Announcing the October 2014 ReadaThing!

We'll be reading from Friday October 24th to Saturday November 1st, 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 stress yourself! An hour or so, one or more times during the weekend, is fine. More is for if you want/need an excuse to do a lot of reading :)

As has been the case for many ReadaThings, the reference start time is midnight UTC - in this case, the midnight between Friday and Saturday. That's 2 pm Friday in Hawaii, 5 pm in the western US, 8 pm in the eastern US, 1 am Saturday in London, 2 am in much of Europe, 4 am in Moscow, and 11 am in Sydney. Note that Europe will switch to Standard time on Sunday (the second day of the RaT); Moscow will also switch then. Times apparently differ (2 am or 3 am), so check carefully if this applies to you.

The wiki page for signup is here: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/ReadaThing-Oct2014

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. (The wiki also includes links to time zone converters to find the times in your hometown. :)

Here are the times for the first day of the ReadaThing to help you put it on your calendar. A chart showing all the times for the full seven days can be found here: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/images/5/53/LTRaT_10-14.pdf



And here are some answers to FAQ (from the Wiki):

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What is ReadaThing?

ReadaThing is NOT a read-a-thon!! You do not have to read for the entire seven days! 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 (unless someone wants to set one up), 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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The theme for this ReadaThing is horror. Treat this as strictly or mildly as you like - I don't do what I categorize as "horror". I'll be reading scary stories that don't give me nightmares, thank you very much. There are funny or serious books about ghosts and goblins and things that go bump in the night - that would work. Or find the books that scare you silly and read those, if you feel like it!

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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!

(And yes, if much of the above sounds familiar, I copied it from previous announcements and the wiki. Thanks to all previous RaT runners, and sonyagreen and SqueakyChu for getting it all started back in 2009! :) )

Thanks for all the hard work! Not sure how much reading I'll do but I'm listed at least a couple of places and on the no timeline.

Ditto. There's nothing like a RaT to fill up my days with things that aren't reading...but I'll do what I can!

Can someone please put me on the No Timeline list? I don't know how to add my name on there and I've tried earlier but I messed up :(

Sure, no problem.

OK, you're on.

The easy way to - do just about anything in a Wiki - is to find something similar, copy and paste, and change just the bit that you want different. So I copied your username from your message (pasted it randomly in the No Timeline bit in edit mode), copied VampAmber's entry (just because it was the last one), pasted it in after a comma and space, copied (cut, actually) your username again and pasted it in in the two spots where VampAmber's name was. And then it refused to save the first time, which it always does - the first time you save a Wiki page each day, it says Oops, try again. Save again and all's well.

>5 jjmcgaffey: I never get the "Oops, try again" message, but I think that's because I always click "preview" before clicking "submit". The preview option is great for making sure it worked, too (I'm paranoid when it comes to anything that involves coding).

Heh. I usually end up saving, going back and editing and saving, going back...If I get it right the second time I think it's a win. I should use the preview, but I almost never do.

I'm in and locked up a scheduled time for the entire readathing, either 7 or 8 am Eastern US depending on the day of the week. Thanks for setting this all up and giving me a legitimate excuse to read.

Just realized that in my Time Zone the RaT ends at 6pm on Halloween, so my annual reading of Poe on Halloween night won't happen during the RaT . . . sorry, I'm out :(

Thanks for all the work done here so that we can have such a lovely time with our reads. I love these RaTs!

May be this isn't a good place to ask, but put this anyway for I don't know whereelse to go.

What did I do wrong on the sign up sheet? I added a few more slots now, and it seems that my slots have double space. Is it only a coincidence?

Hmm, either you have already figured this out and fixed it, or it's a browser-specific thing - your entries look absolutely fine from over here :)

...ah! Unless you mean the Friday 10pm slot, which is being double-spaced because of a wrapped line in one of the time zones. Nothing you're doing wrong!

Thanks imyril, for checking it for me. I assume my tablet did not have enough width, so it showed my slots double spaced.

I just didn't want to mess up with other people's names...