T.R. Neff's Blog, page 4

Busy Like A Bee

This is me, busy like a bee… I’ve been going pretty much non-stop for the last few weeks that it’s nice enough to sit down and write a simple blogpost. So what am I up to? So that’s it for now (as if that is not enough).

Short and Sweet

I’ve been experiencing quite a few internet technical difficulties (no thanks to T-Mobile) so I am making this short and sweet because I don’t want you to miss out.

If you’ve read or been following along with “Whispering Dusk” and the Eater of Dreams on Vella, here’s to get you up to speed:

The date, as announced in my newsletter, for release is:

31 OCT 2023

Yup. Halloween.

AND, if you sign up to my free newsletter before Sunday (24 SEP 2023), you’ll get the Book One’s new title reveal and a chance to participate in the cover poll (not to mention you get the free story, “Whispering Dusk” if you haven’t read it already).

Want to participate? Sign up here: In Other Worlds…

Eater of Dreams Book 1 is DONE

Revising isn’t quite that horrifying…
or is it?

I think I’ve already stated it, but the book is done!

I had been publishing it in Vella, and that has not only been completed but has also been updated with fixes/changes/etc. Not that all of them are live as of this blog (5SEP2023)–Kindle’s like that, sitting on episodes for no apparent* reason–but they’re in the queue at least.

If you want to know when it’s ready for pre-order, subscribe to my newsletter (sidebar on Desktop, below on mobile). It’s a free newsletter and you get a free story set in the universe that comes in multiple formats so you can choose to download your preferred file type. And come back here and let me know what you think! I appreciate honest, respectful feedback, even if it’s negative on the story. I say this again and again–it helps me grow as a writer when people are honest.

As for Vella… I’m still weighing whether or not I will go that route again. I think the only way I “got away with it” this time is that the parts of were already written, it just needed to be

Signing up for the newsletter early enough and you will get the first dates on when it’s ready for pre-order and may get a chance to vote on covers.

*”Apparently”, because there’s really no explicit/sexual stuff (sorry to disappoint if that’s what you’re looking for). Or it just gets hung up on my fantasy-style names for things. Whatever. It’s a PITA either way.

Busy Household

Not our basket of eggs, but I think I may end up with a few Easter Eggers next year.

It’s been crazy busy here for the last few weeks, but I always count that as a good thing. I absolutely HATED when I would be at work and there was nothing to do, so I always had to get creative. So what’s been going on?

For one, I’ve been busy with the chickens. The thing I’ve been putting off–building them a new coop–is now imperative. Two of our “new” girls started laying on us very early. Several weeks earlier than expected, in fact. I’ve been carting them back and forth every morning and every evening. We have a big old coop where they roost overnight, but we are still keeping the “new” flock separated from the “old” flock due to the roosters in the old being a mite too aggressive with the new girls. And yes, unfortunately, and if I haven’t said it before, it looks like we’re going to have to rehome our roosters somewhere because they’re getting to aggressive towards humans. But even finding them a new place wouldn’t solve the coop issue. I really don’t want to keep moving them back and forth and over-handling them.

Thanks to my mother’s suggestion, the simple coop idea I had has now blossomed into a really cool idea, which hasn’t helped planning any. I’ll update more on that once it’s gotten past the “bought materials” stage to the “in production.” With pictures.

The other project (and why most people visit the site!) is the first volume of Eater of Dreams. It’s being looked over and formatted for Kindle publishing (since Vella is a very different kind of beast). I’m making all the necessary changes and doing a last read-through, but it’s slated to be on time. When is that, you ask? It’s done when it’s done, but definitely before the end of the year, probably within the next month. I’ll give you a better answer when the other things (cover, map, goodies, etc.) have nailed-down dates. My newsletter subscribers will get the definitive dates earlier, so you can sign up on the sidebar (or below, if you’re reading this on your mobile). Its free to join and you can DL a free story set in the Eater of Dreams universe to boot.

Storm Warning

We just weathered a crazy storm here, and one which they are still trying to determine “Wind or Tornado”. I was mostly worried about my feathered critters. The young pullets were just fine–they had the smarts to stay inside the coop, huddled together, low. But not the older birds–no, they stood out in the rain. They even had the open garage to go find cover, but I found one of them standing next to the cars getting pummeled. I had to chase them inside. They were so soaked that when the storm passed and I went out to check on them, I had to clean out the old and give them fresh bedding because they drenched the pine shavings. Birds can be so smart and so dumb at the same time.

