Another busy day!

...and I ended it with two hours in my parents' exercise/weights room. Ow.

I accidentally caught my finger on a knife today, which was, y'know, also ow. Luckily, after the initial oh-hello-red-hand, it stopped bleeding immediately. Like, completely stopped and was nearly healed over ten minutes later. I think I have a new superpower? Hee.

I became a bit addicted to "The Closer" today - I found the first season pretty meh, but hopping in halfway through the second season worked out nicely. I also saw my first-ever episode of "Pushing Daisies" (the Halloween one!), and enjoyed that muchly as well.

Also! I did my first-ever drive in the city (hush, still working on that license), and sort of went for broke and wound up on the highway. And I didn't even crash once! Hooray! In what is perhaps a worrying development, I find it much easier to drive when I think of it as a video game. Well. Mario Kart, to be specific. I am a very good Mario Kart player. Mario Karter? Just so long as I don't ask my Dad which button releases the mushrooms...

I also managed to make a start on my human geography term project. Which is probably a good thing, considering it's due Thursday. I only ever look like I'm procrastinating - it's all a grand illusion (or so I tell myself). :D

In an unexpected development, I found Christmas presents for my roommates and my Dad, which is unbelievably awesome.

And, since 'tis the season and all that, I pulled out my Charlie Brown Christmas sheet music (Vince Guaraldi FTW!) and happily zipped through that. Best Christmas music ever. :D

Oh, Paypal. Where would I be without you?

Since Abebooks has been eating my bank account (hey, it's got everything!), I thought I may as well ask for some recommendations!

So! Which Doctor Who books/short stories/comics/audios/anthologies do you recommend? And why?

I'm up for anything! :D

On my fourth straight hour of beta-work...

Gosh, I love this. :D Anyone want a beta? Ever? I'd be happy to oblige.

I think I'd really benefit from sitting down and treating my own fic to a wholehearted beta. From, uh, myself. I shy away from editing my own stuff beyond the bare necessities, because it really does become a matter of either editing or writing - you can't do both. But after the fact? That would probably help a lot. Also, it would make me a feel a little less hypocritical. ;)

So, open question time! How do you go about an editing/beta session? For your own work? For others?

When I sit down to write a beta for someone else, I just completely turn off my brain and skim the fic quickly, to get an idea of what works and what doesn't without having to worry about specifics. Then I scroll up to the top, and start from the first sentence, reading slowly. The instant my mind snags on something, even if it's perfectly benign, I attempt to justify that snag, in writing, to the author. 99% of the time, it's nothing technically wrong - but there's nearly always an issue with the flow of the piece. Two short sentences that have similar structure and style. Unintentional alliteration distracting from the action and meaning of the sentence. Amusing connotations that may not have occurred to the author.

And when I look again at the sentence to try and justify my unease with it, sometimes really strange things will happen. The words will suddenly look better if arranged just so - putting the word "death" at the end of a sentence, for instance, or letting a quick staccato of harsh consonants describe a series of gunshots, or letting the description of a bird's flight soar on and on with open vowels and no concessions to punctuation. Alexander Pope knew what he was on about.

Someday, I really hope to be able to apply this level of criticism to my own writing - for now, it feels like critiquing and writing are two entirely separate processes, and that I've come so much further in the former than the latter that I can't help but enjoy it wholeheartedly. :D