Even as I was my own chef, the dish had too much salt to my taste so I sent it back to the kitchen. -Richard
A shallow Poole & 5-Boro riders with an agenda: my last word
Wed, 04/30/2003 - 12:00am
Wed, 04/30/2003 - 8:52am
#1
goodbye
Everyone go to the bike show!
Wed, 04/30/2003 - 9:43am
#2
entertainment?
This is indeed massively entertaining. Please don't take this debate private - its much better out in the open where it can enliven many a dreary hour at work.
Wed, 04/30/2003 - 12:43pm
#3
Wed, 04/30/2003 - 1:51pm
#4
it's a plot...
So that's what it is! It's a commie plot to get us to fritter away productive work time and wreck the economy!
Wed, 04/30/2003 - 1:58pm
#5
...a capitalist plot!
People are so bored and alienated at work that even affable cycling enthusiasts are turning on each other like rats in a sinking ship. Anything to keep us from uniting! ;)
(Be a good consumer -- come to the Bike Show this weekend!)
Wed, 04/30/2003 - 3:04pm
#6
1,000 words
Listen, I love a good fight as much as the next guy. But yo, Anthony, all you're displaying is your ignorance of how fast people like Richard, who write for a living, can write -- in fact, how fast they are forced to write, given the lousy per-piece and per-word rates most of us are getting.
A thousand words? Glad you found the time to count them. For some wannabes that could take, oh, I dunno, a day. But reporters, rewrite people, and a few very fast professional ad people I know could do a thou in 90 minutes. That's a long lunch hour. Or a short bike ride.
And hey, most writers can do it without even moving their lips.
Just thought I'd kick in my own modest thoughts on the matter.
Wed, 04/30/2003 - 4:38pm
#7
Don't teach a journalist how to suck eggs!
Peter,
Thanks for your contribution on this, but you don't have to teach me. I have been a journalist with deadlines for 18 years and worked in daily newspapers for 10 of those. I now write for a variety of publications and electronic media with deadlines several times a day.
It took me about five seconds to do the word count. I copied and pasted it into a blank word document and let MS Word do the counting for me.
If, as you say, it did take 90 minutes to write that posting, I would venture to suggest that this is far too much time to devote to it, which goes back to my earlier point of having too much time. I'd be amazed if it did take Richard that long, given that he writes for a living. I've been known to knock out 2,000 words in under an hour, all of which were published, almost entirely unchanged by our sub editors at the time.
Anyway, I've broken my undertaking not to write any more in this thread. But that really is it, I'm not writing any more on this subject.
Good evening.
Wed, 04/30/2003 - 5:55pm
#8
ining for peace amdist cordials and cordiality.
Stop it, everyone! Anthony and I are just about to sit down to a nice, quiet candlelit dinner-for-two at an intime French bistro. Now, stop it, everyone! (Including me.)
(No, I'm not serious...but the point is.)
-Richard
Wed, 04/30/2003 - 7:14pm
#9
Egg-sucking 101
Anthony, Anthony, Anthony! I didn't mean just *any* 1,000 words, which of course even a hack like me could bash out in 15 minutes.
I meant 1,000 words reflecting some degree of humor, deft wordsmithing, the proper use of commas, and the instinctive avoidance of runon sentences.
However, I encourage you not to give up. Practice makes perfect.
Thu, 05/01/2003 - 10:33am
#10
Garçon, what's this fly doing in my canard?
OK, everyone; the fun is over. Now please stop it!
Anthony and I are having an intimate, candlelight dinner for two at a charming French bistro. Well, OK, given the state of affairs and the schism of recent weeks, in a show of concilliation and sensitivity on my part, it won't be French.
Seriously, just in time for Bush to declare the war over, do I declare this thread over.
Richard
