In preparation for the forthcoming Poetry Marathon, I have been doing many things. I have been testing out writing prompts that will be posted on the website. I have been figuring out the logistics of the involvement of other people. I am working on a certificate of sorts.

However one of the things I am focusing on, is more personal: getting our household prepared to participate in the 24 hour marathon, since both Jacob and I are participating, I am very grateful that we don’t have any pets, or children, that require our attention. Only plants, and honestly they require less attention then we normally give them.  Also because it is a weekend we are both unhindered by any of the usual things that we fill our days with.  However there are still a number of things we have to figure out in advance.

The most important is food, of course. We have to stock up the day before, and prepare our main meals. This really should not be hard, because we go backpacking frequently and I manage to figure that out, pretty easily. However I sometimes get nervous in situations like this one. Things like eating out or making anything too complicated will take too much of our time, and I want to ensure that we have as much of every hour to write in as possible.

Coffee actually may be more of a legitimate concern, because the method Jacob usually makes it requires at least 10 minutes, of his attention. So we will either buy that nearby, or return to tea for the day.

I really want to make sure we get enough exercise to keep our blood flowing, and to stop us from slipping into a stupor. I figured short 15 minute walks on a regular basis would be a start, as well as a number of sit ups and crunches, every hour.

At night most people have become concerned that they may fall asleep. My personal plan is to set my alarm to go off 15 minutes before the hour, every hour, so that if I fall asleep I still have 15 minutes to write my poem.  Also I am going to have Jacob around to keep me awake. Some of my graduate school friends who still live in New York are going to try and make a sleepover out of it, to keep them up. Some people are planning to convene on Skype.

What are other peoples plans, if they are participating?