Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

  Gasp! The year is almost over and then we’re on to a new one. Maybe this time we can get things done, achieve our goals and succeed in the areas we failed in the past…     Yeah, all that. Seriously? Now, I don’t wanna burst your balloon but life is not always about achievement. It’s also about feeling content with ourselves, doing good and, gosh darn it, being happy . Honestly, this compulsive need to complete goals and see tasks through to the end is surely what causes most of the stress in our lives.   Sometimes I think we should simply reject our quest for instant gratification and hyper stimulation. But what can we do to be calm and in control, positive, and, most of all, consistently creative? Personally, first thing I do when I need to be happy is to write my 500 words for the day. More is good but 500 is fine. Just enough to make me feel useful and fulfilled. Here are some other ways to keep up your happiness quotient: Go for a walk in nature. This is a...

Last week we looked at software created to help authors find and enhance their talent. This week we’re examining AI software that seems designed to either hinder skill, replace talent, or turn writing into some kind of blood sport for people who would rather not get involved in the dirty business of actually putting pen to paper. Since the beginning of time blocked writers have been looking for a way to make their craft easier and by the look of the numerous new products hitting the market, many software companies are applying themselves to the potentially lucrative business of replacing artists with machines. To my mind Jasper was the first autonomous machine author. The software was called Jeeves originally, but they got into a fight with Marvel about using a name Disney had claimed as its own because Iron Man had used the name for his computer butler. Clearly Disney had never come across PG Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster - where the idea of calling a butler ‘Jeeves’ originated in...

Now we’re getting close to Christmas, if you want treat yourself and make next year go with a definite bang, you should consider buying Scrivener from Literature and Latte . If you haven’t done so already.  Honestly, I get no money for giving Scrivener a plug. I just happen to believe it will make your life and your writing better. I’ve been using this awesome writing software for over a decade and have no complaints about its looks, its functionality, reliability, and its importance to the writing community. And no, it doesn’t do anything spectacular. It’s little more than an organization tool. Use it for writing novels, ebooks, movies, articles, poems, shopping lists, pretty much anything. Now, if you want something that edits, corrects, make suggestions, and annoys the crap out of you by trying to be everything to everyone, then you should probably try other programs. What you don’t want to imagine is that any one software will make writing easier. Writing will always be hard ...

  While I was growing up in the UK, we had this TV show called Tomorrow’s World . I loved it. The theme music was a hip, airy tune designed to signify progress. The presenters had wry, earnest smiles that implied they knew something we didn’t. The half-hour program was full of inspiring articles about how great the world was going to be. The show celebrated just how advanced, how smart, sophisticated, and especially how accountable the people of the future would become.     Pure joy to watch when you’re a wide-eyed child.      Like many kids, I also loved reruns of Star Trek , mainly because of the vision of the future it presented. What inspired me in particular was a universe in which cash-money was no longer necessary; where friendship and shared responsibility were more important than power, war, violence, and conflict.      Apparently Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry, had many arguments with writers over the issue of conflict. ...