AI systems are trained on existing written material and therefore authors are anxious about having the copyright of their work infringed. It’s large corporations that gain most from the introduction of AI and the big profits that can result. Professional writers whose median income fell to £7000 in 2022 are right to be concerned. There are also reports of AI generated stories flooding open submission windows causing more headaches. You can read about the Society of Authors response to AI here. Keeping all this in mind, are there any positives?
I’ve had my friend Cathie staying with me for the past month and we’ve done lots of exciting things. Here are a few of them…
We went to see The Crucible at The Globe on a very hot afternoon. The £5 ticket meant standing for the duration which wasn’t too bad when the shade finally reached the spot where we were perched against a wall. It was one of several great plays we’ve seen this summer – others were The Great Gatsby and The Stereophonics.
It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I have a penchant for visiting cemeteries. When I spent the summer of 2021 in Cambridge, I regularly walked through Mill Road cemetery as a short cut to joining parkrun on Coldham’s Common. David’s favourite spot for foraging elderflowers and elderberries (to make wine) is at Surbiton Cemetery. So on a lovely day at the end of May, I decided to make for Brompton Cemetery.
Many cemeteries are more like wildlife sanctuaries and offer pleasant green spaces in which to wander. (I agree with the Victorians who saw them as a venue for a pleasant outing.) Seven large cemeteries were established in London during the 19th century to alleviate overcrowding in the existing parish graveyards. These were Kensal Green Cemetery, West Norwood Cemetery, Highgate Cemetery, Abney Park Cemetery, Nunhead Cemetery, Tower Hamlets Cemetery and Brompton Cemetery As I’ve been to Highgate cemetery many times, I decided to visit Brompton because I knew it from the days when I lived in Earls Court but never went inside. In 1981, the architectural historian Hugh Meller began calling this group of cemeteries ‘The Magnificent Seven’ after the 1960 western film of the same name.
Following a post on the London Writer’s Salon noticeboard for members, I contacted the librarian at HMP High Down about delivering a flash fiction workshop. It piqued my interest to see how a workshop would be received by male inmates at the prison. High Down is a category C men’s training/resettlement prison which is why staff are interested the role volunteers can play in rehabilitation. Notable inmates at High Down have included Gary Glitter and former England cricketer Chris Lewis. The prison is situated close to Belmont in Surrey where I lived as a child from the age of two until eight years. Our neighbour was employed as a gardener when the site was know as Banstead Asylum, a psychiatric hospital. After gaining my shorthand and typing qualifications when young, I worked there as a temporary secretary. With this history, I was curious to see how things had changed.
Oh yes, any trip to IKEA should be rewarded with a bite of lunch. Fortunately, the Croydon store wasn’t too busy when I visited last week and I came away with all the purchases on my list… and not much more. (The marketplace is fatal for picking up just another bargain.) I was interested to note there’s a scene set in IKEA in You by Caroline Kepnes, where the protagonist helps his muse to buy a bed. I am late to this novel (it’s now available on Netflix) but I did find it a compelling story and it made me realise how few books I’ve read recently where the main viewpoint character is male.
On this occasion it’s David and our friend Martin at the helm of a GoBoat. This electric-powered boat took us on a jaunt along the River Thames from Kingston and the table provided an excellent way to share a picnic. I’ve been madly searching Google to find the name of the romantic novel which I think was set in Copenhagen and features GoBoats. Instead, I’ve come up with an AI overview of how I can write a novel based on my search:
The protagonist, a travel writer, is tasked with documenting the “hidden gems” of Copenhagen. She meets a local guide while exploring the city’s canals, and they decide to take a GoBoat tour…
Although I find plot the hardest thing to nail as a writer, but I won’t be resorting to AI any time soon.
As a former teacher, I’ve discovered I’m entitled to join Boundless an experiences club that helps those who work or have worked in the public sector to make the most of their free time. It does this by offering savings on events and a variety of free benefits. The club was established in 1923 by Frank Edwards who set about bringing people together to share adventures. Nowadays, the £40 membership offers free entry into Kew Gardens and (for an additional fee) several royal palaces including the Tower of London and Hampton Court. To make the most of our membership, David and I visited Kew Gardens last week which is a train ride away from our flat in South West London. We explored a section of the grounds and enjoyed the temperate house. We also took a stroll along the treetop walkway which offered fantastic views over the London skyline.
