John Kusters Jr.

Welcome to my Writing Adventure

Month: June 2023 (Page 2 of 2)

Write-a-thon 2023

2023-06-14 /

Hi, friends!

This year, from June 25 to August 5, 2023, I’m doing something positively ill-advised, namely participating in Clarion West’s Write-A-Thon. This event is Clarion West’s primary fundraiser for programs throughout the year, including their yearly writers workshop. My plan for the write-a-thon is to complete the first draft of a short story every week of the event. I don’t promise it will be a good story, nor a publishable one, but much like NaNoWriMo, it’s the discipline that counts. If you would like to sponsor me, and to sponsor an awesome program, I ask that you visit my fundraising page, which links to more details about the event and the programs it funds:

https://clarionwest.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/clarionwest/campaign.jsp?campaign=264&fundraiser=13885&

Playing with ChatGPT

2023-06-13 /
AI matrix head clipart, collage

I belong to the group of people who prefer referring to the various Large Language Model systems as “plagiarism machines” (you can read my previous rant on this topic here). However, I must admit that they do serve their purpose.

Lately, I have been experimenting with these models to enhance my character descriptions. Although these descriptions won’t directly appear in my writing, they help me generate genre-appropriate details. I start by roughly outlining my characters, providing names and brief descriptions of their appearance and clothing choices. I also try to include a personal trait that reveals an inner aspect of the character, and sometimes establish connections to other characters. Afterwards, I turn to ChatGPT and ask it to expand on the description.

ChatGPT does an impressive job of returning several paragraphs that elaborate on the information I provided. It adds supplementary details to the description and offers insights into what the character’s choices, particularly in clothing, might convey to others or even themselves.

The best part is that since this is a highly connected language model, once I establish the mood and style of the setting, the LLM suggests stylistic details that harmonize with that particular context (assuming the setting is similar to other known settings, of course). For instance, if I mention that the character wears a ballistic leather jacket and magnetic boots, ChatGPT might propose something like the following:

Dressed in dark clothing, Gerald exudes an air of professional readiness. His ballistic-proof leather jacket serves as both a stylish accessory and a practical safeguard, providing protection without compromising his mobility. Magnetic boots, designed to secure him to any surface in zero-gravity environments, demonstrate his preparedness for any situation that may arise.

It is truly enjoyable to witness the additional depth brought forth by this LLM. I am always somewhat amused by how well it aligns with the desired mood for my characters. As I mentioned earlier, none of this text will directly appear in the piece I am currently working on. However, as a means to fully visualize my characters, I find this tool to be quite valuable.

Current Daily Schedule

2023-06-12 /
photo of planner and writing materials
Photo by Bich Tran on Pexels.com

As I continue to seek out what works best for my writing process, I expect my daily schedule, the routine that works for my ADHD brain, will evolve. This is the current iteration, just so I have a reference point for the future.

  • 0700 – 0730: Wake, catch up on major headlines, do my daily Sudoku, etc.
  • 0730 – 0800: Quick writing prompt practice
  • 0800 – 0830: Brainstorming for story seeds
  • 0830 – 0930: Morning ablutions and breakfast (free reading)
  • 0930 – 1230: Principle writing time
  • 1230 – 1300: Walking time (with podcast accompaniment)
  • 1300 – 1330: Lunch

After lunch I’m allowing things to be more free form. Sometimes I’ll feel like continuing the morning writing, other times I want to relax and enjoy some leisure activities. If I don’t write in the afternoon, I often start feeling like doing more writing in the evening, if I don’t have other plans. I usually spend at least two additional hours a day with my writing for a total of six hours a day.

At some point during the week I need to spend an hour or two doing prep for my weekly D&D game, but I don’t have a set schedule for that yet. It would probably help me if I did.

Anyway, that’s the current schedule plan. I’ll revisit in a few weeks to see if it needs additional work.

I’ve had some friends who strongly advocate that I shouldn’t be as structured in why approach to writing, that I should write when inspiration strikes as many famous authors are known to do. While that is certainly a popular image of how an author gets their best work done, it’s not a true image. Sure, some authors were known for that approach to their writing, many more are significantly more structured, especially those who are commercially successful, which is one of my goals. I also know myself well enough to know that if I don’t work within a structure such as this, I’ll nearly always put off work until a mythical “some day” when I’ll be inspired. Rather than wait for that mythical muse to whack me upside the head, I give space in each day for inspiration and the muse to join me at the desk. Throughout my writing life, I’ve found keeping to a schedule was the best way to ensure satisfactory progress. I’m going with what I know to work for me.

Writing Practice Surprise

2023-06-08 /

I took a prompt from the Revised edition of Judy Reeves’ awesome book “A Writer’s Book of Days” and set a time for 25 minutes. I went a few minutes past the end of the timer so let’s call it a 30 minute sprint. In that time I wrote more that 900 words. I surprised myself. It’s just a practice narrative, no real story, just stream of consciousness imagining an alien trying to pay a visit to Paris. I had no idea where to go with it but was beginning to head towards the alien being from a gastropodal species (wearing a human disguise) and sampling the tastes of Paris only to discover what escargot was made from. Hardly original but maybe could be fun? I’ll file it away for later cogitation, as I do with all my practice writing. Still, 900 words in 30 minutes is a damn good rate. I’m happy about that.

The Immediate Future

2023-06-06 /

As I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve left my high tech job to pursue my dream of being published. That’s a lofty goal, but how does one achieve it? Well, being an engineer by training and aptitude, I’ve planned out a possible future, and am beginning my steps along it.

