Category: Wrapup

Posted in Pokethon, Wrapup

24 Hour Readathon: How’d It Go?

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So I was able to stay up for more of the 24 hours than I thought I would be able to, and even though I mostly finished comics and graphic novels I started two books and it kind of got me out of a reading slump.

What did I read:

Shellder: A comic

Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld

This was a cute read that I needed towards the end of the day when I was getting tired it was very beautiful, I need to look more into the Gemworld fandom because this was very pretty and the art was done by someone from somewhere I have live.

Amazon: Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld

Kingler-Buy a Book

The Ice Princesses Fair Illusion

This was an easy prompt and since I need Polar Fantasy for Eskana I thought it would be a good pick. Plus anything with Ice Princesses is going to catch my attention since I’m a Frozen fan to the max.

Amazon: The Ice Princesses’ Fair Illusion

Psyduck-Read a Confusing Book

This book is confusing but eventually it leads to a very sweet ending the journeys the main characters take just aren’t straight forward. But it is a very beautiful book and I’d read it again just for the illustrations.

Amazon: Coming Back

Wartorle-Water on the Cover

Swim Team

This book about a black girl thrown into swim class deals with the history of swimming and race as well as female friendships.

Amazon: Swim Team

The books I started but didn’t finish

Shielded

I got maybe a third of the way through though now I’m interested and I think it’s a polar fantasy so I can kill a couple of birds with one stone. I’m going to try and read more today.

Amazon: Shielded

Almost Flying

This was going to be my LGBT book but I just got too tired even though I probably could have finished it.

In this 24 Hour Readathon I caught a lot of Pokemon, more than I expected, I also caught a Goldeen for treat yourself for playing video games, and a Magikarp for hydrating and I got a Lapras for taking my pain meds and resting throughout the readathon. So I think overall I did very well on this readathon.

Posted in Chopped Readathon, Monthly Reads, Readathons, Wrapup

Chopped Readathon: In Review

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

It’s the end of the Chopped Readathon, @TheBlindScribe and I are sad that this is over but we really enjoyed our time reading with all of you. As your host we didn’t get much reading done, because again, running readathons is more work than either of us pictured. So we are both crossing the finish line with 2 books each.

I’m sure some our participants however will have wonderful posts that will show up throughout the day now as for the prizes @TheReaderPegniun won our prize for who read the most and will get a twenty euro prize.

Prizes

Meanwhile in the random drawing JenniReads won our US Chopped prize pack of signed books and a $20 however they want it from.

Finally @WordsThatStay1 and @hepatic15 have both won our random drawing twenty euro prize package, we will figure out how they want it delivered as well.

I’m also sending out ARCs to @KittyGamerGirl who is getting an ARC of Arrow to the Moon. As well as @JenniReads getting Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating.

Books We Read

Overall we as a group have read 39 different books. Though I think a couple of people were reading The Kindred.

Also we reached the over 10,000 pages mark like I knew we would, the total number of pages read is 10,682! Along with the total number of hours read at via audio book at 6.7!

You finished a lot of books and hit a lot of prompts so I can’t wait to see what your meals look like when you post your wrapups for this readathon. As sad as we are to see this finish we will be back in July, we aren’t sharing the theme yet, but I have a lot to learn about Google Forms and making announcement videos so expect next time to be bigger and better. And please share with your friends if you enjoyed the readathon, you see how relaxed we are about prompts and such, if you like that please share with someone else you think might enjoy that atmosphere as well.

Chopped Readathon

Posted in monthly goals, Monthly Reads, Wrapup

End of the Month Wrapup

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So we are almost at the end of the month, I can’t believe we are almost done with the first month of the year. Maybe because I was in a cast this time this year that time seems to pass a little differently. Anyway I’m looking forward to February because the Chopped Romance Dinner Readathon. But I wanted to take a look back at my goals for January and see how I did.

Read 10 books in January

I’ve only read like 4 books but I’ll probably finish 6 by the end of the month. Migraines strike again, lots of sleeping and naps because I’m behind on my Botox. I went to my new neurologist yesterday so hopefully they can start giving me Botox shots soon!

