24th Dec: Season Greetings from Western Australia!
And also a big thanks to all those who listened and subscribed to the podcast this past year. Spotify dropped their Spotify Wrapped just a few days ago (an overview of 12-month stats made on a fancy background). Here’s what it looks like:
There was more inside the package. It provided stats regarding the most popular episode, countries that had the most listeners, and where the podcast was shared. The overall outcome says that growth is occurring in every area. When I look at the minutes component, I wonder when I found the time to record, edit, and publish all that extra content.
This is only Spotify’s report (Spotify represents around 8% of listeners). There are still iVoox, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Downcast and a multitude of lesser-known apps that provide gateways for listeners into the podcast world. Apple currently attracts a whopping 70% of listeners and I’m sure the percentages shown in Spotify could be applied to those other podcasting apps to get similar results. When I get the chance, I’ll take a look at Apple to see what’s happening over there (they don’t send out a bundle like Spotify does).
The whole thing is remarkable because the podcast exists in only one place. It then filters outward and gets picked up by those other hosts. They index the episodes and then include them in their searches when people go looking for that kind of content. It kind of makes me look like I’m everywhere.
All the best to you for this Christmas period,
From me (in a very hot), Mandurah. (Mx)
3rd Nov: What does a kiss look like?
I spoke of Artificial Intelligence in my last update. It was about playing with the AI writing engine to write poems. This time it’s about the image side of things. I absolutely love it… but it makes me laugh as it sometimes gets things wrong. People can get made with six fingers, three arms or no feet!
But what I love most about the engine are the cliches it bangs together in a single scene. Everyone is pretty. Backgrounds are created as though they’re perfectly matched to the foreground. This makes the pictures feel too manufactured to be real. Apart from the odd extra finger and missing foot, the scenes it makes are way too smooth to be believable.
Ironically, they work anyway. No one bats an eyelid at them. In fact, the posts have drawn more traffic and I can’t argue with that!
The clincher of ridiculousness for me was the romantic image I asked it to make about love. I wanted a couple kissing. It wouldn’t produce this photo (for reasons only it knows) so I asked it to show a loved-up couple holding hands while looking at each other. The result was this: LINK
I don’t know what the future of AI is but today I’ll take what it offers. It’ll only improve, right?
Maybe tomorrow it’ll be able to show us what a kiss really looks like.
-M
5th Nov: AI as a writing tool?
Last week, a friend of mine left her job. She got Artificial Intelligence to write her a professional resignation letter. She felt she couldn’t say what she wanted without getting emotional about how toxic the work culture had become. She told AI the facts and it spat out the results. It needed no editing at all. She copied and pasted the text onto a new document and waved the company goodbye.
And then Margo and I were at a dinner the other night and someone commented about AI taking over the creative arts, including the world of novel writing. Margo wasn’t convinced it could do as good a job as a human author. Given that I have dabbled in AI to increase my blog frequency, I thought I’d show her what AI’s creation engine could achieve.
“I’ll make it write us a Haiku,” I said. “Give me something you’d like to read in a haiku.”
She replied, “Okay, ummm, a ginger cat walks into a bar. Try that.”
“Done.”
Ginger cat strolls in,
Whiskers twitch with curiosity,
Bar’s eyes are all on him.
It took less than a second for AI to return the above response.
“What? Really? Okay, make it write an 18th-century poem,” she demanded, thinking the process would be harder to complete than a three-line Haiku. Less than a second later, AI gave us this text:
In a tavern of old, with timbered grace,
A ginger cat did stroll with stately pace,
Its fur ablaze like autumn’s fiery leaves,
In this age of powdered wigs and eves.
Amidst the patrons, whispers filled the air,
As they beheld the feline’s regal flair,
With amber eyes that gleamed like molten gold,
Intrigued, they watched this tale unfold.
The tavern’s patrons paused, mid-merry jest,
As the cat, a noble guest, did manifest,
In the flicker of candlelight’s gentle sway,
It wandered, as if to have its say.
