21 March 2023

Crowded Blouse and Acoustic Fix

This weekend has been very busy. First, Lady Agatha and I nipped into town to catch Melanie Zedd‘s fabbo ‘Crowded Blouse‘ music and stories hour with the excellent Deborah Brennan accompanying Mel on piano. Mel took us through her school and uni years, encouraging us to sing along with classic songs she skilfully altered the lyrics to, turning them into comedic pieces. This was the […]

9 March 2023

AI and writers

What are we as writers if not improvisers? Some of us plan out our work, filling in every gap before putting fingers to keyboard, others of us are ‘pantsers’, writers who write by the seat of their pants, never knowing what’s going to happen next, but trusting in their muse that inspiration will strike. Both types of writers, I contend, are reliant on improvisation more […]

9 March 2023

AI *WILL* disrupt writers, and sooner than you think

As a retired business communicator with some 30 years of experience behind me building websites, blogs and providing the content for them, I had left the Business Communication profession behind and embraced my photography and my Masters degree in Creative Writing & Communication. So, when AI came across my horizon, I was ill-prepared for its importance and its ground-shaking nature. Most in my former profession […]

23 February 2023

Writing at the gates of an AI dawn

WOW! This comment from 2022: “Two-thirds of Australian authors are women—our new research finds they earn just $18,000 from their writing” Zwar, Throsby and Crosby, The Conversation 2022 You can’t even live off that! It’s below the poverty line, methinks. And yet, digital writing for businesses is booming: “Aussies with digital marketing skills in hot demand, up 34% in just six months.” B&T.com.au, October 20, […]

5 February 2023

Philomena Cunk: Life on Earth

Based on reviews by friends, Agatha and I sat down and watched the first three Netflix episodes of ‘Philomena Cunk: Cunk on Earth’. I’d seen a few sketches on YouTube and thought them and her hilarious, so Agatha and I loaded up the wine glasses with chilled Pinot Gris and paid close attention to what Netflix was streaming to us. We concluded that the show […]

27 June 2022

I’m not creative, mate

I have known I’m bipolar for a very long time, and I was diagnosed as clinically depressed before my psychiatrist at the time changed her mind about my condition (based on new research) and diagnosed me as bipolar nearly two decades ago. But I’d never felt myself as being creative. This, beside loving acting in plays, beside painting, beside taking photographs and developing them in […]

12 May 2022

Muses

Statement: My best friends are my soul food. Opposite view: Friends are over-rated as creative muses. The traditional muse of the 20th Century was an attractive, usually single, woman who was paid, or not, to inspire the usually male artist. Many male artists fell in love, or lust, with their muses and some muses fell in love with their benefactors.  My best friends are definitely […]