by just like always. I enjoyed my time chatting with other readers and managed to get into a semi-regular reading schedule during my every day. It was quite nice. I haven't yet visited other bloggers who participated, but the list is up amongst my ten open Chrome tabs and I will be making the rounds over the next couple of weeks.

For now, let's take a peek back at my original goals and see how I measured up.

Read-a-Thon Goals

1. Read every day.

Though this sounds like a simple one, somehow it's one of the goals I most often fail to achieve. This time it was close. I nearly missed out on Sunday since my day was filled with canning. 'Tis the season. It's canning craziness over here. But I did manage to read some every day...at least half an hour. That's totally a win.

2. Read for a total of at least 400 minutes.

I read for a total of 529 minutes. I have to say, I'm kind of shocked by this one. I read for a little over an hour on most days and didn't really take too much time out of my ordinary schedule to sit down with a book. It makes me realize how much I really could accomplish without changing too much of my "normal".

3. Read at least 350 pages.

The final tally was 472 pages, not including the pages in Brecken's children's books. Not too shabby.

4. Complete at least 2 books.

When I set goals, this was the one that I was most hesitant about. I didn't think I'd make it through two books, but I figured I needed to push myself a bit. Not only did I finish two, but I'm a good portion of the way through my third.

I finished The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore and The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg.

Both of my reads were good ones, so I think I chose well for my read-a-thon books. It's always nice not to feel like you're slugging through something you don't enjoy. I've continued on with the Paper Magician Trilogy and am now reading The Glass Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg. So far, so good. I wouldn't be surprised if I manage to finish the trilogy by the end of the week.

5. Read at least 10 books with Brecken.

We try to read a book or a story with Brecken every night before bed. We are actually in the middle of the Paddington treasury right now, but I switched out to smaller books specifically for the read-a-thon. I actually ended up going through fifteen books with him. Not bad. It's really nice now that he's getting to an age where he actually recognizes that there are pictures in the book and he somewhat pays attention.

6. Participate in at least one Twitter chat.

I managed to make it to both chats. I had a really good time at the first one. The second wasn't quite as enjoyable for me as Gary was at work, so I had to balance the chat and taking care of Brecken...who was not in a fantastic mood. He decided to fall asleep approximately five minutes before the end of the chat. Of course. But...it was still better than missing out entirely.

7. Complete at least 2 Mini-Challenges.

Darn it. So close to making all of my goals. I crapped out on mini-challenges. It's sad too, because I think there were some really fun ones this time that I could have enjoyed. The alternate synopsis looks like it was a blast and I'm looking forward to running into some of those as I read through blogs. I hope that one makes a reappearance in another Bout of Books. As for me, I only accomplished one mini-challenge...Me in Six Words, which was the first challenge. I started out with good intentions...

Overall Stats:

Honestly, I'm pretty proud of how my Bout of Books went. I didn't feel pressured to fit reading in, it just worked out for the most part. I need to be more mindful of that in my everyday, as I think reading is such a great stress relief and it's nice "me time". Plus...look at all the pretty checkmarks!

I'm still working on getting the blog updated from my slacker absence, but I'm working on getting all of the challenges cleaned up and I'll be scouting out for more upcoming read-a-thons. I'll definitely be participating in the next Bout of Books if at all possible. It's always a great time. And there's nothing like a read-a-thon to pull yourself out of a reading slump!