Warm-Up: Readathon Lite!

Readathon is coming!

I’m not the organizer, but I loved it so much the many times I participated that I wanted to encourage you to try it, even if it’s just to put your toe into the water.

Want to do that? To take a quick dip?

Here’s the way to do a Readathon Lite:

Readathon: The challenge is to try to read and socialize for twenty-four straight hours.
Readathon Lite: Read and socialize until you are tired. Go to sleep. Wake up. Read some more.

Readathon: Read continually. Eschew all invitations, including those of your loved ones for meals. Take a book with you into the bathtub. Avoid all human contact, including the cries of your offspring and pleads of your spouse. Be strong. Read.
Readathon Lite: Read. Take a break. Walk. Go eat with your family. Read some more. Take another break. Eat a few Hershey Kisses. Play with your dog. Read a little more.

Readathon: Read War and Peace. Have Moby Dick as backup. In case you finish W&P.
Readathon Lite: Have a nice stack of funny books, YA fiction, a book of poetry, graphic novels, some magazines, even some children’s picture books. Read in little bursts. Read whatever strikes your fancy. Stop when you want. Read something else.

Readathon: Visit every participant that signed up for the readathon. Write long posts about the readathon. Enter every hourly competition. Spend so much time blogging that you do not actually read anything.
Readathon Lite: Update your blog. Visit a fellow participant or two every hour and leave a comment. Enter a few competitions. JMHO, but these are the most fun part of the readathon.

Readathon: Stay up all twenty-four hours. Go to bed as soon as the readathon is over. Sleep all the next day and find you can’t go to sleep that night. Wake for work on Monday cranky and irritable. Explain to everyone that you spent all weekend in a twenty-four hour readathon. Wait for appropriate responses of admiration and envy. Instead, hear comments like, “Why would anyone try to read for twenty-four hours? Who would do that?” accompanied by hoots of laughter.
Readathon Lite: Sleep when you need to. Wake up on Monday refreshed and happy. Tell your best reading buddy about the readathon and share your favorite reads with her.

So how do you signup for Readathon Lite? Same place as always. Hope to see you there!

Deb from Readerbuzz, you are a rock star. Thank you for this post!

Warm-Up: Readathon Pro Tips

It’s that time of the year again: Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon 2018! Starting on April 28, book readers and bloggers come together to read as much as they can within a 24-hour time frame.

There are lots of fun mini-challenges, reading sprints and more on 24hourreadathon.com.

Last year’s event was my first time participating, and I’ve learned about a few activities that can keep a late reader awake during a heavy readathon like this:

Drinking lots of coffee or caffeinated tea.

I’m not much of a coffee drinker, so when I’m feeling sleepy and need an energy booster, I’ll sip on something sweet and sugary like tea or Gatorade. I’ll even go for juices like V8 Splash or lemonade. Something that won’t fill your stomach to make you tired, but more to keep your eyes open.

Naps are your best friend.

I know this is a post that is supposed to keep you awake, but I’ll tell you now that naps were created for a reason. Whether it’s a short, 20-minute one or an hour-long, naps are good for when you need to do long activities later, and you dont want to burn yourself out. That way, you can participate in more challenges and sprints later in the day.

Using the TV and internet to your advantage.

Last year, I basically had my TV on all day, but I didn’t really watch it. I used it as background noise/amplifier to keep me awake while reading. Same with podcasts and Youtube videos. I chose videos that were easy to listen to and not necessarily watch. It’s better than music, in my opinion, because if it’s a new video, I won’t know what’s going on unless I listen in.

Not depending on the reading sprints to read.

Last year, I used the reading sprints in the beginning of the day, but since I had to work early in the morning, I came home to take a nap then got to reading. I didn’t depend on the reading sprints until it was close to the end. The sprints are helpful if you have time for them, like on an off day, but for someone who has a busy day, sprints arent needed. And that’s ok too; I feel like as long as you’re reading during the time period, it works!

(Note from Andi Organizer: most of us involved in Readathon were around before reading sprints were a thing, so we often forget about them! Oops!)

Having fun!

The most important “rule” to keep in mind is to have fun! Invite some of your friends for reading parties, share stories, participate in challenges online. Make it enjoyable so it’s not just you reading alone for 24 hours. That’s the whole point of this whole event; to have fun, make new friends, and explore new books out there.

You can find Danielle on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and her book blog, PoetryBooksYA.