The Sunday Salon: Random assorted updates!

Bloggy friends! Sunday always seems to be my day for dealing with the business aspects of the blog, and today I am going to inundate you with various challenges and events in which I shall be participating. If you are bored by this sort of thing, feel free to sneak out the back exit. No one will be mad at you for skipping out on this meeting. However, if you like participating in challenges and bookish events, you might find some gems for yourself, and I'd love to have you stick around.

First up - Dewey's 24 Hour Read-A-Thon. I've heard of this event multiple times in the year or so that I've been blogging, but never participated, mainly because I thought to myself, "What kind of person has time in their lives to dedicate 24 hours straight to reading? And who would even want to?" Honestly, not me. I'm a pretty busy girl. However, I do think I could give 12. And I'd like to try it. I tend to read in sporadic spurts during the day, and I think it will be nice to cozy up and just read for a few hours. That may not be the traditional way to participate, but I think it will be a great experience for me if that is how I do it. 

Nextly, Advent with Austen, hosted jointly by a few blogs but brought to my attention by the lovely Reading With Tea. Basically, read Jane Austen books during advent (from November 27-December 24). You can read books by the delightful lady, books about her, watch movies, etc. etc. Seems like a cozy way to pass some winter evenings. My participation will be minimal - I am just planning on rereading Persuasion. If you'd like to be involved, head over. 

I'm also joining a little challenge starting in January (I don't think the challenge itself starts in January, but that is when my participation will begin) called the Read Your Own Library Challenge. Basically, you read at least one book you own every month for six months. Which shouldn't be that hard. It's just that the books at the library are so shiny...

And finally, just a friendly PSA to go vote for your favorite books of the year on the Indie Lit Awards website. As a voting member on the nonfiction panel, I would dearly love to have some fantastic books to read. Think of it this way: it's your way of making me read a book you liked. But don't only nominate for us nonfiction lovers. There are seven categories (GLBTQ, Biography/memoir, fiction, mystery, speculative fiction, poetry, and of course, nonfiction) and this year, you don't have to be a blogger to vote. You just can't be a publisher or author. So go. Now. 

Also, stay tuned for an awesome challenge that I will be hosting next year. I don't want to flesh out all the details yet, because it is only October and the challenge won't be starting until January (I don't want everyone to forget about it before it even begins). But just be aware that the goal of the challenge is to build a bridge between YA literature and adult literature. 

Are you still here? Thanks for sticking around for all of that. I'm done with all of my pontificating for today, unless you want to hear about how I pulled out chest tubes and started IVs all week. Hey, where did everyone go?