Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!
For the first time since I’ve started blogging, I’m actually ahead on reading and behind on writing reviews! Writing a review obviously takes less time than reading a book and so it used to be that I’d finish a book, then immediately write a review. Lately, I’ve been going through books fast enough that I haven’t needed to write reviews immediately in order to keep up with blog. As a result, I have something of a backlog of books to review!
Personally, I think I prefer it this way. It is far less stressful to write a review at the last minute if I know I have the book read already. And it also makes it easier not to have to write reviews at the last minute, since I often have books finished well in advance.
Is the limiting step in your blogging usually reading books or getting the reviews posted? Do you prefer to be ahead on reading books or to have reviews written for all the books you’ve read?
Doing Dewey 
Great topic for discussion. I do both. Sometimes I read a book and write a review immediately. Sometimes I let it simmer in my mind for a bit first. I think it depends on what type of book it is.
I don’t know which I prefer. I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump lately so I’m not sure where posts will be coming from in the very near future, lol. A backlog would be great at this point!
Oh no, not a slump! I find taking a break for a day or so usually does it for me, so hopefully you’ll get back to craving some reading soon. I also will write some reviews immediately while I choose to sleep on others, mostly just depending on whether or not I’m in the mood to write 🙂
I used to read a book and review it immediately and publish immediately, so if a book took me longer than average, both reading AND reviewing stressed me out. I started to read, review, and save the review for future scheduling, so now I’m not stressed at all. I’m about a week or two ahead of schedule and I feel like I’ve been able to take my time. I still have to review immediately just for my own peace of mind. If I don’t, I’m afraid I’ll forget my thoughts. But at least I’m not stressed for time.
Great post!!
Here’s my Musing Mondays Post
Megan @ Love, Literature, Art, and Reason
That sounds like a great way to be doing things! I occasionally get ahead and really enjoy it, but usually a busy week comes along soon enough and I get back to writing posts as I publish them.
I’m new to blogging and only read maybe one or two books a week. So right now It is easy to juggle both.
http://cynthia2729.wordpress.com/2013/06/10/musing-mondays-june-10/
That sounds like a nice pace 🙂 I generally read about two books a week two and can keep up with that, but recently I’ve read some fast YA books and started listening to audiobooks, so now my reading is getting ahead.
I have a compulsion to write the review as soon as I finish the book. I post on Amazon, Goodreads, and one of my blogs….and only count the book finished when the review is posted. I’m also worried that, if I don’t write the review right away, I’ll forget salient details. I don’t take notes when reading…that feels too much like work! lol
Here”s MY MUSING MONDAY POST
I think I’m exactly the opposite. Writing the review immediately would feel like work to me, so I prefer to take notes.
I usually write a review the moment I finish the book, or the next day. This means I have my posts ready and scheduled in advance. For me, this works, since I have a schedule on my blogs when I post which kind of article. In this way, I always have a review ready and I am not behind either with reading, or writing.
(interesting question!)
Kind regards,
I am envying your organization so much right now 🙂 I keep track of scheduled ARC reviews, but hopefully I’ll get better at planning my other posts too.
I love to read…I do not love to write reviews. So I am always behind on reviews. Always.
Haha, I think that’s part of what’s gotten me ahead on reading. I don’t dislike writing reviews, but I’ve definitely been more into reading lately 🙂
I read and them write the review a day or 2 later – somewhere – not polished. This is the first time too I’m about 3 or 4 weeks ahead. I recently decided to only post 1 review (what I call discussion) a week – and talk about lightening the load!! It feels so much more organic to write, go back and tweak the next day, and even the day after – then schedule. And thn go back if I feel like. Seriously – being ahead rocks hard 🙂
I always re-read mine once, to look for typos, but I don’t usually go back to them after a few days. It sounds like a great idea though and I think it would lead to better posts, so I’ll have to try it 🙂
after finishing a book i forget to write the review until later… which means less book reviews posted on my blog despite the number of books i’ve read… but it’s okay for me, i prefer if i’m ahead of reading 😀
my musing mondays post:
http://wp.me/p3v5T1-4J
I think it’s possible I’ll also not review all of the books I read, if I get enough ahead. Or perhaps do one post with some short catch-up reviews on the ones I don’t have much to say about. But I agree, it’s definitely nicer to be ahead on reading any way 🙂
i, too, do not write a review for every single book i read, especially if it’s part of a series. sometimes i review the books as a whole series… or sometimes i don’t write the reviews because i’m too lazy to do it haha.
I do most of my reading when I commute, so things are much slower in my world. On average it takes me 4-5 weeks to read a book. I try to write the review as soon as possible because there’s usually only so much time I have available for blogging (like when the kids are asleep or lunch hours). I also lose motivation once I start a new book.
Although I like being ahead on reviews, I am worried I’ll start to lose track of books if I take too long to get to them. Hopefully notes will help. Do you listen to audiobooks or do you take a bus or something where you’re able to read on your commute?
This is a good question! Lately, the limiting factor for me hasn’t been reading or writing reviews, it’s been doing all the “other” blog stuff like responding to comments and being on social media. Those are important to me, for sure, but it’s cut back on the time I have to write posts.
It’s amazing how much time you could spend on all the other stuff! I also think it’s an important part of blogging, so I’m trying to find a good balance.
Usually I read a book, take notes or highlight on the Kindle and basically write the review while reading or immediately after finishing the book. Recently I experimented with getting ahead on reading then catching up on reviews. That didn’t work for me. Here’s what I’m currently reading: https://daystarz.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/musing-mondays-what-im-reading/
Interesting! I’ve never used the notes and highlighting features on my kindle but perhaps I should try them out 🙂 Do you take notes in a different way for physical books you read?