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New Shirt in the Skepchick Store!
Sam’s idea made into t-shirt reality for all you other geeky writers. It’s a guy’s style of shirt so chicks may want to order a size down for sexiness.
Sam’s idea made into t-shirt reality for all you other geeky writers. It’s a guy’s style of shirt so chicks may want to order a size down for sexiness.
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Hell, I cut my teeth on WordStar. Word Perfect is for sissies.
The truth is, if I didn’t have a computer, there’s no way I could write. I just could not do the retyping every draft from scratch thing.
Damn, you just reminded me of the pre-word processor olden days. I had to use an electric type-writer until my senior year in college. Remember White Out, and those white correction strips?
And the first newspaper I worked for didn’t have enough computers for everyone, so I had to write my stories long-hand and either wait for a computer to free up or get one of the other writers to key my story in for me.
Course at the time, it didn’t seem all that taxing, but after being spoiled by these machines for so many years now, I’d hate to have to go back.
I sometimes write first drafts long hand because I like to play with my fountain pens. I do remember all that old stuff, but I wasn’t a writer then. :-)
Well, I was only three years old at the time.
I write first drafts longhand for a few reasons: First, if I’m not sitting at a computer, I’m less likely to waste time surfing the Net. Second, since everything I write longhand has to be typed up eventually, it forces me to revise what I say at least once.
I usually type because I can revise as I go. I’ll rework the bits until I’m happy with them, and then do a more systematic revision, where I arrange all the bits into a complete work.
That said, Blake has a point. I’m constantly fighting against the distractions of the Internet.
Distractions on the internet? What? Where?
Distractions on the internet? What? Where?
Trust me, I’ve spent many hours looking at Skepchick when I should have been writing.
writerdd wrotedd:
That’s got to be nominated for “Quote of the Week” consideration!
~Wordplayer
“Hell, I cut my teeth on WordStar.”
Nnngh. I’ve used WordStar. I’d rather use a manual typewriter with a spider monkey duct-taped to each wrist.
Revise? Rewrite? As Heinlein said to Asimov: “Why didn’t you just do it right the first time?”
For those of you who aren’t the sci-fi geek I am, Asimov wrote a draft, then a final which he sent to the publisher. He was worried that he was doing it wrong, because he kept hearing that writing instructors would tell people that to be successful writers, they had to revise and rewrite over and over, so he asked his friend (and highly successful writer) Robert Heinlein if only two drafts was the wrong way to write…
Are people here trying to compete to be the nerdiest or the oldest? I can never tell.
Nerdiest. Well, in my case, anyway. I’m an old-school nerd, but I’m still pretty young. I still count my age in years and everything.
I was über nerdy today for my birthday, and I feel that this is really the only venue where that will be appreciated rather than condemned…
I crawled around in muddy woods for science, or at least the branch of science called mycology.
It paid off with a huge cache of delectable morels.
I took pictures too! Click here to the flickr photos
I also found lots of oyster mushrooms, but I find them all the time.
I considered posting this here , but I want to be clear that these are not THOSE kind of mushrooms. (Even if I did store them in a plastic baggie)
Just 18 minutes left to wish me a happy birthday without putting a belated in front of it (unless you’re in another time zone)
:-)
Morels and writing drafts with fountain pens. Ya’ll may not realize it but this whole comments section is a giant tribute to Neil Gaiman :)
Now I realize that all the people who have recommended Neil Gaiman to me must be onto something!
Which of his novels would you recommend as a first Gaiman read, Masala?
Neil Stephenson also writes all his first drafts with a fountain pen and on cotton paper. For anyone into Math, the history of computers and encryption I’d recommend Cryptonomicon and fans of nerdy history, Leibnitz and Newton might enjoy The Baroque Cycle.
http://www.nealstephenson.com/
I’ve only read two of Giaman’s books and enjoyed both. American Gods was a very good read and I plan on reading Anansi Boys and Fragile Things next. I’d also appreciate any recommendations re. Giaman’s books.