VMC Zoom Party!

Hello everyone!

I mentioned setting up a Zoom Party in one of our VSS threads so here's a dedicated topic thread for further discussion.
Given our various time zones, this might be a little challenging.

To give you an idea: If it's 7:00pm GMT, it is 11:00am in California and 2:00pm in New York. In Sydney, it would be 6:00am the next day.

So, raise your hand if you're interested and what day/time would be best for you.

All ideas and suggestions welcome!

Cate 🙋🏻‍♀️

It’s a wonderful idea Cate and I 🙋too!

From my point of view I can be fairly flexible once schools have broken up for Christmas i.e. 19th December onwards. Then I will be at home a lot as we’re not planning to go anywhere or see anyone over Christmas... 🙁

I am in the UK obvs.

Perhaps anyone who wants to join in could state country and likely availability and we could agree an optimum time??

It will be such fun!!

Karen

I hope to join from Sweden or Norway. My plans are still mostly undecided as I don't know yet whether or not I will be able to cross the border, but either way I will be unavailable on the 24th and probably available most other days.

Sounds fantastic. I'm in! I'm pretty free all the time now I'm not working. Alex

Lovely idea! I will be fairly free over Christmas, I think there is a Zoom party for my photo group one day but I forget when ... right, that's 27 Dec in the evening.

I'm in the UK and will not be working over Christmas and New Year so any time is good with me.

I'd love to join in. I'm in the UK and planning to be off work between Christmas and New Year so can be flexible with times
.

Should we set a date soon? I would love to join and it would be easier to defend the time from conflicting commitments if I knew when it would be.

>8 alvaret: Thanks for the nudge! This month is passing too quickly!

Here are a few days/dates for consideration:

Saturday, 12/19
Sunday, 12/20

Monday, 12/21
Tuesday, 12/22

Saturday, 12/26
Sunday, 12/27

Monday, 12/28
Tuesday, 12/29

Saturday, 1/2
Sunday, 1/3

Does 7:00pm or 8:00pm UK time sound like a feasible time?

Also, when you get a chance, leave me a private message with your email address. Thanks!

So far all those dates and times work for me.

12/27 is the only one I can't do of those. Thank you for organising!

26th onwards is best for me though I should be able to fit it in most days apart from the 20th.

I think I can make any of those dates. The only day I have anything planned for is the 26th and that should be over by the evening.

Hi Cate, I can probably do any date except for Christmas eve, Christmas day or Boxing day (though Boxing day evening might be OK)

Hi Cate, after Christmas would be best for me, and 28th or 29th would be ideal as I will still be off work. :D

All those dates and times work for me.

>14 Heaven-Ali: Ali, aren't you coming to the P365 Zoom on the 27th too?

>17 LyzzyBee: Argh I forgot about that. Yes I am.

Any of those dates is fine for me.

Thanks for everyone's response. I'm at the library all day today so I'll set up the meeting tomorrow for Tuesday 12/29 at 7:00pm UK time. (*Edited! I just remembered that I'm working on the Monday the 28th!)

I'll also touch base with other members in the group; however, feel free to contact others as well.
The more, the merrier....and it would be so lovely to 'meet' everyone!

Cate

>20 bleuroses: Thank you for organising us Cate! I've put the date and time in my diary and am looking forward to it!

Thank you Cate - will be lovely to see everyone!

Thanks for organising this Cate, it will be lovely to see and catch up with everyone.

>23 Heaven-Ali: Ali, I'll need your email address. I thought I had it already but I guess not.

Giving another shout out to anyone else you wants to join in - Simon, Mary, Jane, SassyLassy and Lisa Morr.

Yes, sounds wonderful!

Great news. Will do my best to be there. I'm often up early but it will be 5am in Brisvegas so I may be still in my jim jams.

Hello all! Cate reached out to me about this meet-up, how exciting! I've been lurking in the group all year, and would very much like to join you all. At this point the meeting time is good for me, although there is the possibility of a family-related obligation. I will do my best!

Thank you Cate for reaching out! I will also do my best to join, looks like lots of fun!

Okay! I just sent out the ZOOM invitation email to the following:

Dee
Alex
Liz
Johanna
Trish
Karen
Simon
Laura
Lisa

I'm still waiting to confirm Ali's email - but I think that's all who signed up.

If I've overlooked anyone, do give a shout out!

Thanks and I can't wait to meet you on the 29th!

Thanks for hosting, I'm looking forward to it!

Fab! Thank you Cate - looking forward to it!

I did overlook someone - Sakerfalcon!

Claire - I just sent your email invitation!

Apologies!

Cate x

Thank you Cate! You are doing a great job!

>29 bleuroses: Hoorah! I got it. I'm a bit excited :)

Thank you so much Cate, it's very exciting!

>14 Heaven-Ali: hi Cate - I have sent you my email address. Let me know if you haven't got it.