Keep Posting Regularly

I’ve posted most every day this month, sometimes twice a day. So this goal I have on lock.

Work on things for my readathon

I dropped clues, my co-host and I figured out prompts, I did announcements for the Readathon coming up, and clue. I have a prize package together and finally I have TBRs up for the books I’ll be reading. I feel like I got at lot done for this goal. If you’re interested in the link to the readathon here.

Spend January planning out my readathons for the year.

I have a better handle on at least the next few months that have announced their dates. I’m sure a few more that have promised to come back this year will announce their date closer to the readathon. In which case I’ll take part in those. I’m also taking part in Pondathon II and some of their author quests and side quests all year.

Organize and clean out the categories on my blog

This one I didn’t really get around. I added a few more categories based on things I’m doing but I still need to rearrange stuff and clean stuff out.

Did you accomplish your January goals? How was you reading for this month? In a slump like me or are you miles ahead on your goal. Tell me in comments!

Posted in Bookmas, monthly goals, Wrapup

Takeaway: December Goals ?

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So how did I do goal wise for December? What was the takeaway? Did I learn anything new I can apply in the new year? Let’s take a look and see.

Try to finish 100 books

I turned into a book goblin and read 13 book so far in December so that’s only two for the last week, which is totally doable. I might even get in more than 100 so that a nice bonus.

Post Regularly

I’ve been posting almost ever day every day except for a few days around Christmas I took off to spend with my family. I think one takeaway from this month is posting regularly, as in everyday really pushes my blog numbers to where I want them to be. That’s going to take stamina to maintain but I think it will be worth it in term of followers and hopefully ARC opportunities over the next year.

Work on my readathons

My own readathon kind of fell through due to me having to be on some strong medicine in early December, but I’ve almost completed the Reindeer Readathon I’ve only got two prompts lefts.

Start making plans for the new year

So I’ve spent December about what readathons I want to do next year, the first one is going to be Pondathon 2, a year long readthon where you can add items to your garden it’s very cute and sweet and you can find more information here.

I know I’ll be doing lots of follow ups to readthons I did in the fall that promised to have second parts in the spring such as Orillium. Now as for number of books I’m going to try for, I think I can do 125 I did 100 this year and that was with 3ish months cut out for recovery for a broken ankle. I think back at semi full strength all year long I can read the required number of books it would take to do 125.

Of course the eventual goal is to be reading 200 a year but I figure you do that incrementally, so I’ll do 150 next year and so on. Any super readers out there with tips on reading more per month?

I’ve also done Bookmas pretty well and enjoyed it. So I’d say December was pretty successful.

Posted in Wrapup

Personal Check In

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

Hello all, I just wanted to share what was going on in my personal life. My reading is going well, I only have 10 books to go till 100 which was my goal for the year, so I’m totally going to be able to get there. So that’s exciting. I also hit 500 posts for the blog so I’m feeling pretty accomplished with reading and blogging.

However remember how I shattered my ankle back in January? It’s now inflamed so I have to take a steroid. (Yuck!) and keep it elevated and rest it. The rest and elevation isn’t that hard. I’ve had to do a lot of that before when I was recovering. But this steroid is making me feel pretty gross. So I’m going to get lost in books and Christmas movies, if I miss a day of posting this is why.

The steroid so far has left me very tired a hot and cold, so kind of like having a cold. Then I got an injection of gel in my ankle to help my pain their but the injection itself is still making my foot hurt so I have to stay off of it for awhile. Maybe I’ll get more blog posts done while I have to be down.

I got myself an early Christmas present and pre-ordered Pokemon Legends: Arceus and got a copy of Wythwood for my indie collection. I’m also planning on ordering Horizon Forbidden West after I finish the original game.

I’m working on my own personal readathon as well as the Reindeer Readathon, and I’ve made it through several of the prompts each so I feel good there. So while I’m a little sick I’m doing the best I can with all the things I’ve wanted to do this month.

How about you? How are you doing?

