How Are We Feeling About AI?

 

So I've been on the anti-AI train for a while, mainly because the way it works now, it basically steals the work of creatives in order to produce just like...struggle versions of their work and suits, who know nothing about creative work, use AI to cut costs regardless of the quality of the work.

So just as someone who values quality, I've not really thought of it as a good thing. But recently, most of the programs that I use for creating designs such as Canva and even Microsoft, have come up with AI options for generating images.

Before, when I was creating a social media post or book cover, I'd search images for pics I could use but then, the other day I thought, what if I generated the image? After all, it's not as if I would have used an artist before, and this is an opportunity to get exactly what I wanted...I thought.

But surprisingly - or perhaps not - I found that it's just as difficult to generate what I want as it is to find it. Haitian Zombies? forget it. Mixed race couples? Da fuck? That's dangerous, no can do. African Gays? What? No.

So in conclusion, AI is just as unimaginative as the white suits who invented it. Creatives have nothing to worry about.

They have nothing on you.

Speaking of extremely creative and original work, In Search of Paradise is on discount. 

Have you copped it yet?

Rihanna's Album is Late? Can Relate.

Seems a bit arrogant innit? Talking about can relate to Rihanna'?
The truth is that whether we like it or not, we all have a brand. We all have a vibe that we're associated with. Call it reputation if you like.
I've been watching first with amusement and then with a bit of discomfort on behalf of Herself as the 'where's the album' memes have flourished. And as is customary with our queen, nobody makes fun of Rihanna better than she does.

2019 came and went and  no album was released...and some people got ugly. Someone tried to start a hashtag about #rihannaisaliar but the navy don't play dat shit. Me as a creative, with a book who's launch has been delayed three times because its just not ready, I get it. There's a lot of oneself poured into a body of work be it a book, a movie or an album.
A lot of blood, sweat and tears.
There's also second-guessing and tweaking and self-doubt, editing, one more pass through, completely change that passage...
Phew...come to think of it, Marcus Devereaux just might be delayed again.
Jokes.
Maybe not.
On top of that, when it's not the only thing you got going on, when you have multiple projects on your plate, you're going to have time constraints. Time management is the most complicated issue of our time in my humble opinion. We might all have the same 24 hours but to squeeze every bit of use out of every minute is a skill that few possess. It's about awareness of what you're doing all the time. Me as myself I get sidetracked easily.
Another factor to take into account is the sense of urgency...or lack thereof.
Let's face it, Rihanna released one album every year for seven years because she had to.
She had obligations to meet, a domestic violence issue to overcome as well as an almost bankruptcy. She was growing towards something. She was growing towards where she is now. Now, that sense of urgency, the need to have the album ready at a deadline, is no longer a consideration.
I'll tell you why this is a good thing. When you're not producing content to fit a criteria, when it's just for you as a creative outlet, it allows you to sit back and do what you like. And from that, we have a magnum opus such as Anti.
I'm not there yet, and yet, I am. I am producing books for myself, rather than for whatever someone else thinks the market wants. Of course, I'm not doing it from the top of the heap but from the bottom. However, that is because I do not rely on my art to make a living. Or rather I have separated my 'writing for a living' (ghostwriting) from my 'writing stories for myself' (books) which is also separated from 'writing for fun and just trying out new ways to write' (fan-fiction). That way, there is no urgency to the books, no need for them to become bestsellers right away. I can 'build my brand' and hope that the rest happens organically.

The thing with building a brand is that it takes time. It's a slow process. You make mistakes, course correct and then again. In my case, I always say to myself; 'it's a marathon, not a sprint.' Nevertheless, even for a marathon, you still gotta get up every day and do the work.
Ask Eliud Kipchoge.
Even when you're going slow, you need to be working towards something, have a goal, a vision, a touchstone that you're determined to reach.Then you work towards it every day. I see online, mostly on Facebook, how frustrated writers get when their books are not selling as fast as J.K. Rowling's or what's that 'Fifty Shades' writer called? They want to throw a tantrum online and yet they haven't put in the work.