There are many ways to become a published author. Self-publishing is one path that many have taken. Traditional publishing is another. My personal preference is to start with traditional publishing. Not many self-published authors wind up with books on bookstore shelves, and that has been a driving image for me (possibly because my dream started nearly fifty years ago when I first discovered the magic of bookstores).

One of the major milestones I wish to make on my journey is to become a member of the trade organization for my preferred genre of science-fiction and fantasy, namely SFWA, The Science-Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. When I first started looking into joining SFWA, the eligibility requirements were very specific: an author could apply for membership after having three short stories published in qualifying magazines or websites, or one novel published by a qualified publisher. A couple of years back, they changed the requirements to simply being paid a set amount across all of the various ways to get paid for writing fiction in the genre, but the original requirements are still a pretty good guideline to me.

Here is where my engineer mind kicks in. What is the most cost effective way to earn $1000 (the current threshold) by writing science fiction and fantasy? I believe it is to write short stories and submit them to the various paying markets. A short story is generally 2000 to 15000 words. My average tends to be just shy of 5000. A novel in the genre is typically 90000 to 120000 words (though epic fantasy often clocks in with much heftier word counts). In the time it takes to write a novel, one could presumably write 20 to 30 short stories, each one having a chance to be published.

Now, I’m fairly practiced at writing novels. I’ve been working on writing novels for years, and have several in various states of completion. Writing short stories uses many different skills than novels, and I’ve not developed those skills yet. But I imagine that the skills I need to develop for writing short pieces will in the long term benefit my long form writing, especially skills related to packing a lot of description in short sentences, and getting to the point quickly.

Another reason to focus on writing short fiction right now is that it would look good on my writing resume (or in my query letter to agents) to have a list of published works I can cite. Which is an agent going to take more seriously, a novel from someone who’s never been published, or a novel from someone who has a record of publications in various magazines? My money is on the latter.

In the final analysis, it seems much more beneficial to me at this state of my new career to focus on writing and publishing short stories. It will probably make me eligible to join my desired professional organization sooner, I’ll have more chances to get my writing in front of paying eyeballs, and it will help develop skills I can leverage in my novel writing. So, for the time being, my focus will be on writing short fiction.

With that in mind, I’m looking at some other statistics, namely statistics around my own performance. I find that when I’m focused, when I have the story clearly in mind, I can crank out 500 works in 30 minutes. I’m generally happy with that output as a first draft. In theory, if I were to be focused for my entire writing day, which I currently plan to be six hours per week day, I would be able to write 6000 words each day. I do not believe that rate is sustainable, but 2000 working words per day certainly seems to be. Given that, over the span of five working days, I should be able to brainstorm, develop, write, and edit a 3000-5000 word short story every week. I think this is doable. Will all of the stories be worthy of submission to magazines? I doubt it. But in 52 weeks, will some of them be? I’d like to think so.

So that is my plan. A short story a week every week. And when I can, a little more so I’ll have something to count as a completed story during those weeks I’m on vacation. The hardest part, naturally, will be coming up with enough ideas to support the plan.

Time to start brainstorming!

Thoughts about Modern Software QA

2023-06-05 /

I recently retired from a career in High Tech that spanned over 40 years, with the last 25 or so focused on Software Quality Assurance (SQA). There were several reasons behind my decision to retire. The most prominent one was my desire to pursue a childhood dream. However, I must admit that another factor was the evolving nature of Software QA in modern times, and my inability to keep up with the changes.

As we age in the High Tech industry, many of us struggle to keep pace with the latest advancements in software engineering. During our youth, particularly in college, we dedicated our days to learning and applying new concepts. Our minds were sharp and receptive to absorbing new information. However, after a decade or more, it becomes increasingly challenging to stay up to date. Non-learning tasks consume a significant portion of our time, and falling slightly behind leads to a snowball effect where catching up with the latest developments becomes overwhelming. That’s precisely what happened to me.

I found myself surrounded by young and brilliant software engineers who continuously produced astonishing frameworks and libraries. These advancements were both inspiring and intimidating. Unfortunately, just as I would start grasping one set of testing protocols and APIs, another would emerge and replace it. Each new paradigm was cutting-edge and had the potential to catch me off guard. I was certain that within a year or so, I would be unable to keep up, and my relevance would diminish. Retiring on my own terms was a privilege, and not everyone in my position could afford to do so.

Another concern of mine revolves around the excessive focus on software testing automation as the defining role of Software QA. Leaders in software companies, regardless of their size, increasingly view test automation as the key to maintaining high product quality while incorporating an ever-growing number of features. Admittedly, when test automation works, it excels at detecting certain types of regressions in products. Consequently, companies adopting this approach end up replacing traditional QA engineers with software developers who hope to transition into product engineering. However, software engineers and Quality engineers have fundamentally different priorities. Software engineers are primarily focused on making things work, especially through clever and efficient implementations. On the other hand, good Quality engineers concentrate on uncovering issues with the product—issues that Software engineers may not have anticipated. The best QA engineers possess the ability to envision the various ways users might utilize and potentially break the product. They excel at identifying logic flaws and ensuring that potential crashes and data problems are resolved before customers encounter them. This level of thoroughness cannot be achieved through testing automation alone. It requires humans to think creatively and deviously, a trait that software cannot yet emulate.

Hence, I observe the growing trend toward software testing automation with a certain amount of unease. As hands-on QA roles diminish and “software engineers in test” positions increase, who will be the ones scrutinizing the finer details? In my experience, software engineers tend to focus on testing the expected paths and often overlook testing for error conditions or deliberately pushing their products to their limits. Unless software firms recognize the need for some level of hands-on QA involvement, driven by individuals who find joy in discovering the most elusive bugs before customers do, software quality is bound to decline.

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