So. AI, eh?
Like most folks of an artistic persuasion who are active on social media, I’ve been seeing more and more about advances and applications of AI technologies within creative fields.
Tag Archives: Writing
Is Twitter Dying? (Is it dead already?)
I started this on the train just because 🥲 pic.twitter.com/iZJ804yjLs
— Darling Mikki (@OkSoMik) November 10, 2022
In the book The Artist’s Way it’s known as synchronicity.
Through absolutely no planning of my own, the topic of today’s post is a perfect case in point to what I wrote last time when considering the future of this blog. Specifically, the point I made in favour of maintaining some semblance of it indefinitely:
The Future of Blogging (for Me)
The blog Slab defines the ‘Delete’ quadrant of the Eisenhower Decision Matrix as “Tasks that distract you from your preferred course, and don’t add any measurable value.”
I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of this blog.
I’ve had it for 10 years now, an anniversary from back in February that I completely missed. Still, I remember exactly where I was—both literally (geographically) and figuratively (as a writer)—when I started this site.
What’s New for the New Year? (or, On My Ongoing Efforts to Get Sh*t Done)
What’s new for me for 2016? In a word, not a heck of a lot.
For all that that’s actually six words.
New Year’s is my favourite time of the year. I love new beginnings and the opportunity to forecast what shape the coming year will take by setting goals to help chart its course and advancement.
Given this, I’m no stranger to New Year’s resolutions. I even have a fairly decent record of achieving them.
Character Study: J from The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl (& on character tropes, diversity, and universality)
According to TV Tropes, one of the coolest, most addictive wiki’s on the internet,
Tropes are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members’ minds and expectations.
Tropes aren’t bad in and of themselves bad and are not inherently cliché on account of their widespread use in mainstream media.
In fact, tropes can be very useful, particularly characters tropes, which can provide a firm foundation for character development and serve as a helpful cue to readers and viewers about the sort of character journey (and hence the sort of story) they can expect.
When What’s Old is New Again for the New Year
F**king Twitter!
I love the concept of Twitter – of microblogging in general. I love the way those who are Twitter-savvy are able to use it to meet new people, remain connected to friends and fans, and obtain information that’s of value and of interest to them.
I just don’t seemed able to do any of those things myself.
It’s the Silence That Keeps Me Awake
What keeps you up at night?
For some reason, I have a disproportionately large number of friends who are insomniacs.
I’m not talking people who occasionally suffer bouts of sleeplessness like we all sometimes do. Rather, I mean folk who chronically don’t sleep more than a few of hours, every night of their lives.
That must really suck.
The notion of insomnia really came to the fore of my mind due to my recent trip to Australia. From my connection at Los Angeles airport to Melbourne, Australia, the flight was about 15 hours long.
On Female Ghostbusters, Gimmicks, and the Nature of Storytelling
Ghostbusters original cast (1984).
By now, most people have heard about the plan to reboot the movie Ghostbusters with an all-female cast.
Some people are really excited about it.
Others are really upset.
Like really upset, to the point of borderline self-righteousness, with words like “gimmick” and “pandering” receiving a thorough workout.
Maybe I’m just splitting hairs over semantics, but in and of itself, I don’t consider a gimmick to be a negative thing.
All marketing and media uses gimmicks or “hooks” to attract a target audience, in this case the hook being the casting women where previously there’d only been men, ostensibly to attract – at least in part – a target audience of female viewers.
Which right there may well be the real issue.
Everybody Has a Favourite (Quote)
Just like chocolate, everyone has a favourite quotation as well. (Image from the movie Chocolat, 2000.)
Quotations, it can be argued, second only to cats, are the foundation of the internet.
For they are found everywhere online: in status updates; in tweets; as part of social media bios; within blog posts. Sometimes an individual blog post will be nothing but a quotation.
I too enjoy a good quote. Back in 2010, I did the 12-week self-help, self-directed artistic rediscovery course known as The Artist’s Way, which is the subject of screenwriter Julia Cameron’s book by the same name.
It took me 11 months to complete the program.
Planning the Perfect Vacation: A (Don’t-Ask-Me) How-To
Some people are awesome at planning vacations.
These are the people who research their destinations exhaustively to discover the hottest sites to visit. The people who book things months in advance to ensure they don’t miss out on those activities that always fill up and sell out.
These are the people who know ahead of time exactly the type of vacation experience they want, and make a near part-time job of scouring tour guides and soliciting knowledgeable friends and colleagues to transform the trip of their dreams into reality.
I’m not one of those people. Not even close.
A Frame Around Infinity 