Luckily, there’s not a lot of cleanup and no serious damage. And surprisingly, there’s this one limb hanging in the tree, hooked on another dead limb that didn’t come down in spite of the heavy winds*.

In spite of all the drama, I got done with my quota of words and revision/cleanup of the Eater of Dreams Volume 1 story (which will be retitled) and then released in Kindle, date forthcoming. Sometimes the rain makes it easy to come up with an excuse to stay inside and pore over pages and pages of words.

Stay safe out there, wherever you may be!

*Long story: Last November some tree contractors cut down some dead/dying trees close to the house. When they brought one down, it struck the limb of a living tree further back on the property, knocking it clean off. However, it didn’t fall, but got stuck in an upper limb. The limb it’s hanging from also appears to be dead now, but neither of them has fallen in spite of the several windy storms we got through here since last Fall. It’s too high up and too far back into the woods to get up there safely and knock it down, so we continue to stay away until the “widowmaker” falls on its own.

Technically Challenged to the Nines

SO… it just occurred to me (this being Thursday, and the day in question of the should-have-been being Tuesday) that I neglected to set up the blog to point you, my fabulous readers, in the direct of the cool thing going on. Possibly I should set these up as their own page, and I have a few months to get it prepared, but for now:

There’s this cool thing in which I am participating with other writers: StoryTime BlogHop. Every quarter, a bunch of free 1000-word flash fiction stories you can read with a web of links at the bottom so you can read them all in any order (the “Hop” part of that coming into play). Because it’s on a different page, I’ll give you the link here to get you started:

TIMELESS by T. R. Neff

And if that wasn’t bad enough, I forgot to turn on the comments. Like I said, technically challenged…

AI – Not Just a Long Movie Anymore

“David” and “Teddy” from the 2001 movie A. I. Artificial Intelligence

I’ve put off addressing this issue for a long time, mostly because I have to sit and think through it. (Yes, that’s present tense because it won’t be a “one & done” thought.) Nearly EVERYONE is debating this topic right now, and for all kinds of reasons and addressing all kinds of repercussions, and just like the computer, no matter how bad its programming, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

If you haven’t heard about any of this recently, you must be living under a rock. Or in northern Alaska.(Which, quite frankly, I’m starting to think is a fantastic idea, especially now that I’m getting older. I used to want to move to the desert.)

First and foremost, I’ll state the obvious: I don’t use AI to write anything–not my stories, not my articles. I don’t even use AI prompts or story summaries. I don’t even use Grammarly to check word usage/sentence structure/etc. The most sophisticated tool I use is the Spelling/Grammar check in my word processing software, and even the grammar part gets tiresome because I write dialogue that’s off on purpose and I’d rather not let the program “learn” the bad grammar, so I have to hit “Ignore” every time. Everything I’ve written has come from my own brain, though my influences are everywhere (show me a fantasy writer who claims to have come up with it whole-cloth and I’ll show you a liar).

I refuse to use AI to write anything for me, and shall always do so. It’s probably the only thing I am in agreement in which I agree with the Writers’s Guild of America currently on strike in California (ironically, they could use AI’s help, considering how awful the plots of movies are as of late.)

I’m stubborn that way.

I guess some of us will start to label our stories “100% A.I.-Free”. In fact, I think I’d do it now, except:

I DO use AI to create images for my covers, which is where some of my deeper cogitation is happening. I am an artist myself, and have painted portraits and landscapes and sold my work through galleries. My problem is (and, if it sounds like a justification, it is) I don’t have the time to paint all the covers I need for my stories, and I would be the one doing the work of painting and designing the cover, so at this point the AI is only really replacing me. I do plan, once my titles have earned sufficient funds, to commission covers for the future title releases and give the work to some budding artists. Maybe I’d even get a painter/graphic artist team to do the whole cover. With the caveat of not using AI, of course.

There’s also the issue of AI “learning”. Each program of AI uses a vast library artwork to which it has access to “learn” from, and here’s where a deeper creative controversy starts. Is it actually using bits and pieces of others’ artwork, or is it learning from the elements and creating something entirely new? If it’s using copyrighted work and just stamping it into the final product, that’s an issue. However, if it’s merely “learning” from a style, then it wouldn’t be a big deal. For example, artists (myself included) learn painting by mimicking the styles of other artists, and may even try to emulate famous paintings to connect with their process* so we are essentially learning from the works that came before us, shortening the learning curve. I’m not sure what’s happening with it just yet, and frankly I don’t think anyone is sure, because the different AI programs behave differently.

