Comments for Elizabeth Shack

Comment on Tracking Writing by Verbeia

Verbeia — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 23:35:33 +0000

Fair enough – but if I invite you now that the private beta has started, I don’t think you need to commit. Email me at myhandle @ myhandle . com and I can send you an invitation. Computational linguistics/writing is an area that people enjoy seeing questions about, but there is only one computational linguist on the site so far that I know of. I think the kinds of questions you will ask will be good experience for the rest of us to try to answer.

Comment on Tracking Writing by Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:03:33 +0000

Thanks, Verbeia. I didn’t feel I could commit to answering or asking a certain number of questions during the private beta, but I plan to check out the public one.

Comment on Tracking Writing by Michelle Bottorff

Michelle Bottorff — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:58:18 +0000

When I remember to track it at all, I’m still tracking mine in the same MySQL database that I run the rest of my writer site off of. I suppose learning MySQL and PHP is probably overkill for almost every writer out there, but I get a real kick out of it. Besides, when I need a break from writing I can code writer’s tools and silly online games.

Comment on Tracking Writing by Verbeia

Verbeia — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:58:17 +0000

Dear Elizabeth, If I could find your email address I could invite you to the private beta of the Mathematica StackExchange site. In any case you will now get notification when it goes public next week, because you have followed the proposal.

Comment on Fitness Plans by Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:58:35 +0000

I like skating, but I have to have a lot of time to put into it or I don’t improve, and then it becomes frustrating instead of fun. Unlike running, swimming, and even tennis, I focus a lot more on learning new things and improving. I don’t enjoy just going and skating around the rink at public sessions. But taking classes and having time to practice requires more time and money than I’m willing to put in these days. I hope to get back to it sometime.

Comment on Fitness Plans by Irina

Irina — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:43:44 +0000

No more skating? Pity! Though I can imagine you don’t have time for it.

Comment on Typing is not the limitng factor by Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 03:41:21 +0000

I just realized there’s a typo in the title of this post. I think I’ll leave it.

If I had to use a “real” Qwerty keyboard, it would be a lot harder for me to switch back and forth. Something about it being both small and touch-screen makes my brain treat it differently.

I can see typing well and quickly removing an obstacle. That’s the same idea that leads me to leave out most punctuation (esp. quote marks) when the story’s going well. It makes the typing faster and easier.

Comment on Typing is not the limitng factor by Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:09:40 +0000

I couldn’t handle being bi-keyboardal – it killed my typing speed which hurt me at work. I had to choose one, and since I need to type on my bosses’ computers at various ponts, I had to go back to Qwerty. I do miss Dvorak and would love to go back if the swapping mechanism was easier.

As for the typing making a better writer? I think it removes an obstacle between the creative self and the manual effort of writing it down. I have a connection between my brain and my hands that allows me to immerse myself in a story and type like mad. Once the story is rolling, I can follow the thought/plan and bang it out in little time, which results in my inner editor being shoved to the back of my brain, thereby allowing me to complete more pieces.

At least, that’s how it works for me.

Comment on Writing Year in Review by Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:59:34 +0000

Thanks!

Comment on Cocktails by Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:04:46 +0000

I would claim that I’m trying to avoid ice particles in my drinks, but really, stirring means I don’t have to wash the shaker, too.