2013 WHERE Are You Reading Challenge

3rd year running and OH I love this challenge! As the host of the weekly What Are you reading meme, I find it awesome that I get to host the WHERE Are You Reading Challenge each year. What is the point of this challenge? It is to try to read in each of the 50 States between January 1 2013 – December 31, 2013.


How do you decide what state a book is categorized under?

1. In a fiction read it would be the State or Country that the book spends the most time in. (Ie. If your main character is from Wisconsin but the book is all about his/her time in college in California – the books should categorize under California….)
2. Non fiction reads categorize in whatever State or Country it is about (Ie…. a book about fly fishing in Colorado is a Colorado point, and a book about women in Afghanistan is an Afghanistan point.
3. If the book goes from one state to another… go with the state that most of the time is spent.
How to get started

Set up a map under Google Maps. It is easy to do! Every time you read a book in 2012, upload a cover picture to Picasa Web Albums (there may be other sites to use, feel free to use what works best for you).
Grab the challenge button here for your posts and sidebar

Questions?

Do you have to have a blog to participate? No. You can do everything on the map above without linking the book to a review.
Do I have to have my post up by January 1st, 2012? No, but I would think you would want to get started right away at the beginning of the year. However, you will be able to sign up throughout January as well.
How will people see my map? There are a couple of possibilities. On your original challenge post you should have a link to your map. You could also put it on your side bar to draw interest to it (see mine on my left side bar) I will be linking my map to every review I will also set up a monthly link here to post updates if you wish.
I dont get it – I cant figure out how to use Google maps but I really want to participate! No worries! You are welcome to create a challenge post that lists the 50 states (as well as bonus out of USA spots) and then fill them in as you read in the areas.
Do audio books count? ABSOLUTELY!
Once you are ready and have your map set up please create a blog post (those who have blogs) using the Challenge picture of the map I provided above as well as link to this post so others may join in. Then come back and link that post here to Mr Linky (below) so I as well as other participants know that you are participating and we can pop in throughout the year to check out your map and how we are all doing. I will post a linky at the end of each month so participants can check in with their own post of how they are doing. I will offer a $10 amazon gift card to one lucky participant who does a check in post at the end of each month and links it.
This is actually a fun and easy challenge as all books you read qualify and it will be fun to see where you generally read books from as well as searching out books to fill in areas that you need.
For those who have covered the 50 states by the end of 2013, they will go into a drawing for a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble or to Amazon. ** All other areas beyond the 50 states are bonus points and we will have a drawing using random.org for those who read 10 or more books throughout 2013 in that category.
You can see my map I worked on in 2011 here to see what the map looks like and how the pictures link to the reviews. (If you zoom in you will see the individual areas I read in and clicking on the blue pins will show you what book it was and clicking on the picture will take you to the post!
That’s it! Here is a link to tips on how to do it. Any other questions – please leave them in the comments section below.

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks (North Carolina)