No mere stray, but a creature of delight,
In the dim-lit bar, a charming sight,
They toasted to this feline’s daring quest,
In that eighteenth-century tavern’s nest.
“No way!” She said.
We then turned the same subject into a humourous limerick, a five-hundred-word murder mystery, a news article, a dialogue written in script form and then a telegram message. Each took less than a second for AI to produce. Margo was amazed each time. She shook her head.
“That’s not fair. What happens to writers now?” She asked with a look of concern.
“I guess we start learning how to write code for AI,” I replied.
-Michael
8th Oct: Backing up files day.
It was Spring Cleaning Time for My Computer this week. Occasionally, I move aged files from my main drive to an SD drive. When that drive gets full, it’s time to relocate everything to an external drive.
Document files don’t occupy much space but video, picture, and sound files do. It took more than two hours for all the files to transfer across to that drive! (It’s an old drive from USB 2.0 days. SD transfer speed sucks too.) Thank god it only needs to be done once a year or so.
This inspired me to write a post on saving documents, not just backing up old ones but protecting the ones that are currently considered to be works in progress. The frequent saving of docs and then storing them in a cloud service saves much disappointment. It only takes one major loss to instil fear in us and to change our ways. A special procedure or two added to our daily work practises will protect what’s our blood sweat and tears. Have a read of it and let me know what you think. Did I leave anything out?
The only files I’ve ever lost are those I stored on CD-ROMs in the late 90’s and early 00’s. Some of those disks have become unreadable. Several are virtually transparent. The data has faded away. Fortunately, I won’t be recalling data from that period of my work any time soon.
While I was working on my laptop, I also replaced its internal battery (down to half an hour of power) with a new one. I’m now enjoying the freedom to move around again and work for hours at a time without a power lead being attached to me. How liberating it is!
1st Oct: Readership grows.
SEETHINGS has had a flurry of interest of late. It looks like the US is overtaking Europe in those stakes. It might be due to the podcast but I suspect there’s a seasonal thing going on too. As we came into this period last year, something similar happened. Figures increased in US downloads just as the US podcast downloads increased. (I wonder what it is?)
My beehive has also attracted some interest — of a few native birds this week. It is not surprising — all those juicy sweet insects sitting around the outside of the hive (see the Instagram history for videos) would appear to be a tasty treat. From a bird’s perspective, it’s a buffet. Ironically, most catch them on the wing. They swoop back and forth collecting the bees in their beaks. I’d love to get a photograph of it happening and put it on the above feed!
The blogs are holding steady. Have you dropped by to read one yet?
15th Sept: I’m refreshing old podcasts.
Stay tuned. -M
10th Sept: I’ve just posted on Medium.
The article looks like a missing person’s piece — and it is — but there’s a switch built into the text that shifts attention from who the readers thought the person might be to who it is. Just a few paragraphs in, you’ll see an obvious change.
It’s what I like about writing (also annoys me). Just when we think everything is orderly and predictable, a narrative comes along and proves us wrong. We have to stop to think about why it did that. And it’s not the writing that’s deceiving. It’s our expectations in the story that cause it to go that way. It’s about our perception of life and how things ought to be.
We’re prepared to conclude with few facts and can be easily led.
It makes me wonder how many times people misunderstand each other in real life because of this. They’ll reach an outcome that suits a perfect conclusion supported only by a few facts and an expectation to get there sooner rather than later. I wonder how many divorces, breakups and wars have come from simple misunderstandings like these.
Go have a look at the article. Tell me the headline and tagline aren’t deceiving at all. Tell me you figured it out right away! (LOL)
3rd Sept: The front page changes – having some Audacity – I only want to say.
