Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon - The Debrief

What I Learned:

1) My children suck.  Well, not really, but they do make reading REALLY HARD.  Since the Husband is away, all the needs of the Heir and the Spare fall to me.  And boy, were they ever needy.  The Heir was constantly complaining about food and toys and the Spare decided it was the perfect day to rebel against all naps.

2) Choose shorter books.  I started with Uprooted by Naomi Novik because it has been on my TBR list for the longest and I was really excited to read it.  BUT it is over 400 pages and I started to get discouraged when I saw other people posting that they had finished one or two books already before I was even halfway through.  Next time, I will check page counts before compiling my list so that I can feel like I accomplished more. 

3) Choose different books.  I saw lots of people reading graphic novels like Nimona and I think next time I will take the readathon as an opportunity to add a little spice to my reading life with something that doesn't make up the bulk of my normal reading (YA, Fiction).

4) Buy books.  I read a lot of ebooks, mostly because that is the format I usually get review copies and it is just so damn convenient to carry an entire library in my purse.  BUT there is something so satisfying about closing the cover on a physical copy or just in being able to see how far you have gotten.  I also think, since I normally purchase ebooks, it would be nice to make the readathon extra special by buying books that will sit on my shelf and remind me of that great day.

5) Plan better food.  I came to the readathon late (I found out about it just a couple days ago) so I didn't take as much time as I could in planning meals and snacks.  Around lunchtime I found myself distracted from my book thinking about what to feed my children that would take the least amount of time.  I usually meal plan dinner, but I ended up throwing the plan out the window and went to pick up a pizza (which the heir didn't mind at all!)

All in all, it was a really fun experience.  I loved interacting with people on Twitter and completing some of the challenges.  I can't wait for the next one in April and I REALLY hope that the Husband is home then so I can do a better job of ignoring my children! 

Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon - Closing Survey

Which hour was most daunting for you?

Hour 14.  Since I have kids who rise at the crack of dawn and my husband is away, I had to pack it in to get some sleep

Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?

I saw someone reading The Thirteenth Tale.  It is a great mystery and the way the narrator talks about books will really speak to the type of person who would participate in a readathon

Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?

Maybe provide some Gifs and Banners to add to our own blog posts.  And I think it would be great if we had a way to connect people who will be reading the same books.  Perhaps through Goodreads?  That way we could be reading/discussing at the same time - like the ultimate book club!

What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?

The twitter presence was so much fun and I loved having lots of challenges across many social media platforms.

How many books did you read?

Just one, over 400 pages

What were the names of the books you read?

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?

Very!

And my own question:

What would you, personally, change next time?

I think my biggest challenge was the fact that I was single parenting.  I tried to involve the kids, but they are too young for any sustained reading time and it seemed like they were EXTRA NEEDY.  I'm really hoping the Husband will be home for the next one so I can hide away with my books.

I also think I will buy physical copies of the books I plan to read.  I usually buy ebooks and I think spending the extra money to have physical copies will make it a little more special and every time I look at the book on my shelf I will remember the readathon

I also need to plan snacks better.  I found out about the Readathon a little late and didn't get to the snack side of things but now I can see how important they are!  I usually do meal planning for the week, but I ended up scrapping the dinner plan yesterday and just ordered pizza because I didn't want to take time out to cook.  

Readathon: Mid-Event Survey:

Mid-Event Survey:

1. What are you reading right now?

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

2. How many books have you read so far?

Still working on the one - my children have taken more than their fair share of my time today.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?

The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender.  I love Alender's books and saved this one as a spooky October read

4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?

So. Many. Interruptions.  The Heir kept coming to me with demands (usually for food) and the Spare decided that naps just weren't for him today.  

5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?

How much I would love for my husband to be here so that I could pawn the children off on him and go hide with my book.

Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon - Introductory Meme

In an effort to help you get squared away before GO TIME! here is the Introductory Meme for you to fill out if you wish! Post to your blog (and link up below!), here in the comments, or wherever else you may be participating!

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? 

Nova Scotia, Canada
 
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

Uprooted by Naomi Novik - It has been on my TBR list for ages and I have been waiting for the "RIGHT" time.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

CHEESECAKE! Homemade and chocolate!

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I am a military wife who is single parenting right now.  I have two boys, ages 4 and 10 months who are going to make this day a challenge for me (one is currently complaining about food and the other is begging to be picked up, COME ON NAP TIME!)
 
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?

It is my first read-a-thon.  I am most looking forward to connecting with others while they are reading.

Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon: The Plan

I am going to attempt Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon for the first time.  If you don't know about it, this is a twice annual event where participants pledge to do their best to read for 24 hours.  There is an online communal component with cheerleaders, games and prizes.

THE CHALLENGES:

1) I have children.
2) The Husband is on the other side of the world right now
3) Due to the combination of #1 and 2, I tend to fall comatose at about 10pm each night

THE PLAN:

1) Involve the children.  Or at least the Heir (he's 4 now).  On Saturday morning, I'm going to take him book "shopping" on the bookshelf where I keep the special children's books (which is basically anything that I don't want him to tear to shreds) and have him pick out some books that we can read together.  Also, I always read a book to the Spare before bed, but I am going to add in a book before each nap as well.

2) Ignore the children.  As I mentioned, the Spare still takes two naps during the day.  That gives me a considerable chunk of time in which I can read uninterrupted, that is, if it wasn't for the Heir.  Since I realize his "reading" time will mostly be me reading to him, in order to get any reading time to myself I am going to have to take drastic measures.  That means unlimited tablet time (gasp!) and so much kids Netflix that I will be singing the Rescue Bots theme song in my sleep.

3) Quit when I have to.  I honestly don't know how I'm going to pull off the late night portion of this event.  I figure I can probably make it to 11 or 12, but by then I'm going to have to give up in order to prepare for the Spare's 6am wakeup time.  BUT because of the time change here, that means I will still have around 3 hours until the end of the challenge! So I'm going to try and squeeze in some last minute, early morning, reading time to end off on a strong note.

THE LIST:

I decided to compile a list of possible books for reading and then see how I feel about each choice when the time comes to pick it up.  So far, here is the list I have compiled:

I didn't really want to chose ARCs that I have for review since I like to write my reviews RIGHT AFTER finishing and then I wouldn't be able to just move onto the next book, which sort of ruins the spirit of the readathon.  So I chose books that have been on my TBR list and I just haven't gotten to them yet.


Anyone else participating? Do you have a plan of attack?  Any books I should add to my list?