Why do Mac users stay so loyal?
I think it must be masochism. That and that fact that, until recently, computers were all characterless beige boxes and, right now, they are either still beige boxes or sad, belated Mac clones.
Is the G5 taking your fancy at all?
No. I use a black PowerBook G3, which I still think is the best-looking laptop ever. The current Mac laptops look like something you're going to peel apart and find a slice of Dairylea inside.
How are your HTML skills?
I tend to stay safe within the bounds of Dreamweaver. Copying and pasting is about as close to HTML coding as I come.
Do you think a lot of the net is over-designed?
Oh yes. I always skip the opening display of done-one-rainy-Wednesday-afternoon graphics, if I possibly can. They're not going to tell you anything, are they? Apart from what a thwarted work life their designer leads. My site is proudly Flash-free!
Spellchecker and wordcount?
They're instruments of Satan. If you don't know how to spell a word, you don't really know it; if you don't know it, you shouldn't use it. It should make a difference to you, whether it has i before e or vice versa. I teach creative writing classes, and I always warn the students off Wordcount. It's much better to write a page a day, whether it's a solid paragraph of prose or a narrow band of exclamatory dialogue.
Do U txt?
Yes - I'm fascinated by predictive spelling software. The ways the words build up make little poems: "I - He - Gel - Hell - Hello" or "O - On - Non - None - Money". As far as I can tell, picture messaging is only necessary if you want to get pissed on holiday and e-moon your mates back home.
Ebooks?
Adventures in Capitalism, Corpsing, deadkidsongs and Exhibitionism have all been done as ebooks. With all of them, I've tried to include some "extras" - in the story collections there are quite a few stories not published elsewhere. I did think about writing an ebook-only text, but I think something drastic needs to happen with the technology to make it as loveable as a block of wood pulp.
Blogs?
Having just written Finding Myself in diary form, I'm looking to read things that are a bit less bitty than weblogs. I did download the software to do my own, but then realised I didn't want to tell people about what I do, day by day. Instead, when I do something vaguely interesting - like seeing Mandelson's last appearance as a front bencher - I write it up as an "editorial" and post it on my website.
Whose email address would you like?
Henry James. He wrote a short story called The Death of the Lion, about contacting those you admire. His conclusion was, if you really loved a person's work, you should honour them by leaving them alone to get on with it. I would love to have his address just so I didn't use it.
Links
Visit: www.tobylitt.com
Toby Litt's ebookmarks
www.findagrave.com
www.stewarthomesociety.org
www.resonancefm.com
· Toby Litt's new book Finding Myself is out now.
