Summertime!

July is one of my favorite months of the year. It's that time for vacations, for sneaking off to the beach for a little relaxation time. If you're like me, one of the first things I pack for vacations is reading material. I'll save a couple of paperbacks to tuck into the suitcase. That way whenever the opportunity presents itself, I can find a little quiet time to read. Of course, July is also a busy time of the year for me. There are several festivals on my calendar to participate in. Details for where you can find me are listed on the Event Calendar. Meanwhile, it's time for an update on my efforts writing.

WRITING

In addition to being an author, I'm also a college professor. I've been teaching at the local college for more than ten years now. Sometimes the discussions stray from the standard textbook material, but if it leads to engaged students, I'm all for it.

Last week I challenged the students to do some research about using AI to help write a paper. They had a list of specific questions to consider and answer. Students were assigned to small groups and given topics that were related to the coursework.

My idea was to get students familiar with these type of programs. Some careers in the near future may require people to be as comfortable with AI programs as they would be with MS Word or Excel. Each student described their efforts using AI. The majority of them recognized that while it is a helpful tool, they would not feel comfortable trying to pass off the results as their own work. All except one.

This student admitted to using an AI program frequently and claimed to be helping people use it. He even hung around after class. Turns out he wanted to know if I would use AI to create one of my stories. I didn't need time to consider it. "No."

"But it could be so helpful," he said.

"I'm not interested. When it comes to creating fiction, that's extremely personal." One of the other students was listening to our conversation. She couldn't help joining in. "That type of writing requires soul. And integrity. And creativity. I wouldn't want to read something that was just generated by a computer program."

I explained that some authors use prompts to trigger an idea or get them started. That's not something I've used in the past and don't foresee it happening in the future. My imagination hasn't failed me yet to create interesting characters and storylines. And I agreed with the female student. Creativity and integrity help shape my stories. I'm also known for realistic dialogue, along with incidents of humor. Of course, with the last name of Love, readers tend to expect a dollop of romance.

Somehow, I don't see an AI program capable of incorporating all of that. I could be wrong. The guy continued to make his pitch in favor of AI. I declined. But as the students were leaving, I couldn't resist one last comment.

"Ever seen The Terminator?"

Works In Progress

One of the negatives about participating in so many festivals this time of year is that it seriously cuts into my time at the keyboard to write. That means I'm typing whenever I can. But I also work on the stories while doing mundane things like yardwork or driving.

Now, I'm not as fast at cranking out a story as Martin Shoemaker is. His Author Profile last month described how Martin can dictate on the fly, creating a story from a simple prompt. He's even performed this feat at festivals, portraying himself as The Instant Bard.

I'm able to focus on the work at hand and still think about different scenes. Characters new and old will be summoned, along with conflicts and dialogue. That way, when I am able to sit down at the computer, those scenes easily flow onto the page. They may not be directly in line with what was previously written. But that's not been a problem for me. When you don't use an outline or plot everything out in advance, the stories can take on a life of their own. At least that's what happens for me. To keep the creativity flowing, I'm working on two project simultaneously. The fourth novel in the Jefferson Chene series is just over 8,000 words on the first draft. I'm about 4,000 words into the Young Adult novella featuring Ian MacKinnon. Bouncing between these projects appears to be working. At the moment. Let's see if I can sustain it!

Meanwhile, I've been trying to be patient, waiting for a reply to my query letter about "Agonasti's Dilemma" that was sent last month. If you know me, you'll recognize that patience is not my virtue! While there has been no response. I'll go back to my list of potential publishers and see what happens.