Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Team QUEENIE



• Vicky (Captain)
• Jean (Co-Captain)
• Melissa (Co-Captain)
• Michelle
• Linda C
• CB
• Donna
• Gunit
• megan
• Kerri M

Challenge Status Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Team Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

(view spoiler)[Remove:
• Monisha (hide spoiler)]

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Tracking Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Countdown to the Start of Round 1: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...

Time Zone Conversion
Eastern US, 4pm
UK, 9pm
India, 2:30am (the next day)

Hold

Hello Team Queenie! Just a quick welcome post to say hi. I have a more official welcome post typed up on my computer at home (complete with tracking spreadsheet info, general strategy ideas, etc, etc) but we saw a quick turn around on friend requests so we wanted to get the thread open for check-ins and chatting!

When you check in please let us know what your challenge shelf will be so we can make sure the spreadsheet is accurate.

I'll be back this evening with more info!

ETA: More Info is here!

Hi Team Queenie! I’m CB and am checking in. Excited to play this round, this will be my second Wheels and I love this challenge.

My bookshelf is Wheels

Hi Team Queenie! I'm Linda C from Upstate New York. Love this game and have started looking for blue, space opera books for next week.

My shelf is wheel

Hi Team Queenie! I'm Kerri and I live near Boston, Massachusetts. I'm excited to participate in another Wheel! It's been a minute since I've done one, so it'll be nice to get back into it this round.

My shelf is Wheels Seven

Hey Team, welcome to Wheel 7 - I'll be your captain for this ride! I'm Vicky, transplanted to Pennsylvania this year in a house of my own! I've done a lot of wild NBRC team challenges in the past, got away from it for a few years (life, ya know?), jumped back in with the most recent Tower Teams and rekindled the addiction. I think my last Wheel was #3, so I'm excited for a new one!

A few things to get started:

Introduce Yourself!

Check in and introduce yourself, I see some familiar names, but also some new ones! When you do let us know the name of the shelf you've created for the challenge so we can make sure the spreadsheet is up to date!


Tracking Spreadsheet

I started a tracking spreadsheet for us that we can all use to add our books to. I've linked it up in my reserved posts at the top of the thread for easy access, but I'll also link it here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

You can either send me a private message with your e-mail or request access directly from the spreadsheet and I'll get everyone added to edit. Captains will take care of moving things from the tracking sheet to the official sheet, just so we don't have too many cooks in the kitchen over there.

If you're not comfortable sharing your email or putting your books in the spreadsheet, feel free to post completion posts here and on of the captains will add them! If you opt for that, please post the following info: Book Title (preferably with a link!), Date Read, Number of Pages, If/How it Fits the Bonuses, All Spell-it-Out Options.

I've also made a tab titled Round 1 Stats. It's not editable and just for information. It has the weekly word, color and tag and some projections on what we still need to read. The red columns are the important ones as they'll update throughout the week and show us what letters to focus on. It's not an exact science because it's going to count ALL options for each letter, even if a book is better used for another letter, but it should help us pinpoint anything we're severely lacking and be a quick reference in between our more precise updates!


Time Zones and Start/End Times

Start/End Times will be at 9pm UK Time (currently GMT), with the first round starting at 9pm UK Time on November 14th. Remember that books have to be started after that time will count for the challenge - so try to finish up any stragglers this weekend!

It looks like we're all either Eastern US or India, so I've added the time zone equivalancy for EST and IST to post 4 in this thread. I know I'm constantly trying to remember what the conversion is and will probably reference it daily. LOL


Let's Be Flexible! (Or, General Strategy)

My biggest strategy for Wheel is to go into it being flexible and not go too heavy on claiming books. I've set up the tracking spreadsheet in such a way that we can record any letter options for all books and then figure out how to get the most words out of what we have.

We'll definitely want to target some more difficult letters (more on this in my follow up post for Round 1), but we're all here to have fun and read books and your books will count no matter where they end up falling. So please no one take offense if we juggle some books around to squeeze out as many points as we can!

Because Wheel often involves a lot of juggling and the weeks will run Monday - Monday, we're looking at doing a mid-week update on Thursdays. That way we'll have a nice chunk of books to play with and we can see if and, if so, where we need to refocus for the weekend.


In Closing

If you have anything you want to add in terms of strategy (or hate anything I've said above) let us know! I'll be posting some more detailed strategy for round 1 in a separate post.

If there's anything you'd like linked for ease of access at the top of this thread, let me know! I'm planning to keep spreadsheet links, relevant round timers and any announcement/recap posts from the team captains linked so they're easy to find.

Happy Wheel! :)

Vicky, should we put a note on the Book Wheel Mobile page to indicate our thread is open? Just in case some members are waiting for that and haven't explored to find us.

Checking in and saying hello to everyone..

I'm Michelle from Central New York. I can't wait to play, hopefully by the time this starts I will be feeling a little better.

Here is my shelf - 2022-wheel‎ - https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Vicky wrote: "Hey Team, welcome to Wheel 7 - I'll be your captain for this ride! I'm Vicky, transplanted to Pennsylvania this year in a house of my own! I've done a lot of wild NBRC team challenges in the past, ..."

Thanks, Vicky! Appreciate all the info and insight into our strategy. I also requested access last night to the spreadsheet, so I’m all set now. Can’t wait for this challenge to start!

Checking in.

I'm Donna from Pennsylvania. I can't wait to play and just hope my head stops thumping by then.


Wheels7

Linda C wrote: "Vicky, should we put a note on the Book Wheel Mobile page to indicate our thread is open? Just in case some members are waiting for that and haven't explored to find us."

Good call, done!

I'm in to the tracking ss. Should we note our potential first read on the sheet, if we know what we are going to read first?

Yay, glad to see people checking in!

@Michelle and Donna - I hope you both feel better soon! I had COVID followed by a three week allergy/sinus situation in September/October that I thought would never end. Definitely feeling better but being sick is no fun.

I did some browsing through Libby and I think I'm going to start with - it'll cover a U, plus it's blue with lots of space opera tags! I checked out a few other blue/space opera options so we'll see how far I can get reading wise. I use to listen to audiobooks at work almost constantly, but someone got us in trouble and now no one can use headphones - really cut into my reading time! LOL

Linda C wrote: "I'm in to the tracking ss. Should we note our potential first read on the sheet, if we know what we are going to read first?"

Absolutely, I just added my first too!

I'm fine with people adding multiple planned reads as well. Just keep in mind that we'll have a new tracking sheet every round, so try to be realistic about what you'll finish within the week so we don't have to many extra books hanging around. :)

Round 1 Info

Word: Blue-Skinned Gods
Color: Blue
Tag: Space Opera (10+ Tags)

Our word is 15 letters long this week and at 32.5 books/week I'm expecting we'll finish two and have a handful of letters into the third. I really don't anticipate getting to 45 books to fill in the third.

I think I, O, and U will be our problem letters. Luckily we only need 1 per word, but that means we'll need at least 2 of each of them and aiming for 3 wouldn't be a bad idea, just in case we make that push to the third spell out.

I am going to put a little tracker below to keep track of anyone who's said they can read an I, O or U book. Just to make sure we keep up on those. We might move these around depending on what letters surprise us as we read books, but at least this way we'll know we have those covered.

I'm also going to put a tracker for blue books, even though I don't think blue will be an issue! We only get points for 5 color books a week, but I think we should definitely aim to max out on it every week.

Thursday night once we have about half our books in for the week, we'll do an update to see what we need to refocus on for the weekend.


Problem Letters

I (2-3) //
O (2-3) // CB,
U (2-3) // Vicky,


Blue Books

5 Needed // Vicky, Linda

And with that, I'm off for a bit - I've got some chores to do and a 4 hour appointment at the salon to get some fun colors in my hair.

I'll be popping in throughout the day, but won't be at my computer to do any major things until this evening. :)

I will start with - blue and space opera 172x - however only letter match is L for one of the two main characters

Vicky wrote: "Yay, glad to see people checking in!

@Michelle and Donna - I hope you both feel better soon! I had COVID followed by a three week allergy/sinus situation in September/October that I thought would ..."

Thanks, I knew I was going to have this issue going in but I prefer to get vaccines rather than be super sick. I haven't gotten the flu since I started getting that vaccine. This one was the new covid one. I always get fevers the first day after and headaches for at least a week after ANY vaccine. I can't seem to shake it yet. My doctor has 2 more in my chart that he wants me to take. An updated hepatitis and pneumonia vaccine. I have to space them out though because the headaches are killer. So 2 more times then I get a break until next fall or the next covid update (I am assuming this is going the way of the flu vaccine and will probably be yearly at some point).

I’ll cover one of the Os, with a book by Melissa F. Olson.

I’m megan and I’m in Indianapolis, Indiana. My shelf is wheel7. Here’s the link. I would embed it but I’m on my phone and it’s a pain in the butt. https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Hi Team Queenie!
My name is Gunit and I am from India.

Gunit's shelf

Sounds Good, CB!

Welcome Megan and Gunit! :)

I'm heading to bed super early tonight (it's 7:15 and I'm exhausted!) but hoping to wrap up my current read so I can start fresh Monday evening!

Just requested access to the spreadsheet :) I'm probably gonna start with Upgrade by Blake Crouch. It doesn't work for Space Opera, unfortunately, but it is blue and has the elusive U!

Hello Team Queenie!
My name is Melissa, I'm from Vermont, and I'm trying to get through my current reads before this challenge starts :) Finished three today! Got one left. But I might need to like talk to folks in my house tomorrow, lol.
I'm one of the co-captains this time around :)
My shelf is wheels-7
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I can read The Collapsing Empire It's not blue enough, but it is in the Interdependency series, so it would count for I.

I'll pick it up at the library on Monday.

Vicky wrote: "Yay, glad to see people checking in!

@Michelle and Donna - I hope you both feel better soon! I had COVID followed by a three week allergy/sinus situation in September/October that I thought would ..."

I have to have iron infusions because I am horribly anemic. My body was protesting and did not like the first infusion I had. It felt like little elves were pic axing their way through my stomach while another group of elves have taken up residence in my head and are dancing on my brain. Throw in what I think may be a sinus infection/ear infection and my life is complete...lol. Thank goodness for audio books.

I just sent a request for the SS. I hope it was the correct sheet. I see links for 3 sheets, did I ask for the correct one?

Melissa wrote: "Hello Team Queenie!
My name is Melissa, I'm from Vermont, and I'm trying to get through my current reads before this challenge starts :) Finished three today! Got one left. But I might need to like..."

Lol... I had to do that today unfortunately. So I finished only one of my current reads instead of both of them :p

Michelle wrote: "I just sent a request for the SS. I hope it was the correct sheet. I see links for 3 sheets, did I ask for the correct one?"

Yes, you did!

I think I'm caught up on everyone who requested, let me know if I missed you!

Round 1 Start & Time Zone Reminders

(Sidenote: I'll use bold headers on posts with important info/updates so they'll stand out a little bit vs any other chatty posts I'm making!)

We start at 9PM GMT on November 14th: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...

Relevant Conversions for Us:
US-EST: 4pm on November 14th
India-IST: 2:30am on November 15th

Books will only count for the challenge if they are started AFTER this time.

These will also be the times the rounds will end, so Round 1 will end at 4PM November 21st EST/2:30AM November 22nd IST.... so on and so forth.

The end time for Round 1 is the same as the start time for Round 2, and so on. However, books can carry over from week to week - so a book you start during Round 1 but finish in Round 2 (or 3,4,5) can be used for the round you finish in.

OOOh
I found a blue space opera that starts with an O.
That means I HAD to buy it on Kindle....

Gunit Kaur wrote: "Melissa wrote: "Hello Team Queenie!
My name is Melissa, I'm from Vermont, and I'm trying to get through my current reads before this challenge starts :) Finished three today! Got one left. But I mi..."

:)
I always think the weekends are much longer than they actually are :)

Michelle wrote: "Vicky wrote: "Yay, glad to see people checking in!

@Michelle and Donna - I hope you both feel better soon! I had COVID followed by a three week allergy/sinus situation in September/October that I ..."

Yowsa. I like your creative way of dealing with it! Little elves, nasty little elves.

Melissa wrote: "OOOh
I found a blue space opera that starts with an O.
That means I HAD to buy it on Kindle....
"

I looked at that! But I'm trying really hard not to buy books outside of books I know are coming out and really want and my library has a 3 month wait.

Vicky wrote: "Melissa wrote: "OOOh
I found a blue space opera that starts with an O.
That means I HAD to buy it on Kindle....
"

I looked at that! But I'm trying really hard ..."
I should try that too :)
I'll let you know what I think :)

Morning, Team Queenie!

We're just under 11 hours until go time! I'm going to try and check in throughout the day but may not be on until after the start. I just woke up and realized I forgot to plug my phone in overnight so it's going to be one of THOSE Mondays. LOL

Almost a full team. Just one more to check in.

Hey Team! 30 Minutes until go time! I'm heading into a Doctor's appointment so I won't be here for go time, but I'll be checking in later.

Happy Reading!!

And we're off to SPAAAACE....
Anyone else reading space operas?
I just dove into 2 different ones :)

Not yet. I plan to but I have a book that I need to read for another challenge so I am going to read it first.

I plan to read a space opera this week as well - I’ve got Gabriel's Ghost teed up.

CB wrote: "I plan to read a space opera this week as well - I’ve got Gabriel's Ghost teed up."

I hope you like it. Linnea Sinclair is my favorite space opera author.

I really liked Gabriel's Ghost when I read it a few years ago, I have another Linnea Sinclair queued up in my library loans but not sure if I'll get to it this week.

I just got my library hold for Blood marked by Tracey Deonn AND The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson is out today - two of my most anticipated reads of the year. So we'll see how well I stay on task. LOL

Nice! I've never read a Brandon Sanderson book before. I just started Skyward. What would you recommend?

Besides everything, you mean? LOL I haven't read most of his YA stuff (which includes Skyward) but his Cosmere books are fantastic - they're a ton of different series that all take place in the same universe at different times on different planets. All of the series are different though, so recommendations on where to start depends on what you like best. When I have more time tonight after work I'll explain more!

I loved part of the Cosmere series. But never got around to reading any others by him