On the writing side of it, we learn by writing and reading, so will that be a possibility? Of course. A huge problem I see comes from writers who generate AI text and use it AS IS and think somehow that makes them a better writer. It’s akin to using a calculator or a spreadsheet formula for all the figuring and saying it makes you better at math. (I’d quote the guy who said it makes him a better writer but I’d rather not direct anyone to his site and be accused of harassing him. I just unsubscribed from his newsletter and won’t read anything “written by” him again.)

As a creative, I can’t decry AI as all bad, yet. Is it possible that AI will replace all human creativity? Yes, but I would add the caveat “new” creativity. It also poses new questions. AI’s basis may seem infinite, and the possibilities of it creating “new” out of what humans taught it, if humans relegate all their creativity to the machines, then the pool of novelty will eventually dry up, even if they are recycling their own (A.I.’s own) work. It may not be in a human lifetime, and that’s probably good enough for some.

It also brings up the point about what makes us human. For me, it will always be that we have souls, but others will argue that AIs demonstrate they have a soul because they can create. Is it creating? Or is it just a very good mimic**?

Like books, where digital copies haven’t completely replaced the physical, and indeed most of us love our home libraries and the feel and smell of old tomes. Will AI writers remain novel (no pun intended)? Possibly. Then again with the dearth of good writing, people may embrace the stories coming from AI based solely on what they feel like reading/watching*** at the time. Example: “I want to watch a movie where Genghis Khan battles an army of anthropomorphized rabbits with modern weapons in order to claim the deed to the floating chocolate castle realm.” Ridiculous, yes, but AI will probably be catering to all kinds.

Bottom line, or the modern TL;DR is that AI is a tool, albeit an incredibly sophisticated one, that can be used for good or evil. It’s really just going to come down to who is programming it and who is using it. But, it behooves us all to keep an eye on it, and keep thinking about it. As long as it’s around, it’s going to generate questions of deep-delving fractal proportions.

*Not quite the same as forgery, although if you’re good enough and can pass it off and try to, you’ve just walked into felonious territory, my friend.

**For the record, I don’t buy that they have souls, but I will say that AI can mimic like nothing before it. And mimics aren’t necessarily some force of good. You TTRPG players know what I’m talking about, and if you don’t, well, you can go check it out here.

***Yes, there are shows and movies being generated by AI now as well.

Strange Thoughts in the Middle of the Night

Not my illustration, of course, but eerily similar to the thoughts running rampant around that timeframe.

You’d think with two weeks to muse over a topic, I’d have more than enough to write about on this blog today, but my mind is a blank. Or, rather, it’s swarming with things that I’m either not interested or inclined to write about. Most are kinda like those weird 3AM thoughts (see image above) that are insomnia-inducing worrisome until the dawn light scatters them like roaches.

And then it occurred to me this may not necessarily be a bad thing, as it’s not a lack of writing, it’s just a blog topic that’s drawing a blank. There’s no effect on my fiction writing in the slightest–I’ve been able to sit down first thing (after feeding the cat and getting my coffee, of course) and belt out more than the minimum words needed to meet the quotas and deadlines. The first of the three solidly-landed projects nears its end* and seems to be gaining momentum. Kinda like the story itself, racing to the conclusion (albeit only of the first part of the heroes’ journey).

Unlike those thoughts, however, sometimes the dreams hit you. Most of the time they go away, easily forgotten, but sometimes they stick with you all day. I had one of those recently, where I was in Washington, DC visiting with “friends” (people whom I seemed to know well but are unfamiliar outside of Morpheus’ theater) and as I was preparing to leave for home (in PA, in reality and in dreams), I discovered my car keys were missing. And my purse. And my phone. I had to borrow money just to make a phone call (yes, it was a pay phone with coins in the dream) to my house only to realize I didn’t know any of my family members’ phone numbers so someone could bring my spare key and I could drive home. That part is more true than I’d prefer to admit, seeing that it’s no longer a “necessity” nowadays–until it is. Other strange details abounded in the dream, some of them still vivid but meaningless to that one thread. Maybe a warning, a wake-up call to commit them to memory again.

It does work. After all, I can still recite all the phone numbers we had when I was a kid without hesitation.

