The third installment of TFF’s new guest post series on the demands of reviewing welcomes David Ledeboer from The Troubled Scribe.

“David is one of the few reviewers I know who are into Warhammer fiction, and that’s one of the reasons why I’m a regular reader of his work. We also happen to share quite a few of the same tastes in our reading so that doesn’t hurt either! David’s guest post here is another one about time, but with a rather unique twist.” ~Shadowhawk

The Difficulties of Reviewing

by David Ledeboer

So a fellow reviewer, Abhinav Jain, (great guy with a fantastic name, which I’m sure I would dreadfully butcher if I dared pronounce it out-loud) asked me if I would be interested in participating in a blog post covering the topic of:  the difficulties of reviewing and the demands of the hobby. I leaped at the chance to write this, because while I don’t necessarily have difficulty with the reviewing process, the time demands sometimes required for me are extremely harsh to adhere to.

I can read an average 400 page book in about three or four days, given that I have a lax work schedule for the current day, sometimes quicker. (I get most of my reviewing done at work, simply because there is a lot of down time occasionally.)  It can take me anywhere from an hour or a couple days to write-up a review that I think sufficiently expresses how I feel about the book. I try to write my reviews and base them on multiple factors but in the end, I always to tend to lean on how the book actually made me feel inside. After writing the review, I always, ALWAYS, have a wonderful relative of mine edit the reviews and she is more than happy to do so. This takes less than an hour on her part, but she often does not get the edited review back to me until the next day.  Then when I get the revised review, I post it on my blog, which combined with uploading, double-checking everything, linking, all that social media jazz, and any other tidbits takes an hour or two also.

So let me break this down for you: 3 or 4 days to read the book, 1 day for review, 1 day for edit, and 1 day for uploads. About a week’s process for me, but I completely forgot to mention the most exhausting point most people don’t realize. This is just a hobby for me; I don’t get paid, unless you count the occasional free book or two that comes my way.

This hobby can take hours away from my day, from my free time, from my wife, from my one and a half year old screaming monster, Liam, (whom I normally say does all the reviewing.) And more often than not, sometimes I forget this when I’m so caught up in the excitement of reading and reviewing. Sometimes, they can feel a tad neglected when I’m so engrossed in all this and many times I hear: “Stupid, Dumb-Book-Crap, Which Seems More Important Than Your Family, David!”

 Finding the proper balance between all these things is difficult and I’m still searching for that happy break-even point, which as of yet seems as mythical as a unicorn. I love my family with all my heart; I also love books (not near as much as the family, mind you), but without my amazing wife to distract the Liams from eating the keyboard, writing reviews and even this post wouldn’t be possible.

So in short, sad to say for me, if anything gets the bump it has to be reviewing books; luckily for me the majority of book reviews that have been requested by me or of me has been completed I think fairly swiftly.

Hopping off my little soapbox now, I tip my baseball cap to you guys for taking the time to read this and Abhinav Jain for allowing me the honor of writing this up.

Thanks again!

*****

Troubled Scribe on , , and Web.

The next guest on for the series will be fellow reviewer and friend Ken Wong from ““, on the 7th of March .

Previous entries:

• Myself
• Mieneke van der Salm from A Fantastical Librarian