12/4/06 Tally

I'm superlame and my wordcount is lame. But I have another issue, which is that I noticed tonight that I finally hit page 100 of my MS. But I'm already at 31,700 words. A little strange. So I reformatted my MS (originally Times 12 pt, 1" margin all around) to Courier 12 pt, 1.25 inches on right and left, like I've seen lots of people doing it. And suddenly, my MS is 142 pages long. WTF?

InNoWriMo Tally:
Today's weeny wordcount: 1230
Total wordcount: 31.744

Comments

[dkp]

Courier 12 pt. is *bigger* than Times 12 pt. (despite the fact that both are 12 pt. size fonts) because Times is variable-width, while Courier is fixed-width.

It is the fixed-width aspect of Courier which is one reason why it is the norm for many institutions (such as courts and studios) that place a premuim on measuring documents by one standard measure (such as page length). It keeps savvy word-processors from getting around page limitations by manipulating typesetting differences.

[claire]

yes, i realized that, dennis, back in junior high when they told us about fonts in typing class. that wasn't my issue. i deliberately format using the smaller font and the smaller margins to keep things contained. i was just shocked that the format i've seen so many people use---and that was recommended to us at clarion west---is such a space waster.