When I’ve posted about the fact that I am Working on the Blog, I didn’t think of some of the smaller reasons that have recently come to my attention. The following is one of the unexpected benefits of doing this fiddly kind of work.
I keep my reviews in a program on my computer called Calibre. It’s an ebook manager but has the capability of being a database for reviews. Instead of just using a spreadsheet, I use calibre so I can include covers, etc. Anyway, today I woke up rather early and decided to get another month from 2007 out of the way, so I began creating reviews. When I do this, I also double check what is on my blog against what I have in my calibre database just to make sure I’ve got the complete picture. 99% of the time they agree. It’s that bleeding 1% you have to worry about ๐
Sure enough, today was a 1%’er of a time. I was putting up the review for Down the Long Hills by Louis L’Amour and was copy/pasting my review and when I checked in calibre, my review there stated “no original review, here’s a blurb”. My guess is that I had a record of reading the book from my time at Devilreads but that the review got lost in the transition to Booklikes and when I tried to search my blog for Down the Long Hills, since it was in a monthly post and not it’s own, it didn’t show up. You wouldn’t believe how many books I’ve read, that are in my monthly posts, that won’t come up in a search. It is one of the reason I’m doing this. This time I was able to update my calibre library with an actual snippet. That is always a good thing.
All of this to pretty much say that today’s been a good day so far and it’s only 5am. It’s either going to turn out to be a great day or a really baaaaad day ๐
Happy Sabbath all.
That’s very organised of you. Carry on ๐
LikeLiked by 2 people
When it comes to my books and my reviews, I am VERY organized. Or at least, that is the goal. One I’ve been working on for 20 years now, hahahahaaa.
LikeLiked by 1 person
EVERY day is a good day when reading this blog.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Very true! Sometimes I’m just so humble that I forget about how incredibly talented, awesome and just generally all around Awesome I am.
Thank you for reminding me. Friends like that are priceless…
LikeLike
Oh, wait, there is a price, did you not get the invoice I sent over? I’ve hit the 20 positive comment mark, so I’m due payment if that’s OK…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I totally paid, in anchovies. Maybe the messenger boy ate them?
LikeLike
The messenger boy? The telegram man? What century are we living in?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I only use secure, certified messenger boys. Trying to send anchovies electronically is VERY messing. I’ve ruined at least 3 fax machines that way.
LikeLike
You have to dry them out first. Make a small hole in the can and drain out the juice. Then feed the anchovies into the USB port one at a time. Not difficult for a man of your abilities!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You know, you’d think they would include that kind of info on the can itself instead of making you ruin 3 perfectly good faxes. Sigh. Well, now I just have to find the usb on my new fax.
Personally, I’m getting fed up with all this high falootin’ tech. I’m thinking about going back to smoke signals and carrier pigeons.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think you’re living in Shakespeare-land, there’s a lot of messenger boys and people running from place to place with hot info….
LikeLiked by 1 person
And yet I’m hating my Shakespeare reads. Hmmm, maybe I’m internally conflicted and need some professional psychiatric help. Know any good mind shredders? And Darth Fraggleus doesn’t count!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wouldn’t let her anywhere near my mind…you need a shoulder to cry on, and I’m here for you. What has Skakespeare done to you? use your words to describe…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d like to see some certified Mind Shredder credentials before I go spilling my secrets to you. Preferably from a Mind Shredder Approved University with all Mind Shredder certified teachers. None of this Internet Mind Shredder school stuff!
LikeLiked by 1 person
OK, calm down, I’m here to help. I’ve got all the paperwork. So, when did the problem start?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hmmm, when did it start? Let me think….
It was a dark and stormy night, last night. I had a bad dream about chicken and then I woke up and retroactively hated all my Shakespeare reads.
Dr, tell me, what does it mean? Is it fatal?!?!?
LikeLike
Wait, can I stop you at the Paul Clifford reference? Like, where that quote came from? You probably don’t realise it but it’s also the line that Snoopy used to start off his writings. Maybe Snoopy is more the kind of reading level you should be shooting for…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dr, is the cure really that simple? Just read comics until my brains ooze out of my ears and ignore Shakespeare?
You’re a wonder worker!!!!!!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great, where do I send this invoice? Counselling ain’t cheap, and right here’s where you start PAYING! In Sweat! And anchovies!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Send the invoice by carrier pigeon. It’s raining here so I can’t receive smoke signals today.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Probably best that you don’t see some of these conversations unfolding in real time…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, some “organization” might decide I’m a spammer or something *eyeroll*
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry, that’s your alloted quota of comments used for today. I know that you are not a spammer. But, what is the one amazing tip about removing belly-fat that doctors don’t want me to know?
