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Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category

In This Golden Age

Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged , , , , , , on October 28, 2024| Leave a Comment »

A few thoughts on AI from one of the leading sci-fi writers of the day.

Scalzi on Film: Hollywood Totally Lied to Us About AI: Why Cinematic Cyborgs Are So Much Smarter Than What We Have in the Real World

Behold! Science has caught up to fiction, and the age of Artificial Intelligence, long promised by science fiction in film, literature, and video games, is here! And in this golden age…tech companies expend vast amounts of energy to create search engine assistants trained on partially or fully stolen data, who tell us it’s okay to eat rocks and put glue on pizza, and chatbots who “hallucinate” answers to queries, i.e. confabulate bullshit based on a statistical regression to the textual mean. Our “AI,” as it turns out, is less intelligent than a chicken, even if it has a better vocabulary.

Will the technology continue to change? Certainly, and with rapidity. Will it move more concretely from “applied statistics” to a more humanized “artificial intelligence”? We shall see!

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Photo by Jonathan Kemper on Unsplash

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The Road Is Made of Words

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on October 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Write. There is no substitute…But start small: write a good sentence, then a good paragraph, and don’t be dreaming about writing the great American novel or what you’ll wear at the awards ceremony because that’s not what writing’s about or how you get there from here.

The road is made entirely out of words. Write a lot…it’s effort and practice. Write bad stuff because the road to good writing is made out of words and not all of them are well-arranged words.

— Rebecca Solnit

So write bad stuff. Good stuff too, just try not to worry too much about which is which.

Just keep going.

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Photo by Ravi Sharma on Unsplash

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Sounds Like Fun

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , on October 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »

A fall Saturday with a side of free fiction, sounds like fun to me!

Who Walks With You by Premee Mohamed

With her glasses knocked off and, presumably, buried alongside her, it takes a while to realize what she’s looking at. Ah: light entering not through the usual place (the roof, which is transparent) but somewhere else (the wall, which is supposed to be opaque).

That’s right. She remembers now. The outside came in.

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Photo by Kevin Lanceplaine on Unsplash

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Chase That

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »

“That thing that gives you butterflies, that lights you up. That world you see when you close your eyes. Chase that.”

— Eddie Pinero

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Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

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A Morning Meditation

Posted in Other, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on October 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Stretched out in bed as morning rays usher in the day, it helps to remember that

today’s weather

the world’s weather

what to write

note: look up major volcanic eruptions in the modern era

if the cat moved two inches to the right I could breathe

bills

donations

bills

ouch, why do my feet hurt

location of the Golden Spike

the garage is a mess

write write

the neighbor cut down the milkweed before it went to seed

odds of a power outage this winter

dinner

breakfast

a certain Tuesday in November and

what comes next

write write write

should have bought more than two boxes of Girl Guide cookies

but at least they’re mint

work work work work work

doesn’t matter

yet, just

Now.

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Photo by Melissa Askew on Unsplash

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Nnedi Knows

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , on October 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Read an Excerpt From Nnedi Okorafor’s She Who Knows

When there is a call, there is often a response.

Najeeba knows.

She has had The Call. But how can a 13-year-old girl have the Call? Only men and boys experience the annual call to the Salt Roads. What’s just happened to Najeeba has never happened in the history of her village.

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Photo by Manav Jain on Unsplash

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The Universe Within & Without

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on October 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

“The arts and sciences are avatars of human creativity. It’s our attempt to influence things, the universe internal to ourselves and external to us.”

— Mae Jemison, Doctor and Astronaut

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Photo by Adrian Infernus on Unsplash

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First Frost

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on October 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I am committing poetry today, apparently.

frost crawls down rooftops

cold crystals reach out for warmth

winter’s first trespass

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Photo by Carl Tronders on Unsplash

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With Fresh Delight

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on October 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »

“And so, does the destination matter? Or is it the path we take? I declare that no accomplishment has substance nearly as great as the road used to achieve it. We are not creatures of destinations. It is the journey that shapes us. Our callused feet, our backs strong from carrying the weight of our travels, our eyes open with the fresh delight of experiences lived.”

― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

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Photo by Ola Dybul on Unsplash

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The 2025 NRDC Climate Storytelling Fellowship

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on October 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I don’t write screenplays, but perhaps you do? If so, consider this new grant from The Black List, the NRDC’s (Natural Resources Defense Council) Rewrite the Future program, The Redford Center, The CAA Foundation, and NBCUniversal.

That’s a lot of organizations getting behind climate storytelling. If you want in, here’s how!

2025 NRDC Climate Storytelling Fellowship | The Black List

We need it all–the bleak and the inspirational, the fantasies, dramas, comedies, and rom-coms. It is the power and privilege of writers to show us how climate change is transforming our world, and to help us find a path to salvation. This program aims to support well told stories with climate themes that entertain viewers and allow them to engage with the range of emotions caused by the climate crisis. 

Application deadline is December 05, 2024.

Even if you aren’t into screenplays or don’t want to navigate The Black List sign up/apply for a fee waiver process, you may want to check out the list of Writer’s Resources at the bottom of the description page.

Examples include the Sustainability Onscreen Tipsheet and The Last Laugh: Comedy in the Age of Climate Change.

Because whatever else happens, the future needs laughter.

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Photo by Teja J on Pexels.com

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