Let's Talk About... How Do You Review?

I don't know why this has been on my mind recently, but I've been thinking a lot about my reviewing process.

I am one to fly by the seat of my pants. I almost always write a review the night before it goes up. (I actually almost NEVER schedule posts--not just reviews--in advance.) I rarely edit heavily and most of the time read over the finished product once after its been written. To be fair, I am not big on editing my own work once its written, even in papers for school. I edit as I write; I look over most sentences again before I move on to the next one and I reread whole paragraphs once they're done. If there's no travesty of grammar or complete horror in organization, I move on. (This sounds terrible, since I do aim to be an editor, but I seem to have no problem editing other people's work... Conundrum.)

I know there are a lot of people who spend hours writing a single review, and I've never quite understood that. Don't get me wrong, I applaud those that do, since I'd bet anything their reviews are better than mine. But, I've tried spending time perfecting my reviews before, and I always feel that my best reviews are the ones that come organically, those that just flow out of me. Those are generally the ones that took me fifteen minutes to write. If a review takes me longer than an hour, it's probably terrible and I probably didn't have strong feelings for the book.

I also, many times, wait a decent amount of time between when I finish a book and when I review. I find I can't organize thoughts immediately after I'm done with a book, especially if it's a book I've loved. Again, I WISH I could pound out a review right after I'm done with a book. Honestly, I'd get more reviews done.

Anyways, I am curious. How do you review? Do you edit heavily, or do you just write it and go like I do? How long do you generally spend writing reviews? When do you review?