Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon

A week ago, I didn’t even know about Dewey’s biannual 24 Hour Readathon, and here I am writing a post about my first time participating! At first, I thought I’d maybe wait until the next one in April, or that perhaps it simply wasn’t for me. 24 hours of reading sounds dreamy, but highly impractical. I’ve got small children after all. But after reading several posts about it and running it by the hubs, I decided I’d jump in and do my very best.

As a highly anxious, goal-driven, time and commitment-oriented person, it is absolutely necessary that I draft a few rules for myself in order to not go completely apeshit and beat myself up over “not doing it right”. Seriously. So here we go:

  1. Time Commitment: From the onset, I know I will not be doing 24 hours. I have small kids and in order for all of us to survive on Sunday, I need some sleep. As well, I’m at the end of week 2 of a nasty case of bronchitis (day 4 of antibiotics), and I’m just now starting to feel almost human. And I have a big road trip on the 27th, so I need to be somewhat healthy. So, yeah. Not doing 24 hours. How many? Who knows. I’ll read until I faceplant into a book most likely.
  2. Distractions (also known as kids): As much as I would like to curl up in my study on my super comfy reading couch, surrounded by my books, I need a door between myself and my three lovely, but very loud and highly distracting, preschoolers. So I’ll be (mostly) hiding in my room with a stack of preselected books (see below) and my favorite snacks, plus my electric kettle and tea fixin’s set up in my master bath. Of course, I’ll make a few quick trips downstairs to kiss my kids and maybe grab something more significant to eat, but mostly, I’m locking myself in my room. (It should go without saying that my husband will be, of course, minding the brood while I’m reading)
  3. Reading Goals: On one hand, I’d like to read as many books as possible. On the other hand, I want to enjoy this challenge, and that requires feeling free to read what I want. So my goal, truly, is simply to read as much as I can at a pace that feels right to me. If I pick up five different books and finish none of them, so be it.
  4. Breaks: I will be taking a 10 minute break at least once an hour to do updates, to check in with other readers, to go to the bathroom, maybe get something substantial to eat, or simply to step away before burnout sets in.
  5. Book Selection: I did go through my TBR bookcase (yeah, I have a bookcase that is dedicated solely to books I’m most interested in reading), and pull out a small selection of books that are a) a mix of light and slightly heavier reads and b) nothing particularly lengthy. IMG_2136Of course, if in the midst of it, some or all of these don’t appeal to me, I’ll go to my TBR bookshelf.IMG_1779And if that doesn’t do it for me, I’ll have to go down to the study, and pull out the big guns.IMG_2018 Of course, I’ll be starting with what I’m currently reading – Ashley Bell by Dean Koontz. However, I make no guarantees that it will be the first thing I read or that I will finish it before picking up something else. Because at the end of the day, I want this challenge to be fun not forced. When it stops being fun, I’ll be done. And that is all. 🙂

If you’re participating, please let me know and I’ll come by and say hi during my hourly breaks!

And best of luck to all my fellow readathoners!

Feel free to come cheer me on or check out what I’m reading on my Twitter (@madbooklove) or on Goodreads (http://goodreads.com/madbooklove) or, of course, you can always check out my latest updates here.

See you at the starting line at 8am EDT!

 

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