My own template for book success is Diana Gabaldon. We're a lot alike. She's a scientist and so am I. She wrote the first Outlander book just to try and see if she could. I did the same with Child of Destiny - which is still my number one seller. She started writing seriously at 36 and so did I. It took her twenty years to achieve worldwide success...That's where I also hope to end up including the TV series and eight book series. (well...I'm already on book 5 so...).

I know long term readers of my blog know my absolute fealty to Rihanna. But what you might not know is that it's not just about second-hand validation or whatever being a 'stan' is supposed to be about. She doesn't mean to be, but Rihanna is just one of those people who were put on this earth to be an inspiration simply by being herself.
Living out loud and proud.
While in the public eye.
Yet keeping us as much out of her business as she possibly can.
She's the blueprint.
The template.
But the gag is...you can't do that on your own. Rihanna the brand contains a lot more people than just her. Just recently, she launched a new collaboration on her SavagexFenty line with Adam Selman. And I looked at it and I thought, "This is more like what I thought the whole Rihanna lingerie line would look like." For one thing, the bra has this zip that not only looks sexy and like a serious domme move...it's also very practical if you're a breastfeeding mother. Adam Selman is a long time collaborator of Riri's and probably what we take for 'Rihanna style' is a combination of both their creative input.
The Mastermind.
Ever since I read about that concept (of the mastermind) I've been trying to gather and collect my own group of 'creative synergizers'. It's difficult to do in real life but my twitter feed is curated in such a way that I get what I need on there and I try to join Facebook groups that will assist me to at least keep up with the happenings in the various industries and subjects that I am interested in.
It helps.
Learning is a continuous process if you want to succeed at anything.
2020 is all about elevation. Sure America is trying to kill us with this Russian Puppet Buffoon they chose to lead them but don't let the bad stuff get you down.

Creation vs. Commerce

I'm an artiste. I'm also a business person. I sell my art for money.
Many artistes experience an internal conflict between treating their creations as things to be enjoyed by the general public and selling that art in whatever form it takes. This conflict comes about partly from the attitude that some consumers have, where they feel like art - in all its forms - should be available freely for consumption; and partly from the view, they have of themselves as creators and not merchants.
I don't have that problem.

I both create art for consumption and have no problem selling that art.
That's why I call myself an authorpreneur. I have no pretensions or illusions about why I do this.
It's not for the money.
But I do intend to make money from my art in my lifetime. Whether it's grocery money or billions, I create for sale.
See.
It's not that hard to admit.
I've seen authors who are reluctant to create author pages.
"What is the purpose of that?" they ask.
And I don't understand how a mind can conceive of a story, but not possess sufficient imagination to understand that their creations require promotion. What's that about people? Pretension?
Perhaps it's because I not only create for myself, but also for others that I understand the commercial side of creation.
My marketing began purely by accident. I was writing Chrianna fanfic just to see if I could, after reading Chrianna stories on Tumblr. I gathered a rather large following; mostly fans of the artists. After my publisher put out Between Death and Heaven, which is now self-published as In The Shadow of the Styx, I just directed that following to my original fiction. That experience made me understand that generating your own publicity is vital to getting your book noticed. So I continue to do that, write fanfiction and use it to advertise my original fiction. I also write short stories and publish them on public websites and redirect my readers to my author page.

It's slow going, I won't lie to you. But that's organic growth for you. It's a steep slope and then one day, it just takes on a life of its own. You can't give up before you reach that point okay? You'll get demoralized, you'll get tired, you just have to factor that in to your long-term plans.
And keep writing, keep innovating your content, your media, how you deliver it...keep putting your name out there.
You have to embrace both sides, the creative and the commercial and hopefully one day, your books are on bestseller lists and you can retire to Jamaica and open a bar on the beach; live out the rest of your days in a bikini.
Sound good?
Great.
Here's a lil fanfic I wrote and while you're getting impressed by my writing skills, visit my author page and hang out with me a bit. Sample the free books, buy the others, leave me reviews, ask a question. I'm open for business.

