Newsletter: Runaway Menus and Geckers
This week, we discuss runaway menus, interesting sounds, AI and writers' retreats.
WordNerd: Gecker
The WordNerd was delighted to learn this new word at a recent poetry event, when a poet used it to describe the mating cry of a fox. When the WordNerd dug a little further, she discovered that a gecker is a cry uttered by an infant primate such as a macaque.
It's often a cry of distress at being separated from their mother. What an evocative word.
What's On: Helping A Budding Poet With Her Collection
I had a fun session last week with Deborah Somers, whose poetry collection The Way Out will be published in the next few weeks. I did what you might call a light edit, making suggestions to polish up the poems and weeding out grammar errors.
Deborah was then able to make the changes in real time. If you'd like advice on how to move your own book forward, check out my Writing With Me service.
Grammar Grouch: Running All Night
Fellow Grammar Grouch Jimmy Meade of JM Write Quality alerted the Grammar Grouch to a very risqué menu. This menu said it was running all night. Did this mean that to order food from this menu, the Grammar Grouch would have to run after it?
The Grammar Grouch is violently opposed to running. But then realisation dawned. The sign simply meant that the menu would be offered all night.
Writing Resource: A Writer’s Thoughts About AI
There's a big buzz lately about artificial intelligence (AI) and how new AI applications like ChatGPT may impact writing and publishing in the future. This article by Caitlin Jans is about how literary journals are handling AI-generated submissions.
From her experience, it's obvious which submissions are AI generated and which are created by human hands. Have a read of the article.
Bursaries Available for Waterford Writing Retreat
Waterford City and County Council Arts Office is running an Ecological Writing Workshop in August at the Molly Keane Writers' Retreat with Lani O'Hanlon. It is also offering bursaries to writers who want to take up a place at this workshop.
You send an email to Arts Officer Margaret Organ, morgan@waterfordcouncil.ie. telling her why you want a place at this workshop. The email needs to be with Margaret by midday on Friday 21 April. More details about the workshop in the flyer below.
Photo Description: This is the flyer for the Ecological Writers’ Retreat if you want to attend. It has a pile of text on it, but if you want more information, you can email morgan@waterfordcouncil.ie.
To chat more about anything you've read in this newsletter, you can contact me on derbhile@writewordseditorial.ie or 0876959799. And if you like what you've read, hit the Subscribe button.