Three Bank Holidays? What can this mean and more

 

It's been a strange month. We're used to having two Bank Holiday weekends in May, but we have three this year. That, in part, is thanks to the coronation of King Charles III. What this has meant for me is that I think that I've yet to work a five-day week this month. I like it when I get into a period where I work short weeks. It's good for my well-being. After this holiday weekend, I've got a three-day week before another long weekend break, a bonus.

Next weekend we are going on our first Camping trip with our new tent and equipment. It's our first, and we're going pretty close to home. It will be a 'shake out' trip before a longer one in a couple of months.

I'm looking forward to the weekend as it seems months since we got our new Air Tent and gathered all the equipment for it, and I've been itching to have a go with it all. Exciting times.

This week I received back the first professional edit/critique of the first three chapters of my novel. It was rather daunting to have this done with my prose. I have been successful with magazine articles, but they are different, and you pitch an idea to the editor, they let you know what and how much they want you to write, and you go away and do it. The success of an article writer is getting it written first time for the editor. Different with prose. I was nervous when it arrived back in my inbox. I am looking through the edits and suggestions, and it's great to have done with my work. I've worked through the edits for the prologue, and it now looks like the actual professional first few pages of a novel. It's my words, with a few adjustments, and it seems so much better; I'm really pleased with the result. Dealing with these edits has meant that my word counts for the week are down, and I've yet to reach the 30k point planned for this week. But that is not much of a downer, as I'm ahead of schedule. I'm still planning to finish the book later this year, and all is well to have it published towards the end of this year and the beginning of 2024.

Finally, we're coming to the end of the second week of a gut-purifying diet that we're doing. The first week was a dairy and gluten-free diet with no grains, which was refreshing. The week has been different in that for breakfast and lunch, we have had food shakes, which have been ok, but they're not like a bacon sandwich or a bowl of cereals with ice-cold milk. In between the shake, we have to have a roughage drink which is a great drink which has to go straight down, or it gets too thick and gloopy. It's not the best of drinks either and has a strange effect on the body if you know what I mean. As we go into the final week, returning to the first week's diet with added supplements, I feel better myself. I have lost a bit of weight, but it isn't a reducing diet; it is to rest set your gut biomes. 

There were, that was, this week/month. Have a good weekend, and I trust you can recharge the batteries for the next few summer months ahead.  

Artificial Intelligence - Can you spot it? and is it the death of the writer?

 

In the Royal Marines, I used to call them TLA's, three-letter abbreviations. These days there are many two-letter abbreviations, and the most prominent one currently is AI.

Artificial Intelligence has undoubtedly been in the news and the courts in America. Do we need to be worried as writers?

I mentioned this to a writing colleague of mine when we were discussing the newly announced ChatGBT app on his Youtube channel. My fear was and still is that I could lose out to work completed by an AI bot. His answer was;

"Nobody writes like you, and nobody writes like you. AI won't change that."

I like William's positivity, but it was a surprise when I discovered that a writing app I use daily now has an added AI text generator

William's show suggested that AI should be considered a tool for writers. He then went on to show ChatGBT in action. The first and obvious problem is that it needed to be faster. To compound that problem, the questions he asked either had no answer or gave answers patently trawled from the internet. Only a little AI, if any, is present there

What is AI, then?

AI, short for Artificial Intelligence, is a field of computer science that focuses on creating intelligent machines that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as speech recognition, decision-making, and problem-solving. AI technologies include machine learning, natural language processing, neural networks, and robotics. AI aims to create machines that can learn, reason, and adapt to new situations, ultimately improving our lives and transforming how we live and work.

Can we trust what we see? After all, to use ChatBGT on Bing, you need to have a Microsoft account. ChatBGT then has access to all the information about you over the internet. That's a significant advantage to the AI stakes for a start. On balance, I would treat anything coming from an AI bot similarly to how I treat research on the internet. If I'm researching for an article, I, the writer, must ensure information is first-hand and accurate. An editor would only publish something that has been appropriately researched. Would an AI bot go to a WiKi page that could have been reviewed and updated with spurious information? We have a long way to go before article writers and professionals from all fields can trust the work coming from such bots.

That's my brief view on AI for writers, or is it? I'm not currently a fan of AI entering the realm of writing and the arts. They are very human pleasures because they are something that humans gain solace and enjoyment from. Where would be the fun and joy of me loading up the basic plot for my novel and asking a Bot for 90k words in 45 Chapters and leaving it to get on with it? Something to think about.

Do you have any views on AI? Would you use AI for an essay? Could you spot AI-generated work?  

Just to let you know, there are a few lines in this piece generated by AI 😉

That was the week that was - Back to Back Weekends

 I'm so glad it is not Friday the 13th this month; I don't think I could put up with all that superstition after the excitement of last week.

It's Friday12th May, and I'm sitting out in the sun at work typing away. The birds are chirping as everybody goes about working at the Community Hospital in Exeter. Our little grass area looks a bit rough, as I think it is a victim of no-mow May. Never mind.

It has been a short week for most people after a historic weekend. Crowning a new monarch for the first time in seventy years was an event to behold. I realise that it wasn't for everyone's tastes or political views; however, what we witnessed was both very historical and, at the same time, very forward-thinking.

One of the striking pictures of the ceremony for me was after King Charles had been crowned and invested with the symbols of his office and sat on the throne; it was like looking back in history. I have seen paintings from centuries back of Kings in the same position and situation. Even back to the first coronation at Westminster Abbey of William I.

What was different this time? The symbols of office were not presented by Lords claiming fealty and touted for lands and power. This time, the Defender of Faiths was presented symbols by members of different religions, people of colour and people who had given service to the country.

Service was a large part of the coronation service and the whole weekend of events. Diversity was evident throughout the weekend, showing what a diverse country we have become. We are a welcoming country, on the whole, but there are areas where we need to improve, and I'm sure that lead will come from our new King, as our politicians have not been showering much glory on themselves lately.

This weekend will be another party weekend if you are into the Eurovision Song Contest. I have to be truthful here and say it's not really for me, but I am interested to see how we do each year. The number of people who are mad about it is incredible, and I hope everybody has a fabulous time and enjoys themselves.

I am very conscious that I didn't publish a blog last week. I thought it would be better to leave it for a week as plenty was going on, and the last thing you needed was me posting all over your social media about my writings.

I have been writing for my novel and almost daily journal this week. I've now got to a significant word count and place in the story, and I need to plan further and get it poised for a bumper finish.

So that was the week that was. Have a good week; spring may just be starting to spring.