I’ve spent the last couple of weeks deep cleaning our house. It’s not that I like cleaning (although I do find a spotless oven weirdly satisfying) but we’ve been getting ready for our annual migration. We generally spend the spring and summer at our tiny flat in New Malden (South West London) while the Dorset house is let as a holiday home. If you want a peek, Glyde House is listed on Sykes Holiday Cottages. For anyone who’s interested in visiting Dorchester, please drop me a note through the contact page as mates rates are available.
I have loads of things planned over the next few months including theatre trips, museum visits, London walks and days out around Sussex and Kent (I want to go to an exhibition at Tracey Emin’s studio in Margate). I also plan to catch up with old friends I worked and studied with years ago. We’ll still make regular trips back to Dorchester as we like to keep an eye on the house and garden. I’m also planning to attend The Script’s the Thing 2 in Dorchester in May as I’m working collaboratively on a short play to submit. Long distance working is possible thanks to the joys of online platforms such as WriterDuet. In terms of other writing, I’ve finished the latest edit of The Upgrade, a bookclub titled based on a remote tropical island where tensions exist between rich holidaymakers and the local population. The next stage is to begin submitting again.
In the meantime, my daughter and grandson are visiting for a couple days so I’m looking forward to singing lots of nursery rhymes. Fortunately, my online singing classes with the CityLit have paid off, and I’m now able to sing on tune. I plan to join a community choir during the summer term which will be an ambition realised as I was refused entry to my primary school choir!
Would anyone else like to share their one of their ambitions? I’d love to hear – just drop a note in the comments.
David and I spent a superb week in the French Alps where I learnt to ski. He’d been skiing in his twenties, but I’d never thought it would be something I might enjoy. How wrong could I be? There was so much to like about the experience starting with the joy of being surrounded by snow-covered mountains when the sun shone and the sky was blue. The setting was very uplifting and the weather remained consistently good throughout the week. We stayed half board in a hotel with a view of Mont Blanc and enjoyed excellent buffet meals in the restaurant.
In preparation for skiing, I had completed training to strengthen my legs and was quite confident when I approached the nursery slopes. The taster session provided guidance which I put into practice for stopping and turning. A conveyor belt called a magic carpet took me back to the top of the slope and after several goes I felt prepared for ski lessons. David and I shared an instructor who took us onto a green slope (for beginners) where we learnt to take wide curves and control the movement of the skis. A big priority was to return home injury free, so we weren’t terribly adventurous but I certainly found it exhilarating to get from the top of the slope to the bottom with a little speed.
I am nearly at the end of writing my latest manuscript. Conversation Classes is the story of a diverse group of people who stay at a remote hotel in northern Italy where native English speaking volunteers are matched with business people to improve their oral language skills. Although the Conversation Classes emersion programme has a high success rate at building the participants’ use of spoken English, many of the attendees have very different reasons for enrolling on the course. These are revealed through the chapters of the novel with some intriguing and hilarious results. The story is based on the experience of being a volunteer on one of these courses in Spain (you can read about it here) although I’ve set the novel in a fictional location and the characters and situations are imagined.
While creative writing remains a priority for me, I’ve spread my interests to include singing, learning to read music, running and pilates. These activities cross fertilise to improve my stories while being good for the body and mind. My exercise programme currently includes some ski fit activities. After years of saying I’d never want to ski because I don’t like falling over or being cold, I’ve changed my mind. Something about completing the Caminho Português from Porto to Santiago de Compostela in appalling weather (you can read about it here) has improved my resolve in tacking new physical challenges. In January we’ll be heading to the French Alps for my first experience of skiing.
I’ve been having a good clear out and was hoping a local museum would accept a donation of artefacts from Papua New Guinea. Here are some of the things I’ve kept in storage since leaving the country in 1984.
kina shellpenis gourdbilum bagcoins from 1936sepik mask
Unfortunately, the museum turned down the donation because they wanted items from before independence in 1975. A dealer offered me £3 for each of the coins (I have 13 in total) but I turned him down. An auction house I approached wasn’t interested in this metal picture by Waki Waikali (see below) even though other works by the artist have sold internationally. I still enjoy the image of a highland tribesman in ceremonial dress so I’ll hang onto it for a bit longer. According to the auction house, much artwork from Papua New Guinea has yet to find a market.
the writer is a lonely hunter 