Read-A-Thon: Hour 12

We’re at hour 12 – the HALF WAY point! Yahoo!! This hour’s mini challenge is the mid-event survey:

1. What are you reading right now? I’m early on in Tomato Girl, by Jayne Pupek – a story of an 11 year old girl who is being raised by her mentally ill mother. Yes, it is a bit “dark!”

2. How many books have you read so far? I’ve finished one book (Testimony by Anita Shreve which I reviewed here), and am 50 pages into my second book.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? I’m actually looking forward to finished Tomato Girl and then reading some short stories from Months and Seasons, by Christopher Meeks.

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? No, not really. I did prepare food ahead so I would not have to cook meals.

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? I had one phone call from my sister which was a small interruption. Otherwise, my husband has been happily working in his workshop and I’ve been blissfully left alone!

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? I am always so surprised at how tiring it is to read for hours at a time.

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? I think this is one of the best run events on the Internet. It is fantastic. I am really happy that everything is being posted from Dewey’s blog this time around. It makes it easier to keep track of things.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? I think I’ve more or less figured this out now. I prepared a spreadsheet ahead of time which has been very helpful in keeping track of my “stats” and I also created a draft post which I could just tweak each hour. That has saved me a lot of time.

9. Are you getting tired yet? YES! I’ve been struggling to keep my brain unmuddled for what seems like forever now.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? See #8 above!

Update since my last post (or see it in a Google spreadsheet)

• Book I’m reading: Tomato Girl, by Jayne Pupek
• Number of books read since I started: 1- Testimony, by Anita Shreve (read my review)
• Pages Read since my last post: 31
• Total pages read in the challenge: 355
• Amount of time spent reading since my last post: 35 minutes
• Total amount of time spent reading in the challenge: 375 minutes (6.25 hours)
• Mini-Challenges completed:
  1. Intro during Hour 1
  2. Free-Rice.com with donation of 500 grains
  3. Thanking hosts (not sure this is a mini-challenge … but I’m counting it!)
  4. Meryl’s quote
  5. Freerice.com with donation of 1000 grains
  6. Name that Book Cover
  7. Walkin’ and Snappin’
  8. Mid-Event Survey
• Total amount of time spent blogging: 225 minutes (3.75 hours)
• Blogs visited since I last posted: 1 – Dewey
• Time spent visiting other people’s blogs (and number of comments left): 60 minutes (1 hour) and 14 comments
• Down Time: 60 minutes (1 hour)
• Amount of Participation Time (less down time): 11 hours
• Prizes I’ve won: none yet

The 24 Hour Read-A-Thon is also a CHARITY EVENT … and it is NOT TOO LATE to sponsor me and help support Triple Creek Ranch Inc!! You can also enter to WIN A FREE BOOK!

Read my posts about:

• Triple Creek Ranch and How to Sponsor Me
• Horses Helping Humans
• What the Heck IS Hippotherapy?
• Therapeutic Horseback Riding