I am a traditional cell phone user. Which means I have a phone I can make phone calls with and send the occasional text message. Unlike the rest of Germany, where just about everyone has a camera cell phone. I recently overheard someone complaining he would have bought a particular cell phone but that it only had a camera, no MP3 player? Huh. Why would you want your phone able to play MP3s? It boggles the mind. At least mine. :-)

there was a script in the Renaissance period which slanted to the right.  It was called Italic because the fonts arose in Italy in the early 1500's, imitating italian vernacular scripts.  At this point in time, Italics were considered independant fonts, and entire books were written in italics.  In the next era of print evolution, German printers started modifying their fonts to have an italic form as well, and these slanted fonts were named for their place of origin.

Italics were initially cursive style fonts that arose around rome and florence.  The original latin was composed of a lot of sharp lines and stuff, since they wrote with styluses on wax tablets.  However, lowercase letters and such arose as the language spread through europe, and cursive rose too. 

----

yeah.  i'm a language nerd.  And max, i can think of few ways i'd rather spend my day than studying western languages =)

Just keep on studying the 'useless' stuff when you feel like it, you never know when it comes in handy. :) *looks at her last few words* Is that an English expression? *frowns at the words*

*gets confused*

Yalahii.

There must be a certain level of motivation to be had from knowing that you can write something a lot of people actually want to read.  Or, is there then the pressure of expectation, bearing down on you like a large blob of jam that has far too much surface tension allowing it to exert such a pressure and not simply run past your ears and onto the floor?

Just wondered.

Tad wrote:

Talinthas: My make-myself-write tricks have been two during my lifetime.

Phase one: Must write, or will go back to horrible jobs involving folding burritos or touching other people's feet.

Phase two (the Mature Professional Phase): Must write, or my children and I will starve.

Try either one -- they work!

Is there something wrong with folding burritos? :P

My motivation is the fact that my writing means something to me and I know that I will enjoy reading it when it's finsihed.

Tad wrote:

Phase one: Must write, or will go back to horrible jobs involving folding burritos or touching other people's feet.

I have to pose this thought then.  I know someone who hates writing for the newspaper they work for, but does it to build credibility for the books that he/she will enjoy writing.  So writing books is a way out of the horrible job of writing news articles. 

Now obviously size and timeliness are factors...but I think I'd take the newspaper job after watching every author I know go through various antics during the dreaded "editing" phase.  I watched a 2nd draft leave a 2nd floor window once...wait, isnt' that literary irony?  Or is that what you do to the pages after they've been run over by the cars in the street after said editing?

Okay, it's been a long day at the office.  I need to let Tad get back to the sequel to Shadowmarch...

It's hard to write as a day job, and then write at night -- at least most people I've known who've done it have found it so.

However, there certainly are folks who've done it that way, so I'm not prescribing.  In fact, the interesting thing about how to make it as a writer is that there IS no "right" way.

Well, except you have to write.

Tad wrote:

It's hard to write as a day job, and then write at night -- at least most people I've known who've done it have found it so.

By this do you mean go home and write for pleasure at home? I'm just not too quick today.

Tad wrote:

Well, except you have to write.

That's why my great novel, "The Way of the Squirrel Monkey" isnt getting written.

Bandit, when you do get around to writing your novel -- whatever novel it happens to be -- I guarantee that I will be buying a copy.  And I want it signed, please.

Stuart wrote:

I am seriously considering an Open University module on creative writing, but try justifying that as part of an MSc in Computing, if I could I think I'd have no need for the course.

Writing computer code creatively might well be the key to your success... ;) And aren't there always modules you can fill with whatever strikes your fancy? *is probably badly garbling up her english again* I took some course about music. Some programming was involved in that, but still.

Yalahii.

~waits for the Bandit FanClub tee-shirt~

Is she illiterate too?

Also, before this becomes the me thread: how bout that Tad Williams, eh? Quite the author so I've heard, a pip. Total jerk in person though, wont even talk to his fans!