2025 Reading Challenge discussion
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Our Upcoming Team Readathon: Tips & Tricks
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For clarification, I recently participated in a team readathon and had a blast!So these are my tips & tricks from that recent experience. Over nine days, the team I was on completed 72 prompts. Yep.
FYI, my average book length over the nine-day readathon was 270 pages. :)
Looking forward to this Readathon...now to go look at the prompts 🤔💥
Alison wrote: "Looking forward to this Readathon...now to go look at the prompts 🤔💥"Lol, Alison, don't think you can just run off!
You and I both participated in ATY's recent readathon although on different teams.
Would you share your impressions? What worked for you toward sustaining your reading momentum and enthusiasm?
What did you enjoy most?
oshizu wrote: "Alison wrote: "Looking forward to this Readathon...now to go look at the prompts 🤔💥"Lol, Alison, don't think you can just run off!
You and I both participated in ATY's recent readathon although o..."
:D :D no slinking away for me! :D :D
I did just participate in the ATY readathon and it was my first readathon so I was a little nervous...but there was no need to be! I had a lot of fun and got more prompts than I thought I would ticked off of my reading lists (Popsugar, ATY and some of the yearly challenges here in our group)!
I liked working together with our team! There were some people who read more than others (life does get in the way of reading sometimes, doesn't it :) but together we ended up ticking off all of the prompts that were given! Some of our books fit multiple prompts so at the end of the readathon, the books were slotted into the place it was most needed (a prompt that wasn't filled yet, for example).
I read about 5 books for the week long readathon and chose books that were not Chunkers! I felt it was too much pressure to try to read a long book for this...it was easier for me to read shorter books. One of the books that counted toward the readathon was one that I finished the day the readathon started (I think the rule was that if you had 100 pages left in your book, it counted toward the readathon). I also found that I read more because I incorporated 2 audio books which I don't really listen to a lot :)
All in all, it was a really fun experience and I am looking forward to our Group readathon!! I look forward to getting to know the members of my team and all of us working toward a common goal! I look forward to cheering all the teams on! :):)
Alison,Like you, I'd never felt that interested in a readathon before--it just sounded stressful, haha. But I love doing activities with peeps, so I thought reading together as a team would be fun.
And it was soooo much fun!
I totally did that with the "leaving 100 pages in a book" so I could complete a prompt on the readathon's first day. I picked a prompt that I thought might be hard to fill, even.
A team reading marathon is a wonderful way to meet and socialize with others in the group. It's more like doing a reading challenge together than a hectic race to see how much one can read.
I really hope more folks will sign up!
Awesome! You've got me really excited now.
Fantastic!!! I was a little worried about the pressure as well (this is my first readathon), but I feel a lot better about that now.
I have already signed up, got talked into this one 😉, and now I am very excited about it 👏👏👏
Think, I will go check if any of my book choices could fill more than one prompt, so that they could be moved around if needed. That should satisfy my planning addiction for a while... 😜
To borrow Mie's comment: got talked into this one 😉, and now I am very excited about it. Oshizu asked me about this one yesterday ... and I still wasn't sure ... was a little worried about the pressure, and now that I've read this post it sounds even more doable and fun and so I went and signed up. 😁
Zeejane (Sara) wrote: "I've participated in team readathons before and they're soooo much fun! My one tip-if you're a library book user like I am, look at the prompts ahead of time and check out books for them BEFORE t..."
Zeejane
That's a fantastic tip about checking out library books in advance so they'll all be available during the readathon!
Mie and Sunny
LOL, I might have "encouraged" you both to sign up for the team readathon, but you will definitely be thanking me later.
Unmarked bills, please.
Niharika wrote: "Any tips for leading?"SarahKat and Alison have more insights into leading a readathon team than I do.
*Based on my recent experience, though, i would think it's easiest if the team leader acted as liaison their team's questions about rules and interpreting prompts.
*Also, the leader should keep a lookout on the team's progress with prompts, drawing the team's attention if certain prompts need attention or (at a later point) which books could be swapped to fill all the prompts.
*Also, check that the team's filling out the spreadsheet correctly and that the whole team feels loved and supported.
SarahKat, Alison, and anyone else who's done a team readathon---your thoughts?
oshizu wrote: "Niharika wrote: "Any tips for leading?"SarahKat and Alison have more insights into leading a readathon team than I do.
*Based on my recent experience, though, i would think it's easiest if the te..."
Thanks! That feels better. And I can't wait for the readathon to start.
A quick tip on figuring out which month you joined our group:1. Click "Members" in the upper right corner of our Home page.
2. At the top center, set the "Sort by" filter to "Date joined."
3. At the "Search members by name" text box on the right-hand side, enter your user name.
4. Click "Search Members." Voila!
I agree wholeheartedly with the wisdom of avoiding longer, more difficult books. That said, I finished a 400+ historical fiction by one of my favorite authors (Dorothy Dunnett), so it's all about choosing books that will not turn into slogfests.
I'm currently playing a readathon (UNO) on another group and it's really fun. Our captain is very supportive with her teammates. Our captain tells us to just read whatever we like because it will surely match with any prompt assigned to our team. And the working team spreadsheet is closely monitored by us. If it will be any help, I can share the format of our spreadsheet to this group. ☺️
AlyanaThank you for the offer. We've already our team spreadsheet sorted . :D
Zeejane
I'm rather sure that I love planning my reading as much as I love the reading itself. :D
Have you tried slotting books for all the 25k quarterly prompts? I'm allowing myself to possibly read qualifying books for only the easiest prompts. I'm saving the rest for the readathon. Haha.
