Friday, November 4, 2011

A thought has been lurking in the back of my mind for the last several weeks but I've been so busy that it didn't fully shape itself. Until yesterday that is. Last night, as I was settling down to read, I realized that my main concern was with finishing in time for the scheduled post today and the thought alarmed me. When has reading turned into another obligation? This is what I do for fun! Or is it?
Writing is hard work and while it may take me several hours or several days to read a book it may have taken the author weeks, months, sometimes years to write it. This makes me want to give all the attention I can to reading and have fun doing it, and when the time comes to write the review I want to be able to think about the book for a while and relay more than just superficial impressions. Another side of it is that I want to invest more into my own writing and unfortunately a time turner remains little more than a product of J.K. Rowling's imagination. So the inevitable conclusion is that by committing to read and review two books a week I have bitten off more than I can chew and yesterday it became obvious that it is time for a change. Starting today there will be only one scheduled review post a week - on Sundays. I'm keeping the Wednesday Special Feature post - those are too much fun to not do any more.
I've already begun updating the BiblioCalendar and first order of business is to honor my review request commitments. That'll keep me busy until the end of the year and after that I'll do my best to maintain the fun spirit and do surprise review posts whenever I can. Bookish surprises are always nice, aren't they? ;)

4 comments:

  1. This is why I don't schedule any posts and hardly ever accept books for review, having a deadline sucks all the fun out of reading for me. I'm trying to read when I feel like I can love it.

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  2. Hi, Olga! I have been dealing with this issue for awhile now so I'm glad I ran into your blog. I too have been shocked by how reading and reviewing have become like a job - one that I'm not even paid to do! If you have to remind yourself that book blogging is something that's supposed to be fun, then something's wrong. I hope your new schedule works out.

    Stephanie ~Misfit Salon~

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  3. Sam, I was considering not accepting books for review but I love seeing new authors start out and if the book is good I'd like to help spread the word so that's why I'm keeping that door open. And I'm ok with deadlines, as long as they're realistic. Live and learn!
    Stephanie, thank you and welcome! Keeping it light and fun has definitely proven important :) Hope you'll find a formula that works for you and soon.

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  4. I know what you mean. It's the same with writing for me. I tried giving myself a writing schedule but found that it wasn't fun anymore and waht I was writing lacked sparkle. So now I don't put so much pressure on myself to stick to a timetable. At the moment I only review books that I've bought myself so it's not hard to read and review, although again, I don't keep to a schedule.

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