Cherie mentioned about using AI to make a song and sing for her, as she didn't have the means to do it. My friend in Supernovauk is in that position - they don't have the equipment or voice to create the music that they have in their minds, so they use AI. However, a big however, they write all the words and they work hard on getting the music to exactly where they want it. It's supporting human creativity, rather than supplanting it. However, I wish my friend had the access that they needed to do it without, because I can hear what they want to produce, and I very much enjoy the reminder of dancing till I dropped back in the day, but there is always that tiny lack of spark.
Too many years ago, when I was in the Girl Guides (British version of the Girl Scouts) I blagged my way through the music badge as I was getting guitar lessons and I ambushed the teacher. I was supposed to produce an original composition, and I did, but it was bloody awful. My teacher passed me anyway, but I was frustrated. I knew how I wanted it to sound, but I didn't have the talent, the technical know-how, or the equipment to get there. At 13, I would absolutely have used AI if it were now. It was a little like Einaudi, I guess, with flowing notes. Here is a link to a real musician.
I'm pretty sure that I'm using AI without realising, like when I plan a route using Google maps, but I've avoided it on the whole. I don't know what I'm doing, and that's the long and short of it, and you can find more of my views here and here on my blog. AI can't do the thinking for you, not fully. Here's an example from Weary Wolf, who got AI to design a week of eating three meals per day for £1 per meal, the video here if you're interested.
It was sort of functional, but I wouldn't have called it healthy, and it was missing something that had nothing to do with nutrition. Again, you could say that it lacked spark.
The book world is having fits about AI. Authors who are suspected of using AI are likely to find themselves under vicious attack. There are witchhunts going on that are deeply unpleasant. But I get it. If someone has spent months on a book, then paid out for an editor, which can run to hundreds if not thousands, then paid out for a cover, and some of those are extremely pricey, maybe sell a few copies, and then see someone making a lot of money by publishing a couple of novels a week of stuff that isn't that well written, then it hurts. Most of these turn up in non-fiction, where they can be extremely misleading to those who need help or trustworthy information, or romance novels. I read a lot of romance novels, and I have read the first page of so many books that are utterly dire and obviously AI and I've not read further. It drives me nuts because it's time in browsing and choosing from the Kindle Unlimited titles that I won't get back, even if I've only dipped into that one page. However the pennies from those single pages mount up if there are literally hundreds of titles attracting the unwary and there are those out there who profit from this. If the authors were at least honest about AI use, at least you can make a choice.
It's like a deal with a devil, though. It's incredibly tempting. I have maybe twenty or so outlines for novels. I'm not young, I'm not in good health, and I'm not confident that I'll be able to write them all. The thought of getting AI involved is soooo tempting. It would be my ideas, and I'd almost certainly re-write any text as the stuff that AI churns out is gruesome, but... It would feel like cheating. And I couldn't hope for my work to have that spark.
Even more tempting is the idea of AI art. It's taking the livelihood of genuine artists who have that spark, but I can't affort to pay someone to draw the beautiful stuff that I imagine. I definitely couldn't draw or paint something myself as I have a negative amount of artistic talent and I'm not sure that I could be trusted with a paint by numbers. It's like a devil's bargain, whispering in my ear. I can imagine what I want, I can see it so clearly, but I could never produce it, not without either paying a lot of money to an artist or using that tempting AI. I feel like I'm being tempted like in those Medieval legends. I keep telling myself to avoid the pictures and stick to words. At least I feel that I can be competent with those.
For the heck of it, I went onto Canva. Until now, I hadn't used their AI function, and I've been warned against using their book covers as there are elements that are AI generated and lead to online lynching, but I wanted to try something.
I clicked on the AI assistant, and I wrote book cover with a raven flying holding a ring on a ribbon. That is all I wrote. I didn't put in any suggestions about colour or style, just the basic idea. I got this.
I only put in that brief description. However not only did it generate the picture, but it also generated the title, the subtitle some secrets are worth any price, the tag A throne A curse A choice that will change everything and the name, Eliana Vaelor. I checked. At the time of typing, there isn't a book with this title on Amazon, and there is no record online of anyone with the name Eliana Vaelor, author or otherwise. AI went in fully committed.
I find it scary. I also feel drawn to writing the book. For now, though, I think that I'll concentrate on what I can manage without AI, just to be safe.
It's a long story that involves apparently standard length trousers that are a health and safety risk when worn normally but function okayish when hoicked up to my armpits. I'm 5'7'', or 170cms, and I'm not short, so I'm not sure how that worked out, but I nearly fell on the stairs twice after catching the dratted things before I realised that my ankles could still be demurely covered when the trousers were covering my bust. Now that I may have cracked it, I'm not so bothered, as they have pockets!
