How To: Plan For A Readathon

Hey guys, today I’m coming at you with a new how to post! Yesterday I gave you some tips and tricks on how to do a readathon so today I thought I would go into how I plan a readathon!

WILL YOU BE BUSY?

First up, before you even start thinking about your tbr, you should be contemplating whether you even have time to participate in the readathon. YOu should make sure you actually have days off work, that you won’t be stressing about school or assessments, and that most importantly, you will actually have time to read.

If you don’t have time to actually read and participate in the readathon then there really isn’t any point getting yourself hyped up and stressed out about a readathon. If you have an assessment, then all a readathon is going to do is unnecessarily stress you out and it will probably bring down your mark.

THE CHALLENGES

However, if you do have time for a readathon (yay) then the next thing you should do is figure out if there are any challenges. These are usually my favourite types of readathons, though I do also love ReadbyZoe’s 24-hour readathons, they’re pretty chill but still put me under enough pressure that I actually read and feel accomplished by the end of the day.

Anyway, so the challenges, they’re pretty important, if you can’t do the challenges you will probably get stressed out and then the readathon won’t be as fun. Make sure that you are actually on board with the challenges, and be okay with not completing them if you know you won’t be able to. For example, if the challenge is to read outside but you burn really easily or you know it’s going to be raining outside, then you should probably just skip it or buy a cactus and cheat a bit.

YOUR TBR

Next up, you need to form your tbr. This is probably the most important part. What I like to do when organising my tbr, is to put challenges together and to buy/ borrow books a day or two beforehand so I know I will be excited about them during the readathon, compared to a bunch of books that have been on my shelves for years. For example, I wouldn’t recommend picking a classic if you struggle reading the writing and get bored by them easily. I also wouldn’t recommend going shopping for books during the readathon, you will regret it.

For a readathon, I usually try to organise my tbr like this:

A short book
A comic
A 300-400 page book
An audiobook

PLAN

The last thing I do when planning for a readathon is to organise my week. I try to make sure that I’m not crazy busy, work and school wise and that I know I will have at least one day out of the week where I will be the only one at home, this way I am guaranteed a quiet day.

Next, I make sure that I know what errands I will have to run throughout the week. If I know I have to take my dog for a wash, or that someone has a birthday then I will make sure to incorporate that into my tbr, by organising shorter books. By knowing exactly what I have planned for the week then I can be prepared and know ho much I have to read each day.

For most readathons, I also like to make sure that I have meals planned. I usually just buy a bunch of pre-prepared salads from the shop, r I make them myself. I also bulk buy Up & Gos ( I don’t know if you guys have them in the US, because Weet Bix) just in case I’m not feeling well.

Basically, just make sure that you are excited about your tbr and that you are prepared.
Don’t feel bad about not finishing every challenge, or reading you whole tbr.
Just have fun, join in with the book twitter community who are also participating. Do sprints and try to stay on top of your tbr!