I hate writing music. Just like I hate writing. I have the same problem with both, actually – in fact, it’s a problem which, now I think about it, has actually been the thing which has been picked up on in another form in performance reviews at work. Basically, I’m crap at followthrough. I’m can come up with an idea, a technique, a riff, a basis for an article, whatever. And I’ll code it or lay it down or write it up into a paragraph, and be really happy with it.

And then I’ll sit and stare at the screen for a couple of hours, wondering where to go next. Eventually, I’ll give up and go and play Mr Driller 2 or something.

In my last performance evaluation at work, my boss said that I’m technically very competent, and I’m great at coming up with solutions to problems, and coding those solutions; I am, however, utterly terrible at then incorporating those solutions into the main project in such a way that other people can use them or build on them. I get distracted, and whilst the basic implementation of the solution might only take me a day, all the support work needed to make that solution useful can take me five to ten times as long.

I think, basically, I like novelty; once I’ve solved a problem then, well, it’s solved, and I get bored very quickly if I have to continue to work with it once it’s finished. I think this is probably why the idea of doing research still appeals to me – I’ve got this vague notion that if some research council wants to fund me to come up with cool ideas, but not necessarily anything to actually do with those ideas, that would be fantastic. Of course, that’s not exactly how it works, but it’s a nice idea.

Anyway. I digress; I’m actually here to ask your help, dear reader (or listener as, in fact, you are about to become), in overcoming this to some small degree. I’ve produced a small loop of music, which you can download here (MP3, 300KB). I think it sounds nice. I just have no idea what to do with it: does it need vocals? Does it need a guitar? How should it progress? Give me ideas! And, if I get to number 1 with your idea, I’ll let you come on CD:UK with me – can’t say fairer than that, eh?

(Cat Deeley is mine, though, okay?)

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 28th, 2004 at 10:48 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.