>36 Heaven-Ali: Perfect!

Okay - all invites have been sent. There's room for more if anyone else wants to join in!

Hello all! So excited for next week!

Here's who's coming.....

Dee (soupdragon)
Alex (alexdaw)
Liz (LyszzyBee)
Johanna (alvaret)
Trish (mrspenny)
Karen (kaggsy)
Simon (Stuck-in-a-Book)
Laura (lauralkeet)
Lisa Lisa_Moor
Alison (Heaven-Ali)
Claire (Sakerfalcon)

Yay! Looking forward to it!! 😁😁

As requested by Dee (soup dragon), here is a link to my reading diary thread. This is the first of two 2020 threads; the second one is linked at the end of this one

It was so good to see you all! I hope that one day we may all be able to meet in person.

Yikes! I slept in. What a goose. Sorry to have missed seeing you all.

Doh, I forgot the day - in that post-Christmas blur where they all roll into one. Sorry to miss it- glad you had a great time.

It was lovely. Thank you Cate for organizing the whole thing, and for reaching out to make sure I saw this was happening. I've been rubbish at reading Viragos this year but always enjoy talking books with this group.

Thank you Cate - it was terrific to "meet" with all of you. I'm so pleased my technology worked perfectly and this is only the 2nd zoom meeting I have attended.
My Virago reading is a bit stuck at the moment too - I am halfway through Precious Bane by Mary Webb and can't seem to move on with it. I think understanding the dialect could be the problem.

>40 Sakerfalcon: Thank you Claire. I'm looking forward to catching up with your threads, as I have found so many fantastic recommendations there in the past.

It really was lovely to see everyone and hope we can do it again. Maybe with Alex and Simon too 😊

>44 mrspenny: I believe you have many, many authors on your shelves more worthy of your time than Mary Webb. But maybe that's just me. I'll possibly get back to her one day... When I've read all my other Viragos and hell has frozen over, etc etc...

It was lovely to meet and see everyone, some I knew, some new to me faces! Thank you for organising us, Cate!

Yes, thanks *so* much Cate! It was lovely to see the faces of those I've not met, and also lovely to catch up with those I have. Time just flew - that's the longest zoom I've been in!

And I tend to agree with Dee about Mary Webb - abandon it and move on!!!!

Oh dear, Mary Webb. Life's too short!

Just to add my thanks to Cate for helping to connect us all, it was great seeing everyone last night and chatting books. Let's do it again sometime.

How wonderful it was to see everyone yesterday! I've known you all for years and to finally see everyone in living colour - well, I was truly overwhelmed!

>41 alexdaw: and >42 Stuck-in-a-Book:, you were definitely missed! I invited Paola too, but she was unable to make it.

If there were ANY good things that have come out of 2020, I'd say it was ZOOM. Perhaps we can do this again in August for All Virago/All August.
That would be a lovely addition to the 'official' Virago reading month!

>44 mrspenny: Trish, *ducking a bit here* - I loved Gone to Earth!

>45 Soupdragon:, >47 kaggsy:, >48 lauralkeet:, - Thank you - I hate abandoning a book but that was the push I needed. Precious Bane is back on the shelf and will remain there!!

>50 bleuroses:, - If I ever get back to Mary Webb, (doubtful), I will give Gone to Earth a try.

>50 bleuroses: A Zoom meeting for All Virago, all August would be fab. It might even inspire me to read some Viragos in August.

I agree that Zoom and similar are the one good thing that's come out of 2020.

>47 kaggsy: Time did fly! The last of us were still there three hours on (Alex, you could have probably caught us!) and when I went to bed my husband said that was the longest he'd ever known me stay at a party! (I'd told him I was going to a Zoom party with my Librarything friends).

One thing that made me laugh was the number of times we couldn't quite remember the name of an author or book. Somehow that doesn't happen when communicating on a website or through social media. The right words just appear apparently so effortlessly!

Sorry I couldn’t make this, it would have been lovely to meet you all.
Hopefully I will join in next time.

I love Mary Webb and especially Precious Bane.
But agree life is far too short not to be enjoying what one is reading.

I am so annoyed that I missed it! Will hope to join in another sometime :)

I will put my name in the loathe column for Mary Webb, though I only made it 1.5 pages into Gone to Earth

>52 Soupdragon: I was completely at a loss for words in general as was evident! 🤣

>55 bleuroses: It wasn't evident to me, Cate. I thought you were very calm and serene 😁

I so enjoyed our zoom party! I am definitely in favour of a repeat. Although some of us have managed to have in-person meet-ups, it took 2020 to get us to think of getting together online. One good thing to come from an otherwise gruesome year.

Oh yes please to another Zoom catch up. This time I will set an alarm :)

>56 Soupdragon: Aw, thanks, Dee. 😊

>57 Sakerfalcon: Claire, I agree!