Posted in Readathons, Recommendations, Wrapup

PokemonAThon Wrap Up

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

PokemonAThon was fun even though I came in about half way though I managed to get some badges and get to the first evolution of my Pokemon. So what did I read for the badges?

Since some can count twice I’ll show you the books I used and the badges I got as well as any other bonuses I used.

Luminous

Luminous by [Mara Rutherford]

Summary

Liora has spent her life in hiding, knowing discovery could mean falling prey to the king’s warlock, Darius, who uses mages’ magic to grow his own power. But when her worst nightmare comes to pass, Darius doesn’t take her. Instead, he demands that her younger sister return to the capital with him. To make matters worse, Evran, Liora’s childhood friend and the only one who knows her secret, goes missing following Darius’s visit, leaving her without anyone to turn to.

To find Evran and to save her sister, Liora must embrace the power she has always feared. But the greatest danger she’ll face is yet to come, for Darius has plans in motion that will cause the world to fall into chaos—and Liora and Evran may be the only ones who can stop him.

I know close to 400 might not be a heavy book for everyone but it too me awhile to get through, so I thought it fit the the prompt for PokemonAThon. There were spooky and supernatural themes in Luminous so it worked for that prompt. There were also creepy animal companions so I go a great ball for that and a Pokeball for the blue cover.

Amazon: Luminous

Violets are Blue

Violets Are Blue by [Barbara Dee]

Another blue book which got me a bonus for color. This one I used for the ebook for PokemonAThon prompt

Summary

Twelve-year-old Wren loves makeup—special effect makeup, to be exact. When she is experimenting with new looks, Wren can create a different version of herself. A girl who isn’t in a sort-of-best friendship with someone who seems like she hates her. A girl whose parents aren’t divorced and doesn’t have to learn to like her new stepmom.

So, when Wren and her mom move to a new town for a fresh start, she is cautiously optimistic. And things seem to fall into place when Wren meets potential friends and gets selected as the makeup artist for her school’s upcoming production of Wicked.

Only, Wren’s mom isn’t doing so well. She’s taking a lot of naps, starts snapping at Wren for no reason, and always seems to be sick. And what’s worse, Wren keeps getting hints that things aren’t going well at her new job at the hospital, where her mom is a nurse. And after an opening night disaster leads to a heartbreaking discovery, Wren realizes that her mother has a serious problem—a problem that can’t be wiped away or covered up.

After all the progress she’s made, can Wren start over again with her devastating new normal? And will she ever be able to heal the broken trust with her mom?

Amazon: Violets Are Blue

Manu: A Graphic Novel

Summary

A funny and heartwarming middle-grade graphic novel adventure about friendship, defying expectations, and finding your place.Manu and her best friend, Josefina, live at a magical school for girls, and Manu is always getting into trouble. The headmistress believes that Manu has the potential to help people with her magic, but Manu would rather have fun than fall in line. One day, a prank goes seriously wrong, and Josefina gets angry and wishes for Manu’s magic to disappear… and it does. Manu uses a dangerous spell to restore it, but it makes her magic too powerful and nearly impossible to control. Great power comes at a cost, and it may be a price that Manu isn’t able to pay!

This one I used for the PokemonAThon prompt Light Book or a book with nature on the cover.

Overall I think I did pretty well coming in a week late, I’m happy with progress and I think this helped keep me reading it’s over today so I’ll have other readathons to focus on but I really enjoyed this one and would love to do another Pokemon themed one in the future.

Posted in Discussion, Path Or Pantheon, Recommendations, Wrapup

Rock Camp Fatigue: Blog Update

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

Rock Camp was wonderful and self affirming and seeing the youth and all my fellow volunteers was the highlight of the summer. Now it’s just waiting till fall. Seriously it’s the best thing in the summer, then I have to wait for the air to cool down and for it to be my birthday and spooky season. I have some friends with August birthdays and I’m excited for that, but seriously I don’t like summer even though summer has been really mild here.

