Introductions!

[Joanne]

I have been looking to find a new challenge group and this one seems to be the best fit for me.

I am JoAnne, born and still living in Michigan. I love gardening and cooking and of course books. Favorite genres are Fantasy, HF and Non-Fiction.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Welcome, Joanne! You will find others in this group who enjoy similar books. (And some who read other genres too!) You are welcome to posts books you've read since June 1 for the summer challenge.

[Joanne]

Thanks, Elizabeth. Wandering around, getting the feel of the group and the Bingo Challenge. I may add my read books, and I might just wait for the new challenge. Been in a bit of a slump all summer, hoping a a new group can help to pull me out of it!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Joanne wrote: "Been in a bit of a slump all summer, hoping a a new group can help to pull me out of it!"

We'll do our best! :-)

[Valerie]

Hi Joanne! I also enjoy fantasy and NF, I'll be interested in seeing your posts. I have found this group's challenges very good for keeping me out of slumps.

[Tien]

Joanne wrote: "I have been looking to find a new challenge group and this one seems to be the best fit for me.

I am JoAnne, born and still living in Michigan. I love gardening and cooking and of course books. F..."

Yoohoo!! 👋

Lovely to see you dropping by 😘 🐉

[Bea]

Hi, Joanne. Welcome to this group. I find that they challenge me to read outside of my favorite genres most of the time. Still I have read some incredible books because of this group.

[Joanne]

Tien wrote: "Joanne wrote: "I have been looking to find a new challenge group and this one seems to be the best fit for me. "

why am I not surprised to see you here, Tien? LoL!

[Joanne]

Thank you all for the welcome!

[Tien]

Joanne wrote: "Tien wrote: "Joanne wrote: "I have been looking to find a new challenge group and this one seems to be the best fit for me. "

why am I not surprised to see you here, Tien? LoL!"

Ha! and here I thought you might've found the group through me lol
I've been here many many years ;p

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

Hi Joanne, I joined in 2009 and never left. I also love to read fantasy as well as historical fiction and mysteries.

[Joanne]

So great to see so many Fantasy fans here! So excited to see what authors you read! Love finding new to me authors!

[Joanne]

Tien wrote: "Joanne wrote: "Tien wrote: "Joanne wrote: "I have been looking to find a new challenge group and this one seems to be the best fit for me. "

why am I not surprised to see you here, Tien? LoL!"

Ha..."

It may have been you Tien-I made a list of groups I wanted to check out at the end of last year and have slowly been going through it-if you are here, and have been for a while, then I have a feeling this one is a keeper!

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

Hello Everyone!!!

My name is Robin and I live in Middle TN. I am a mother of 2 adult sons and grandmother of 2 biological grandsons and 2 step granddaughters. I have one big spoiled furbaby named Murphy(bull mastiff) I currently don't work, but spend my time taking care of my elderly parents and my grandkids.

I'm an avid reader always looking for new authors and genres. My favorite genres are HF,YA, LGBTQ, and General Fiction. But, I will read just about anything, just not a lot in the Horror or NF genre.

Although I have been a member of GR for 11 years, I just recently got active again in the groups. Real life got very hectic for a few years so I left all my groups/challenges and only used GR to track my books. Now that things have settled down, I decided this year, to join some groups and participate in challenges again. I swore I would only join a few challenges. Well, I'm currently participating in 30+ challenges(individual and team) Yes, I'm a book hoarding challenge addict.

The SRC was the first challenge I got involved in years ago when I joined GR. So naturally, it was the first one I rejoined this year. I have known about RwS for a long time but never got brave enough to join in. Jayme is a team mate in another challenge and mentioned it so I thought, "Why not add another one." lol So here I am!!

I'm confused with how the RwS is set up and works--What's the challenge home fall 2022? RwS fall 2022? EoTP Redux? Is that all one challenge or separate individual challenges? YIKES--better get busy figuring it all out lol

I see several familiar faces from my other groups : ) It's also nice to meet new friends. I look forward to participating, chatting and reading with all of you!!!

[Bea]

Welcome, Robin. You certainly have a busy life! It is amazing to me that you have time for so many challenges! I currently am in only a handful of groups and find it increasingly challenging to be so active in all of them.

RwS Fall 2022 is the new seasonal challenge set to start September 1. It has two parts: 10 pointers (10 tasks) and 20 pointers (10 tasks).

EoTP Redux is the subchallenge. It is a seasonal secondary challenge with a theme. Points earned are usually 15 and there are 10 tasks.

People can choose to participate in the Fall Challenge and not do the subchallenge and vice versa. Oh, and there are bonus points for finishing.

That is the sum total of challenges for this group. All are seasonal like SRC.

[Valerie]

Hi Robin! Welcome to the group, hope you have fun. I don't know how you manage 30+ challenges, but I think you will fit in here!

Bea explained things nicely. I plunged in when I joined, after seeing how the 'completed tasks' were posted. Elizabeth and Kate are very responsive to questions, and the rest of us try to help (if it's an easy question.... ha,ha).

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Hi Robin! Welcome to RwS! Avid reader? Book Hoarding Challenge Addict? You'll fit right in! :-)))

Bea did a good job with the overview of RwS. All of us took a full season (or more) to settle in with the nuances. As Valerie said, feel free to ask questions whenever.

All of the challenges last 3 months, the upcoming challenge starts tomorrow, September 1.

EoTP Redux is what we call the sub-challenge. The tasks are all numbered in the 15s. The description is here. You'll see there is a spreadsheet of the awards from which to choose. There is a Questions thread for anything that isn't clear.

