When Plans Are Forced To Change

I had every intention of participating in the 24 Hour Read-a-Thon today with a little bit of reading and more cheer leading, BUT yesterday I strained my back putting our pool cover away for the winter so plans have changed.  I will try to cheer a bit at a time as I am able to sit.   Hopefully, it will not be too painful to lay down and hold a book.  I was planning to read Insurgent, but may have to exchange it for a lighter (in weight) book.

Read-A-Thon

End of Event Survey:

Which hour was most daunting for you?  My headache came back during hour 15 and I did not want it to go to a full blown migraine so I went to bed.

Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?  The co-hosts, mini-challenge hosts, readers and cheerleaders do such a great job, not sure  how to improve

How many books did you read?  I did not finish a book, but did get further into the book I was reading and was able to listen to my audiobook as well.

If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?  My advice is more for the readers....please, please turn off all forms of word verification for the event. It slows down our ability to cheer on as many readers as we can.  Also, it is such a pain.

How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?  I look forward to the net RAT and will cheer again and hope to be able to read more and participate in more mini-challenges.


UPDATE #2:  Hour 13  Mid-event Survey

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired?  Just as I was finishing up a couple of hours of cheering I got a terrible headache.  It is better now and I hope to get some reading in.  I have been listening to an audiobook while resting my eyes.

2) What have you finished reading?  Nothing so far!

3) What is your favorite read so far?

4) What about your favorite snacks?  Last night I made chocolate chip cookies that I have been enjoying this evening.

5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love!
Mini-Challenge:  Book Staging at Midnight Book Girl Club

This book takes place after the Civil War. Augusta's husband has just died and she is learning that his money may all be gone.   I used two Civil War dressed bear and my most lady like bear.

UPDATE#1:  I cheered this morning for two hours.  I took a four hour break, had lunch with my daughter, got my hair colored (yay), got caught up on a couple of shows with my husband, and read about 4 pages.  I am back to cheer for a couple hours and then hopefully will get some reading accomplished!

Is the read-a-thon- already here?  Yes, it is!  I am glad to be able to participate. 

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? A lovely coastal town in West Michigan.  It breezy and sunny here today.
     
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?  My plan is to finish one book today as I will be in and out.  The Rebel Wife by Taylor Polites

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?   I am most looking forward to going out to lunch with my daughter.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!   I have been an avid reader since middle school, and recently celebrated 5 years of book blogging.  I have long blond hair that I am growing out, once again, for Locks of Love.  I have a wonderful husband, and three fantastic young adult kids. 

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?   I have been participating since Fall '08. The last couple of RATs I was off on vacation with limited Internet access. I am cheering for the first few hours today, I have to be gone for a few  hours, then I will be back to read, and will finish up with more cheering! 

Read-A-Thon

I am cheering for a few hours in the morning and evening during the read-a-thon this Saturday.  Are you a reader?  If so, leave me a comment and I will stop by and cheer you on in your reading!

I hope to read a bit as well, but getting my hair colored is also a priority this Saturday!  ;o)

Sharing Your Love of Reading

Tami of Just One More Thing is hosting this hour's mini-challenge - "tell us your favorite way to share a book - brief description, picture, poem or even a link to a previous blog post - anything that expresses how you share your love of reading."

I share my love of reading by passing on the books I read to my daughter, Courtney.  I also should have included my cell phone as I call my mom who lives in Alaska to talk about books as another way to share our love of reading.

Character Photo - Mini Challenge

Alyce from At Home With Books is hosting this mini-challenge to take a photo of something that represents a character in one of the books you are reading for the readathon.

The Virtuoso by Grace Burrows

Lord Valentine Windham is devastated when an injury makes it impossible for him to play the piano. Music is his greatest expression and his salvation from the pressures of society and of his imperious father.

It Begins!

1)Where are you reading from today?
Grand Haven, Michigan

2)Three random facts about me…
      Like a crazy person I agreed to make 15 dozen cookies for Church tomorrow!

I donated 14 inches of hair in celebration of my 50th birthday early in the year to locks of love

It take twice the number of shots of novocain as a normal person to numb me for dental work.  So it is always fun to go to the dentist and then be numb forever.
3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?
      1-3


4)Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?
    As I have guests for the weekend, I plan to mostly cheer early in the RAT and late in the RAT.  Hopefully, I will get a few mini-challenges in as well as a few pages depending upon what my company wants to do.

