Forgive me for intruding....

...but has there been any news of other read-a-things coming up? I know they take a lot of work and I'm not trying to rush anyone or make any demands, I'm just curious because we participated in many of them and they seem to be vanishing. Hopefully this is not because of something traumatic that has happened in the lives of those responsible for creating this fun experience.

Well, I did the last one, and didn't want to step on any toes. majkia, LucindaLibri - any interest? I'd be happy to do another, probably in April (not May, my life goes insane then).

I can help out . . . anytime in April except Holy Week/Easter (April 13-20) works for me . . . Or if that's a good time for everyone else (Spring Breaks?) I could help with the prelims but wouldn't be around much during the actual read. (Which is fine.)

Nope, Easter week is really bad for me this year (as bad as all of May...ghahh) and the next weekend's not much better. So it would have to be in the first two weeks, for me. I _think_ I'm clear, for a while (aside from prepping for what I'm doing over Easter - unrelated to Easter, darn it).

Which means time is really short - less than a month. Hmmm.

I'm going to post a date and see what takeup we get. Don't have time for soliciting suggestions (particularly as the last two requests for suggested dates mostly got "they all work for me").

Friday the 4th through Friday the 11th. Would that work for you, Lucinda?

Yes, that week is pretty clear . . . though I would suggest we include April 12th . . . which is "Drop Everything and Read" Day . . . in honor of Beverly Cleary and Ramona the Pest :) http://dropeverythingandread.com/

so maybe shift it or extend it to include that day?

OK - what is a read-a-thing?

Yeah, shift (more than 7 days is a bit much). OK, Sunday the 6th to Saturday the 12th.

>6 LoisB: A ReadaThing is LT's version of a readathon - sort of a relay race thing, where some LTer is reading during every hour, somewhere around the world, for the full time of the RaT (that's been a week, recently). People can discuss what they're going to read, where, and details (what to eat, who's with you (cat, child, spouse...?)) in one thread, and in another say when and where they did read and (if they feel like it) discuss the book they read. It's fun.

>7 jjmcgaffey: Thanks!

That week would be mildly crazy for me, as I am going to an event on the weekend of the 12-13th and will be prepping for it, but possible.

That's when it's happening - have you seen the announcement thread? See you there...

Wow. I didn't want to be pushy... I also knew I had no capacity to do this kind of thing on my own. We always appreciate the work that goes into a readathing and we love to participate. Thanks.

Yeah, you just tipped me over the edge. I'd taken to checking the group twice a day to see if anyone was saying anything about the next RaT...

It's fun, and not too hard to set up (it's creating the timeline that's the worst pain! I hate time zones...). If you want to help out, give me a PM and I'll chat with you about it.

I would love to help out, but unfortunately I'm working a job and a half and helping someone else out with their web space and message board moderating and posting. If I said yes, I wouldn't be able to put in the time, so I have to say no. At least until things settle down... which could take a VERY long time, the way things are going.

OK. If/when things calm down, send me a message...

>14 jjmcgaffey: Are you looking for help? I have no idea what'd be needed (as you say, it seems like getting all that stuff you already did put up is the bulk of it), but if you need, I'm always happy to assist...

During the runup to the RaT, it's mostly patrolling the Wiki and making sure stuff shows up right, and answering any questions in the Announcement thread. Lucinda's helping, and Jean when she can, but another pair of eyes are always helpful.

And it looks like I'm going to be tied up all day the last day of the RaT (bah!). There's not _much_ to do, but an announcement of the end, at the proper time, is good (in the Logbook thread). Lucinda? Would you be able to do that, or are you tied up on the 12th too? I believe Jean will be without reliable internet then. So I may ask you to do it, PM.

Mostly I'm looking to groom more people for running RaTs. The more people who know what's involved, the more likely we are to have more RaTs - and I like having them, with or without running them.

The end is midnight UTC? Because I'm in Belgium, which means I'm an hour ahead, plus that's after Summer Time starts so I think that means I'm actually two hours ahead of it? I'm totally not up at 2am. Sooo unfortunately that's the one thing I probably won't be able to do, sorry! :| I could post around midnight my time a two hours left alert, haha, but I'm not a teenager anymore ;) so my bedtime is around midnight, 00.30ish.

OK, thanks. I may ask you to post that warning, but we'll see how things work out.

Life has a way of getting in the way of a RaT...

Haha, it does tend to do things like that, but I'm sure we'll manage! :)

>16 jjmcgaffey:

Turns out I'm at a workshop on 4/12 from 10am until 4pm CDT . . . but will check in when I get home . . . but I think there's only an hour or so left at that point. Let's just hope that by then things are mostly running smoothly and all that's left is to post a "Thanks for participating! How did it go for you?" Thread.

Yeah - I'll be at a conference until 6 pm PDT, at least an hour after the RaT ends - and probably another hour getting home. So if you could check in about 7 pm CDT and just post a "the RaT is over!" in the Logbook thread, that would be helpful. (I think 7 pm CDT is right.)

Not really necessary, but it would be nice to mark it, I think. I'll try to check in - it's a programming conference so there may be good wifi - but I'll be on my phone which is a pain to post from.

>21 jjmcgaffey:
No worries . . . it will all work out fine. I should also be able to check in in the morning before I go to the workshop, but not during the day (no smartphone :( ).