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Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! How are you all today? I hope you’re doing okay.

Earlier this week there was another Let’s talk post about reading slumps, and today we are going to talk about readathons. Who else is excited.

And now let’s talk about what I’m doing during a readathon, the pros and cons and what tips can give you.

First let’s start with the before.

Before participating in a readathon I always check the dates and if I’m available. Personally I prefer the month-long readathons as I have more time and I usually manage to complete the redathon without any problems.
After checking the dates I plan my TBR. Planning the TBR isn’t easy if you’re a mood reader like me. I usually have problems sticking to a fixed TBR and I usually change the books in the last minute. But that’s absolutely no problem. As a readathon is there to enjoy your time with a good book and not being annoyed by a book and not wanting to finish it.

Now everything is done and we can move on to the period of the actual readathon.

As I mentioned above I prefer a month-long readathon. I have enough time to finish all the prompts and there is no better feeling than completing the whole thing and being successful. If you follow my blog you know that I failed at some readathons. Just to mention a few, The Fantasy Adventureathon and the Hamilthon Readathon. Well this is probably a small lie as I still managed to finish a path in the Hamilthon Readathon. So I technically didn’t fail that one but still, I didn’t manage to read every book that was on my TBR. I have to stop being too overambitious. But aren’t we all overambitious?
So during the readathon what I do is I write down my TBR and put the whole thing in a jar. As I’m more of a mood reader this is the easiest way too still be able to randomize my reading a bit. Even though I have a fair idea of what I’m going to read during that period I can still manage a small suprise. So that’s good. I really discovered my love for TBR jars recently.

During a month-long readathon I will only read one book at a time (only one book of my TBR for the readathon because I read other books at the same time too). Sometimes however I will read a physical copy of book 1 and listen to the audiobook of book 2 for example. But I won’t read more than one book of a certain format.

During a week-long readathon however I will have to read more than one book. Which is difficult for me because a) I put way too many books on that TBR and b) I have still so many books that I’m currently reading. That’s probably one of the main reasons why I’m always failing the week-long readathons. What would you do to prevent from “failing” a readathon when it’s only one week long?
During readathons I also try to be as comfortable as possible. I know that I will have to read more than a chapter in the evening to get through the book on time, and so I will only read books for a readathon when I’m home and in my pyjamas. I need to be comfy. As uni can be a bit stressful I try to force myself to read for half an hour or more before going to bed when it’s really not possible otherwise. Sometimes I have so much work to do that I only stop studying at 10pm, and then it’s already bedtime. So sometimes you have to force yourself to get some reading done but as you shouldn’t look at a screen for at least 30 minutes before going to bed, forcing myself to read before bed is a good thing. At least I’m not looking at my phone screen or any other electronic screen and to be honest when I don’t use my devices before going to bed I sleep like a baby. And getting sleep is rare for me, so I’m always glad for these days when I sleep like a baby.

I also try to participate in reading sprints. Well to be honest I always miss the sprints, or they are never during a time when I can participate, so I do my own for myself, and it motivates me to read more. I challenge myself to read more during the next sprint and so on. Always challenge yourself during a readathon. A readathon is there for that purpose. Have fun reading, challenge yourself, challenge your reading buddies,…
Just remember to have fun. This is probably the most important thing!

After the readathon I take a look at my original TBR and mark down which books I’ve read, which ones I didn’t manage to finish and the ones I never start reading. Then I will look at my wrap-up and see which of the books I read could fit one of the prompts of the one that I didn’t finish or didn’t read. Then I start writing my readathon wrap-up and at the end of that one I will see if I managed to complete all the prompts. If I did manage to finish it with success I’m patting my shoulder, and I’m proud of myself. If I didn’t manage to complete it successfully that’s fine too. I’m still proud of myself because I managed to read some books. 1 is always better than none. So you should all be proud of yourself! No matter the amount of books read. Reading is no competition! Everyone is different. And we should embrace that.

Now let’s move on to the pros and cons.

Pros:

Competition

To get more reading done

a productivity boost

Cons:

Might lead to a reading slump

headache

Maybe reading too fast

Overall:

Participate in them, you will have a lot of fun.

And now what about you? What are you doing during readathons? Please let me know in the comments below?