5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?
      Read books with a small page count, change positions, take a brisk walk, stretch, snack on non-sleepy producing foods and HAVE FUN!  Turn off word verification especially if you have embedded comments!  Grrrr as a cheerleader it is too time consuming to wait for the verification to pop up.  Also be brave and turn off comment moderation for the day.

Read-A-Thon Wrap-Up

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
I got a headache around 2am and knew I had better get to bed to ward off a migraine.


2. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
I loved getting a group of readers to concentrate on.  I was able to visit them all once or twice and visit the participants of the mini-challenges and not feel like I was missing anybody.   As a cheerleader, I found it hard to scroll through the reader's posts that had all their updates in one extra long post, most of which was repititive for me to find a new section to read and cheer the reader on about.   I understand their motivation for doing so but it made this cheerleader have to work harder (if that makes sense). 

3. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
Definitely will participate again.  The next time will be a reader as each event I rotate between cheering and reading.

Running total of pages read since you started: 170
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 2 hours (30 minutes of audio)
Mini-challenges completed: 13
Other participants you’ve visited: 150
Prize you’ve won: 1
Thank you event coordinators, hourly hosts, mini-challenge hosts, prize donators, readers and cheerleaders for helping to make the Read-A-Thon a great event!!!  Now I am off to do what did not get done yesterday before the final rounds of The Masters.

Thank you to my readers for putting up with the many posts yesterday.

Mini Challenges- Hour 17

Michelle of Literarily Speaking hosts this challenge to tell about the first book you remember loving.

As a horse crazy teen, not understanding why I could not have a horse in our tiny back yard, my mom got me Black Beauty.  I loved it!  A story told in the voice of a horse.

She also got me Now When We Are Six, my first introduction to poetry.

That's my kitty, Sookie, keeping me company.

Get the Heck Out of Here Mini Challenge is hosted by Jennifer of The Literate Housewife Review asking:

1.What steps did you take to ensure you’d be able to read as much as possible today?
Notified the family that today was the day they were all on their own that I was off duty to play with my friends! 
Made sure to get a walk in for the extra energy it provides.
Also went to bed early last night.

2. Of those steps, which proved to be the most beneficial to your day?
Getting to bed early because its after midnight and I am still going.

3. Is there anything you might do differently next time?
Not at this point.

Mini-Challenge - Title Teasers

Shelly at Write For A Reader is hosting this mini-challenge.

1. The Dark Divine
2. An Irish Country Girl
3. The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott
4. Necessary Heartbreak
5. She's So Dead to Us
6. Fireworks Over Toccoa
7. Beautiful Dead
8. Scones & Sensibiity
9. All  UnquietThings
10. Beautiful Creatures
11. Perchancet o Dream
12. The Dead -Tossed Waves
13. I Kissed a zombie and I liked It
14. Prophecy of the Sisters
15. Very LeFreak
16. The Girl Who fell from the sky
17. Marriage and Other acts of charity
18. Making Toast
19. White Cat
20. Letters to My Daughter

Mini-Challenges 13 & 14

I know, I know, you are so sick of me gushing over this book (entire series)!  But I am going to anyway.  This book will fit two mini-challenges going on right now.   First: friends turned lovers in Star Shadow Blog’s Romancing Your Friendship Mini-Challenge.  Jamie and Claire get my vote for top couple as their loved has spanned hundreds of years! 

Second: The Lost Entwife chat it up about a book that you’d like to see made into a movie, and cast one character!  I would love to see this as a very well done movie with Gerard Butler as Jamie. 

Mini-Challenge - If The Cover Fits

This challenge is hosted by Trisha of Eclectic/Eccentric to find books that fit the following catagories:

Disturbing

Vibrant

Beautiful

Scary

Moving

Looks like I have a YA theme going on!

Mid-Event Meme

 What are you reading right now?

I was watching The Master more than reading, but did read a few pages of Life Sentences by Laura Lippman.

 How many books have you read so far?

 Still working on the first one as I've spent more time cheering on other readers.

 Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?

I gave my family prior notice.  My husband and sons went golfing this afternoon so that helped with no interruptions.

 Are you getting tired yet?
Nope

Mini-Challenge - Photo Shoot

Ashley from Ashley's Library is hosting this hour's mini-challenge: using yourself, other people, puppets, or even inanimate objects, take a photo that depicts a memorable scene from a book.

My hot tub brain is not thinking to well, all it could come up with was Goldilocks and The Three Bears. Papa Bear, Baby Bear and Momma Bear are taking a walk after reading for 10 hours.  Little to they know they have a visitor back at their  little cottage.

