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“Is my Vocabulary Good?” Is a Pointless Question

July 4, 2022

Writing

book, creativity, fiction, literature, writing

OK, I’m being harsh – and imprecise. Wondering whether your vocabulary is good is a valid concern (at least for beginner or intermediate authors). The “pointless” part of the title is there to offer a quick response: Whether your vocabulary is good or not is not as crucial as you might think.

If you remember my post about writing vivid descriptions, when I was a young and stupid author I thought I needed to write whole pages describing a wall; or a table; or a cup of coffee.

What I didn’t mention in that post – though it’s perhaps implied – is that having a vocabulary that is good plays an integral part in such… strategies.

Whether that’s important or not is something we’ll explore in this post.

vocabulary good
Whether your vocabulary is good or not can affect whether you can offer a three-page description of the sea. The point is, why should you?
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How to Be “Good Enough” at Writing

June 20, 2022

Writing

capitalism, degrowth, society, writing

How can we be good enough at writing? Maybe the question puzzles you. “I don’t want to be just ‘good enough’ at writing”, you might say. “I want to to be excellent! The best!”

And yet, have you ever wondered whether there’s a paradox in a situation where the world wants us all to be “the best”?

Inspiration for this post came after I saw a short documentary about Jiro Ono, arguably the world’s best sushi chef. At the age of 85 (at the time of the documentary, some 10 years ago), he was still working long hours at his diminutive restaurant. In the documentary, we see him and his son, together with some apprentices, working hard to prepare the day’s sushi.

But there are dark clouds under this facade of perfection, that most people fail to notice. Yet, if you’re wondering whether you shouldn’t be just “good enough” at writing because you want to be excellent, such details are worth paying attention, as we’ll see in this post.

good enough writing
Here’s a photo from my 2017 trip to Greece. If being excellent (at anything) involves missing out on experiencing life, I don’t want it. I much rather just be “good enough” – at writing and anything
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No, AI Can’t Produce Art (but It Can Write)

June 6, 2022

Philosophy, Writing

computer, creativity, fiction, imagination, literature, programming, society, writing

Based on discussions and what I read, a lot of people are afraid AI, artificial intelligence, will “steal” their jobs – what the hell happened to the “one day we’ll have robots and we won’t need to work” dream of early sci-fi? But I digress… Writers don’t seem to be an exception. A great number of them seem to be worried about AI replacing them. So, can AI produce art?

In this post I argue that no, AI can’t produce art – for reasons we’ll explore. But AI can certainly write. It can already now, and I’m certain it will become even better.

Where’s the difference, then, you might ask.

The difference, to a large extent, revolves around matters central to the writer-or-artist distinction. More insidiously, perhaps, it’s about conditioning us into patterns that can have far-reaching (and unpleasant) consequences.

AI can't produce art
“The algorithm” (Google Photos) keeps suggesting that I should “fix [the] lighting” of this and many other photos. It doesn’t understand art
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