I’ve been tinkering with the site again. To keep up with the latest speed metrics, I’ve had to reconfigure the opening page (yet again). Mobile users call the shots for metrics. If a site is delayed in reaching a mobile browser in any way, it is downgraded (milliseconds matter!). This time, it was a shift layout issue that needed cleaning up. As a table loaded, text moved around the screen until the formatting finally shifted it into its proper place. To most users, it happened so quickly that it wasn’t noticeable. Three one-hundredths of a second. That’s all it took. As quick as it was, it’s still a metrics fail. It pushed my site’s ‘A’ rating to a ‘B’.
When I think about the sites I visit today, they are laden with so many objects that they push text and pics around for seconds after a page has loaded. Pop-ups, videos, subscription and cookie statements, etc (take this page as an example, with the Instagrams at the top) continue pouring in — make them so laggy and unstable that I can’t see how they manage to exist and succeed at all. Oh well, you can still buy your way to the front of the market, right?
My site is back to a solid ‘A’ again.
Audacity is audio editing software: I got a copy of it to try out on my podcast last week to see if it would improve the sound of my recordings. You see, I’ve been using an old clunky thing I bought way back in 2008. Back then, I wasn’t podcasting. I got it to remove vocals from popular songs so I could create my own karaoke backing tracks. It just so happened that it had an interface full of other options to edit audio. When I got into podcasting, I started using it for that. Podcast creation doesn’t need much. A filter here and there. Multitrack options. Different bitrates help. But one thing it didn’t have was a good compressor or noise filter. Audacity solves those two problems. The latest tracks will be processed through it from here on.
My musical theatre days have left me wondering if I could tackle the great Gethsemene from JC Superstar. Ever since the close of our production in ’12, I’ve had this niggling thing inside my head about that song. Could I get that magical C5 out of my throat? I wasn’t Jesus. I didn’t audition for the part. I wasn’t ready for it. I played other roles in the show and watched someone else perform the role. After weeks of rehearsals, I wondered if I could carry the tune myself. My voice was close. I know the topic of understudies came up. All the principles had them. All but one of them that is. I know the director was unhappy with our Jesus over something. Could it have been that?
And so I’m going to learn it, to try it, and to find out for myself. It’s not for any show. I won’t be performing it to anyone. I just want to know. For myself. -M
20th August: Just in case you missed the character spotlights page, here’s a sample of it on this one. It includes links that lead to expanded comments on each of the people appearing in the novel SEETHINGS.
Enjoy! -M
| Tony Brindell (Counsellor) | |
| Samantha Felding (Wife) | |
| Mitchell Felding (Husband) | |
| Nina De Jong (Love interest) | |
 | Maxine Sewell (Victim 1) |
 | Tony Brindell (Counsellor) |
 | Samantha Felding (Wife) |
 | Mitchell Felding (Husband) |
 | Nina De Jong (Love interest) |
 | Maxine Sewell (Victim 1) |
29th July: Hi. Just finished writing this!
Character spotlights are a peek into my stories. They give readers a snippet of what’s going on in a book. You get the tone of the writing style through them. I hope you enjoy reading this one!
The other piece I wrote today talks of Thought Cohesion, rather, Psychological Slippage — the moment when a mind breaks down and loses its grip on reality. When I write, I’m always looking for the moment when a character’s mind snaps, a trigger event that takes our story in a strange new direction. As I writer, I apply just enough mental pressure to my characters to create a believable twist for any reader to enjoy.
What do you think? Is there a time when you’ve lost touch with reality? Let me know.
-M
25th June: An adjustment to SEETHINGS.
The novel SEETHINGS has had a small amendment made to it since it was originally published. Sales have grown since those changes were made. (I woke up one morning last month with a revelation: “That’s a better way of doing it!” and made the alterations to the book right away.)
While I was doing that, I came across a formatting error. Smashwords informed me of those mistakes a long time ago but it was only a warning. Some browsers might’ve displayed a blank page. Due to the enormous amount of work done to get things right before publishing the book, I decided to let it go and deal with it later. A blank page wasn’t all that bad, turn the page and the story would continue.
But Smashwords established connections to many online bookstores since it started. One of the conditions it has to get books listed on the other store’s catalogues is to supply them clean files (it’s a way to ensure quality products). It can come down to one too many carriage returns that set a book back. (Mine had that.)
