Comments for hanging chad

Comment on Word Count: Helpful Tool or Insidious Device to Make Writers Feel Like They’re Getting Somewhere When Really They’re Not? by Susie Moloney

Susie Moloney — Sat, 05 May 2012 15:11:27 +0000

You might be more concerned with word count if you had an August deadline

Comment on Being Alone Together and Loving it? by Francesca Zelnick

Francesca Zelnick — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:13:40 +0000

Wonderfully said!

Comment on Word Count: Helpful Tool or Insidious Device to Make Writers Feel Like They’re Getting Somewhere When Really They’re Not? by Chad

Chad — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:36:50 +0000

Susan, yes! That Shelby Foote handwriting approach is daunting, but may be a fun experiment down the road, especially as the brain just does different things when forming those letters one by one.

Comment on Word Count: Helpful Tool or Insidious Device to Make Writers Feel Like They’re Getting Somewhere When Really They’re Not? by Chad

Chad — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:34:56 +0000

Thanks, Ryan! Excellent and specific points about other useful means for Word Count “wordies.”

Comment on Word Count: Helpful Tool or Insidious Device to Make Writers Feel Like They’re Getting Somewhere When Really They’re Not? by Susan Gregg Gilmore

Susan Gregg Gilmore — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:53:22 +0000

What a wonderful post! I just met Richard Mason who wrote the manuscript for THE HISTORY OF A PLEASURE SEEKER by hand. He had the draft to prove it. He, too, had tired of word counts and believed that if he wrote by hand he would not waste one word. I’m not sure I’ll follow his lead, my handwriting stinks! But I love the idea that as a more manual effort, the writer thinks carefully about every word chosen.

Comment on Word Count: Helpful Tool or Insidious Device to Make Writers Feel Like They’re Getting Somewhere When Really They’re Not? by Ryan G. Van Cleave

Ryan G. Van Cleave — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:09:47 +0000

Word counts can be useful for things like school assignments where the impulse for many is to do the simplest, most cursory response possible. (Of course, a word count minimum there can lead to “fluff” writing, which is a different problem entirely). For a professional writer though? A word count is quite useful in many situations, such as (1) keeping an article or op-ed at a publishable length, (2) keeping your novel chapters in some kind of proportion to each other, and (3) giving yourself a clear place to start at when you’re editing and have committed to cutting, say, 15% of your words to increase the pace and efficiency of your writing (often a good tactic).

Comment on Word Count: Helpful Tool or Insidious Device to Make Writers Feel Like They’re Getting Somewhere When Really They’re Not? by Timothy Gager

Timothy Gager — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:42:45 +0000

Counting words versus not counting words doesn’t mean anything. Commenting on the way one does things as better or different than other people’s methods whether it’s writing or anything else in the Universe is unimportant, especially when all methods work.

Comment on Word Count: Helpful Tool or Insidious Device to Make Writers Feel Like They’re Getting Somewhere When Really They’re Not? by Tracey

Tracey — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:27:35 +0000

Any time I find myself paying attention to my word count, I’m not writing anything that really matters. I only ever mention my word count if I happen to end a chapter on a cool number like 11,111. Otherwise, it’s just obnoxious.

Comment on This is Your Brain: This is Your Brain on Writing by Your Serendipity @ Thursday Thoughts « Margo Roby: Wordgathering

Your Serendipity @ Thursday Thoughts « Margo Roby: Wordgathering — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:28:38 +0000

[...] drawing chads hanging over walls, while I was in High School]. The article I have linked to, ‘This is Your Brain: This is Your Brain on Writing,’ discusses, briefly, hand drafting versus computer drafting. The video link is not working [...]

Comment on The Rich Behave Differently? by Rachel Adams

Rachel Adams — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:03:12 +0000

I think the important thing to remember is that most people begin with good (or at least benign) intentions–it’s the means that’ll get you. You can justify almost ANY action, no matter how cruel, oppressive, evil, etc., if you think that your ends are pure enough to justify extreme means.

If you haven’t seen my blog yet, this is the one I was telling you about (and this post directly relates):

http://thebipartisanproject.blogspot.com/2012/01/achieving-world-peace-through-humility.html