I’m with Jessie Spano on This One…except for the whole hooked on speed part.

I’ll probably be about as tweaked out as Jessie come 3:00 a.m. tomorrow night. But, I’m so excited!

Amidst all of my brooding and cleaning and task-completing (and Angel-watching), I have been quietly anticipating this weekend’s readathon. I can’t wait!

I had such a good time in the fall when I participated in Dewey’s Readathon that I’ve been counting the months until the next one. Even my family and friends have been checking in on it–“When’s your next readathon?” It’s here friends and family! Tomorrow!

For me, the readathon is a major event. It’s a pretty big deal. Preparing for this month’s readathon has been a major part of this week’s tasks. I have to make sure that I’m prepared for a wonderful experience. Here are the (lucky) seven necessities for my perfect readathon experience:

1. Pre-selected Books of Different Genres

2. Ready and/or Easily Prepared Food and Beverages

3. Comfy Clothes

4. Ambience

5. Writing Tools

6. A Strategy for Success

7. Check-ins with My Reading Pals

1. The Books

This week, I set about obtaining all of my books for tomorrow. I am going to set aside the seven (seven!) books I am currently reading to start anew tomorrow. My plan is to read five books, all new to me, that are highly recommended by five of my blogging buddies.

Here are the five books I will read tomorrow, with the recommending blogger listed and how the book was obtained.

• Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore (Suzy of Insatiable Booksluts); checked out from the library

• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (SJ of Snobbery); owned for years.

• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Amy of Lucy’s Football, Insatiable Booksluts, and The Loser’s Table); purchased from Amazon

• Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Kyle of A Reader’s Pensieve); checked out from the library

• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Jillian of A Room of One’s Own); purchased from the bookstore at the Huntington Library

2. Food and Beverages

Last time, I really didn’t care about eating healthy. I was bad! I ordered a pizza for the weekend, and that’s about all that I consumed. I’m currently trying to eat better, and I’m not going to use a readathon as an excuse to eat junk. Here’s my food for Saturday:

• Coffee for the morning and evening (around 7 or 8 p.m.)

• Green tea and lemonade (Arnold Palmers)

• Water (must stay hydrated for such strenuous activity!)

• Asparagus Frittata and toast for breakfast

• Mangoes and watermelon for snacks

• Soup and roast beef sandwich for lunch

• Dagoba dark chocolate bar for my sweet tooth : )

• Curried pork over basmati rice and peas (made in the Crock Pot the night before) for dinner

• I might cave to an ice cream craving around hour 20 if need be : )

3. Comfy Clothes

Yes, I do have a reading wardrobe! I have special cozy sweaters, yoga pants, and fluffy socks for the occasion. Plus, I have my secret reading weapon–my blue robe, with large pockets perfect for holding pens and post-its. I kinda wish I had a super-cool tee-shirt to wear under it, like maybe one with a dodisharkicorn on it or some reading statement like this:

One of the many awesome tees from the shop at Insatiable Booksluts

I guess that I’ll make do with my “Book Wyrm” tee.

4. Ambience

I love my husband so very, very much. He is so supportive of me and my hobbies, which are so very different from his. With that said, he’d better find something to do tomorrow night because I need my quiet time!

He works during the day tomorrow, and then he’s, of course, welcome to join me in reading. Stranger things have happened. We will have to discuss a plan. I will probably owe him a camping trip or a visit to the archery range or something for this. Maybe I could do a movie night where all we do is watch Jean-Claude Van Damme movies or Mythbusters. We have a system for these sorts of situations, so I will indulge him in some way for his sacrifice tomorrow.

5. Writing Tools

To be successful, I shall need:

• An internet connection

• My computer

• My IPad

• Pilot G-2 gel pens

• A steady supply of post-its (if you don’t want to forget what you thought of a readathoned-book, I highly suggest jotting down notes on post-its as you read tomorrow!)

6. A Strategy for Success

Like last time, my goal for the readathon is to read for the full 24 hours. I had a pretty good strategy last time, so I’m going to follow it almost to a T.

• Tonight: Draft my Readathon Update post and my Readathon Mini-Challenge post.

• 4:30 a.m. Wake up and get prepared. Drink some coffee and check in with my readathon buddies.

• 5:00 a.m. Get started reading right away. My first book will be The Secret Garden, a children’s book that should be easy on my groggy eyes and mind.

• Every hour: update my reading progress on Goodreads. This will automatically update to Twitter.

• Every three hours:

– Compose an update post here on the blog. This will contain reflections on my mood, the book I’m reading, the total number of pages read, and the total number of hours read.

– Check in on the Readathon mini-challenges to see if there are any I’d like to take part in. If so, I will complete the challenges on the Mini-Challenges post.

– Prepare a meal, snack, or drink.

• Read according to my perceived stamina. Here is the probable order of my reading choices based upon my stamina from the last readathon:

1. The Secret Garden (light and easy for when I’m groggy)

2. Ready Player One (I’m always at the top of my game from 8 until noon)

3. Lamb (Around book three, I might be dragging a bit, so humor will help me wake up)

4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide (Same as 3, plus it is supposed to be a quick, fun read)

5. Little House in the Big Woods (An easy children’s book, which should be perfect when my mind is mush in the wee hours. I will have the brain of a child around 2 in the morning!)

7. Check-Ins with My Reading Pals

I know of at least three of my buddies who are also participating in the Readathon–Jillian, Kyle, and Jessica. If you’re reading this and participating, please let me know because I’d love to add you to my list of people to interact with tomorrow!

I like to think of the readathon as a big sleepover for book dorks. Remember when you were a kid and you went to sleepovers? Remember how hard you and your friend(s) tried to stay up all night? That’s what I expect to be doing with my reading buddies tomorrow. We’ll all be comfy, we’ll all have snacks and goodies, and we’ll all be reading together (did you ever have sleepovers like this? I did!). Let’s support each other and just have a good time! There aren’t many opportunities like this as grown-ups. We get married, have kids, get caught up in being adults, and lose sight of how much fun it is to just stay up all night hanging out with friends. Granted, I’m a very nostalgic, immature adult, but I think this is a good thing! Let’s have fun!

Meanwhile, my buddies who aren’t participating in the readathon, I might check in with you too! And maybe you should consider signing up! It’s still not too late, and you don’t have to go for the full 24 hours!

Posted by borkadventures in Challenge Tags: 2012, Books, read-a-thon, Reading, Spring