Tag: Deweys24hourreadathonTBR

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Happy Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon

Maggie Hemlock
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Happy Readathon Day, bookworms! Hope everyone has all their favorite books and snacks ready. Usually, by now I’ve posted a hopeful TBR, but this year I’ve bought a house, moved, and kept everything going while I did. I’ve planned so much that literally when I wrote my last novel I never even wrote a plot. I’m a plotter through and through, but besides some notes at the bottom of the document my upcoming holiday novel Catnip and Mistletoe (Book 10 of Love by Glitter Bomb) was entirely pantsed. For those of you who know me personally or follow the blog you know that’s not how I usually do things. I think maybe moving this time planned me out. To be totally honest, the last few months have felt like an emotional hangover with all the big changes happening so quickly.

I’m on a roll this year with reading, though. Last year I scrapped by with 200 books because of the pandemic. Before that I couldn’t even swing 100 a year. I think I hit 80ish in 2019. Which was still a lot, but friends were reading way more than I was. This year I kept that ‘updated’ reading habit. Stressed? Read. Shit happening I can’t control? Read. Too tired to do anything else but it isn’t time for bed? Read. Seriously, I think my brain just liked that part of lockdown. Though, to be honest, even through moving I saw as few people as possible and pretty much have gone back into my own semi-lockdown mode since finishing everything. I live in a pretty conservative area and don’t trust people to be smart with the pandemic. Sorry, not sorry. I’ve seen what people do here.

Anyway, that was a side tangent, what I meant to say, was despite reading 175 books so far this year I still have shelves of unread books and today that’s a good thing. I’ve planned a lot of my reads this year between r/bookclub over on Reddit (if you’re looking for an online bookclub that reads diversely check us out!) and buddy reads. So, I’m ready to go back to browsing my unread shelves and finding my next read that way. Some of the books were bought years ago and it’s like finding a surprise. Don’t worry. The books I read and don’t want to keep forever are gifted/donated/given to the library. They’re not sitting in a landfill or filling up my entire house until I’m just at a table with coffee and a laptop writing my next novel.

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Not my pile of books. lol

So, that’s exactly what I plan to do in a few hours. I’m going to comb my shelves and find something totally unplanned to read. Usually, I have a blogging/check-in plan too, but not this time. Maybe I’ll check in throughout the day or maybe I’ll just come back tomorrow morning and do a wrap-up. But I have my pumpkin spice coffee and lots of options.

Happy reading, bookworms!

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Good Morning! My Little Plan for Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon

Maggie Hemlock

There is a little less than 3 hours before Dewey’s officially starts. Lucky for me, I’ve always been an early riser. So, I have some time blog and entertain the cat and wake up enough brain cells to sink into a novel.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Readathon click here.

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Coffee. It’s always first on my list to get ready for anything. I’m probably more a coffee based organism than a water based one at this point.

Before the readathon starts I have a few things to get done around the house, I want to squeeze in a quick work out so I don’t get all stiff too early in the day, and of course I need breakfast and stuff. I’ve been eating breakfast rather late in the day, but today I’m eating early so I can read 8-12 without stopping to cook. I have a meal prep that will either be lunch or dinner and I plan to order out for the other meal if the rain isn’t too bad. If it is, I won’t put my poor delivery guy through that. I live on the third floor of an apartment with no elevator. While I’m getting everything done this morning I plan to listen to the last 45 minutes or so of the audiobook of Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology. I’m not counting it for the readathon since it’s not time, but I just want to get it finished up anyway. I really like his take on the stories.

Norse Mythology

Once the readathon starts I plan to check in at noon, 4, and 8 EST time. After 8 I’ll be getting ready for bed and will resume reading and probably squeeze in another hour or 2 tomorrow morning. I don’t think I’ve ever broken 10 hours of reading in one of these in the last 3 or 4 years I’ve done them. I’d like to, but there are only so many hours in the day. So, we shall see how it goes.

Since I don’t consider myself much of a morning reader these days (I’m usually writing in the morning) I’m going to start with something a bit nostalgic and YA. I last read Scott O’Dell’s The Island of the Blue Dolphins when I was approximately 8 years old and in third grade. My teacher, Mrs. Maynard has this little library we could borrow from and AR reading had just began and it’s one of the few books that stick out from my early reading. I haven’t read this book in almost 24 years, but I do remember finishing it in a Saturday afternoon as a kid. So, it has to be easy reading for 32 year old me in the morning, right? lol

After that I’ll grab a book from this stack or grab one of the books I’m reading along with some lovely people from r/bookclub over on Reddit. I have two that we’re finishing up this weekend if I need a break from what’s in the stack.

Happy reading today! If you’re reading for Dewey’s too what’s first on your list?

P.S. I forget how distractable I am in the morning. Every time I went to grab a photo or link I got distracted. It’s taken me almost 45 minutes to write this little blog.