Happy Sunday evening, Saloners! I spent half of yesterday and this morning participating in this fall’s Read-a-thon, which I’m happy to say was very much a success for me. I finished 5 full books and a sixth I was already reading, for a total of 1597 pages read in 11 hours and 24 minutes (approximately). I stopped at 11:30 this morning, mainly because I’d finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower and it was good, so I decided I’d best let it settle in my head and go about the ordinary course of my day. I was already pleased that I’d surpassed my goals and I decided that seven outstanding reviews was plenty to weigh me down. It was fun, and while I really participated very little in the blogging side of things – I definitely felt more like reading than doing mini challenges, especially as it seemed a lot of the prizes were US-only – but it worked really well for me anyway.
In other news, I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year for the second time (the first was in 2009 and I did succeed), but since I haven’t written much besides this blog and stuff for work, I thought I’d best get warmed up this week. I also changed my mind and decided to do a “practice” book, saving the good ideas for just afterwards, next month. It’s been too long since I wrote fiction and while I know editing is possible, I think I just want to make sure I’m as in the writing groove as possible before I give it an official, real try.
With this in mind, I discovered a site called 750words.com. Basically, it encourages you to write 750 words every day, as a good starting point for clearing your mind and getting used to writing again. I think it’s a version of morning writing, but it’s private and stores all of your musings on the website. Probably not the place I’ll write my novel, but excellent for a brain-dump before anything else happens. I did my first 750 words today and it was fantastic, so I’ll be continuing with that until Nov 1st and, hopefully, afterwards too.
As a result of all this writing activity, I’m expecting to read a lot less. I stopped accepting review copies temporarily, and I’m going to focus this week on catching up with my reviews and possibly scheduling in some fun posts to fill in the gaps while I’m busy writing – more photos and definitely a trip recap of my latest holiday to Rome.
Are any of you participating in NaNoWriMo? Let me know so I can follow your progress!
Good luck with nanowrimo! I keep meaning to participate in it some time, but as always, November is the worst time for anything. I’m glad you had a good readathon. I wish I had participated, but I was out for most of the day.
Aths´s last post …The Sunday Salon: Shelving a read book (and fretting about it)
I’ll be doing NaNoWriMo this year, too, and actually I’ve been warming up like you have! It’s hard to be disciplined enough to write everyday, especially when you have a job, etc. We’ll see how it goes.
Glad to hear you are going to do some writing. Congratulations on the results of your read-a-thon.
Carolyn´s last post …TSS: Read-a-thon Wrap-Up and Writing Ahead
I am glad you had such a successful readathon! I did really well for my first time too, getting a chance to finish one long novel, one graphic novel, and one audiobook for those in between times. The only drawback is that I want to read all day today too! I am also glad you will be beginning to write again. I send you my best wishes with that endeavor, and hope that you do really well with it!
zibilee´s last post …Readathon!
Congrats on having such a great readathon! Outstanding reviews is one of the difficult things though… I’m not sure when I will get to all of mine!
Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness)´s last post …The Sunday Salon: Read-a-Thon Hangover
Those are some impressive Read-a-thon numbers! Over 1,500 pages is tremendous!
I’m on the fence with NaNo this year (I missed last year too) and am probably going to bow out again. I might use the month to focus more on my writing, but … oh, see, now I want to participate. Argh.
Melissa´s last post …The Sunday Salon: Another Read-a-Thon For the Books
Wow, you had great readathon numbers! Good luck with your writing! I just know I’m going to be buying a book with your name on it one of these days.
bermudaonion (Kathy)´s last post …Weekend Cooking: So Sweet!
Oh, nice! I have The Perks of Being a Wallflower on my shelf but haven’t read it yet. Actually, I picked it up and put it back down again yesterday before reaching (of course) for a Heyer mystery. But maybe your review will convince me!
Aarti´s last post …[TSS] Interlude: The Voynich Manuscript
The amount you read is amazing! Good job
I am glad to hear you liked The Perks of Being a Wallflower so much. I plan to read it at some point!
Stephanie´s last post …The Sunday Salon: 10/23/2011
You finished 6 books? Woohoo! I rarely do that many challenges either because I’d like to stick to the reading when I have a free day at home to read.
Amused´s last post …Wrap Up Post: October Read-a-Thon 2011!
Congratulations on the Read-a-Thon six books is really impressive
Jessicabookworm´s last post …Sunday Reflection #45
That’s awesome that you finished so many books for the read-a-thon! Congrats to you!
Kailana´s last post …A Short Story Interlude
Yes, another NaNoWriMo participant here! This is my third attempt (and will be my first ‘win’…I’m determined). Look me up under thetruebookaddict. Good luck to you.
Michelle @ The True Book Addict´s last post …A Happy Cat Thursday Halloween!