Originally written on October 15, 2018
Y'all know that I'm a veteran readathoner. I absolutely love the community aspect of reading all at the same time and the challenge of taking out more time during the week to focus on my books. I think readathons are great way to boost your reading stats (if that's what you're aiming for) and to take some "me" time to get wrapped up in a story, so I feel like I'm in a readathon almost every other week. Because of that, I have developed some tips on how to become a pro readathoner, and I thought I'd share them with you today!
1. Prepare your space
For me, I can't concentrate if my physical surroundings is crazy cluttered. Clutter always brings a sense of stress to whatever environment I'm in which makes it really hard to concentrate on reading. So in order to have the best reading environment, I make sure to clear up my reading location as much as possible ahead of time to make it easier to concentrate. I also love me a good cozy blanket or two to enhance the comfort level, so I make sure those are handy whenever possible. If I'm reading outside (which I absolutely love to do in the warmer months), I make sure I have a cool beverage, snacks, and whatever else I need outside with me so I'm not constantly running back into the house to grab things. The more prepared and comfortable my space is, the more reading I'll get done!
2. Carve out specific times that you can read
We're all busy people. It's hard to find the time in our daily lives to prioritize reading when we have work and families and dinner and household chores to worry about. That's why, during readathons, it's super helpful to find specific time in your schedule that you could realistically sit down with your book for a period of time and make sure you're allowing yourself to stick to that commitment you're making for yourself. Even if it's waking up 30 minutes earlier throughout the week to read with your coffee, or letting the DVR record the latest episode of your favorite show so you can get some pages in. Making the time is the key to having a successful readathon!
3. Plan ahead for interruptions
Life happens, and sometimes you need to adjust! I don't think I've had one readathon where something unexpected has come up in my schedule when I was planning to read that night *flips table*. But somehow I still get reading done! Planning ahead for interruptions is a great way to get pages in throughout the week despite unexpected schedule changes. You can do this by always having a book with you (reading here and there while you're waiting for something adds up!), getting out of interruption-prone spaces (sometimes I like to just go park my car somewhere and read for an hour or so), or making your TBR super flexible (can't fit in that 3rd 300 page book? Pick up a graphic novel instead!). No matter what the situation is, the less rigid you are during readathons, the easier it will be to ~go with the flow~ when life throws you curve balls.
4. Snacks snacks snacks
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I know not everyone is a fan of eating while reading, but since this is my list of tips, I recommend having LOTS OF SNACKS! :P But seriously, having easy to eat foods, whether or not you eat them while you're reading, is so helpful for readathons. Cooking a meal takes up a lot of precious reading time, so if you're able to have food that's easy to make and eat, or if you're able to prep a big batch of something before the readathon that you can eat throughout the day/week, you'll be able to fit in so many more pages! Having nothing to eat in the house when you're just trying to get your read on is rough, so make sure you plan in advance to save time.
5. Don't burn out!
It can be tempting to read during EVERY HOUR YOU'RE FREE throughout the readathon, buy that's a really good way to burn out and put yourself into a reading slump which no one wants to do.
It's important throughout the week to keep tabs on knowing if you're reading because you *want* to or reading because you're feeling like you *have* to. If you're feeling like you *have* to read but you don't really *want* to read, maybe take an hour or two away from your book to watch TV or go for a walk. You'll come back feeling re-energized to read and you'll avoid the burn out!
6. Engage with the community
This is the absolutely best part of taking part in a readathon - there are dozens of other people joining in with you and ready to talk about what they're reading! The bookish community is a wonderful place online and a lot of us turn to the online community to talk about books because not a lot of our people IRL read as ravenously as we do, so we get excited when other folks are talking to us about books! So get involved, make a Twitter, Instagram, blog, or channel, and engage with the community. It will help you to stay excited and motivated to read read read during the next readathon you take part in!
What are your readathon tips? Leave them in the comments!
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