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About Us
It's not just me here on billiedoux.com any more. Here are links to the profiles of the guest writers who are doing shows: And below is a bunch of stuff about me. Well, mostly it's Frequently Asked Questions. * * * * *
I get a flattering number of letters. (And a sincere thank you to everyone who has ever taken the time to send me an e-mail.) Many are just nice acknowledgements of my work, and I never get tired of that. Many others are questions. Here are the questions I get most often.
How come you don't review [show name]? I get this question all the time. There are two answers. 1. I have to be in love with a show in order to spend evenings and weekends writing about it. I write quickly, but it still takes a chunk of time and effort. I'd love to write episode reviews full-time, but... 2. Nobody pays me to do this. I have a family and friends and a full-time job, as well as two cats (who are also television critics: see photo on the left) that unreasonably expect me to spend quality time with them. I've put up advertising on my site in hopes of eventually generating enough income so that I could stay home and write, but the return has been minimal so far. If you would like to offer me a full-time job staying at home and writing about my favorite television shows, I'd love to hear from you. My email address is billiedoux at gmail dot com. What's your real name, and what do you look like? Billie Doux is my pen name. It's a take-off of the French expression "billet-doux," (pronounced bee-yay doo) which means "love letter." I don't use my real name because I would like to retain some privacy in this increasingly un-private world, and I haven't put up photos for the same reason. But if it helps any, I look exactly like Evangeline Lilly. Yes, I'm kidding. I'm not a hot young college girl; I'm over the hill and picking up speed. Nothing to see here. Move along. Seriously! How popular is your site? Not as popular as I'd like it to be (see paragraph above about my deep and unfulfilled desire to stay home and write full time), but the current hit rate is over half a million hits a month with over thirty thousand visits, and it gets higher all the time. There are over two thousand reviews on billiedoux.com right now, can you believe it? It's like the geek television critic's version of War and Peace. If you'd like to advertise on my site and will give me cash for it, again, my address is billiedoux at gmail dot com. Why don't you have an RSS feed? Because I don't know how. My html skills are minimal; this site was designed by a good friend. But I do have an email update list. I send out about two messages a week saying what's new on my site and blog. If you'd like to join and don't want to deal with Yahoo, just send me a blank email with the subject heading "update list" and I'll add you. That's billiedoux at gmail dot com. You can also subscribe to my blog. There's a box on the top left. In the fall of 2008, when it wasn't just me any more, we began posting all episode reviews on the blog so that you all can comment. They're still archived here on my site, too. And hey. Twitter. Also new and exciting. And thanks so much to guest blogger Anthony for handling the twittering for us. The episode [blank] was on last night. So where's your review? It usually takes me at least a day to finish a review, because I nearly always watch the episode a second time. Reviews are usually up in two calendar days. Three at the most. If I'm having a bad week, they're up by Sunday night. Could you send me a copy of [something I've reviewed that's hard to find]? I've gotten this question many times (mostly about Roy Dupuis' hard-to-find titles), and my answer is always the same. I'm really sorry, and I know how frustrating it is to want something you can't get, but I just don't have the time or the equipment to make copies of stuff for people. You might want to try posting boards, because other fans are in the same boat. There was this song that was playing on the last episode of [show name]. Do you know what it is? I was asked about Michelle Branch's "Goodbye to You" from the Buffy episode Tabula Rasa so many times that I knew the answer and could give it to people. But for the most part, even though I like music, I'm just not that familiar with music titles and artists. In order to answer your question, I'd have to do some research on the internet and get back to you. Please don't make me do research for you. :) Who is Dan? Not all of us are lucky enough to have someone in their lives that likes a lot of the same shows that they do. I've watched many of my favorite shows with Dan over the years. He's smart and observant, and often comes up with things that I put in my reviews, so I like to give him credit. And that's why I mention him. I'd rather not say more, for privacy reasons. What's your favorite episode of [a specific show]? This is sometimes difficult to answer because I don't always have one. But I've started compiling a list, and I'm even including favorites for shows I don't review.
I started writing brief Babylon 5 reviews for my wonderful friends on STWTTF (the Star Trek Women's Caramel Sauce Task Force discussion list) back in 1997. (Those reviews are now lost somewhere in the ether, or there would be a Babylon 5 section on this site.) Right about the time Babylon 5 ended, I fell madly in love with Buffy the Vampire Slayer (it was the end of season two) and it seemed like a natural reviewing segue. Angel premiered a year later, and I started reviewing it, too. One day, while perusing a terrific Buffy/Angel site on the web, it occurred to me that I had all of these reviews only my friends had read, and the wonderful site I was looking at had none, and a light bulb went off in my head. I offered, and they took me on. (The site is no longer on the web, or I'd give you the link.) Awhile later, I found N:Zone (actually, they sort of found me), and I've been writing for them on and off ever since. I want to be a writer, too. How can I get started? I honestly don't know what to tell you, because I sort of fell sideways into this. You could try taking writing classes, and entering writing contests. You could go to the library and look through journals intended to assist professional writers, too, to see where to start. Or look for the electronic equivalent on the internet. I've gotten requests from writers who want to become part of the billiedoux.com writing staff. And I've written a response. I thought it would be easier to put it up instead of re-writing it every time someone asks. Could I post your reviews on a board? Yes, please. As long as you keep the review intact and put my name and a link to my web site at the end. And link to me as much as you want; I'd love it. However, you cannot post my review, or parts of my review, and say that it's yours. It's happened; people have written and told me about it. I've been plagiarized at least three times that I know of. Come on. Cheaters never prosper. Can I send you spoilers? Please don't. I avoid them, and prefer discussion lists and boards that don't have them. I honestly believe that spoilers... well, spoil things. I got deeply into spoilers once, during the sixth season of Buffy. I was so into it that I simply couldn't stop myself; I had to know what was going to happen. All of the major events in Seeing Red were ruined for me; there was no impact, because I knew what was coming. I stopped reading spoilers at that point, and the last minute of season six was an exceptionally pleasant surprise. This experience convinced me that spoilers are, at their core, evil. I also suspect they have a negative effect on my writing. Would you correspond with me? I have found some wonderful friends through fandom in the past, when I got much less mail. Unfortunately, I am so overextended right now that there aren't enough hours in the day, and I'm having a hard time just keeping up with writing episode reviews. However, we do have a new message board. I also moderate or participate in a few fan discussion lists, and you're very welcome to join. I read everything that's posted, and sometimes post myself. I'm listowner or moderator of: If you've gotten this far... Yeah, I realized that I didn't really say much about myself, personally; this page is basically a FAQ. Let's see. I have blue eyes. I have a master's degree. I read a lot; when I was a teenager, nearly everything I read was science fiction, but I've branched out since then. My current favorite science fiction writer is John Varley. I've seen every episode of Star Trek in each of its incarnations (except the cartoon), and meeting Scott Bakula on the set of Star Trek: Enterprise was one of the high points of my life. I'm not into animation at all, which drives a certain person in my family nuts. And I'm a mom. |
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This Doctor Who site is run by a good friend of mine who writes outstanding reviews (and that includes Torchwood). Caveat: Androzani's a lot snarkier than I am. You have been warned. |
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