I Am A Poll Procrastinator
Yes, it’s true. I’m down to the wire every single year. Like this year, for example.
I tend to procrastinate voting in the AAR Annual Reader Poll for a few reasons:
- It’s hard when you don’t keep a reading database.
- Lack of said reading database.
- Absence of reading database means I must rely on interim results.
- The deadline must be close enough for me to smell it in order to blast me off my can.
Well, the whiff of smoking deadline is getting stronger – it’s just five days from today.
So, poll procrastinator that I am, it’s time to get off my proverbial butt and get my vote in.
To all my fellow poll procrastinators, I hope you’ll think about joining me. Hey, it’s a holiday weekend and next Tuesday we’ll all be back to work. And, anyway, that’s just too down to the wire – even for a confirmed poll procrastinator like me.
So, vote, everybody! The poll closes on Tuesday, February 17th at midnight, which might seem as if you have a comfortable window. And you sorta do. But Tuesday is American Idol night and trying to vote while also attempting to keep on top of the ever-evolving Simon-Paula dynamic…well, the mind boggles.
I’m going to get my vote in this weekend. Really.
-Sandy AAR
There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points in here.
I voted yesterday. Yeah, me!
I have to admit that I finally voted last Thursday — it was tough this year. There were some categories that I really had to think of who I wanted to get my vote.
“”Don’t forget that voting entitles you to bitch about the results!””
That’s a good one, Diana.
I always used to struggle with “”worst,”” until this year. Before I became a reviewer, I was very selective in the books I read, and never finished anything I would grade lower than a C+/C. This year, I actually had several competing books (Ds, and Fs) for my worst category…one of the fringe benefits of reviewing here at AAR.
I am an excellent procastinator! I dithered over “”worst”” this year because unless a book is incredibly stinky or stomps on my hot buttons it just disappears from my brain pan (which is busy retaining 30 years of bad song lyrics I’d love to forget). Finally came up with two candidates and surprised myself with my vote. But wow, it felt right.
Don’t forget that voting entitles you to bitch about the results!
Thanks, Tee for encouraging people to vote. Anyone who’s even considering not voting because they think they’re “”out of step”” with the interim results, I’d really like to encourage you to vote anyway. As Tee mentioned, the results are extremely fluid from day to day. There are still a lot of categories where the top books/characters/authors are only one or two votes ahead of a number of others. And there have been many, many changes since the interim results.
Thanks to everyone who has voted so far, and good luck to all of you still preparing your ballots!
LinnieGayl, one of your AAR pollsters
I don’t keep databases, either, Sandy, so filling out the ballot is really difficult. I’ve tried to keep track of the books I’ve read this far, but I dropped off mid-January or so, and even remembering the books I’ve read in the past month is hard.
We did cut the number of categories this year, Tee, so it is easier. Thanks for noticing.
I voted a couple of days ago, and to those who are holding off because they feel it’s going to be an ordeal this year, you will find that not to be the case at all. The ballot is short and simplified and quick to go thru.
Only for the last couple of years have I been keeping a yearly list. This year it contained only 22 books. I keep only my A reads in different categories—suspense, contemp, historical, chic lit, etc—and then a few horrible or disappointing ones in case the question appeared on the ballot. By not listing every single book I’ve read throughout the year, but only the best of them, the list I do have keeps reading fun for me and not a chore. If I need to refer to names of characters, I pop over to Amazon and look up the book for the essentials.
So, be surprised, and go to the link to vote. It will take a lot less time than what you think, especially if you’ve voted here before. And I believe you only have to vote in six categories for the ballot to be acceptable.
I was almost tempted not to vote this year because I was so out of step with the interim results. Next year, I plan not to even look at them when they’re printed. It feels as though my votes won’t even matter. If I hadn’t looked at them, I wouldn’t feel that way at all. But they apparently help other people, so I can deal with it my way.