Speaking of inspiration to keep your nose to the grindstone, the #saveshadowhunters campaign is at ten million tweets as of this week, thousands of dollars raised for the Trevor Project, a plane and a billboard. All to save a show. I mean seriously, sometimes you just gotta keep going even when you have no idea whether you will be successful. Along the way, you might find that you do a lot of good, gain a few friends and make the world a better place than you found it. Success is not always monetary. Happy New Month my friends.
Also, I was thinking about having a monthly newsletter similar in style to the above. Would my subscribers be interested?

An Offer on My Gay Post-Apocalyptic African Romance

Fill in the form for a chance to win.

powered by Typeform

4:44

You know I had to.
Well, first of all, I would like to apologize to Shawn Carter for not supporting his hustle legally. I copped the album off the internet. I didn't want to. But Tidal won't even let me sign in so what was a girl to do?
I didn't look for it.
Someone sent it to me.
As soon as Tidal becomes available in Kenya I promise to pay my $9.99 okay?
Happy?
Okay so let's get on with this synopsis already.

The Story of OJ

Obvs, this is the place to start. I am not a ni**a. I don't even feel qualified to say the word. But this song I feel still applies to me. 

Why you say?

Because at its heart this is a story about the powerFUL versus the powerLESS. And all of us have been one or the other at some point in our lives. We like to separate ourselves from people who we feel are 'lesser than' we are. We are better than them because...reasons.

- I'm more educated/intelligent/pretty/light-skinned/dark-skinned/rich/*insert own superiority a.k.a inferiority complex here*

And if you replace 'ni**a' with 'human', the message remains the same. At the end of the day, you're still a human, and people are still people and you're absolutely no better than anyone else.

So check your privilege.

Or more bluntly, get over yourself.

Highlights

I'm not going to go song by song but the story of OJ just needed its own fucking paragraph. The things that struck me about this album were manifold. I got the album after seeing lyrics on Twitter and I was intrigued by the use of language to make double and triple entendres.

In the future other niggas playing football with your son

Pregnant Pause...
Yeah, Hov also said 'pregnant pause' but this particular one is mine;

• See that sentence can be taken at face value.
• It can be taken as being about Future and Ciara's particular situation.
• And it can be taken as an example of what happens if you behave like Future did.
• Also, it could just be Shawn Carter's nightmare about losing his family to another man.

Levels.

In one. simple. sentence.

My Inner Creative is envious, inspired and applauding.

My Inner Sapiosexual is aroused.

Moving swiftly on...

"You almost went Eric Benet

Let the baddest girl in the world get away

I don't even know what else to say

Nigga, never go Eric Benet" 

 

I saw some comments on Instagram about how he should have referenced Carmelo Anthony because Lala is looking fine...

My eyes rolled so hard they almost fell out my head.

EVERYONE WHO IS UNDER 25 NEEDS TO SIT. THE FUCK. DOWN. AND REFRAIN FROM MAKING STUPID COMMENTS!

And then Eric Benet's responded with how he is with the baddest right now....

Oh honey...

Really? Who made you say that?
Whoever she is isn't even a consolation prize. Just take the L and sit quietly right there in the corner with the other men who failed to grow up in time.

Speaking of men growing up...

Guys? If you want a grown man, you need to find one in his late forties. That's what I'm getting from Kill Jay Z, Family Feud and Caught Their Eyes.
Late 40s people...
Is it sad to know or is it a relief?

Speaking of Caught Their Eyes

"I sat down with Prince; eye to eye,

He told me his wishes before he died,

Now, Londell McMillan, he must be color blind,

They only see green from them purple eyes,

They eyes wide shut to all the lies,

These industry niggas, they always been fishy,

But ain't no Biggie, no lazy eye, huh,

 This guy a slave on his face

 

You think he wanted a master with his Masters?