Poorly formatted margins, page sizes, headers/footers, fonts, links, line spaces, paragraphs, etc, can ruin a book’s chances of being listed. It’s hard to write a good book but it’s easy for that book to get messed up this way. Books become invisible when it happens. I can’t stress enough to new authors who want to self-publish that there’s a whole other world of technical stuff to apply to their books before presenting their work to the world. Understanding and using it correctly increases their books’ audience pool.
Spelling and grammar aren’t currently a part of the deal but that may change in the future. Many messy books have made their way onto the market and it’s hard for readers to find good titles. Who knows where or what effect this might have in the future?
-Michael
23rd May: Suffering from a bad case of the flu.
I’m on the mend but something I’ll suffer from long after this virus has passed is mobile browsing clutter. Browsing clutter refers to those items that appear on devices that get in the way of seeing the things you want to see; ie: A plethora of pop-ups, advertisements, permissions, cookie proclamations, and paywalls, intrude so much of the screen that the main content can’t be read until all this other nonsensical matter is cleared, agreed to, accepted or exited.
I curate several news feeds through Flipboard and it’s becoming frustrating to read anything on this app. Flipboard works best for RSS feeds and basic HTML pages but, as soon as the content gets complex, things begin to clog up. It makes me wonder what the future of Flipboard is.
StumbleUpon had the very same problem. It was an online site that was available for owners of desktop computers. It was a discovery engine and those who used it loved it. It imported another site into its own. You pressed the big button at the bottom of the page and it’d shuffle its enormous database of web pages so a new one was offered to the searcher. It was popular… until we started browsing the Internet with our phones. The screens got small. Every ad and pop-up got in the way of StumbleUpon. The frame-inside-a-frame format made it worse. StumbleUpon closed its doors just a couple of years later and was never seen again.
Busy page design isn’t just a problem for apps like StumbleUpon and Flipboard. It’s becoming problematic everywhere. The first page of every site visited is loaded with look at me code. Clickbaits shout out well before the main content is accessible. It’s a really big turn-off, and it’s getting worse.
Here’s what I don’t get: Why haven’t site designers recognised this problem and reconfigured their sites in ways to lessen the impact of their clickbaits and shout-out code? They don’t need to be written with so much extraneous stuff bolted onto each page in the first place. Take a look at mine. It’s clean and simple. You turn the page and get the text. Nothing else gets in the way of it. It’s been years since we transitioned to e-devices! Get with it guys! Clean up your act and simplify our browsing experience!
What about you? Do you get the same problem when browsing sites with your device?
-M
25th April: A podcaster’s nightmare: Foreign sounds.
I’m recording a long podcast. Long tracks aren’t hard to make but they are hard to keep clean of foreign noises. The world around my (not soundproofed) office is noisy. Birds, motor mowers, aircraft, passing buses and the like, creep into them all the time.
Often, I don’t hear them, not because I’m deaf, but due to the recording’s realism. There are times when I’m replaying the content and I’ll hear a motorcycle or plane pass by. It’s hard to tell if it’s inside the recording or outside my door.
This time, I’m adding a few sound effects to the track. That means recording many sounds, and more opportunities to inadvertently capture a foreign sound. By the end of the day, several sounds that aren’t supposed to be on the track will find their way there.
When I finish and release it, it’ll be a challenging game for listeners to count how many foreigners escaped my ears and found theirs.
Wish me luck!
-M
2nd April: Holidays are over!
I know, there’s a great chasm between my last update and now.
Sorry.
There are some changes in my work arrangements (daytime job). To put you in the loop, basically, my boss asked what I thought of his management skills. I thought it to be a fantastic opportunity to iron out some wrinkles and get things improved. Bad move.
Out with the old job, in with the new.
But I’ve still been able to send out podcasts and a post or two during the transition. You would’ve seen them arrive in your inboxes. One of them attracted over two thousand new visitors from social media! I hope you liked them!
