Constant Content

Or is it really slow around here right now?

In the forums? Yeah, our community functions in bursts. There will be a flurry of activity, and then the din of silence will follow for awhile.

Did you catch the cliches?

Actually, I meant in requests and articles sold...

Yeah, I heard 'em. Still, it *is* a flurry of activity, right? If a cliche accurately describes the situation... I'm just being contrary, though. I understand it's about avoiding driving the reader's attention away, and it's a statistical function. A certain percentage will be irritated by cliches, while another percentage will not; but it would be a rare person indeed that was jolted by an interesting, non-cliche means of saying the same thing (emphasis on *interesting*). Understanding conceptually isn't the same thing as seeing it in one's own writing, however, since I fall into the percentage of people who isn't particularly irritated by cliches, but is far more irritated by labored and inaccurate metaphors and similes that people come up with to try and avoid cliches. Subconsciously, I think I fall into the 'safe' cliches rather than putting the time in to come up with solid replacements.

Ah, well, I'm working on it.

Steve

Ah . . . well, yes, I think the request have been trickling in a slower pace. But that could be due to summer. Summer always seems to be slow for freelancers. However, I've been hearing through the grapevine that internet ad revenues have been on sector of the economy not punched in the gut by inflation/recession, which is good, good news.

I only tease you because I know you can take it. I think I can speak for others too when I say we admire your work. I enjoy reading your submissions and haven't been put off by an overabundance of cliches.

Ed -

Hey, thanks for the kind words! And yeah, I can take it, I promise. That was meant to seem introspective, not defensive. LOL. I sometimes forget that text in such forums doesn't carry "tone of voice"!

Steve

Oh, don't get me started on similies! Nothing annoys me more than sotries featuring several similies per page ala "her foot swelled up like a soggy newspaper that had been left out in the rain" and "His eyes popped out like a frog's."

Not only do many similies fall into the cliche category, they distract the reader. Plus, too many in a row are simply horrid. Not to mention the cartoon-like images conjured up...

I could go on and on but I'll spare you.

I can't believe you don't find those realistic interpretations of what human physiology is capable of!

I guess we were all typing at once. I went back and saw your posts about slowdowns etc and the good news about ad revenues. Aren't we all lucky our commutes involve going from the kitchen, cup of coffee in hand, to our computer rooms? Gas prices? No problem!

"Aren't we all lucky our commutes involve going from the kitchen, cup of coffee in hand, to our computer rooms?"

Woo, don't I wish! My job allows me to work from home frequently, but I still have to drag my gas-depleted butt into the office several times a week, and that's a 22 mile commute. *sigh*. And my wife told me I couldn't build and ride an electric motorcycle.

Steve

Celeste:

"Oh, don't get me started on similies!"

When I read that, for some reason it hit my brain as "Oh, don't get me started on smilies!" and I was wondering what you had against emoticons.

Steve

Oh, and don't get me started on "smilies" and emoticons. Actually, I don't mind the emoticons but don't get me started on the whole texting thing. I can't stand it!

Here's something I came across just yesterday:
i.received.an.email.that.had.periods.between.each.word.like.this.and.i.could.not.believe.my.eyes.nor.could.i.understand.what.the.guy.was.trying.to.say.plus.he.misspelled.tons.of.words.and.refused.to.capitalize.any.words.

Oh, wow. Hey, wasn't it word 5.3 for DOS that showed soft spaces as periods, and you had to look for two in a row followed by an upper case letter to see where a sentence ended and the next began? Or was that WordPerfect? Or maybe WordStar? Maybe he was trying to recreate that experience.

Honestly, I wish there was a good, solid, console-based word processor like those. I'm facile with vi, but it's a text editor, not a word processor.

"Texting thing" - like, cell phone texting?

Word perfect has dots between words, but it was in the middle, not bottom like a period. You can turn this feature on in Word if you'd like, but I don't know who would.

Medieval monks.

Texting as in "UR GR8T" and "CU L8TR"