Not a chance I'll be able to read all the books I've set aside, but I want to be ready to fill a prompt getting less love from my teammates, whoever they may be.
ZeeJaneYou can read all but 100 pages of your library book for the party/celebration prompt, then read the last 100 pages on the 25th.
I'm sure you're already planning to do that.
HAHA, I cracked up about your rejecting the orthodontist's proposed appointment date. Good thing your party/celebration book is an ebook so you don't have to spare the time to physically return the book to the library, lol.
I ended up creating a new readathon bookshelf on Goodreads, adding columns (just for this shelf) to show number of ratings and pages for each book. If I were more motivated, I'd go through and note which the secondary prompts the shelved books fill. For now, though, I'm trying to get my Q1 quarterlies & March monthlies mostly finished before 25 March.
I'm so hyped. :D And I'm really happy that you are, too!
I have some questions about the readathon. I've been thinking if I want to join or not. I haven't been reading a lot lately, though I would like to read more again. I just do useless stuff in the evening like surfing the internet forever with no reason and I would like to put this into reading again. I thought maybe the readathon would be a great opportunity for me to set some time aside for reading. However, since I do not want to pressure myself too much, I wouldn't want to set my goal higher than 2 books in the two weeks. Now I'm worried that I will disadvantage my team because in the topic I see people reading 6, 8 or even more books in this time. When assigning teams, do you take into account how many books someone thinks they can read in the time? And also, are the prompts available already?
@Michelle I will go through your questions one at a time and hope you will later feel confident about joining us.
Michelle wrote: " When assigning teams, do you take into account how many books someone thinks they can read in the time? "
As one of this readathon's organizers, I'd like you to know that each team consists of a balanced mix of reading plans.
However, since I do not want to pressure myself too much, I wouldn't want to set my goal higher than 2 books in the two weeks. Now I'm worried that I will disadvantage my team.
We are hoping the team readathon will be a fun way to motivate us all to get a little more reading done, not add to our existing daily pressures. :)
The team benefits from every member's contribution because the teams gets a perk for every x no. of pages read or x hours of audiobook listening. So your presence on a team is definitely not a disadvantage!
And also, are the prompts available already?
The prompts will be a variation of the prompts for the Celebrating 25,000 Members quarterly.
The final form of the prompts won't be revealed until several days before the readathon starts, but you can plan ahead by considering which of the quarterly prompts you can fill.
Thank you for the information! :) I've signed up now, because it sounds awesome! :)
Heya,There I am again! I have another question (also maybe since this is the first time I'm doing this). Does it matter in which language you read a book for the prompts? I plan to get a lot of books from the library, but most are at this time only available in Dutch and not in English. How would this be used in prompts?
Michelle wrote: "Heya,There I am again! I have another question (also maybe since this is the first time I'm doing this). Does it matter in which language you read a book for the prompts? I plan to get a lot of bo..."
Michelle
So glad you'll be joining the readathon!
As long as your book satisfies the prompt, it doesn't matter what language it's written in or whether it's a translation. For an audiobook, a novel can be narrated in any language.
We've been putting down how many books we think we can read, and I am guessing we talk about which categories in our teams once we know them. Is this correct? I have six or seven of my 10 picked, but am waiting for the others until we know what teams we're one :)
A schedule for posting all of the readathon-related threads goes up tomorrow.The best prep you could do in the meantime is consider all of the prompts each of your planned books could fill.
This is my first "team readathon" per se--I've done readathons where an entire GR group sees what we can accomplish and I've played reading games with prompts plus team reading games.I don't think I can only choose books with more than one option due to other reading challenges, but am going to keep a few of my 10 books open until our teams meet. I am going to try to read a book a day during the readathon, so even if I miss doing that a couple of times can get the number in I pledged.
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Readathon duration: March 25 to April 7, 20201 (two weeks)
Sign-up deadline: March 15
Have you signed up for our group's first-ever team readathon?
Are you vaguely interested but don't think you can spare the time?
Well then, this post is for you!
Time Commitment: Are you worried that you don't have the time for a 2-week readathon? Well, every participant will be part of a team so what really matters is your team's performance. Even if you can only spare time to read 50 pages a day, your team will benefit from your presence!
Friendship: A team-based challenge is a great way to get to know some of your fellow group members better!
Readathon Prompts
Each team of 8-10 members will tackle the prompts of the Celebrating 25,000 Members quarterly challenge together.
Choosing Your Books
Try to line up books that might fit multiple prompts. When reading as a team, another teammate might fill your intended prompt before you finish your book.
Hate one or two of the prompts, or can't find any books that fit? Just skip such prompts; another teammate probably has those covered!
Book Length:
The readathon is not the time to read that 880-page fantasy novel you've been dying to start! Alternatively, you have two choices:
(1) Finish your chunkster before the readathon starts; or
(2) Read all but the last 100 pages before the readathon. Then, you can count it for a prompt (but only count those 100 pages toward the readathon). A book has to have at least 100 pages left to count toward a prompt!
Reading Momentum: Take a look at the readathon prompts and choose eligible books that you really want to read. Don't try reading book that bore you during the readathon; that will only dampen your reading enthusiasm.
Readathon Benefit
You'll make some serious progress toward your reading goals while making new friends at the same time. What's not to love?
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If you've read this far, you are no doubt ready to take the plunge and sign up for our team readathon here.
The sign-up deadline is March 15th so do it today!