And that was a wake up call. In the past, I've suffered badly from clinical depression. I can still feel reasonably cheerful, but my mind shuts down. I'm hitting the 'thirsty but getting a drink is too complicated' level now, which is a dratted nuisance. I'm not very functional, but now that it's been brought to my attention because I was getting bamboozled by basic clothing, I can perhaps do something about it.
I've no idea what sort of posts you'll see, but I'm going to concentrate on celebrating small wins, and being as calm as I can manage. I shall definitely be avoiding watching the football. In the past, I've worked best with using tiny bits of creativity, managing to get a little physical movement going, and getting my mind stimulated. I shall also ask bear to do stuff for me. I try and avoid it generally, but for the first time that I can remember, bear isn't trying to get ahead of studying for next year, he isn't working towards exams and he isn't snowed under with coursework. As the garden is barely a step away from being declared a wilderness, I'll get him working on that. And he's always been happy to help.
Mind you, the heat isn't helping at all. It doesn't suit any of us. Like most British houses, our home is designed to keep the heat in, and it faces south. It's great on a frosty but sunny December day, when I may not even put on the heating despite the cold outside. It's not so good at the moment, but we're managing okay with fans.
Writing stuff - yesterday's instalment of The Guest is here. I'm struggling a little with the writing, but it's a great way to work on creativity, so I'll keep perservering. It's hard to dig out sparkling prose when it feels like you're thinking through treacle, but I'm absolutely not giving up.
I've almost sorted out the collection of Kane's short stories. I've entitled it An Apprenticeship of Ghosts and I have a cover from GetCovers.
I'll let you know when I've finished with it, but I want to add plenty of new content so that it still has value even for those who've read my writing blog.
He seems happy, looks healthy, and I swear that he's grown at least an inch! It's the end of his first year of university, and he has survived!
Apart from him, I keep getting hit by AI in the social feed. I found this video, and I know that it's AI and that it uses a facsimile of Stevie Nicks' voice and Fleetwood Mac vibes - but...
It's a video and song about a cat worrying about getting old and whether their human will be able to manage. It breaks my heart. Someone has used AI, and I'm still not comfortable about the voice, though it's far from an exact copy, but they've used it as a tool and included their own creativity and ideas.
Maybe that's what AI can do - support independent creativity. I'm unlikely to use it as I'm still fighting battles with spellchecker, but I feel that I don't understand enough to contribute properly. All that I know is that I was ready to cry at the end of the video.
Another example comes from a friend. They're about my age, they don't have access to musical instruments and they haven't had opportunities to work with music the way that they would have liked. They've taken their ideas, though, and used AI to produce music to fit their words and, I'll be honest, have enjoyed it. It takes me back to the eighties and an easier time in my life. They have a clear vision of how it should be but don't have access to other means to share their ideas.
Everything feels so complicated. I'm still not using AI in writing.
I've done all the editing I'm going to do on the collection of Kane short stories and and written some extra content, and they should be available on Amazon in theory in the next month or so.
I was on Temu, which is not a good friend to me, and I saw Gothic Knitting Guide which, to be fair to me, includes a pic of knitting needles on the cover, and invested in it. I was thrilled when it arrived - until I opened it and found that it was all about crochet.
I've had a grumble about it on Facebook, and it was pointed out that in some languages knitting and crochet are the same word. Not to mention that I've been told that there are books of patterns out there written by AI that have amazing pics but with instructions that don't work. I'm putting it up here because I had a quick rummage around when I was thinking of buying it and I couldn't find any information on it. I took a risk for a few pennies, and I was wrong. That's why I'm posting here, so that if anyone is considering buying it, then there is at least information here. Not to mention that the print is tiny. I would have to scan it and enlarge each page to have a chance of reading the thing!
I should also add that I got that great book of knitting stitches from Temu as well, which was written in British English, and which I've already dipped into for scarves. I'm not ruling out books from Temu, especially those that are flagged as coming from local warehouses, but this is a fail.
To add to the annoyance, I'd been wanting some sticky notes for the writing stuff (going horrendous) and I put some on the order. I wasn't feeling in a serious mood, so I ordered this.
There were a couple of different designs in the pack and they are all as much use as candyfloss in a thunderstorm. You can't even use them as just note squares because the dratted things curl up!
