Spring Cleaning

Today is April Fool’s Day. Because I loathe insincerity, I will not be making any facetious claims or otherwise lying to you (for that, see my New Year resolutions). Yes, April Fool’s Day is one of those “holidays” that rubs me the wrong way. I like jokes as much as the next guy. What I don’t enjoy is being deceived for the sake of a punchline.

So, no deceptions! No jokes! These are my goals for April.

A word on comments

Until recently, I have not allowed comments on my posts. That restriction has been lifted! Truthfully, it was never really a restriction. Rather I made my theme from scratch, so support for comments was not available out of the box. I’ve slowly done the necessary legwork (or finger-work) to get them working. The styling still needs some fine-tuning, but the functionality is solid. You may now comment to your heart’s content!

UnoFiMo lives again

If you recall my last go at UnoFiMo, any month is a good month to write. I’ve marked April as my next UnoFiMo. My goal is to write a minimum of 500 words a day specifically toward my novel. This should result in the conclusion of the second act and the beginning of the third act (hopefully).

Lately I’ve been rereading the Barsoom trilogy by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I don’t know how he did it, but every chapter makes me wonder what will happen next. That’s the feeling I want to evoke in my own novel when folks finally get to read it. Also, Burroughs was madly prolific. I’ll be content to finish just one novel!

Not counting this blog post, I wrote 923 words as part of today’s goal. Nice!

Artificial intelligence

These days, the topic of artificial intelligence is inescapable. The rise of AI in artwork is particularly intriguing to me. Artwork is invaluable in my profession, and I honestly couldn’t do my job without it. That said, I don’t want to write an essay, so I’ll just offer my two cents.

Perhaps the greatest application for AI-artwork lies in pre-visualization. Often I imagine what I’d like to use for a cover photo and spend upwards of an hour scouring Unsplash. For this blog post, I wrote a short prompt in Canva and had four options in under a minute. Yes, AI artwork is a poor substitute for human talent. We will always need real artists. But in a pinch, the “fake” stuff is awfully handy. I have no misgivings about its use so long as it’s credited appropriately.

The Power of P

My free time is largely a figment of my imagination. Even so, I’ve been squeezing in a few moments before bed to play some games. The other day I realized that the letter P is prominent among the games I’ve been playing, purchasing, or preordering. Observe!

• Pepper Grinder (playing)
• Princess Peach: Showtime! (playing)
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (purchased)
• Pikmin 3 Deluxe (purchased)
• Pikmin 4 (purchased)
• Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (preorder)

That’s it, really. No great insight or anything. I just thought it was peculiar.