deweys-readathonbuttonGood morning my friends!  Today’s the day….October’s round of Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-Thon is upon us.

This is my third go round and as was the case for the first several I’ll be flying by the seat of my pants.  I’m in the midst of one book (Empty by Suzanne Weyn) which I’ll finish up then from there on out I’ll just pick from my bookcase based on my mood.  I already know that this Read-a-Thon will be a bit more relaxed and slower going this is because of two things I already know going out of the gate (1) I never do the full 24 hours and (2) I’m sick.  This means I likely won’t even make 12 hours this round but I’ll be reading and cheering and hanging out having fun with everyone regardless.

Here’s how things traditionally work in these parts:

  • Blog Updates - I’ll be posting to my blog regularly, but it won’t be in individual hourly posts. I don’t want to spam you my lovely readers so if you want to keep track of my progress bookmark this post cause this is where I’ll be divulging all my Read-a-Thon secrets.
  • Books - I didn’t choose a stack of books for the occasion, as is the case with most of my blogging practices I’m going fly by the seat of my pants. Because I’m a slow reader and want to feel a sense of accomplishment, I’ll most likely be reading short, quick books.
  • Break Time - Lupus = fatigue, which then = illness. My body will tell me when it needs a break and I’ll be listening. So if I go silent for awhile I’m probably off in ZZZZ-land.
  • Socializing – I feel like a big part of this event is the social aspect so I’ll do my best to be out and about cheering people on *but* since the main event is about reading it may not be at my usual levels. You might see me around some mini-challenges ;)
  • Post Format – I’m going to post using the format I used for all of readathon. A format that I originally poached from Gail of Ticket to Anywhere. Thanks Gail!

I’ve already got a load of laundry in, I’ve cleaned the kitchen and I’m about to head to the grocery store to pick up some protein.  Once I get back I’ll be fluffing my pillows and plopping down on the couch to get my Read-a-Thon on!   Please do check back now and again to see how I’m doing, I’ll be prompting everyone with my progress on Twitter. Good luck to all the readers, a great big helping of thanks to all the cheerleaders and giant kudos to the organizers! Let the games begin….

Progress Report:

Title of book(s) read since last update:

  • Hour 1: Empty by Suzanne Weyn
  • Hour 2: Empty by Suzanne Weyn
  • Hour 3: Break! No book in hand
  • Hour 4-5: Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols
  • Hour 6: Break! No book in hand
  • Hour 7-8: Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols
  • Hour 9-10: Inexcusable by Chris Lynch
  • Hour 11: Break! No book in hand
  • Hour 12-24: The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade
Thoughts on current read (could be spoilery):

  • Hour 1 & 2: A very stark book about global warming and loss of fossil fuels. Not dystopian, totally plausible which is freaky. Natural disasters abound. Warring towns and looting, flooding and famine.  Hope finally prevails though.
  • Hour 3: No book read – shower, laundry folding, resetting my reading space :)
  • Hour 4-5: Meg is a reprobate (though lightly so – drinking, pot, etc) who gets busted with her friends and is punished by being required to ride-a-long with the cop who arrested her.  Turns out said officer has graduated a year ahead of her in HS.  Meg and John (the cop) continue to learn more about each other and push each other’s buttons.  Good push/pull in this story.
  • Hour 6: No book read – had lunch, did a bit of cheerleading
  • Hour 7-8: Meg and John fight their mutual attraction but only for so long.  Good teen-aged angst slightly predictable ending but good.
  • Hour 9-10: A high schooler gets progressively more aggressive and after becoming involved with drugs and alcohol rapes a good friend after a graduation party.  Loads of family dysfunction but not explored deeply enough to really show the progression of how he got to rape.
  • Hour 11: No book read – general net surfing and chatting with a friend for a bit
  • Hour 12-24: Alona (the HS queen bee) suddenly dies at the hands of a school bus but is thrilled to find out that Will (the local outcast goth) can talk to dead people. She is currently trying to recruit him to find out why she’s in the middle ground between the living and heaven. There is an asshole school principle on a power trip, a creepy psychiatrist that clearly has ulterior motives to put Will in an institution and a mother that loves him but is being misguided by the latter. Story progresses as one would think, bad things happen but then good ultimately prevails.
Number of books read since you started: Total # of books = 4

  • Hour 1: 0
  • Hour 2: 1
  • Hour 3-6: 0
  • Hour 7-8: 1
  • Hour 9-10: 1
  • Hour 11-13: 0
  • Hour 14-24: 1
Running total of pages read since you started: 807 pages
Pages Read Hourly:

  • Hour 1: 59 pages
  • Hour 2: 57 pages
  • Hour 3: 0 pages
  • Hour 4: 62 pages
  • Hour 5: 54 pages
  • Hour 6: 0 pages
  • Hour 7-8: 129 pages
  • Hour 9-10: 165 pages
  • Hour 11: 0 pages
  • Hour 12-13: 110 pages
  • Hour 14-24: 171 pages
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 560 min
Amount of time spent reading:

  • Hour 1: 45 minutes
  • Hour 2: 45 minutes
  • Hour 3: 0 minutes
  • Hour 4: 60 minutes
  • Hour 5: 45 minutes
  • Hour 6: 0 minutes
  • Hour 7-8: 105 minutes
  • Hour 9-10: 90 minutes
  • Hour 11: 0 minutes
  • Hour 12-13: 95 minutes
  • Hour 14-24: 120 minutes
Location:

  • Hour 1&2: Couch
  • Hour 3: Moving around the house during breaktime
  • Hour 4-13: Couch
  • Hour 14-23: Bed
  • Hour 24: Couch
Soundtrack:

  • Hour 1-3: Classical music station on digital cable
  • Hour 4-5: Blues music station on digital cable
  • Hour 6: Movie – 2012
  • Hour 7-13: 80′s music station on digital cable
  • Hour 14-23: iPod on shuffle various genre
  • Hour 24: Movie – 2012 (it’s always on cable!)
Snack Intake:

  • Hour 1: Bowl of Crispix cereal
  • Hour 2-5: None
  • Hour 6: Roast beef/American on tortilla w/ some salt & vinegar chips
  • Hour 7-8: None
  • Hour 9-10: Crackers
  • Hour 11: None
  • Hour 12-13: Salt & vinegar chips
  • Hour 14-24: Egg & Cheese on plain bagle