Top Ten Tips to Survive a Read-A-Thon! (Top Ten Tuesday Ep. 2)
Hello readers! Welcome back to another Top Ten Tuesday, today I am going to be sharing 10 of my favorite tips to survive a read-a-thon. If you don’t know what a read-a-thon is, it is basically where you just read for a certain amount of time, normally between 24 and 48 hours. Personally, I have participated in 2 and will be participating in my 3rd in about 2 weeks for Valentine’s Day! I try to participate in one every other month to help me read more books and just have some fun.
Anyways, here are my top 10 tips to survive a readathon!
1) Snacks, Snacks, Snacks
Preparation for a readathon is so important so make sure to have a ton of your favorite snacks at the ready! Before the readathon go to Kroger, Target or wherever and spoil yourself! Grab those expensive candies that you love, or that 6 pack of sodas just because.
2) Pick the right books
When picking out a TBR for your readathon, be realistic! This means don’t pick out 20 books, and definitely don’t pick out an 800-page book, because you know you aren’t going to finish those. Pick shorter books (200-400 pages) or if you do want to read a longer book (400-600) pages, put fewer books on your TBR list.
3) Call your reading friends
If you struggle with staying motivated during a readathon (like me) then call up some of your friends who also read and see if they would do a readathon with you! (Quick shoutout to Zaden, Riess, and Ruby for always being up for a readathon!) It doesn’t have to be in person, I have done a few readathons over facetime or zoom meetings. Don’t be afraid to get creative!
4) Take Breaks
A readathon doesn’t necessarily mean ONLY reading for 24 or 48 hours straight! Besides, if you force yourself to read you are more likely to get burnt out and not have a pleasant experience while reading. It’s also really not healthy to not sleep for 24 hours straight. My advice is to take 2-4 naps within the 24 hours, each one being between 30 minutes and 2 hours. Any longer and you’ll be wasting precious reading time. However, one of my favorite parts of the readathon is challenging myself so don’t make it too easy, just don’t make it too hard either.
5) Don’t get stressed out
Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. If you are participating in a YouTubers readathon or even a readathon with your friends and you see that they have read 300 pages and you’ve only read 100, don’t feel pressured. A readathon isn’t about the number of books you can read or how many pages you get through, it's more about just reading!
6) Rid your area of distractions
If you have easy access to your phone, laptop, tablet, or whatever you are definitely going to get distracted. Make sure you are reading in a comfortable place and somewhat peaceful place, so you can focus on your book and only your book. HOWEVER, if you are reading with friends, be it virtually or in person, distractions are kind of unavoidable!
7) Pick a theme
If you are struggling to get motivated for a readathon, definitely try to give it a theme! For example, I am doing a romance readathon for February and Valentine’s Day with a friend in a couple of weeks. Another example is Jesse at Bowties & Books on YouTube hosts an annual readathon called blackathon in February where they focus on books written by people of color. You can find this year's announcement for it HERE to participate! They also provide TBR prompts to help you decide your TBR! Another example is during the spooky season (October) you could have a readathon dedicated to horror and thriller books. Giving your readathon a theme makes it so much more fun and can help motivate you!
8) DNF Books
When in a readathon, every minute counts for reading, so don’t waste those minutes on a book you are not enjoying. If you have been reading a book for an hour now and are just not vibing with it, put it down and pick up another one. There is no shame in DNFing (DNF= Did/Do not finish) a book! Especially when you are trying to get through some books in a certain amount of time, don’t waste the time.
9) Find a playlist!
For me personally, and I am sure for a lot of you all, it can sometimes be hard for me to read and/or focus in dead silence. So, I really like to pull up a playlist on YouTube or Spotify and have that playing in the background. However, I do recommend music that does not contain lyrics because that can end up distracting you. I have linked some of my favorite (lyric-free) playlists from YouTube down below if you want to check them out!
10) Get excited
My final tip for you is to get excited! A readathon shouldn’t feel like a chore or a job, it should be relaxing and fun! Remember to not put too much pressure on yourself and just A lot of the tips I have given you in the post are all about making the readathon more enjoyable and fun, so keep that in mind if you decide to follow them.
Alright! That is all for this week’s episode of top ten Tuesday! I hope these tips have helped you. If you have any other questions about readathons make sure to comment them and I will answer them as best as I can. See you in my next post!
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xoxo,
Opal <3
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