I trust you are well and enjoying your job. Just remember: I suggest you tell your superior that they are completely competent and excel at all they do, even if they are a disorganised buffoon.
-M
5th March: Back at home
It’s good to be back but the year has gone so fast. January feels like a zillion years ago. One day I was looking forward to going to Brisbane and, the next, I was back here. So many frequent flyer miles, airports, coach and car trips — I don’t know whether I’m here or there.
I slapped a brief post together on our trip to Kangaroo Island. If you’re interested, there are some pics and a video to see there.
Margo and I got sick on returning home. It turned out to be COVID, again! I’m mostly over it but Margo is suffering a little more, sneezing and coughing into the night. I hope it doesn’t go the way it went like it did last year. That last one ended up in the hospital!
-M
18th February: Touring time
I’ve recently spent some time in Brisbane and now I’m back in Perth (Mandurah actually). Soon, I’ll be in Adelaide for a day, so Margo and I have decided to take some time off and go across to Kangaroo Island.
Kangaroo Island was on our list of must-do destinations just before the pandemic hit. There were some serious fires in 2019/2020 that wiped out large portions of its vegetation, many animals and some of its businesses. Tourists were put off going there due to its charred landscape and scorched facilities. A plea was made by the people of K/Island for visitors to return to the area so they could spend their money there. (Unfortunately, the island relies on tourism) We thought to support it by visiting it as soon as we could. At the time, no one was talking about closing down the globe for a worldwide pandemic, so we assumed we’d be there within a month or two. There was no way we could’ve known that it’d take another three years to find the time to visit this picturesque little island that lies in our southern ocean.
26th January: Happy Australia Day
Every country has a day to celebrate what makes it and its people special. The names they give for it are different but the meaning is the same. Today is the day Australians give thanks for having a lucky country. It’s a holiday where we generally relax, eat and drink, and wave an Australian flag — and I’ll be doing some of this later today. First, I have to send out a couple of posts and podcasts. (I’ve just finished writing and recording them!)
In fact, several posts and podcasts were sent out earlier this week so, if you’ve been paying close attention, it’s been an unusually busy week for me. There’s a reason for this. I’m going on an extended vacation. I’ve got several weeks of bliss and frivolity ahead of me and I’m readying myself for an online break too. It doesn’t mean I can’t see or access messages, it only means major things like writing projects and recording audio will halt for a short while. Don’t worry, pictures of my adventures will appear at the top of the page (like they always do). Just keep returning to see what’s happening.
-Michael
3rd January: Happy New Year 2023!
To those who’ve been leaving messages via Anchor.Fm, thank you. Your kind words mean a lot to me. I really appreciate everything you’re sending. I’m blown away, I really am — and I hope to respond to each of your messages soon. I’d also like to thank those who have written online reviews for SEETHINGS. I did a search today and came up with this gem:
Independent authors rely on readers sooooooo much. There are no multimillion-dollar publishers pumping up a marketing/advertising regime around here. It’s up to the writer and my readers to make it happen. You’re making things happen! Thank you! Thank you!
May this year be our best year ever!
-Michael
25th December: Merry Christmas!
It’s a lovely time in Mandurah at the moment. The weather is bright, warm and sunny. At night, coloured lights are festooned everywhere. With pandemic restrictions behind us and the words ‘isolation’ and ‘lockdowns’ disappearing from our daily vernacular, things are looking optimistic. It should, it’s been a while since we’ve had a Christmas that was normal and free from both of them.
From Margo and myself, have a Merry Christmas, a safe New Year’s Day period and a wonderful holiday break throughout.
8th December: Short message this time.
All fixed. Enjoying life. Appreciating oxygen.
Not much to report this except readership numbers continue to grow. Podcast episodes grow too and, this week, Spotify was kind enough to drop me a note. Here is this past year’s wrap. -M
20th November: Feeling great!
