Wow, I am beat! Anyone else who did Dewey’s Read-a-Thon totally brain dead today?
Despite my excursion to the ballet, I managed to finish four books (1,113 pages) in 9 hours and 20 minutes, which I’m totally happy with. I don’t feel like I did as much cheerleading as I did in the past, but I’m not sure.
Here’s my End of the Event Meme, then I’m going offline to watch football, clean my house, and do some crocheting. Happy Sunday!
Which hour was most daunting for you?
Probably hours 17 or 18. After I finished When She Woke by Hillary Jordan, I was pretty tired despite my best efforts to keep myself awake with sugar and Mountain Dew.
Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
The Impostor’s Daughter by Laurie Sandell was a great graphic memoir that improved my afternoon. And When She Woke was just an overall fabulous book that highly recommend.
Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Not really. Per usual, the main blog was really well-organized and the mini-challenges looked fun, even though I didn’t participate in any of them.
One personal change I am going to make is not set such specific goals. I didn’t mind having a reading time goal (more than 9 hours), but the page and book counts made be feel sort of tense, so I won’t do that next time.
What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
The Cheerleading HQ was awesome, and really helped me feel focused when I was cheerleading. One thing that was a challenge (and is always a challenge) is going through the list of participants and figuring out who is actually participating, since people sign up really early but then don’t actually participate.
It would be nice if there was some way people could check-in to the Read-a-Thon on Saturday so you’d only be working with a list of current participants. I loved the check-in around Hour 20 for current readers (even though I was already asleep then).
How many books did you read? What were the names of the books you read?
4: Ghost Hunters by Deborah Blum, Down the Mysterly River by Bill Willingham, and The Impostor’s Daughter by Laurie Sandell, When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
Which book did you enjoy most?
When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
Which did you enjoy least?
Umm… Ghost Hunters? But not because it was bad, just because the font was small which made my reading feel slow.
If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
Not really. Cheerleading felt very organized this year, which I appreciated. It would be GREAT to have more cheerleaders — it’s a lot of work.
How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
Definitely! I’ll probably do the same thing next time — primarily read, but also sign up to cheer when I can.
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Sounds like you had a great read-a-thon! I’m really impressed you read over a thousand pages. It looks like Hour 17 seemed to be the make-it or break-it hour for a lot of people.
Yeah, Hour 17 is a hard one. Once it gets past midnight, I have a hard time staying awake!
*raises hand re: brain dead*
I stayed up through hour 20 and then crashed. You read a TON of pages – wow! Very impressive!
Nice job! It helps that one book was MG and one was a graphic novel — those go fast.
Congrats! I agree with the check-in to also verify if really participating and to turn off word-vert AND also to alert if only using FB or Twitter or whatever. But I do sometimes wonder if you want comments and cheers you gotta let us know!!
🙂
Yeah, that’s a good idea about people in FB and Twitter. And yeah, I think there’s a level of needing to let people know you’re around if you want people to cheer for you — reach out!
I quit the read-a-thon around hour 14 so thankfully, I’m not brain-dead like I was last October. I hope the hangover goes away soon.
Yeah, it did. Nothing like an afternoon of football 🙂
My word (no pun intended), 1,113 pages??!!! In 9 hours??! That has to be some sort of Read-a-thon record. I managed to do 250+ in all of 6 hours, which sounds kind of pathetic.
I didn’t do as much cheerleading this time around as I usually do, and I didn’t do any of the mini-challenges. But it definitely sounds as if some sort of check in system is needed.
Hope you are on your way to a full recuperation!
Ha, I doubt it. It helps to read graphic novels and some YA to boost those numbers though, that’s for sure.
I hope you had a great time!
I was having such a great time while cheering for you readers! 🙂
I did, thanks! I thought the cheerleaders did a great job 🙂
I wonder if, a week before the event, people could get a reminder email asking them to confirm their plan to participate, and that could be used as the master list for cheerleaders? Not sure how much work that would be, but it does seem frustranting to be working from a list that isn’t necessarily accurate.
Anyway, congrats on all your reading success!! 🙂
That’s a good idea, that might help a lot. I think a lot of people sign up and then don’t participate, which can make it a challenge.
Congratulations on a great readathon!
Thanks!
You read a ton! Especially considering that you had other obligations. I felt pretty good today because I knew I had to work so I made sure not to overdo it.
Yeah, it was pretty good 🙂 I think I could have finished one more book if I hadn’t gone to the ballet, but that’s just fine by me. I’m lucky I didn’t have any plans for Sunday so could just laze around all day.
Four books! I am super impressed!
It was a good readathon!
I fell asleep book in hand around midnight so I wasnt too bad today… wish I would have read more 🙂
I probably would have fallen asleep in my chair if I hadn’t decided to head up to bed. It seems I can’t stay up past midnight, ever!
Glad you enjoyed the Read-a-Thon. This is the first time in a few years that I haven’t been actively cheering everyone on.
It was a fun time, for sure.
I am glad you had fun with the read-a-thon! I think another reason I don’t read for it is that I am always worried it will kill my interest in reading afterwards. I am still disappointed I wasn’t around, though! Hopefully next year. 🙂
You know, I think it actually made me more excited about reading and getting caught up with all the books I’ve been working on lately, which is a really good thing.
I commend those that can participate. I haven’t been able to devote that much time to reading at one time since my son was born.
I also loved When She Woke, which reminds me that I need to write my review!
I’m lucky that I don’t have kids yet, so that doesn’t keep me from participating fully.