The Tasks, Bonuses, Readerboard, and Completed Tasks threads are housed in the Challenge Home Fall 2022 folder. Then each task has its own thread in the RwS Fall 2022 folder. Not all of the tasks have been posted yet! We have polls, there will be member tasks, and Kate and I get our own task each season.

A special note about Styles and Bonuses. Sam, the group creator, thought it would be fun to earn extra credit (he is a teacher!) for things like a book fits more than one task, or if you made the effort to read a book more than 500 pages. Each season we have other criteria where you get extra credit for reading a book. This season those are writing a 100 (or longer) review, a book that has been translated from a language different than yours, and Oldies - books that were originally published 25 and more years ago.

Also, today is the last day for this season's polls, where you get to vote on 2 of the 10-point tasks.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

And answers to a couple of questions you did *not* ask:

MPE: This is the Most Popular English language print edition (not large print). We use this for all page counts, to even the playing field no matter which edition you have.

MPG: This means Main Page Genre.

You might also want to take a look at the RwS FAQs. The Quick Links folder has some other items that might be of interest.

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

Bea wrote: "Welcome, Robin. You certainly have a busy life! It is amazing to me that you have time for so many challenges! I currently am in only a handful of groups and find it increasingly challenging to be ..."

Hi Bea!!! It's nice to see you here : ) A familiar face. I'm being completely honest when I say, I'm addicted to challenges. I don't plan for them, I just read and hope they fit some where LOL In "real life" I don't socialize much and what friends I have, they aren't readers. So this is my outlet to talk books and do bookish things.

Thank you!! You did a great job breaking this down for me. Last night when I was looking at everything I was trying to grasp the concept/rules but my brain wasn't cooperating LOL I'm setting up my tracking/planning threads up in my private group and it's starting to sink in a little.

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

Valerie wrote: "Hi Robin! Welcome to the group, hope you have fun. I don't know how you manage 30+ challenges, but I think you will fit in here!

Bea explained things nicely. I plunged in when I joined, after seei..."

Hi Valerie!! Thank you for the welcome. Since I have a private group to track my challenges, it's fairly easy to keep up with all of them. Now, it does take a little time to update them all which I try to do once a week. It's fun!! I enjoy the hunt for the books, as well as reading. I'm just going to dive in and enjoy the ride LOL

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Hi Robin! Welcome to RwS! Avid reader? Book Hoarding Challenge Addict? You'll fit right in! :-)))

Bea did a good job with the overview of RwS. All of us took a full season (or more) to settle in w..."

Hi Elizabeth!!! Thank you so much for the warm welcome. Yep, you bet, I'm a book nerd as my kids say. Years ago, my kids labeled all of you as my "book friends in the box" referring to the box that we type our messages in LOL They still refer to anything pertaining to GR as "the box"

It will probably take me a couple seasons to catch on to everything. The "styles" and "bonuses" is where I'm going to struggle the most. If I even remember them lol I'm sure I will probably have a question or two along the way. I'm glad I joined at the start of a new season. Sometimes, it's hard to join in the middle of a challenge. I'm reading and re-reading through everything lol and it's coming together : )

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Robin (Saturndoo) wrote: "Years ago, my kids labeled all of you as my "book friends in the box""

I like your kids!

Not to worry about the styles. We keep score right alongside you and Kate is always finding things we missed.

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Robin (Saturndoo) wrote: "Years ago, my kids labeled all of you as my "book friends in the box""

I like your kids!

Not to worry about the styles. We keep score right alongside you and Kate is al..."

LOL my kids are something else. I often hear, Mom's on the computer "in the box" Now you have something that will be stuck in your head every time you think about or refer to GR....your welcome!🙃

[Nancy]

Hello everyone!

Another snooper here! I recently became friends with Joanne and found this group through her. I’ve been looking at the challenges here and I am impressed! They are a little intimidating at first but I think I’m getting the hang of them. They are so creative and interesting. I realize I’m a month behind for the fall challenge but I’m going to jump in and see if I can get it right.

I live in the desert of Arizona with my husband and Miss Chloe my little shih-tzu. We had to let our other shih-tzu, Willy, go last month and our house is very quiet without him. I have two adult daughters who live near me. One daughter has two girls ages 10 and 8 and my other daughter is expecting her first this Christmas. I would be remiss if I didn’t include my son who went to heaven 16 years ago at the age of 21. I say this not for sympathy but just to acknowledge that I did have a son.

I’m excited to be joining you all. I have lots of friends but not very many enjoy reading. How can they be my friends? lol
I have loved to read at a young age and still feel the thrill every time I pick up a new book.

I’m glad I found this group!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Hi Nancy, and welcome! You are encouraged to post any books you've read since September 1. It took most of us a season or two to settle in, so don't worry. Feel free to ask questions!

I have family in the Phoenix area. In fact am going for a week long visit the end of October.

[Valerie]

Hi Nancy! It can take a while to figure things out - or at least it did for me! ha, ha. The tasks are interesting, and really helped me get out of a reading slump I was in when I initially joined.

Soon enough it will be winter here (in the Niagara region of Ontario), so I am slightly envious of your desert locale!

[Joanne]

Welcome Nancy, glad I could lead you to this group. I just joined in the summer, so I am still feeling my way around. but everyone had been helpful and kind

[Nancy]

Thanks ladies! I’m happy to hear I can post my books that I read in September. I’ve added one book I read and hope I did it right. I love how we are all from different geographical areas.

[Kathleen (itpdx)]

Welcome, Nancy. This challenge group has introduced me to so many good authors and books either through member reviews or stretching to meet a task. I hope you do too.