Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon: Attempt #1

Saturday October 17^th was Dewey’s 24 Hour #Readathon. It was the first one I've done and participating was definitely an interesting experience. It seems really easy, right? Spend 24 hours reading. Ok, maybe it doesn’t sound that easy. Most people modify the 24 hour goal to be shorter or to be a certain number of books instead. Most people nap and/ or figure out ways to still be able to do what they need to do throughout the day. I wanted to read the majority of the day and try to stay awake for the whole thing. I also wanted to be actively engaged with other participants through tweets.

Dewey’s Readathon is twice a year. I’m posting this as a reminder for myself come the next one in April.

It’s not about speed: I usually track my number of books. This puts some pressure on getting through things quickly. It’s an unnecessary pressure, in general, but especially during a challenge that’s based on the number of hours you read. There were times during the day that I had to talk myself down. “Slow down.” Next time, I’m going to try not to even think of a book goal for the day.

The planning worked: The night before, I came up with books across genres and with different books links. I didn't want to feel stuck with a definate book list. I also made sure that I had a few audiobooks downloaded for when I had to run errands. What did not work! was my plan to use an audiobook toward the end of the challenge. It was like a sweey lullaby.

There’s more than Twitter: The Readathon folks are everywhere: Facebook, an RSS feed, Tumblr, Instagram. The organizers of the event post mini-challenges throughout the day. There are many ways to connect with them and with other readers around the world. Which is a great segue to:

There’s more than just the reading: I was overly focused on the reading, I think. I read a lot anyway, so it's not like I needed an excuse to spend a Saturday with a book or two. I felt a little overwhelmed trying to read the books and stay up on all the other stuff going on. I think in April I’m going to try to get more involved in some of the other stuff, too, like reading others’ posts, cheering for readers, and just being engulfed in that which is booknerddom across the globe.

What I read:

I am Princess X  by Cherie Priest

Ariah by B.R. Sanders

Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaiman

Breakout by Kevin Emerson (not completed for challenge)