I also learned a lesson, don’t try and do a readathon during July, don’t make high reading goals during July. I was too caught up with camp and setting myself up for failure. I think I’ll have much more luck with the readathon I’m planning for August. Though I really do hope Make Your Myth taker shows up again soon because I loved the challenges from Path or Pantheon they just came at a bad time life wise. I’d love to do something about reading for Rock Camp next year but I’m not sure what that would look like just yet. I did a workshop on tarot that went well. So I’m sure I could build something cool.

Anyway expect to see me slowly getting back in the flow of the blog. I did not mean to gone for so long but camp is literally my most important and rewarding volunteer activity all year so sometimes things have to take a backseat.

As for what I’m currently up to while recovering from Rock Camp, I’m playing lots of video games, I’m working my way through Horizon: Zero Dawn and I just got Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin because I needed something like Pokemon until the next Pokemon game came out.

I’m also reading The Companion by Katie Alender. It is very good for a late summer spooky book.

Posted in Weekly Wrap-ups, Wrapup

Weekly Update: New Month, Pokemon and Being Behind

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

I’ve had a pretty good week but a family emergency took me away from the blog this week. But I’ll be back this week as much as I can considering my health. I still need to get up my thoughts on the what I’m reading during this new month. my general TBR, wrapups of Readathons, lol. In other words I’m totally behind the curve.

However I did have some good points I had a little money so I really enjoyed buying two new games, I already knew I wanted Pokemon Snap! And it’s cute as all get out you should totally get it. Oh good lordy! Me trying to get perfect pictures is going to take up most of the summer.

And this month’s surprise favorite, Cozy Grove. If someone had pitched the concept to me I would have been like what? But I love my ghosts bears and and the scouting badges and the birds and I’ve been playing it non-stop trying to solve my ghostly mysteries.

Also when I entered contests for YallWest I didn’t expect to actually win anything. But in this case I won both the psychical and digital copies of Joan He’s The Ones We’re Meant to Find.

I’m also doing an AAPI Readathon for this month. I want to make these stories central this month, they won’t be all I read but they will be the center for this month in terms of representation. Especially with all that is going on I want to do my part to Fight AAIP Hate

I’ll come up with my TBR for that this week as well I’ve already got a few good candidates on the list.

I’m also going to keep my eye out for virtual book festivals because I love meeting authors and hearing the behind the scenes details. So if you know of any good ones throughout the summer please let me know.

Posted in Wrapup

Blog Plans for Next Year

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

I don’t know if any of you are wondering what I plan do for next year. As I mentioned in my 2021 plans I plan to read 100 books but what am I going to do with the blog month by month.

Well for January my plan is to focus on the end of the Unwanteds series, and New Years prompts if there are any going around. I might pick up a few readathons if I see some good ones.

As for Febuary, since it’s Valentines I’m going to signal boost books that focus on ace-demi characters.

March is the traditional month to focus on Middle Grade so I’ll be doing so.

April, I’ll be making sure my focus is on mental health since I feel like I got away from it a little the end of this last year.

Those are my plans for the first quarter.

Photo by Nick Hillier on Unsplash

Posted in Wrapup

Goals for 2021

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

I have a lot of goals for 2021 but my first goal one related to my book goal for next year. I want to try to read one hundred books next year. It’s kind of ambitious That’s double of my goal this year but I hit my stretch goal of 75 this year so I think going in with intent at the beginning of the year I think I can read 100. Plus I had things come up in months where I only read one book. I think be able to better have a reading/life balance.

Second I want to improve the blog, I want to learn SEO and start trying to find more blog tours I qualify for. Plus I want to make my presence more know on Twitter. I’d also like to create more content for Instagram. I saw that I’d only made 64 this year so I’d like to try to do 3 posts a week next year.

Personally I’d like to learn to draw more, I recently bought Procreate, and I’d like to learn to program in the coming year. I haven’t drawn in years and I’m really happy to get back to it. I’m hoping I can also draw some things for the blog.

I’d like to work on my novels, they’ve been put on the back burner due to other things this year. But I’m going to try to make them my main focus along with the books and blogging.

Some other things I want to do in 2021 include:

1.Baking More

2.Crocheting More

3.Learning to Knit