You greedy bastards sold tickets to walk through his house,

I'm surprised you ain't auction off the casket, 

First of all, R.I.P to Prince.
Secondly, shout out to my family for not being money grubbing leeches.
Thirdly...ouch. 

And then there was Moonlight...

Y'all niggas still signin' deals? Still?

After all they done stole, for real?

After what they done to our Lauryn Hill?

And y'all niggas is 'posed to be trill? 

This song appealed to me on three levels;

• The whole "Ni**a is you stupid?" aspect of it is my aesthetic. My inner intellectual superiority complex was alive. 
• As an artistepreneur and victim of being fucked by the so-called system, it made me want to find out of the box solutions to getting my product to the market. 
• As someone who is still kind of mad as hell that Moonlight was cheated out of their moment, I am cheerleading. 

And finally although nowhere near finally;

And old niggas, y'all stop actin' brand new
Like 2Pac ain't have a nose ring too, huh

I love that 2Pac is still the SI unit of gangsta-ness. The one true beacon in a sea of fakes.

Also, I'm going to need Young Thug to stop saying he's the new Tupac.

Seriously.

Because he isn't even close.

Can he shut up and sit down.

Now can we move on to the beat?

That jazzy, lazy, grown folk flavor to the album had me wanting to drink some cognac and smoke a cigar in a blue-lit jazz bar while the band plays and Hov speaks to me from the stage. As I listened, I was feeling like, "this is an instant classic" and then I read that No I.D had used a lot of beats from classic songs to produce it and I was like, "Oh, that explains it."

It's very easy on the ears.

And then there's Bam.

It reminds me of 99 problems. It has that same feel of being inside the baddest version of yourself and letting everyone know it. Also apparently I really like reggae these days. Is it Rihanna? Is it Bob Marley? Or is it my dreadlocks?

Whatever it is, I'm rocking out!

We gotta finish this off with some Hov shade. You know what time it is...

Social Media Creativity

So I'm sure you've seen this pic on +Twitter or +Instagram of +Rihanna and #SarahPaulson probably on set for +Oceans 8. And it has just led to an explosion of memes that had me laughing my ass off.

This one was captioned: Don't Touch My Hair featuring Rihanna

I mean...seriously I try sometimes to come up with captions like this but my head just isn't wired that way. It makes me admire people who can do this even more knowing that it's impossible for me. The one line zinger is the new short story. This one wasn't even in my top ten for this particular meme. there was this other one:

That just had me dying. 

I mean can't you just see it? Some white woman going ahead to touch a black woman's dreads on a train; they probably don't even know each other, just happened to sit together and not only is she TOUCHING HER HAIR, but she's also at the same time spouting her offensive philosophies in the black woman's ear and thinking that they're just having a lovely conversation. 

All of this despite the look on the black woman's face and the fact that she's clearly restraining herself from inflicting physical damage.

It's funny because it happens. It's funny because it's RIHANNA and SARAH PAULSON but it's also #anyblackwoman and #anywhitewoman. It's a classic depiction of the trials and tribulations People of Colour go through on the daily, and it's also suggesting that no one is exempt. But all done with such comedic accuracy and in just one line. It says everything without giving you a long story, or preaching or hating. It's perfect and I'm jealous that I can't do it. 

However this still isn't the best meme.

Cries.In. Solange.
I've been trying to use the phrase 'Get out my Caucasian Mentions' for a while in the correct context and the other day I succeeded and ticked it off my bucket list.
This is my new goal; Find the perfect situation to use 'Cries in Solange' and come up with a caption that captures the emotion, the situation, the context so damn perfectly.
I mean....
Bow down to whomever came up with this phrase.
Bow down.
Today I landed a really lucrative ghostwriting gig and I tried to come up with similar phraseology to depict the state of my pysche. The best I could do is 'Dances in Dollar' which is just lame and unimaginative. Can anyone come up with something better? Hit me up in the comments.

This Isn't Bragging; It's Updating

I recently moved my books that are not priced free to a new publishing platform in addition to smashwords. It handles distribution to Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Barnes and Noble and Kobo. I'm finding that people prefer to shop at Amazon than anywhere else because that was the fastest turnaround I've seen in publishing to first sale since I started self publishing. Well...at least for my paid books.

