Announcing the April 2014, Drop Everything and Read Day ReadaThing (April 6-12)

Sorry for the short notice - if this RaT doesn't start happening now, it won't until June at least. So date by fiat (which happened to include April 12, Drop Everything and Read Day, which seemed very appropriate).

We'll be reading from Saturday April 5 to Sunday April 13, depending on your location. Remember, this is a ReadaThing, not a readathon, so no one needs to try to read for seven full days . . . don't kill yourself! An hour or so, one or more times during the week, is fine.

As usual (for my RaTs, anyway), the reference time is midnight UTC/GMT - the midnight between Saturday and Sunday, in this case. That's 2 pm Saturday in Hawaii, 5 pm in the western US, 8 pm in the eastern US, 1 am Sunday in the UK, 2 am in Europe, 4 am in Moscow, 11 am in Sydney, and 1 pm in New Zealand (I think! Please check me...).

The wiki page for signup is here: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/ReadaThingApril2014

Here's the first two days of the RaT. The full chart, as a PDF, is linked at the bottom of the wiki page.



If you want to join in the read, but aren't sure WHEN you can read, or can't plan, there is the "No Timeline" readers signup on the wikipage after the timeline.

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What is ReadaThing?

ReadaThing is NOT a read-a-thon!! You do not have to read for the entire week unless you want to! ReadaThing is a time when we gather to read & share what we read. The best analogy is that RaT is like a relay race where a runner hands a baton off to the next runner. Some of the readers sign up for specific reading times & some don't, but there is always someone in the group reading somewhere in the world.

There are several major threads for the ReadaThing: this announcement/information thread, the "what I will/may be reading" thread, and the Log Book & reviews/reports thread.

There is a wikipage for the signups (see above). There will not be a wikipage for the books, please use Touchstones in the "What I will/may be reading" and the "Log Book" threads to provide a record of all the books read during the RaT.

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"No Timeline" Readers

After the timeline on the wiki-signup page, there is an area where you can sign up for the "No Timeline" reading. If you sign up there, it's nice if you can put in your actual reading hours in the timeline, after the fact (that's what I (try to) do).

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There is no overall theme for this ReadaThing. If you have a theme you'd like to follow, list it here or in the What Will You Be Reading? thread; if you like someone's theme, say you'll be following it and list which of your books will belong to the theme. This is not required; you can read themeless, read a book and decide afterward it fits one or more themes (multi-theme books are fun!), or choose a book because it fits a theme you'd like to pick up. Part of the fun is stretching themes to fit the books you want to read, too. Anything works - from "rereading old favorites" to "books featuring a female vampire" to "books with yellow covers" - have fun!

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If you find any errors, please let me know.

If you have any questions, post them here or PM me on my profile page. And there are lots of people willing to help if you need help with the wikipage or just have questions! Questions are good!

Interesting. I know I'd seen one of these going on a long time ago but didn't really know how it all worked and whatnot. Well, I'll be reading, I read every day, but I have no idea on what time slots. Maybe once it gets to just before it starts I can pick some for the first couple days as then I may know what's going on (we don't really plan much ahead!). :)

I usually put myself in the No Timeline readers, because I can't plan ahead (or if I do, something breaks the plan. Invariably). Then I go back afterward and fill in when I actually read. You could try it that way.

Yeah I'll probably do that for now, but I bet once it gets closer there should be at least a couple spots where I can say -I know I won't be doing anything from 4-5pm this day!- and the like. :)

The title of this thread has different dates than the initial post . . . probably should make those match . . . if only to pacify people with OCD/proofreading tendencies like myself :) (or is it only due to location? I can never sort that out)

Thanks for acting so quickly . . . is there anything else I can do to help?

Sometime later today (gotta run right now) I'll double-check when other time zones (in other countries) go to daylight savings time . . . that always messes us up this time of year (unless you already checked that?).

Well thread titles can't be edited, so if what's in the thread is the correct dates, then... Also I think it's just how one is looking at it, since it starts at midnight of the 5th/6th and ends midnight of the 12th/13th, if I'm interpreting things correctly.

Oh, and Europe switches to Summer Time the last Sunday in March. I think by a week into April everyone who changes should have done so already?

I'll definitely be reading along.

I'm in! I'm on vacation that very week, so lots of reading was already in the plan.

I'm in!

From what I can tell, Sydney (AEST) and New Zealand NZST) should be listed an hour earlier than they are . . . (different hemisphere?), so 10 AM and Noon start times instead of 11 AM and 1 PM. At least according to the Time Zone Converter at timeanddate.com

Any folks from that corner of the world who can verify?

I just checked the details and they change time on that very day at the start of the readathing! (It's always something :) But for most of the ReadaThing they will be at the earlier times, so we probably need to change the chart . . . I'll see what I can do about the Wiki if jjm can do the pdf.