LikeLiked by 1 person
If you eat 10 pizzas a day you won’t have to worry about belly fat.
(because you’ll be dead)
LikeLike
OK, but you simply won’t believe what these Saved by The Bell cast-members look like today!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gotta love your devotion to this, and the hard work you are putting into it. All I can say is job well done, and well as our fellow Master of Iron said: EVERY day is a good day when reading your posts๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s either work on the blog or start planning that big bank robbery I’ve been thinking about for 20 years. Mrs B prefers the blog idea ๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lol….I wonder why she preferred the blog over the bank robbery. One of lifeโs great mysteries! ๐๐๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
It really IS a mystery ๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I see, The nouvea avant gardeโness really does enrich the experience given oneโs bouliabase foundation
LikeLiked by 1 person
FINALLY!!!! Somebody gets it!
Oh thankyou! You’ve made this whole ordeal totally worth it…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I see, The nouvea avant gardeโness really does enrich the experience given oneโs bouliabase foundation….daisy daisy, give me your answer do….Dave? Dave?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, I guess this post really blew your little robot mind!
I always knew I was a genius…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I never thought of using Calibre as a review managing tool. I only juggle eBooks with it and donโt have my physical library in it.
Given my hang for short stories I wonder if and how it would sort them out – relations to several anthologies or to isfdb for example. I guess Iโll rather use fulltext search at WP.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I keep a separate library for my reviews, so their not mixed in with my actual ebooks.
On the mobileread forums there are some people who deal with fan-fiction stories, so lots of short stories. If you wanted to, you could probably get some tips from them. But it would take some effort, so you have to decide if it’s worth it or not.
It is for me because I want an offline copy of my reviews ๐
LikeLike
Good idea, even if itโs not the same use case (fanfic donโt appear in multiple anthologies). I fear I donโt bring up the motivation to dig further into that. Maybe Iโll program something myself which fits my needs.
Do you know if there is a WP API which could be used programmatically instead of having a manual input?
LikeLiked by 1 person
re: wordpress api
I have no idea. I know you can export your blog into some sort of xhtml file, but I don’t know what it looks like or anything. You could ask on the forums and someone might know.
LikeLike
Never mind, Iโve found it. Also the WP Plugin for Calibre.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, there is a plugin? I’ll have to check that out. I had no idea.
LikeLike
Got a link? I can’t find it in the plugin index…
LikeLike
I donโt know if and how good it works, but hereโs the link to GitHub: https://github.com/fleshgordo/calibrewordpress
It probably isnโt migrated to the new python calibre 5 is running on. I stay on calibre 4 and donโt update due to various reasons (one essential plugin doesnโt work anymore)
LikeLiked by 1 person
No worries. I’m sticking with 4.whateverI’mat for the de-drm plugin as well. I don’t need anything the upgrade does, so I’ll just wait. If it takes a year, I’m ok with that ๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t understand what is so unnatural about what that guy is doing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Once you’ve robbed a few banks with Mr Mugrage, then you’ll understand. It’s one of “those” things ๐
LikeLike
I don’t know what I would do if I lost my Goodreads account, where all of my reviews are posted. I guess I would still have all the copies on my blog, but makes me think maybe I should back them up somewhere. Calibre is a good choice.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You can export your gr reviews, then use one of the plugins to import them into calibre.
LikeLike
Ah yes, the last time I did this was a while ago, I need to export my data again soon!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Goodreads eats reviews. There are books I know I’ve reviewed on there a few times but the review space is blank. It drives me mad and these are always the few books that I don’t have reviewed on my blog to do a quick copy and paste job! Why does it all have to be so complicated!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
And this is why I now review everything I read. It’s just easier in the long run ๐
LikeLike
It’s nice to hear how good work pays off. What’s the latest you ever woke up in the past years… I feel like 5am is now considered “late” for you!!! ๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve actually started wondering what my next “project” is going to be once I’m done catching up on all my old reviews. Thankfully, that is a couple of years away, but for some reason, time just seems to go faster these days ๐
I think that the latest I ever slept in, without dealing with the night security job, was back in my bible school days. I think I managed noon time once? I’ve always been a morning person though and would be toast by 11pm….
LikeLiked by 1 person