Whew, the Readathon is over, for now! First I have to say, thank you, thank you, thank you to the fantastic organizers, my super-human co-Cheerio Trish, and our amazing cheerleaders. You guys did such a wonderful job!!

I’d love to catch up with everyone today, but instead I’ll be studying like mad and then driving home from my parents’ house. I hope you had a great time readathon-ing!

As is traditional, here’s my event wrap-up and answers to the end-of-event meme:

Wrap-up

Readathon

I ended up reading for 8 hours and 20 minutes, listening for 30 minutes, and cheering for 3 hours and 15 minutes. I also spent some time doing admin-y type things for the cheerleading side of things, which I probably should have counted as cheering time but neglected to track.

For all that reading, I only got through 420 pages, finished one book (The Revisionists by Thomas Mullen) and started two others (The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton and A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness). I will definitely finish both — I only switched in an attempt to keep myself awake!

Usually I love the minichallenges and do almost all of them. I didn’t do any this time! I think a large part of it was that I’m not at home, so it was harder to find book titles to make a sentence, for instance. Also, I spent a lot more time doing non-reading things this time around, and I think I (a) didn’t want to take away more reading time, and (b) didn’t need to use the minichallenges for breaks the way I have in the past. I did host my first minichallenge, though, which was tons of fun! If you missed it, check it out. The contest is closed, but some of the answers are awesome.

End-Of-Event Meme

  1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
    That would have been hour 17, when I was getting sleepy and then my favorite cat came and snuggled into my lap. I definitely took a little nap, then woke up and went to bed in hour 18! I probably could have gotten myself going again, but I start a new job tomorrow and didn’t want to be completely dead.

    Readathon Cat
    I blame the cat.
  2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
    I wish I’d started A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness earlier, because it would have been perfect! Last year I read The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster, which was great. The Readathon is the perfect time to breeze through those lighter books you’ve been planning to read!
  3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
    Probably have a list of readers on the main site. Would be a pain to add, but the cheerleader list isn’t complete — it only covers readers who have some sort of contact link the cheerleaders can use.
  4. What do you think worked really well in this yearโ€™s Read-a-thon?
    The new Google forms sign-up. As an organizer, it was SO much easier to use this than I’m guessing the linkys of the past have been.
  5. How many books did you read?
    Only one. Though I did start two others. And I listened to a little of my current audiobook.
  6. What were the names of the books you read?
    The Revisionists by Thomas Mullen, The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton, and A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. I also listened to a bit of The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.
  7. Which book did you enjoy most?
    I don’t think I can say, since I only finished one! I can say that I’m definitely looking forward to finishing the two I only started.
  8. Which did you enjoy least?
    N/A this time around. I enjoyed them all!
  9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next yearโ€™s Cheerleaders?
    If next year’s cheerleaders are as awesome as this year’s, it’s going to be a great Readathon!
  10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
    Oh, I’ll be participating if I can. I really don’t know what role I’d take. Definitely reader. I think it will depend on how much time I have to devote to the actual event as well as in the days leading up to it.

Your Turn!

Did you participate in the Readathon? Tell me all about it! If you didn’t participate, do you think you ever will in the future?

Join the Conversation

25 Comments

  1. I didn’t even bother to track how much time I did stuff. I’m glad I made it through my three books. I’m sure I could have read another one, but my brain was ready to move onto something else!

    I didn’t really participate in mini-challenges this year, either.

  2. Congrats on your prize! My participation in this year’s readathon was horrible. After some unexpected things that occurred yesterday, I finally got started reading at 5pm (Hour 11 of the readathon) and at 8:30pm I was knocked out and did not wake up until this morning. I literally slept for 12 hours! LOL!! Hopefully next year will be different for me! LOL!

  3. Thank you so much for all your work on cheerleading! It ran much smoother for me this time. I finished one and started two others as well. I hope to find the time to finish them soon as both books are good.

  4. Erin – you did great with all the cheerleading organization – but, then, I always think the cheerleaders rock! Your cat looks a lot like my Gizmo – and she is also a bigtime cuddler! I think you did really well to read as much as you did given all your other duties! Can’t wait for April ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. You did a phenomenal job of organizing the cheerleaders! I was visited often and each comment brought a smile to my face!

    I really didn’t do many mini-challenges either. I wasn’t too excited about some of them, so I just skipped them!

  6. I had a blast as always. hours 18 and up were more difficult for me than they usually are though. I finished one book and got seventy percent through my second. I feel like for all the time I spent reading I didn’t get as much read as I normally do, which could be because I was listening to an audiobook for a good chunk of it.

  7. I am happy you had a good time during the readathon. I ended up getting slammed with Things To Do and Places To Go and didn’t get to spend even a minute participating!

  8. I didn’t do any mini-challenges either, mostly because I didn’t want to take any more time from my reading. Good job on making it to hour 18! I was simply too tired to make it that far.

    Good luck with the new job tomorrow.

  9. Thanks so much for the encouragement during the read-a-thon. Cheerleaders are great! I had a wonderful day and met some new blogging buddies – always the best part. Hope you had a great day also.

  10. You and Trish did a great job organizing the cheerleaders. I was really impressed, and felt like it made my cheerleading more efficient and effective. So, nice job!

    i didn’t know you were starting a new job tomorrow — good luck! I hope everything goes smoothly ๐Ÿ™‚

  11. I also read A Monster Calls! Great minds think alike, I guess! I read one whole novel, listened to one audiobook, and read one graphic novel. Not too bad for a first timer! I am glad you had a great readathon!

  12. Oh my goodness! That cat looks like such a love chunk! I love when my cats cuddle me but it can get distracting. Especially when all three of them are fighting for my attention at once!

  13. Very much appreciated the excellent organizing and responding to my sugs/ideas/comments/etc. You and Trish did SUPER as the Head Cheerios!!! applause

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