Update:
Title of book(s) read since last update: 0

Pages read since last update: 100
Audio Listened to:  30 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: 6
Other participants you’ve visited: 75

RAT - Feed Me More Seymour Challenge

This challenge is hosted by Nicole of Linus's Blanket. Over the next few hours let me know if you happen across any passages of food in your reading.

"The last time I saw my husband, he had a tiny teardrop of raspberry jam in the blond hairs of his goatee.  We'd just shared cappuccinos he'd made in the ridiculously expensive machine I'd bought on a whim three weeks earlier and croissants he'd picked up on his way in from his five-mile run, the irony lost on him.

They were warm, the croissants.  And as I tried to resist, he sliced them open and slathered them with butter, then jam on top of that, left one eviscerated and gooey, waiting on the white plate.  I fought the internal battle and lost, finally reaching for it.  It was perfect - flaky, melty, salty, sweet.  And then - gone.

Die For You by Lisa Unger

Photo Credit

Mini-Challenge #3

Bart at Bart’s Bookshelf. The mini-challenge is Book Title Sentence.

Mrs Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger Blame The Den of Thieves Blue Plate Special

In This Way I Was Saved - Delilah - The Crimson Rooms - The Devlin Diary

Beautiful Creatures Charles and Emma Tangled The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson Crazy Beautiful

Mini Challenge #2

And the Nominees Are by 'Til We Read Again:

My choices are from books read so far this year:
Favorite Female Character in a book: Elizabeth Bonner ( The Endless Forest)
Favorite Male Character in a book: Junior (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian)
Favorite Side Kick in a book: ?
Favorite Couple in a Book: Jamie and Clare

Favorite Book Series: "In Death"

Favorite Book Cover: The Swan Thieves
Favorite Book of 2009:  The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

 

Pages read since last update: 0
Mini-challenges completed: 2
Other participants you’ve visited:  20

Mini-Challenge

Miss Remmers of Miss Remmer's Review is hosting this mini-challenge, "What have you surrounded yourself with for these early hours of the challenge?"

I plan to cheer most of the day, but I do have a book sitting beside me to get a few words read here and there.  I could not find my squeezy ball for when my hand begins to cramp.  At the moment I have a cup of tea (it's 10 am here), a bottle of water and nail polish.  I don't know how I think I am going to be able to touch up my french manicure when I am using the keyboard most of the day!  Oh well, I have been accused of being "blond" many times.

My coat is there on the chair as I hope to get in a quick walk before noon.

Have a great reading (and cheering) day!

RAT ~ End of Event Survey

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
Halfway through hour 16 I started to feel sick, so I laid down to read and that was all she wrote! I did not wake up until it was all over ;o(

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Anything that is an easier read, larger print for later in the event.

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
It was all super fantastic!

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
Liked the variety of mini-challenges

5. How many books did you read?
One

6. What were the names of the books you read?
A Bride In The Bargain by Deeanne Gist, started The Devil's Punchbowl by Greg Iles

7. Which book did you enjoy most?
A Bride was an easier read and easier to hold than the 580 page Devil's.

8. Which did you enjoy least?

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
For me I need to break up my cheering over the hour to rest the neck and shoulders or change positions to ease the neck/shoulder strain.

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
Very likely. I am going to exclusively cheer for 1/2 and read for 1/2.

HOURLY UPDATE:

Cheerleading ~
Readers visited - 172
I was short of my 200 reader visited goal.

Reading ~
Total pages read - 375
Hours read: 5
Books read: 1
Was hoping to read 500 pages. The time moved way too fast and that was a surprise.

Mini-challenges completed: -
I participated in 14 of the mini-challenges. Loved the variety of them this year. Thanks to all the hosts!

RAT ~ Hour 16

11:30 pm EST Not feeling very well at the moment. Going to to go bed and read. Not sure if I will be back before the end of the Read-A-Thon. It has been a blast!

HOURLY UPDATE:

Cheerleading ~
Readers visited - 0
Total - 179

Reading ~
Pages read this hour - 22
Total pages read 362
Hours read: 5
Books read: 1

Mini-challenges completed: -
Make Something hosted by My Bit of Earth

RAT ~ Hour 15

HOURLY UPDATE:

Cheerleading ~
Readers visited - 22
Total - 179

Reading ~
Pages read this hour - 0
Total pages read 240
Hours read:4.15
Books read:

Mini-challenges completed: -
Energize Yourself! A Yoga Mini-Challenge
Other activities: