To dear the Readathon Family...
I wanted to write this sooner, but a). I haven't had time - as soon as the readathon ended, I had to jump straight into the uni work that I'd been neglecting; and b). I couldn't bring myself to do it - writing this means finality to something that has been constant in my life for the past three+ months. But, I'm facing it, I'm writing this, and this is for all of you.
Firstly, I want to thank you for joining me, and the team, for this year's #HPReadathon2017. Thank you for your support, your enthusiasm, and for always giving every activity we threw at you everything you’ve got. Whether you were here a week, or you stuck around for the whole ride, thank you. If you read the books with us, thank you. If you participated in challenges and activities and interacted with the readathon community, thank you. If you were in it only for the points, no thank you.
It was quite unfortunate that, at times, we found people to be very 'points-hungry', that is, they seemed to care about house points more than anything else. Some people were doing challenges and activities FOR the points, and weren't actually reading with us at all. That was a little bit sad. It is called a READathon after all.
And, then, there were those who were so impatient that we had to let everyone know in our VERY FIRST Tumblr update post that we're only human and that running the readathon was not a full time job (though we wish it was!). There were only five of us, and, even then, most of us were incredibly busy with Muggle life. We juggled that with actually doing the readathon and running the behind the scenes as well, and I want to say that I thought the team handled it very well. We couldn't be on the account twenty-four hours of every day, that would be incredibly impractical. We couldn't give out house points as soon as things were posted. We couldn't monitor every single tweet that came through. But we tried our best, nevertheless.
And, then, there was the concern about time zones. While we tried our best to make sure everyone around the world could participate in a majority of events (opening the quizzes for 24 hours is an example of this), we could never please everyone. That was a given. Some of our events were timed so that they matched the books (Quidditch - Saturday, 11am UK time - though ours were mostly on Sunday because of Muggle life). Most events were timed to cater for the majority of the readathoners - this year, we had a lot of Europeans, so we did a lot of things on their time. This was at great inconvenience to us - I'm from Australia, I stayed up half the night every single night to make sure things ran smoothly. If we ran things on American time, I'd be awake, yes, but no one would join, as the majority of the readathoners would be asleep. It was a strategic move, and it paid off, despite the complaints.
But that was only some people. Most of you were incredibly lovely. I've had the time of my life getting to know all of you as we journeyed through the books together. Those whose usernames stood out for me most were the ones who constantly showed up, no matter what - not only for the events, but they embraced the social side of the readathon, and tweeted their favourite quotes, their thoughts, comments and questions. From this, and the Common Room group chats, it was amazing to see the Readathon Community truly forming.
There was a lot of planning for this readathon, I’m not going to lie. I’ve been planning it since October 2016, and the team has been with me since the beginning of the year. We prepared all the schedules, question threads and quizzes months before the readathon even began. But, as it is with these sorts of things, we couldn’t plan for everything. The Common Room group chats - we had had that idea early on, but scrapped it due to the amount of work it would take. But, everyone was so keen to have one, so we accommodated for it. The Pride Week challenges, where we got each House to pitch in challenges, that was on a whim too! I love that we did that though - it truly made the readathon YOURS. The free-weekend activities were decided in the week leading up to them too - very last minute, but so, so, so worth it.
I actually cannot believe how much we've achieved during this readathon. We got out of our comfort zones several times to take photos in public for the photo challenges. We've created our own magical beasts, we've faced our fears, we've gotten messy in the kitchen, we've created our own magical schools, we've turned our art into moving images, we've participated in (wild, animal-filled) Quidditch matches, we've sent in an awkward video of ourselves talking about how much we love HP, we’ve learnt a runic alphabet and wrote cute little notes to each other, we've treated ourselves to something nice, we've created wands and charms, and plotted our own magical stories. We made an appearance IN a fanfiction, written solely for the readathon, and we've created long lasting memories that no one could ever take from us.
My most favourite memory is Chloe's (@chloeinhogwarts) "Albums" moment. That, to me, was a huge highlight, because I remember just sitting there, giggling like a mad person, even though I knew if I didn't get a move on with the quiz, we'd never finish the club. We ended up going for three hours that day, and it was truly memorable.
Another moment I remember quite well is how Farzana (@cimorriana) and I began talking - we had a pun-off, and it was really quite epic!
Also epic was the time when all the readathoners came together to fight Twitter Umbitch because HPR had been shadowbanned! That made me feel so proud and happy to be a part of such an amazing and supportive community.
It was also during this readathon that I became an Honorary Hufflepuff. Long story short, the Puffs always caught HPR (me) in the Hufflepuff Common Room, and they'd call me out on it, and I would chill with them for a bit - they nearly always told me to go to sleep though. Then, one day in July, they decided to add my personal account to the Common Room, and it was a blast getting to know them better (even though I sort of knew quite a bit because of all the stalking). I want to point out that my friendship with the Hufflepuffs did not affect their standing in the House Cup. Their #Hufflepocalypse really sealed the deal for them.
I've really had a blast this readathon. There really aren't enough words to describe the feelings of revisiting Harry's world and rediscovering the forgotten moments. Nor can I describe the joy I felt when writing the fanfic, or seeing conversations between readathoners blossom into friendships, or the fact that I was so tired every day, but still got up to do readathony things. It really gave my life a purpose, a reason to wake up every day, and you guys were definitely a huge part of that. So, once again, thank you.
There’s so much I want to keep talking about - like, the fact that the OWL and NEWT creative answers were absolutely hilarious that they had me rolling on the floor laughing, or the fact that we spent three months together and weren’t sick of each other, or the fact that I was up til odd hours in the days leading up to the end of the month to collect tweets (there were SO many) for the magazine. Or, you know, boycotting CC and the Pottermore shorts together to read our own fanfiction. This is an experience that you walk away with memories that’ll last a lifetime - store them in your Pensieve! I’m rambling, but seriously, I’m so happy with how the readathon went this year. I said it was going to be incredibly interactive, and it truly was. Bit stressful, at times, but I think that was worth it.
I have to quickly add in a twenty-foot-giant thank you to my team - Andrew, Jem, Lovisa and Meg - for their tireless efforts during this readathon. While Meg ran Quidditch, and Jem tackled the COMC club, they, and the others, worked really hard behind the scenes, talking through ideas and planning events, and I really could not have run HPR without them. Guys, I'm truly thankful that you gave up your time and holiday to help me, and to deal with everything the readathon threw at us.
I'm incredibly sad it's over, but never fear, readathoners, this is not goodbye - we will countdown to next year together, and it'll be totally awesome.
Until next year, stay magical, be safe, I love you all.
Tan. x (@slythertan)