Music and things
Reporting from Beta Blogs.
(Hey, I figure I’d better use this here website-blog to post about, y’know, what it says on the title page…)
I’m a beta - that’s an unpaid editor for those who can’t be bothered to click the ‘about’ button on the site. But hey, I’m human. I like a bit of music.
For my first big beta job (by which I mean ‘not for fanfiction’ - the soundtrack for those was typically the weekly top 40 with Ryan Seacrest, simulcast to New Zealand FTW!), I literally hid off in my room for a long weekend and put in various CDs. I think that time it was the ‘Telecom Animals Collection’ (a CD which iTunes has only started to recognise the tracklist of in the last three months), then current radio (top 40 again, another simulcast of Top of the Pops I think…), a little bit of Star Wars soundtrack, and… no, that was my ‘not touching the Spice Girls’ phase.
My second job (oddly, for the same person; you can buy the book in question from here), I buried myself for another long weekend, slipped on the Japanese Pop and classical music. I staggered out after 36 hours, several refills of my waterbottle and about eight (no, sorry, nine, but four of them were mochas and one was instant) cups of espresso. Oh, and the top 40. Again. This is just before I changed the radio stations I listened to.
Third job, nonfiction this time. This was dad’s book, and he didn’t want to listen to any music while we were going through it. Also the only time I have ever done anything by hand, the only nonfiction job, and the only time I’ve ever done an index, and the only time I’ve ever actually been paid for doing this. $40, since you’re wondering.
All of those - except for In the face of the Enemy - were done to music, and they were all done quickly, compared to my current jobs.
Fourth on the list, and it’s actually been a good few years. I’m almost done with the second readthrough of Blood Bound, and I’m glad I’m doing this, but I think I’ve finally realised what’s been missing: Music! I’ve been doing these to nothing but the sound of a computer humming and the occasional youtube video (this week we have A Very Potter Musical, and OMG I really <3 Voldemort)! This must cease.
And all it took was listening to the Top 40 at work to realise what was missing.
In an effort to avoid the same songs over and over again, however, I’m using the iPod, and my ‘vaguely freaky’ playlist for Blood Bound. Betaing Vampire stories to Rob Zombie. Hrm.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got three chapters of Blood Bound and another thirty of Cat’s Quill to get through.
(P.S.: Catherine mentioned that I call a certain vampire ‘Callum’. I feel it only fair to provide pictures here…)
(Hey, I figure I’d better use this here website-blog to post about, y’know, what it says on the title page…)
I’m a beta - that’s an unpaid editor for those who can’t be bothered to click the ‘about’ button on the site. But hey, I’m human. I like a bit of music.
For my first big beta job (by which I mean ‘not for fanfiction’ - the soundtrack for those was typically the weekly top 40 with Ryan Seacrest, simulcast to New Zealand FTW!), I literally hid off in my room for a long weekend and put in various CDs. I think that time it was the ‘Telecom Animals Collection’ (a CD which iTunes has only started to recognise the tracklist of in the last three months), then current radio (top 40 again, another simulcast of Top of the Pops I think…), a little bit of Star Wars soundtrack, and… no, that was my ‘not touching the Spice Girls’ phase.
My second job (oddly, for the same person; you can buy the book in question from here), I buried myself for another long weekend, slipped on the Japanese Pop and classical music. I staggered out after 36 hours, several refills of my waterbottle and about eight (no, sorry, nine, but four of them were mochas and one was instant) cups of espresso. Oh, and the top 40. Again. This is just before I changed the radio stations I listened to.
Third job, nonfiction this time. This was dad’s book, and he didn’t want to listen to any music while we were going through it. Also the only time I have ever done anything by hand, the only nonfiction job, and the only time I’ve ever done an index, and the only time I’ve ever actually been paid for doing this. $40, since you’re wondering.
All of those - except for In the face of the Enemy - were done to music, and they were all done quickly, compared to my current jobs.
Fourth on the list, and it’s actually been a good few years. I’m almost done with the second readthrough of Blood Bound, and I’m glad I’m doing this, but I think I’ve finally realised what’s been missing: Music! I’ve been doing these to nothing but the sound of a computer humming and the occasional youtube video (this week we have A Very Potter Musical, and OMG I really <3 Voldemort)! This must cease.
And all it took was listening to the Top 40 at work to realise what was missing.
In an effort to avoid the same songs over and over again, however, I’m using the iPod, and my ‘vaguely freaky’ playlist for Blood Bound. Betaing Vampire stories to Rob Zombie. Hrm.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got three chapters of Blood Bound and another thirty of Cat’s Quill to get through.
(P.S.: Catherine mentioned that I call a certain vampire ‘Callum’. I feel it only fair to provide pictures here…)
