Bout of Books 7.0: Goals and Starting Line Post

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Kristilyn

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 13th and runs through Sunday, May 19th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 7.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

Time Devoted to Reading

While I have time this week, I’m not going to force myself to read ALL week, but instead try and read as the mood strikes! I have a few other things going on, but hopefully I can sneak in a few hours here and there! The name of the game for this Bout of Books is to NOT stress myself out to read ALL the books. I’m taking a much more easy approach and getting done what I get done. NO PRESSURE!

My Goals

Read 5 books — finishing the two I’m reading now, and randomly picking the others.
Participate in at least ONE of the Twitter chats & in some of the challenges.
Cheer on and chat with my favourite people.
Take the time to do other things that strike my fancy and NOT stress over getting all the reading done.
Try and comment on other participants’ start-up posts.
HAVE FUN!

Books to Read

I just started Sophie Kinsella’s WEDDING NIGHT today, so I’m hoping to finish it, as well as Susan Mallery’s CATCHING PERFECT. There are a few review books in my pile I might read, or I might read something from the library. I’ve decided to let my book choices be what my mood picks. Be prepared for randomness!

Updates

Normally, I do a daily update on the blog, but since I’m all about no stress this year, I’m going to do a final update at the end of the read-a-thon. That way I can read more and worry less!

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Challenge Update: Anne & Kristilyn’s 2013 Book Bingo Reading Challenge (Update #1)

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Kristilyn

This post is for the participants of the 2013 Book Bingo reading challenge! Thank you to all the participants — we hope you’re having fun!

For the full post on this challenge, visit the original post page.

This is the first update for the challenge – how is everyone doing with their Bingo scorecards? Any winners yet?

Add your update page to the Linky below — whether you’ve reached a line, a square, or if you’ve already blacked out the board, we want to see your progress! Be sure to share your updates as you read on Twitter using the hashtag #2013BookBingo. If you don’t have a post about your update, that’s okay! Feel free to add your update in the comments below!

(Note: The linky is the same on both my and Anne’s blog, so no need to enter twice!)

For example, you can see the progress I’ve made on my Book Bingo page.

A few reminders:

The FREE SQUARE is NOT a free square! You must read a book recommended by someone else participating in the challenge! If you’re looking for a recommendation, feel free to post your request below, or by using the hashtag on Twitter.

If you’re joining the challenge late, any of the books you’ve read since January 1st can be used toward the challenge.

I just want to remind everyone how to use the board: the first line across you will read one book per category, the second line across you will need to read TWO books per category, etc. all before you can mark that space as being complete. The only exception to this is the free square, where you will only need to read ONE book. If you have any questions about this, let me know!

And some housekeeping:

This is the inaugural Book Bingo challenge for me and Anne! We hope to bring it to you next year, so I ask: how are we doing? Is there anything you would change about the challenge?

And most importantly, I hope you are all having FUN with the challenge!

Weekend of Awesome:

In order to get ahead with your reading, Anne and I have planned a Weekend of Awesome for this upcoming weekend — whether you need to catch up on your reading, your blogging, or whatever you need to catch up on!

Anne and I have had a Weekend of Awesome in the past, where we like to take a day to catch up on reading, a day to catch up on blogging, and a day to catch up on writing — we thought it would be fun to extend our next Weekend of Awesome to the Book Bingo participants! I know I would like to catch up with my reading AND make sure my reviews are all written!

Anne says it perfectly:

A cross between Bloggiesta, a Read-a-thon and a Write-a-thon, Weekends of Awesome are all about doing ALL THE THINGS. Each day of the weekend of awesome is devoted to catching up/getting ahead in a different area: blogging, reading and writing.

What we would like to do is spend the weekend doing whatever we can to catch up! Feel free to participate and add the button to your blog, and use the hashtag #WeekendOfAwesome on Twitter to let us know your progress. If you like, you can make up a post about your plans, and add it in the comments, OR you can just join in on the weekend and let us know your progress on Twitter! Either way, be sure to let us know you’re participating so we can look out for you! (Note: The Linky above is ONLY for Book Bingo, not for the Weekend of Awesome!)

The next update will take place on JULY 1, 2013! Stay tuned for another Weekend of Awesome around that time, as well!

Are you participating in the Book Bingo challenge? Have you become the super reader yet? Continue reading →

Bloggiesta March 2013 – Starting Line & Goals

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Kristilyn

Image from the Bloggiesta blog

Woo! It’s Bloggiesta time!

Bloggiesta runs from March 22nd to 24th and it’s all about updating and working on your blog, as well as interacting with other participants. From the website:

Plan to spend as much time as you can working on your to do list and completing mini challenges. Don’t worry about having the entire three days to devote to this, but do challenge yourself to put in some good hours to the project.

I’m not able to participate ALL weekend, but I hope to get as much done as I can!

Here is my list, using the same format from Fall’s Bloggiesta. Some things I’ve kept on the list from the last time I participated because it just makes sense to do them all again: