The Joys, and Pains, of Transcribing.

As part of my internship at Texas Monthly, I sometimes have the dull task of transcribing interviews for the writers. I'll admit, it is a finger-throbbing, mind-numbing task most of the time, especially when the person being interviewed is about as interesting as your antisocial, great aunt Hilda discussing her quilt collection. I may be slightly over-exaggerating, most of the time it isn't that bad - Texas Monthly hasn't become a household name by interviewing lame people - but sometimes, you'd be surprised who has to be interviewed for a story.

Today, I got to witness the result of my efforts, and it put my job into a satisfying perspective. Also as an intern I have to proofread articles that get put on the web to the articles printed in the magazine, to make sure they match exactly. Today, I stumbled across an article for the December Issue, a Q&A, written from an interview I'd transcribed for Evan Smith on Mark Seliger, a photographer for Rolling Stone. There, in black and white print, were some of the words I had painstakingly typed for hours.

When you read articles in magazines and newspaper, you tend to focus on the writer and the subject. But you forget about all the people behind the scenes - the interns, the slew of copy editors, the layout designers - that help those writers create the finished product you are reading. I am, in no way, glorifying my position or taking any responsibility. I was not even close to being responsible for any part of that article. It was entirely Evan's brilliance and experience as a skilled magazine reporter. But I couldn't help feel satisfied that I had helped in one small way. I am proud of the small part I played in helping the article become what it is now, an article about to be read by millions in the upcoming December issue.

I hopefully saved Evan Smith some time, some headaches and some definite fingeraches. And it only helped to inspire me to want to me in his role someday, and unfortunately for my fingers, you have to start somewhere.