The heat is affecting me. Last night I didn't bother with a cover, and it must have left me cool in the middle of the night. At least, I think that I was cool as I dreamt that I was in a snow covered chalet, high in the Swiss Alps, as half frozen waves of sea water lashed against the windows and disturbed the polar bear in the next room. I took it as a hint. I'm certain that I won't dream anything like that tonight!
It's finally happened. Some time last year I got a deal on a bar of shea soap from Morrisons, a 'when it's gone, it's gone' offer as they were getting rid of the last of the stock. I put it in a mesh bag that I got from Temu and I've used it ever since. It's been wonderful - lovely and rich, and the mesh bag really helped to not only grip the dratted thing but also to keep the bar going long after it was plausible to hold the last sliver outside the bag. It finally washed into nothing.
I feel unreasonably sad about losing it.
I've replaced it with a bar of Pears lemon scented soap. I got a deal on a pack of twelve for £16.99 from Price Panda, and they will probably last a good while. The mesh helps me get the lather and it's still nice, but not nearly as good as the extremely cheap bar of shea soap from Morrisons.
The soap is apparently lemon flower scented, but it's not a strong scent and it does great for washing hands, so I'm not complaining.
The mesh bag is double walled and a lot finer than the string bags that I've tried before. Those thicker bags aren't nearly as nice, and if or when I run out of the mesh bags, I may try putting some together from the mesh of produce bags. I say if or when I run out because the five I thought I was ordering turned out to be 100 so bear is likely to inherit a stack of them. Me and Temu, well, it's always a little hit or miss.
I realised early in the week that I hadn't driven since I took the car for an oil change. DH has taken it out once or twice since then, I think and that's not good for a car. One good thing about keeping a blog is that I could check when I'd last driven - and it was 9th May! I took it out on Wednesday night, confident that the roads would be emptier as England were playing, and the poor old car grumbled along. I was thinking of trying the motorway next time England played, but I'm not sure the old girl would make it up to 70mph. I need to check the tyre as well, as I scraped the kerb at one point.
One thing, we are definitely hiring a car when it gets time to bring bear home. Red isn't a bad little car, and she's very economical to run, but she's not a big car, and bear has accumulated a few bits in his year away. Add to her age and her reluctance to hit 50mph, and it's better to get something for the weekend. I hope DH gets something that's fun for him to drive.
I've been meaning to share this. I know the creators, and I love the song. It takes me back to when I was young and hitting the dancefloor.
Writing stuff - it's been a bit aaaaaaaargh for me for the last few weeks, but another instalment of The Guest was posted last Monday here. At least that bit isn't a problem.
I haven't done much to take pics of, so I didn't feel that I should blog. I made a decision and tonight I sat down with a scarf and settled to watch the opening game of the World Cup. At the start, it was this big.
It had been longer, but I kept changing my plans for the pattern, undoing it, starting again, then changing my mind, undoing it, etc. By the end, it was this big.
However I'm not sure that I won't have to start again. I've only got two of balls of yarn that I picked up from Aldi ages ago, and it would be impossible to match. The scarf so far is 10 inches, or around 25cm, and I think I must have used nearly a quarter of the yarn, that is, half of the first ball of yarn.
I may not have got fully half way through the ball, but there's not much more than half left. If it is a quarter of the way through the yarn, that would give a scarf that was 40 inches long, or around a metre. I would say that my minimum preferred length for a scarf is around sixty inches long, so I'm going to have to undo it and re-start the scarf again.
I also accidentally left the door of our freezer open. It's a full, upright freezer with five shelves. It was open for, I guess, around 24 hours and when I tried some of the frozen fries that were in there, I made myself poorly. DH had to do a special run to the tip because the freezer was crammed. I was so despondent. I lost out on the rosemary that I put up with oil that I hadn't got round to, the last few portions of the extremely pleasant soup I made with the cheap veg at Christmas, not to mention the veggies that I'd prepared myself.
I've started restocking it with basics, but none of my favourite stuff to stash is currently on sale! I got a couple bags of Quorn mince and chunks, which DH likes, that were around 25% off, but it wasn't the best sale I've ever seen.
Writing stuff - apart from grumbles, the only thing I have to share is a Research and the Author post about the hazards of getting geography wrong. You can find it here. It was prompted because someone posted on Reddit complaining about an author putting mountains in the wrong place. I suspect that the internet is awash with complaints like that.
I'm determined to catch up with everyone over the weekend. This week, well, I watched an instalment of Welcome to Wrexham and did a little knitting with the yarn I picked up a few months ago from Aldi.
The rest of the week, well, there's been issues with the writing stuff and it currently looks like this.
