On Thursday 28 June 2018 15:04:52 deloptes wrote:
> William Morder wrote:
> > For the present, though, I must make do with what I have at hand. I only
> > have about $9 to spare every month, so I have to make my best guess about
> > what will get me through the next year or so with the inkjet printer that
> > I actually have, not one that I don't have and can't afford.
>
> Don't you have some good friend that could print it for you? Each company
> can write off the material and the cost for printing, so it costs nothing.
> Unfort. I am too far away from you, but I would let you print if you were
> here around, unless you print 2000 pages at once.
>
> Option would be also to look for used dot matrix as they are cheep and
> reliable. You can print there your drafts, while saving ink for the final
> version you would send to the publisher.
>
> regards
>
>

This is the thread that will not die! 

When I am in the throes of revision or layout, I can print out sometimes 30-50 
pp. a day, and even in an average week, 100 pp. is probably about average. 
So, no, I don't have a good friend who will do it for free, and paying even 5 
cents per page is not feasible. 

Even with some other sort of writing that just flows out of me, I need to be 
able to see a hard copy for when I revise. My occasional non-fiction pieces 
for newspapers or magazines seldom run more than 1000-2000 words, and even 
then I like to print out for revision. 

These works-in-progress contain, in parts, intricate arguments, and when I 
keep trying to revise on a screen, it all turns to a hopeless mush. When I 
have a hard copy, I can lay out the pages before me, and better see how to 
re-arrange and revise. (Maybe this comes from writing habits which I 
developed back in the days before word processors; I still remember when it 
was a new thing to be able to use a typewriter.) When I studied computer 
technology in school, we spent some weeks learning how to create programs 
using IBM punchcards, which we then ran through a conveyor belt, and it 
turned on a light bulb. That will give you some idea of what kind of dinosaur 
I am. If I could, I would chisel my words into stone, as it would be more 
gratifying as a permanent creation. 

A dot matrix would be great, if I were only printing out, but I also want to 
use the scanner to grab illustrations from various books; books that I cannot 
find otherwise in libraries, and which are sometimes difficult to find even 
in digital sources. 

It could well be that I will live to regret my choice in this matter, but then 
I can list it among my bad experiences, or lessons I have yet failed to 
learn. Anyway, the choice is made, the order has been sent, so now we can 
kill this thread. 

Thanks for the offer of using your printer. I will immediately drop 
everything, and fly to wherever it is that you live (France?), in order to 
save myself pennies per page. (It all adds up!) However, I expect that there 
will be a veritable Rabelaisian orgy of food, wine, discussion of old books, 
and the noble herb Pantagruelion, as I cannot write without sustenance. 

Bill