Hello world!

"Hello world!"

That is how web pages usually start, isn't it?

Well, hello to me and you, too.

This blog was opened so I can finally have a place for my updates taking part in mini challenges for Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon and maybe even host one. Or two. Or...

If you don't know what RaT is, check it right now and take part in an awesome reading experience you share with people from all over the world.

If I had to explain what it is, I would say: 

RaT is an event that lasts for 24 hours, where participants read. Simple as that.

Reading for full 24 hours is the main challenge, but not an obligation. Participation is open to all and can be modified to each participant's preference, it can be a solo adventure, a buddy read, a family event, charity event in a retirement home or home for children, communal event in a local library or anything else you think of. As long as you read.

And what you read is books. Again, simple. Novels, short stories, poetry, comics... you choose. And all you really NEED to do is report to the main page to sign up (Oct.2018) and fill out the list of books you finished when it ends.

I participated in it for years. My very first RaT was in October 2012. It was this small event with big potential and I fell in love with it. I stayed true to it all these years, even though some of the times it was difficult to combine it with other obligations I had. As a result I even read from few different countries. Once I even closed myself in a bedroom while being a guest on a birthday party.

But enough about how crazy I am and more about why I needed this space. I mean, the event spread on many platforms by now... and a blog is not the most social one. But it is the most spacious one.

The thing is.. reading is not all you can do in this event. There is so much content during those 24 hours, reading at times seems only as a glue that holds it all together.

Besides the interaction with the ever-awake community, there are hourly posts on the main page that keep you motivated and informed that there is someone, somewhere over there, just as nuts as you, doing the same thing you are. Those posts include three surveys that let you tell the community what are you looking forward to, how are you progressing and finally how you did. On goodreads there are many many many topics you can join in on. And I don't even know what is going on on tumbler or twitter..

I was, once, even part of a RaT-cheer-leading squad, but that was just not for me.. 

What is for me, though, what is the best part of it all, are mini challenges.

Mini challenges are little creative tasks, usually but not always related to reading, that give this event that something extra. They are fun, they are short, they break the routine, make you improvise, make you think and create... and they have prizes.

So, I love mini challenges.. I take every chance I can get to participate in one. Even brought some into a book club I am part of.

And then, last RaT happened. Only 13 challenges were created. I was so sad.... Then I realized I was part of the problem.

In all of my years of participation, I never hosted a mini challenge. I did try to help with the goodreads group and even tried cheer leading, but my main platform was goodreads, and hosting a challenge there was not an option. So i just didn't do it. I could not be bothered to open a blog just for minis. Until those minis went away.

So, now I'm stepping in. I know, I have always known, that a community is strongest when everyone chips in. I guess I needed a little reminder, but now I am there.

Will you join me?

...

Lastly, before I end this post, here are some numbers... one two three four forty-two... because, as much as this is an introduction to this blog it is an exercise in writing one too.

I hope my exercise didn't bore you.

㋡

Iluzija O. Istini