"Current time in Sydney: Thursday, March 13, 2014 at 9:52:59 AM AEDT
Sydney will stay on AEDT until Sunday, April 6, 2014 going to AEST

Current time in Auckland: Thursday, March 13, 2014 at 11:54:02 AM NZDT
Auckland will stay on NZDT until Sunday, April 6, 2014 going to NZST"

Update: Wiki has been updated.

>9 imyril: imyril I'm assuming you are not in Australia or New Zealand, so I did not move any of your sign ups . . . but if you are in those places, check the listing.

Argh. I did the Time Zone converter, for the appropriate (beginning) date, and was quite surprised to see the hour-earlier time...but believed it. OK. I'll redo the PDF, but not tonight.

Yes, the thread title has the "official" dates, the first post has the stretch-because-of-location dates. It's confusing, but then it always is. I'll see if I can make it a bit more explicit. It's midnight UTC/GMT, but if you're west of Greenwich you'll start before midnight (so on the 5th), and if you're east of it you'll end after that midnight, so well into the 13th.

I fixed the link in the text for editing the no timeline section, it was pointing to a 2013 wiki, heh. I wouldn't have even noticed except the end number was 13 rather than 14, that was the difference I spotted, so I first thought it was just pointing to the section above, then clicked to check and whoop, different wiki! ;P

>12 .Monkey.: Thanks! Yeah, it's a copy-and-paste job - I never even noticed that link existed.

Heh, and one more bit - I've asked Jeremy (who is still the admin for this group) to edit the link in the group description to point to this RaT instead of last June's. The Wiki one is fine, it points to the list and I put the April one on there.

10> thanks for the thought :) I'm in the UK, so all good!

I'm planning on joining in, but I don't know what time slots yet.

Jennifer, thanks a lot for setting this up. I'm in. :-D

Great! The more the merrier.

>1 jjmcgaffey: This looks awesome - unfortunately I don't yet know when I'm working that week so I can't sign up for specific times - how late can I sign up?

Maybe I'm way overthinking this, but my lunch break almost always runs on the half-hour (as in, from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm), so how would I pick a time slot for that?

>18 Peace2: I'm pretty sure there's no deadline, just, come read during it and report when you've read. But you can stick your name in the "no timeline" slot for now. :)

>18 Peace2:, 20 Yes - if you decide you want to join in halfway through the week, come ahead! But signing up in the No Timeline slot (where I am, already), and then (if you have the time) putting yourself in the timeline for the times you actually read works fine, too.

>19 casvelyn: For half-hour slots - you can either pick an hour, any hour, or you can do half-hour slots - it's a little more complicated, but not bad. If you're reading from 12:30 to 1:30, put yourself in the noon slot with (12:30) after your name, and in the 1 pm slot with (1:30) after your name - so it looks like:

NOON | someone, casvelyn (12:30)
1 pm | casvelyn (1:30), someone else

It'll show up fine.

I'm in! I've taken the easy option and signed up to the No Timeline slot.

So glad to see another Read-a-thon starting up! No idea yet when I will be reading, but I will be joining for sure, beginning in the "No-timeline" group.

I'm in! I signed up in the Wiki, but will probably add a couple more time slots: my Dad will be visiting, so I am unsure when I can will read on the first and last days. :)

Can someone Please check the wiki? I was trying to sign up for the No-timeline group and I'm afraid I might have disturbed something.
Sorry!
I think it's okay but it's best to be sure.

I'm in too, but have to put no timeline for now!

For my theme, I think I'll try to tackle the paper books that have been neglected in my TBR since I acquired an ereader...

>25 fyrfly: Did you not hit save? Your name isn't in the list, nor do I see anything done by you in the history. Would you like me to add your name in?

>27 .Monkey.: No, I definitely did not hit save, because I might have caused a problem or something.
Glad there was no harm done, then, right?

I was trying to learn how to use it properly. Sounded simple. I'm ignorant.

#28 by fyrfly> You can't really hurt it. go ahead and try to add your name again. We can fix it if something goes wrong.

OK, I tried it, and there I am - off to the right, in my own little box. (Hmm)

#30 by fyrfly> Fixed. You left a pipe on the line that created the break. Good job!

>31 majkia: Thank you for fixing it! It looked like an extra, but I wasn't sure.

I have signed up for the no timeline. I can usually only read on weekends so not sure what times I can do.

Glad to see more people signing up! Welcome all!

And for the "No Timeline" folks . . . some of us start in "No Timeline" and then fill in the hourly timeline after we read . . . or even look to see where there are gaps in the Timeline and read then . . . it's all very flexible. The main thing is to have a community of LTers reading and sharing.

I can't wait!

Yeah, this will be fun. Welcome all! I'll be putting up the What will you read? thread this Saturday, I think.

Yay, thanks, Jennifer! Will sign up later tonight.

I'll give this a whirl as a no timeliner.

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to record the books I've been reading, or where, but...I have been working my way through Port Eternity by CJ Cherryh. Review will be posted shortly.

>38 fuzzi: This is the "log" thread. :)

>39 .Monkey.: thanks, I missed that one. It's now starred and "favorited". :)