*Eater of Dreams‘ First Installment, planned for completion by the end of July and clocking in at more than 130k words. Once it passes the 30 day mark for the final episode, it will be released as a full volume through the regular channels (KU). The other two are my cyberpunk noir detective story, which is all ready for final type-in and polish, and the overwhelming choice of my newsletter readers, the second installment of the Umbra series, which is already written–and the third is as well–but whose revision will commence once the CNDS is done. Or until I’ve met my revision quota on that one and need to change up my pace a bit.

Do I have any TTRPG players?

This isn’t my dice bag, but it might as well be. I’m a dice junkie.

If you know what TTRPG stands for, you probably do, or at least you have. If you don’t know, it’s Table-Top Role Playing Games. Like the old Dungeons & Dragons where you create a character and role dice to create an experience for players, either through published “modules” or on the fly. I’ve played the games for literally decades and still have some of my original books.

There are also some new ones out there that are somewhere between miniature games like Warhammer 40,000 (WH40K) and PnP RPGs, like Rangers of Shadow Deep, which I heartily recommend (I’m not affiliated, so I won’t get anything by clicking the link. You, however, get to check out a pretty cool game).

When I’m not writing or taking care of the chickens, I try to get a game in. Lately, though, it’s been solo play, me running through scenarios to see if they would “fly”. My player base kinda dried up, and I’m not really into the Virtual TT, but then I haven’t the bandwidth to really experiment, so I just go play an offline computer RPG instead. I played through the Rangers of Shadow Deep myself. Definitely doable with the creator’s brilliant system of randomization with playing cards. You don’t even need the miniatures, just some graph paper or, if you’re a total nerd like me, you can make a full-color graphed map in Dungeondraft (which DOES work with a lot of the Virtual TT game systems, and no, I’m not Dungeondraft/Megasploot’s affiliate either).

The reason I asked is because I am lining up the next few projects for myself. With the end of the first installment of Eater of Dreams in sight (August 2023), I have a revision to finish (my as yet-untitled Cyberpunk Detective Noir) and, thanks to the readers of my newsletter, the next revision after that has been chosen. But I am one of those weird folks who has to have several different types of projects going on at once so when I get stuck on one I can bounce around. Admittedly not the most efficient way to work. Or maybe it is, since I’m not going completely idle. You tell me I’m thinking maybe it would be fun to publish some of the “system agnostic” random tables I use for myself when I’m writing and stuck just to get the so-called creative juices flowing again.

Anyone interested?

And, if you’re a GM and haven’t heard of AngryGM, you’re missing out. He’s a real powerhouse of information. No, I’m not his affiliate either, just an avid reader who learned a lot and gained a whole new appreciation for crafting meaningful game experiences (and teach others to GM for once so I get a chance to play!)

*And when I say “old” I mean that. I stuck with 2 and 3.5e since Wizards of the Coast botched it with 4 (making it too similar to the Video RPGs) and I won’t even go near 5… ugh. Not that I will buy anything from them ever again, considering what they’re trying to do to content creators.

Sumo’s Never Been So… Infuriating

I gotta say it:

URA WAS ROBBED.

The May 2023 Grand Sumo tournament just ended, and on the fourteenth day, Ura was this > < far away from getting his more-wins-than-losses (kachi-koshi). He faced off against Kotonowaka with a pretty good tachi-ai, that part where they bullrush each other it practically rattles the TV.

Ura was flying-kneeling backwards out of the dohyō (you’d have to see it to believe it) while pulling Kotonowaka down on his belly. The belly smashed the clay first, while Ura was still in the air. There was a discussion amongst the judges, a mono-ii, and the judge literally said he was in the air. But something about “unrecoverable” position and my blood started to boil when they gave the win to Kotonowaka. It’s not that I don’t like Kotonowaka, but… any other time when the rikishi is in the air over the rice bails and his opponent touches first, it’s awarded to the one who hasn’t quite touched.

Ura lost the bout on the fifteenth day and ended up 7-8.

I’m still grumbling.

I had a very different post written, but at the last minute I changed my mind. Why? Because I was getting really furious the more I wrote. I’ll add this as the remnant, though–in the US, we should be remembering the soldiers and sailors who fell to create and preserve this fantastic country we live in every day of the year, not just on a handful of token holidays. They (with a notable, horrendous exception) freely enlisted and gave their life, proving their honorable CHARACTER, something sadly lacking in our country today.

For the fallen, for the soldiers, for my shipmates: Thank You.

Don’t forget to check out the ongoing promotions for free/sale/Kindle Unlimited stories. Stock up on books for lazy-day summer reading!