Athelstone

  • I’ll come back tomorrow

    I’ll come back tomorrow to look at the clear space between the Co-op and the Santander Bank. The fresh morning sun will light the glistening concrete and the unexpected birds taking baths in puddles where carpets have been carried off. Men in hard hats and hi-vis vests will bundle drills about and smoke their cigarettes a…[Read more]

  • I asked it about limits and it recommended breaking text into chunks, so I divided the input into blocks of chapters, but as I was about to do the final block I hit an error, which I think was the limit of my free access: there was a message about that soon afterwards. Annoyingly inconclusive! Some chapters were summarised in full, others were…[Read more]

  • I tried a 500 word synopsis. It was curiously like a “bad” synopsis that an inexperienced writer might try, too much detail at the outset and then broad generalisations for the middle and end. It always concludes by asking whether you want any refinements, so I asked for more detail about the conclusion and it invented a character and several plot…[Read more]

  • As we are in imminent peril of being swamped with things-AI if Mr Starmer and our present government are to be believed, I thought I’d bite the bullet and give ChatGPT a whirl. As an experiment, I thought I’d try for a summary of my WIP. Since that’s something I will have to wrestle with when I come to submit, I wondered whether it might be…[Read more]

  • Oh Lord. Two entries. Both very different from what I expected. Not that I expected anything in particular, but I know what I mean. Both excellent. Richard’s engrossed me, as the protagonist was engrossed in the model. Terrie’s made me laugh out loud. There’s no winner or loser here, because it was a virtual toss of the coin. Richard, choose us a…[Read more]

  • Athelstone posted an update 1 year, 4 months ago

    Anybody thinking of entering the last Monthly Competition of 2024? Still plenty of time for a few hundred words, but it’s getting closer.

  • Athelstone posted a new activity comment 1 year, 4 months ago

    And to you. We’ve just waived 14 guests away after hosting a Boxing Day buffet. I enjoyed it, mainly, but glad it’s done.

  • Athelstone started the topic One Christmas in the forum Coffee Shop 1 year, 4 months ago

    Back on the WordCloud I started a group called Advent for Christmas-related posts. It was slightly popular, but back then we had an active wall and plenty of other groups, so it never flew especially high.

    I posted a short children’s story. It needs a good edit that I might give it one day, but i think it’s quite fun, so if you’re in need of some…[Read more]

  • Athelstone replied to the topic Happy Christmas in the forum Coffee Shop 1 year, 5 months ago

    And many thanks to you, Libby, and to the other happy few who make this place worth keeping. A very happy Christmas to us all.

  • Athelstone posted a new activity comment 1 year, 5 months ago

    I think it was the number of surprises that wore me down. We looked at finished units in a showroom and it never occurred to me that the various pieces wouldn’t be supplied ready to fit. So when the parts arrived it was a shock to see several 4 metre lengths of aluminium lying amongst them, together with endless bags of anonymous and unexplained…[Read more]

    • You are right Ath, paying for installation is rather expensive so I’ve opted for Christmas at daughters and have been gutting the kitchen myself. Also sourced some of the new items myself, although, like you, have gone for integral fridge and dishwasher.
      So far I’ve emptied the cupboards and removed all the upper ones the extractor fan…[Read more]

  • Athelstone posted a new activity comment 1 year, 5 months ago

    Aha! Yes, having it done professionally was always part of my view of things as well. Then we both agreed to spend more than we probably should on the various bits and pieces. The chap in the shop said, in confidence, our fitting is expensive and you might want to get your own fitter. He hit some keys and offered us in excess of £4.5k for…[Read more]

    • My God, i salute you again. Fitting tiny bits together that are already the right size, as in my entry piece, is one thing, but I’ve never had the skill to do DIY to such fine tolerances. Now I’m old and can usually find the money to pay for work to be done professionally I try to avoid DIY altogether, though I did manage the other day to mend a…[Read more]

      • I think it was the number of surprises that wore me down. We looked at finished units in a showroom and it never occurred to me that the various pieces wouldn’t be supplied ready to fit. So when the parts arrived it was a shock to see several 4 metre lengths of aluminium lying amongst them, together with endless bags of anonymous and unexplained…[Read more]

        • You are right Ath, paying for installation is rather expensive so I’ve opted for Christmas at daughters and have been gutting the kitchen myself. Also sourced some of the new items myself, although, like you, have gone for integral fridge and dishwasher.
          So far I’ve emptied the cupboards and removed all the upper ones the extractor fan…[Read more]

  • I did the first one of the year. Here’s the last. I’ve been fitting a kitchen. Plumbing, carpentry, stuff to a standard I’ve never managed before. Came close to giving up once or twice.

    Up to 500 words on doing something really difficult.

  • Thanks Seagreen. Glad you laughed. Well, Terrie, there’s a coincidence. I’ve barely been able to write for the last month having been fitting our new kitchen. Completely new from top to bottom including having to rebuild joists under the floor and fit a kitchen to an accuracy of 1mm per metre. As I’ve never done anything to that accuracy except by…[Read more]

  • I’m not surprised by this. For some time there have been AI editing features available with Prowritingaid, Grammarly and so on. I have the former, and although I seldom use the AI features, some of which are behind an additional paywall, I have given them a spin in the past. What you get from one of the reports does appear to be a reasonably…[Read more]

  • Argus 26 November 2024

    Brighton man grows hair for five years for special reason.

     

    I remember the blonde hair on the windowsill. My hair’s brown, so it must have come from Taz. Her hair is, or was, I should say, long, and rich, and blonde. Curious, I ran my fingers through my hair a few times and then examined what had come loose. Not a lot,…[Read more]

  • Looks very promising. I shall be donning the headphones when I set about cooking dinner.

  • If it has any impact at all on the publishing world, I would be pleased. I can see that it is galling when an author with a genuine passion for writing, say for a young audience, hones their craft and achieves moderate success, and then watches a celeb waltz in like an unoriginal bargain-basement Roald Dahl, have a small fortune spent on…[Read more]

    • I wholly agree, though in a fit of madness, I thought that an increased gathering of writers might at least get our voices heard, if not have any bearing on sales. It would be a start if some regulation was brought in regards being able to blatantly claim someone else’s work is your own – but too many influential people are on the opposing side to…[Read more]

  • Athelstone posted a new activity comment 1 year, 6 months ago

    Hi Bella, I’ve sent you a message.

  • Athelstone posted a new activity comment 1 year, 6 months ago

    I have an old school friend who I’m still in contact with. He was senior non-fiction editor for Penguin Random House in Canada, and although he’s just retired he knows the business inside out and still manages a couple of clients for them. I’ll see what he says.

  • Darn it! Missed it! A fab selection though.

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