For the free ones, I'm happy to say that The Swamp is Full of Mystery was in the top ten highest downloaded books on free ebooks.net within a week of my posting it. Which is great. I love it. The more exposure the better. And the fact that people are choosing to download my book, among the however many thousands there are on the site?...Awesome.

There is another book of mine that is doing really exceptionally well on all sites it's on. It's a real puzzle to me because first of all, the story is like...eight pages. I wrote it in about half an hour for a competition (I haven't heard back from them and I can't remember the results date or even the site); and I decided to post it because why not? And now it's been on free ebooks like for five minutes and a hundred people have downloaded it. I am truly stymied. There is just no predicting this shit.

I'm thinking maybe I should expand it to a full fledged novel. Just go to pacemaker and make out a six month plan for writing and editing. I don't know. Do I have more story? Of course I have. It's like, a given at this point. The question is, do I want to write it? I'm in the middle of Child of Destiny - Marcus Deveraux which I've kind of put aside to concentrate on work and promoting the other books first; kind of get the momentum going....

But.
Yeah.
So hit me up if you've read it and let me know what you think I should do.
The story is called Cinderella By Any Other Name.

Creativity Defined

Have you seen +Beyoncé's new video for Formation? I think it had been up about thirty minutes before all those who 'stay woke' were writing think pieces about the fact that she likes her man's nose 'Jackson 5'. The whole thing to me is severely ironic because +Michael Jackson destroyed his whole face trying to make his nose look sharper than a toothpick. I mean...

And then the very girl no sorry, woman, who's singing is perpetually in a blonde wig, nobody's ever seen so much as a follicle of her natural hair or even her natural personality but this is the embodiment of black power. Like...someone explain.

I'm not hatin'. I love the song. It is a great song. And the video is definitely interesting with a lot of socio-political messages...Just. If you're so proud to be black, why not live it? Michael Jackson dyed his skin white, but 'he would never want a white person to play him in a movie'. He has white kids...What's that they say about actions and words?People are free to do whatever; be whatever, say whatever. It just makes me sad how everyone else latches on to these epitomes of insecurity and self unrespect and say, 'wow. yeah. our heroes.'

Well they're not my heroes so its no skin off my nose. It's just really makes me sad.
And I'm not just saying this because  I saw on twitter that these same 'stay woke' twitivists were coming for the goddess +Rihanna in comparison to show just how ah-may-zing Beyonce is. Rihanna who is 100% herself all the time, short hair, long hair, wigs, bald head, plaited hair; she goes there. And looks fabulous while doing it. She's the epitome of 'I am not my hair' by just about having the most fabulous hair at all times, in all styles, regardless of what you think. But this is not a Rihanna vs. Beyonce thing. It's more of a stop looking for outside validation and love yourself without Beyonce having to sing a song about it thing.

Speaking of being your best self, my son was just home for an exeat which simply means he was let out of school for the day. We were discussing his education and the possibility of attending summer school in the States for two weeks next year. The program requires that the child have done some sort of internship where they helped the world in their chosen field. So I asked him for suggestions on what ways he could help the world in his (current) chosen profession. The answers that he gave me further emphasised to me WHY THE FUCK he needs to do this internship. It was all about getting it 'right'. Finding the right answer so you can get those two marks at the end of the question.

The problem with creativity and ideas is that there is no right answer. There is passion and belief and opportunity and a lot of ever loving work. There is not giving up and believing in your product and giving it 110%. 8-4-4 doesn't teach that. 8-4-4 teaches students to be drones that churn out the correct answers when asked. I don't know how to rescrew my son's mind so that he can think beyond the right answer. So that he can 'have the answers!' unlike +SwaysUniverse. I hope he gets this internship. And I hope it opens his mind to greater possibilities. I hope it doesn't take him thirty five years to find his ideas like it did his mommy.