Jen at Crazy for Books restarted her weekly Book Blogger Hop to help book bloggers connect with one another, but then couldn't continue, so she handed the hosting responsibilities off to Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. The only requirements to participate in the Hop are to write and link a post answering the weekly question and then visit other blogs that are also participating to see if you like their blog and would like to follow them.
This week Billy asks: How much of your day is devoted to your blog, and how much is devoted to reading?
I really don't have a good idea what my per day averages are. I generally read for at least an hour every day, usually while riding the bus during my daily commute, but I often read more in a day. How much could range from some snippets of time grabbed here and there while waiting for something or otherwise in the interstitial periods of life, to extended lengths of time while sitting at my desk or on the couch at home. So the amount of time I spend reading in a day can vary from about an hour to several hours. There's no real pattern to my reading habits, I just grab whatever time I can whenever I can.
Measuring the amount of time I spend on this blog depends on what one counts as time spent on it and what one does not. I don't actually write most of my reviews directly on the blog, but rather write them using a separate platform, and then transfer the review to here and format it for the blog. Writing an actual review usually take two to three hours. I try to aim for about a one thousand word review for a novel, although I usually overshoot by several hundred words. Reviews for short fiction collections usually end up being longer, often exceeding two thousand words, and sometimes topping five thousand. Those reviews take proportionally longer to write.
When I transfer a review to this site, I put in all of the internal links that form the infrastructure that makes it possible to navigate to pretty much every post I've ever made on this blog without too much difficulty. That process usually takes a half an hour or so per post. I try to post at least four blog posts a week, but would ideally like to post six, although I think I've only managed six posts in a week a handful of times. I also have a fair amount of background work that needs to be done on a regular basis, such as new author and musical artist pages and updates to the various award tracking pages as I complete reviews of books that are contained within them. I try to work on those when I have a day that isn't as busy as my usual.
So the answer is that there really isn't a "usual" for either how much per day I read, or for how much per day I spend on this blog. It can vary wildly from an hour or two, to, on some days, ten or twelve hours of work.
Previous Book Blogger Hop: New Horizon's Flyby of Jupiter Slowed the Planet, xkcd's "what if" 146 Works Out How Many Such Flyby's Would Be Needed to Stop Jupiter Completely
Subsequent Book Blogger Hop: The Numidian King Masinissa Died in 148 B.C.
Book Blogger Hop Home
Wow that is impressive how many words you have in your reviews. I most often keep my short and sweet but 200+. I have no educational training in writing and so I am more chatty.
ReplyDeleteSportochick’s Musings Answer
@Teri Lloyd: I tend to be wordy when I write. I usually can't get all of my thoughts into a review even if I spend a thousand words on it, but I have to cut them off somewhere. I try to hit the happy medium where I have said enough that the reason for my opinion on the book is clear, but not so much that I am writing an entire book about each book.
DeleteMy problem is how much to write and not give away the story. I haven't found a happy medium.
Delete@Teri Lloyd: My general inclination is to write enough that I think a reader can understand what I'm saying and why, and provide enough material concerning the story that they can understand the context of the things I am writing about it.
DeleteI guess part of the reason I don't write more in my reviews is because I don't feel I am literate enough like a reviewer or English major who is trained in the written word.
Delete@Teri Lloyd: I wouldn't worry too much about things like academic qualifications for reviewing. Most book bloggers don't have much in the way of formal training on that front. My background is in history, economics, and law, and not literary criticism (and most of my reviews probably reflect that). All one really do is put down your honest opinion and try to communicate your thoughts on the book as best you can.
DeleteAlthough I am glad I don't have a long commute to work, sometimes I envy those who do just because you have extra reading time built into your day. :-)
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have a clue how long my reviews tend to run. I know they are long compared to many people's standards--maybe not as long as yours though. I tend to ramble, although I try to organize my thoughts somewhat.
I try to post to my blog three times a week, and on the rare occasion I post more. I just don't have the time to devote to my blog that I used to have. I'm okay with that though. It's manageable.
@Literary Feline: A long commute is a mixed blessing at best.
DeleteThe word count of my reviews is something I know because of the platform I use to write them on. It keeps track of the word count for me.