Read-a-Thon: Mid-Event Survey

At the beginning of the 12th hour, someone over at the official Dewey's Read-a-Thon site posted that we were at the half-way mark. Unfortunately, she jumped the gun. The half-way mark occurs at the end of 12 hours—which is the beginning of the 13th hour. In other words, right now.

But, the half-way mark brings the Mid-Event Survey. It's fun to jump around the blogosphere and see what others have to say about their day so far.

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now?
2. How many books have you read so far?
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?
9. Are you getting tired yet?
10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?

My Answers:

1. Right now—well when I go back to reading after posting—I'm reading Avenging Angels by Mary Stanton. It's the third in her Beaufort & Company mystery series and when I finish it, I will have read all three of these books this week.
2. I've completed two books. I was only 9 pages into the first book when the Read-a-Thon began, so I pretty much consider that I read the whole book during this event.
3. I'm eager to finish reading Avenging Angels, and then I'm going to turn to a book which I have loaded onto my Kindle. I'm reading Field of Dishonor by David Weber, which I purchased from Baen's Webscription eBook site.
4. I told everyone that I was busy all day and not to plan anything. That almost worked.
5. My husband's parents planned lunch today at a nearby Chinese restaurant. Hubby was helpful and I read in the car all the way there and back so there was just a little bit over an hour during which I couldn't read.
6. This is my third Read-a-Thon, and I think I'm much more prepared this time. The only surprises that I'm finding are the wonderful posts on some of the blogs I've been visiting.
7. I'd love to see the beginning time shift some next year. For three years, the Read-a-Thon has begun at 7am my local time. If the time could be shifted so that next year it would begin here at some other time like 1am—and likewise shifted around the world—and shifted again next October, then over time every part of the world would have had the opportunity to begin at a really good time or a really crummy time.
8. Next year I hope to have more of my posts pre-written so it won't take me away from my reading so long to post updates. I do think I'm doing pretty good, though, as I read almost 7 hours in the first half of the event.
9. Tired? Me? No, not yet. It's barely past supper time here. I'm afraid the hard time for me is going to be the wee hours of the morning when I'm the only one awake in the house.
10. My best tip is to find a cozy spot and surround yourself with all the supporting stuff you need. I've got a large stash of Diet Cokes in the nearby fridge and that will keep me going throughout the night.