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Hey Reader,

Can you imagine being there when the first photograph was taken? Like holy shitballs batman, what kind of wizardry can make an exact image of my family appear on a piece of paper or metal or glass? BURN THE WITCH!

I’m a smart person, and I know in theory how photography works, but I still look at it and go what the actual eff it feels like magic.

The word “image” comes from the Latin imago, which also has connotations of “ghost” or “phantom” which seems appropriate to photographs. There you are, on paper or on screen, but it’s not you. It’s a ghost of you. And especially in the early photos, where you had to sit still for ages while all the light of life leaked out of your eyes, it might well have seemed like the camera was stealing a little piece of your soul.

An interesting thing happened in the art world, too: painting was already moving in new directions but I wonder if the invention of photography gave artists a push.

Did they turn their attention from creating realistic versions of what was in front of them, to messing around with surrealism, abstracts, and fantasies?

It’s not that simple because medieval monks were drawing some bonkers stuff on illuminated manuscripts way before photographs came along, but those guys were being weird in their little monk cells for a long time anyway.

It does seem like photography accelerated mainstream art in different directions, though.

This got me thinking about parallels with AI.

I hear a lot of people being concerned about it — and there are many legitimate reasons to be concerned about it — but if you’re a creative person, I believe this is an opportunity.

As the internet fills up with AI slop, people are turning away from it. They’re looking more to real-life connections and experiences, and demanding proof that our work that has never been near an AI.

And that is a good thing.

Because if you’re writing or creating using your own brain, you will stand out.

Let this AI “revolution” push you to be more human. More you. More creative, more interesting, more mildly unhinged.

Let it push you to develop a voice and vocabulary that readers know instantly.

Oh, “failosaurus”? That’s one of Vicky’s words.

My writing is unmistakably me. Entirely human created and hand baked.

AI can feel like magic. Easy. Write me a whole ass essay on the life and times of googly eyes. But it’s not magic. It’s flat. It’s devoid of life. It’s not creative and never will be.

You, on the other hand, are a miracle.

Now let’s delve into this week’s Goodie Bag. I have all sorts of fun for you.

Your AI slop bores me

A big round of applause to whoever made this little website and a big thanks to my buddy Will Slater for bringing it to my attention. In short: you can either treat it as an AI and write a question or prompt into the box and someone — a real human — will answer it. Or you can LARP (live action role play, nerds) as an AI and answer someone else’s question. You get 60 seconds to write an answer to their prompt or question.

It was made as a bit of fun but it’s actually a really cool creative exercise and DAYUMMMMM I wish I’d thought of this myself. Enjoy! Be warned. It’s a little addictive…

Invent something silly yet also not practical

Have you heard of the Howard Ross double coat? No, me neither. You know the three racoons in a raincoat idea? Well, this is like that but horizontal. A great big wide coat for you and your sweetheart to wear together. Kind of like a three-legged race for your whole body. Why? Well, why not…

Exquisite vintage hand-made props

Sometimes it’s the things you don’t even notice that create real authenticity. Like realistic vintage movie props. They might only be in the scene for a fleeting moment — or sometimes not at all, they’re just there for the actors to feel more real. Who makes them? Among other people, Annie Atkins. My friend Sarah saw her speak at a conference this week and told me about her, and I instantly fell in love with the whole thing. Annie makes everything by hand and makes them as true as they can be and I love that.

Tree-hugging search engines

I use Google as little as possible. But what, then, do I use to google things? Good question. I use Ecosia, which plants a tree every time you do a search. Their mission was to plant 250million trees and they’ve done that, so their new mission is to plant a BILLION trees. Now that’s the kind of billionaire I can get behind.

The other day I got a video update from them — what they’ve been doing over the past 17 years. Have a little good news for a change.

Are you judging your supermarket cashier?

No? Then stop judging yourself, judgey mcjudgerson. I found this thread on Threads the other day and it made me smile.

What I’m reading

Currently reading Babel by R F Kuang (it took me a while to get into it — her writing style isn’t always for me — but I LOVE the love letter to language that it is). Am also reading Untypical: how the world isn’t built for autistic people and what to do about it by Pete Wharmby. It’s a very comprehensive, fairly inclusive book and I’m finding it helpful. It’s quite negative though.

What I’m writing

My book! I’m reading everything I can get my hands on about autism because that is the book I’m writing. I’m not sure what it is going to be yet, or exactly who it’s for, but at least I’m writing.

Word of the week

verspertine

Relating to the evening or occurring in the evening, often used to describe nocturnal animals or activities.

I am often a vespertine writer, but end up being stuck to the sofa. A vespertine tragedy.

Quote of the week

Happy Friday fair reader. Go forth and make something beautiful.

TTFN,

Vicky 🫡

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