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Being a Published Author Is not what You Think

July 25, 2018

art, author, book, creativity, literature, publishing, writing

Traditionally, most aspiring authors have thought of getting published as the end goal. Being a published author has been a proof of merit. To be a writer who’s published means “you’ve made it”, right? Heck, if you visit my author pages on Goodreads or Amazon, you’ll see me referring myself to having been published.

Well, we could talk for hours debating whether having “made it” has ever been the case (the word “traditionally”, which opened this article is the operative word here), but let’s instead focus on the present moment. The grand question is this:

Does being a published author mean your writing woes are over?

Not only is the answer “not by a mile”, but in many cases I’d argue against “being a published author”. In other words, I’d argue that getting a publishing contract with a publishing house won’t necessarily be what you’d like.

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GhostWriter: a Random Text Generator App for Android

July 17, 2018

Literature, Programming

Android, computer, programming, writing

Please note that none of my Android apps is any longer maintained – and they’re not even available on Google Play anymore – for reasons you can read about here. If you still have any of the Home for Fiction Android apps installed on your phone, you’re advised to uninstall them. The post below should be seen purely as a snapshot of history.

I recently talked about the importance of learning how to learn. I spoke of how knowledge should be holistic, with each learned discipline or area of knowledge supporting the rest. Well, let me ask you: Can a guy with a PhD in English literature design Android apps? The answer is GhostWriter, a random text generator Android app I developed.

Long-term readers of this blog probably know that I enjoy programming, particularly when it’s related to writing and literature. Besides my genre-marking JavaScript program, I’ve also experimented with an iambic pentameter generator. Ghostwriter is an app of a similar kind, that is, one concerned with writing and texts.

How Does a Random Text Generator Work?

The GhostWriter app deploys the RiTa library (probably well known to developers). It can generate text based on Markov chain creation. In very simple terms, the program scans some pre-installed texts (mostly older, out-of-copyright novels) and detects how words follow one another.

For example, if there are two phrases like “The black cat went into the market” and “the white dog went into the store”, the app can mix them so that a new, randomly generated phrase emerges: “The black dog went into the market”.

Of course these are only two very simplistic examples. With literally thousands and thousands of combinations, a random text generator can produce some wild results. Here’s just one funny example from A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens:

GhostWriter - random text generator — Charles Dickens must be rolling over in his grave. Or, who knows, perhaps he’d find it hilarious and entertaining.

Learning How To Learn, and why It Is Important

July 10, 2018

Society

creativity, education, knowledge, reason, society

“I grow old ever learning many things,” Solon said. Learning as you grow old is very rewarding, as well as essential for maintaining your well-being. But there is something more important than learning about science, history, the arts, or anything else. And that is learning how to learn.

But what does it mean, to learn how to learn? Moreover, how can one learn how to learn, and is this sort of learning accessible to everyone? Let’s try to unwrap this with a little personal story.

A relative of mine worked all her life behind a computer. That was in the 80s, long before graphic desktops, and there was significant complexity. If you wanted the computer to do something as simple as filling in a form or printing out a table, you had to enter a series of complex strings and commands. This relative of mine had mastered the entire system and performed efficiently and accurately.

learning how to learn — You are never too old to learn something new, provided you have learned how to learn!

And then she retired, and Windows came along. And it took her years to learn how to use the mouse, and only recently did she understand (sort of) how an Internet browser works. Concepts like “the cloud,” “signing in to Google to save YouTube videos you like,” or even “organize your bookmarks” are entirely alien to her.

Why is all this important? Because it’s a great example of how someone can be an excellent learner of any particular method, concept, or discipline, and yet a very poor learner of learning.

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