Friday, 10 June 2016

Let's Talk: I Admit, Writing Reviews Are Hard

I'm a self-proclaimed book blogger. I don't have the credentials or education for it, and yet here I am rating books on a scale and discussing plot development, character arcs and writing style, like I'm some kind of pro.

To be frank, I find writing reviews difficult. I love it - I definitely do, but because there's no handbook or manual guide, a lot of it I just had to figure out for myself. Sometimes it's so easy. I love or hate a book and it fills me with so many emotions and intensity, that I practically word vomit on the screen before I realise I'm about to write an essay. Other times, which is quite frequent actually, I sit and mull, scratch my head and yawn, before I can decide on how I want to put what I'm thinking into words. 

The biggest struggles I find are:

1. Trying to articulate thoughts
I struggle to coherently communicate what I've thought about the book, that it becomes super frustrating. I want the review to be succinct yet, encompass everything I need to say and most of the time it never turns out that way. It's a balance I'm working on though, so fingers crossed!

2. Self-doubt
I know this sounds ridiculous but once I finish a review I start to question whether it makes sense and if what I'm saying about the book will be considered legitimate, or at the least, an opinion to trust. I write reviews as a way to discuss my feelings for a book. However, it's also so that I can provide another perspective, which might influence readers on it. I'd like to know that what I'm saying is reaching even one person out there. 

3. Time
Time is always of the essence. Sometimes because I struggle so hard to write words down, I drag on a review that should've been up ages ago. Or sometimes I hit a bump in the road and then I let go of my blog forever and it takes awhile to get back into the spin of things. Again, something I need to find the balance for, but definitely worth it. 

Writing reviews, overall, is something I enjoy immensely. It gives me a voice to the world but is also an outlet to really allow me to convey how I feel about certain books. I hope that I'm enlightening someone whilst writing review, but at the same time know that I can use this as a means of creating impact in both the young and the old to pock up a book and read it!

Check out any of my reviews here!

What Do You Like/Dislike About Writing Reviews?


  1. I know what you mean, sometimes writing a review is daunting. I sometimes have the same problem as you, articulating my thoughts into words is really hard. Sometimes my points repeat themselves, or the points are in a jumble mess lol. Sometimes I find it so hard saying everything I want to in sentences that make sense.

    I always try and write my reviews the day of finishing the book, or within the week of finishing the book. I find if I leave it any longer, I forget how I felt about the book! Then my review just sounds really vague.

    Such a good discussion!

    Jordon @ Simply Adrift

    1. I think that's what I need to do - actually jot down notes or try write the review within a proper time frame because sometimes I don't remember how I actually felt or it sounds really vague. Thanks for the tip Jordon!

    2. Jotting down notes is a good idea! I do that sometimes, but what I do is I prepare the review post in my blog post writer, save it as a draft and then go in there every so often to write a few notes if I feel like I want to portray this note in my review. That way when I come to write the review, the notes are already in there to work off of and I don't have to keep referring to another notebook etc.

    3. Ok, that sounds a lot more logical than what I do. Sometimes when I look at my dot points I have no idea what I'm trying to say or all the points are just the same things phrased in different ways. Noted, will definitely look at coming up with a system like this!