After a serious round of Asthma and being prescribed a breathable steroid to settle my lungs, I’m now breathing and walking around like normal again (and not coughing throughout the night too.) Thank goodness. It’s allowed us to get some sleep and get out this weekend to enjoy the new Mandurah Giants Exhibition that’s been installed around our fair city. (You may still see a few photos I took of the sculptures on the I/Gram feed at the top of this page)
Elissa, from the U.S, sent me an audio file last week. After listening to my Dirty Rabbit Hole Podcast (over on Spotify), she wanted to share her intimate story with me so I could put it on my podcast. It was so raw, heartbreaking and beautiful, that I knew I couldn’t do it justice by reading it out in my voice so, with her permission, I used that audio and embedded it into my last episode so listeners can experience what I experienced when I heard it the first time.
Not all listeners write to me after a new episode goes out. Those who do, don’t contact me to get their story rebroadcasted. They just want to thank me for having such a podcast so they don’t feel so alone anymore. Elissa was different. She wanted everyone to know so it could help others better understand their situation. So I changed her name, bleeped out some key identifiers and then altered her voice. Her story is now yours to enjoy by clicking on this link.
-M
10th November: Sickness remains.
Not much left to say. The doctor has provided some stronger medication to settle the cough. I’m not sleeping and it’s getting hard to concentrate. -M
1st November: Still sick
I’m up and walking around. It’s come down to a lingering cough and some shortness of breath. Whatever it was, it packed a punch… and has become annoying!
New posts went out, as too a new podcast episode (See? I’m alive and well! Almost. I even went out to put a bet down on the Melbourne Cup. Alas, I didn’t win. Next year perhaps!)
-Michael
23rd Oct: Sick now.
Margo came down with a cold and I followed soon after. It’s been a week of sneezing, coughing and little sleep. I was down for the count for three days and did absolutely nothing during that time. It’s been a week since that all-too-familiar throat tingle came on. I’m a bit better now but it’s taking longer to get over it than I expected. At least I’m up and walking around!
In brief:
- Joined a choir.
- Posted new content to this site.
- Purchased a new fishing rod.
The choir is about to put on a show and we’re busy rehearsing songs for it. It’s been a long time since I sang in a choir but it’s great to get my harmony ear activated again. Solo work tends to spoil a singer. Due to illness, I missed this week’s rehearsal but next week I’ll be back to it. Wish me luck.
A new post went onto this site (the results of laying down a draft over a week ago) and it’s a tad revealing. I hope you found it interesting. Write to me if you feel the same way!
My old fishing rod died. Fishing season is coming and I want to be ready to float my boat and get it back onto The Estuary. I tried to repair the rod only to find more problems with it. Rust, cracked eyelets and a fractured tip made my decision for me. I got myself a super light Ugly-Stik and now I’m ready for the season. Bring me those King George Whiting!
-M
13th Oct: Sorry for the long delay in updates.
Interstate visitors dropped in this month and we’ve been on entertainment duty (It’s really tiring inventing activities and new places to go/see) for part of the time. I’m pooped!
In between short drives/walks and eating out, I managed to get some writing done for this site — and a new podcast recorded/posted too. I can’t say much work went towards the new novel. In fact, none did. Things have pretty much stalled there. Before you ask, no, it’s not writer’s block. If you’ve been following these updates, you’ll know that’s never been a problem — it’s the editing that troubles me. I absolutely hate it. For me to tackle a manuscript, I have to clear a large space in my calendar. I never take bite-size pieces of one, it’s all or nothing (well, bigger than bite-size). My preference is to work it over in thirds (or greater). Consequently, I haven’t had the opportunity to find that time, so the manuscript stays at the end of the desk unloved and unattended. That doesn’t mean it won’t get the attention it needs. It will. Holidays are coming. That’s the clearing I’m looking for.
And then there are the posts written for this site and those podcasts I keep mentioning here. They take time (smaller pieces of it) to write and record. They challenge the time I require to do that bigger task. Who knows? Maybe it’s my way of procrastinating and avoiding the inevitable!
-M