The Readathon Begins ...

Good morning!  Welcome to my fifth visit to Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon - that awesome day each April and October when readers get the chance to set aside other responsibilities and just read.  Also, they play games, chat and win prizes.

This time around I was bitten by the "Helpful Bug" - who knows why - and I volunteered to co-host and to cheerlead, so I will be pushing myself to get off the computer occasionally and do some actual reading.  In  the past I have tried to follow a general schedule of 45 minutes reading, 15 minutes for grabbing a snack and entering the current mini-challenge.  Obviously, that's not going to work this time.  I will be co-hosting from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (U.S. Central Time) so obviously no reading during those hours.  As for the remaining hours, I hope to divide them half and half between cheering and reading.  Except for the hours from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. when we have tickets to this show.  Too many good things packed into one weekend!

The biggest bait to get me to unplug for as much as possible is A Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling.  I also have my Oct. T&T Book Club selection, Death by Diamonds by Annette Blair, and my final Mx3 read, The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley.  I might even throw in a few chapters of Tim Gunn's Fashion Bible.

If you're participating in the read-a-thon, I wish you hours of cozy reading and many wonderful prizes.  If you're not participating - why not?  There's still plenty of hours to read - sign up here.

Opening Meme:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? - I'm reading from the middle of nowhere - our little piece of the country we call Green Acres - between Verdon and Salem, Nebraska

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? - A Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? - Still trying to lose that last 8 lbs. so, sadly, my traditional bag of cheese puffs has to remain on the shelf.  But I've got lots of fresh fruit, yogurt and low-fat ice cream treats.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!  - I'm a former librarian (miss it so much!) and life-long book nut - mother of 3, grandmother of 2 (so far), and wife to Dave, Champion Awesome Husband. For more info about me, check out the "about" page.

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? - This is my first readathon as a co-host and cheerleader - and I'm terrified.  That vibration you're feeling isn't an earthquake, it's my knees clacking.