First off, I want to thank Sarah for filling in for me last week. There was absolutely no way I could have put together anything close to coherent. The last three weeks (as of tomorrow) have seen me spending way too many hours at the hospital and rehab. Mom fell–she’s going to be fine–but there have been some complications. So, needless to say, blogging, writing and pretty much everything except being there for her and then making sure the house is ready for her return home have taken the very last seat on the bus that has become my life. Oh, and let’s not forget the close to a foot of rain that fell in less than 12 hours, flooding her room, dressing room, bathroom as well as my bathroom and the work needed to clean that mess up. Anyway. . . .
As I said, the creative juices have come to a screeching stop. There has been little writing done. I’ve done a lot of reading. Part has been because what else do you do when you sit in waiting rooms or in the patient’s room while they’re getting PT or OT? Part has been because one of my favorite series, the Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter, comes to an end next month. So I’ve been rereading some of the earlier books. What I didn’t realize as I did it was my back brain was analyzing what I read and, yes, Myrtle the Evil Muse has been busy. She hit me with two potential plotlines overnight.
And that’s part of why I was up before 0500.
I have also been playing around with both Midjourney and with Dall-E 2. I will admit I am much more comfortable with Midjourney than with Dall-E. I started on the latter last night after getting my invite. So the results with Midjourney are better than with Dall-E. That will possibly change as I play around some more.
Anyway, while I am nowhere near as proficient with MidJ as Cedar, here are a few of my creations over the last week or so. Several of them came out of the musings of Myrtle this morning.
The above came from one of the two ideas Myrtle hit me with. The image just above this is from the beta upscale function. I will probably go back and do some fiddling with it while I wait at the rehab facility (which is part of the hospital, something both Mom and I like) today.
The above two were made with Dall-E 2. The basic terms used were downtown skyline at night with rain and lightning. Something like that. They were created to compare with Midjourney. The next image is one I did earlier using MJ.
Finally, here’s one I did using Baen as part of the creative phrase.
It was created with Midjourney as well. None of the images are perfect. They need work before being used. But I can see the last one being part of a promotion for a book I have in mind. The others (parts of them) could be used as elements of another image.
So, that’s my life right now. Creativity is not using the writer’s brain right now. It will come back and soon. In the meantime, I have to find other ways to scratch that particular itch and these two programs are doing it. I will never be as good as some folks when it comes to them, but I’m having fun playing with the programs and, to be honest, that is all that matters right now.
Until later. It’s time to find some more coffee, something to eat and figure out what I need to take to Mom this morning before heading out.
Mad Genius Club 
26 responses to “When Life Interrupts”
Muses!
Oh yeah. Can’t write without them–at least not well–but life could certainly be easier without them (at least some of the time).
All of the AI machines need some “Special” prompt parts to get good results as more than random luck. There are several YouTube videos on how to get better prompts, and where to find list of Prompts that other people have used that worked better. You might like NightCafe, too, which also has a version of Stable Diffusion which is on par with Dalle-2, and there is Wombo dot art which also has Stable Diffusion added under the “Cartoon, Realistic and Meme” categories if I recall correctly. There is also Disco Diffusion, which you need some programming to work well and several “-GANs”, that also need programming to work well with. And you can now get Stable Diffusion with it’s own UI as of yesterday. Stable Diffusion is being touted for doing better faces and hands than MidJourney. Sorry about your mom, glad she is doing better. Sorry about the flood! And glad that your brain has had a bit of a refresh and break, so that Myrtle could be all rested up and ready to inspire (drive) you.
I need to look into those others. Thanks for reminding me and thanks for the kind words about Mom, etc.
top naval scene I really like, other two are decent but not as engaging for me.
top city scene in Dall-E looks better than lower one. One in MJ reminds me of 9/11 aftermath.
I’m not really sure what’s going on in that last one.
Your reaction is pretty much what mine was when the images came up. As for the last image, it was supposed to be a space marine in battle. It is an issue of where I was still figuring out the descriptors to use. What did stand out was it actually did a decent interpretation on the Baen-like feel. Not perfect, but that was more on me than the app.
Right now just feeding information into mine. I’ve got parts of characters and some of the setting, but don’t yet have the core conflict they are involved in.
Even have a core probable villian, but given I’m not entirely sure how the world work (hence the research) I’m not quite sure how their villiany is manifesting.
This is supposed to be a space Western, but somehow I’m ended up with a deposed Aztecy god flirting with the honorable left-over monster…
Gack. Lost the first half of the post.
I definitely need to start playing with these, if only to start getting cover ideas going.
On audio, I’ve been listening to lectures from Wondrium lately. They’re university grade lectures for about $15 a month, and you can download either video or audio only to your phone for listening on the go without nuking your data. Most of them are university professors so it does require discernment, but the series are long enough that they go into quite a bit of detail.
Might be a thing to look into.
The sea battles are awesome! Totally inspiring. Now who are they firing at? Invading Aliens?
I need to spend more time on MidJourney.
Here’s the description I input to get to those images with a little refinement along the way: science fiction space battle with multiple spaceships, lasers, explosions with stars and suns in background, ultrarealistic
And I’m having fun with MJ. There is definitely a learning curve when it comes to descriptors but it isn’t hard once you start figuring it out.
How did the algorithm get “wet navy battle” out of those keywords? Was spaceships actually one word rather than “space ships”?
Actually, they did get the spaceships in. Without more of a qualifier in the description, it gave an aliens invading Earth sort of image. This is where, like with any program, you have to learn how to use it.
Definitely.
Speaking of software, WPDE has decided I should get double emails of replies to my comments here as well as at Sarah’s….. 8-(
Healing, comfort, and peace to you and your house.
Thanks so much!
Ugh on the water damage. I’m glad your Mom’s fall wasn’t “all that” serious. (Any fall over a certain age is serious, but there’s gradations of serious.”
My muse is still recovering from Huge Musical Project, but things are starting to spin up. (Once I get all the edits done on two books. I hear laughter from Inconvenia, the Goddess of Poor Timing.)
Thanks! The last two weeks have been “interesting”. We’re hopefully turning the corner now and things will get better.
There really needs to be a way to send the muse to voicemail.
“Hi, this is the writer. I’m most definitely not available at the moment, but if you leave your name, number, plain of existence, and brilliant story idea after the tone, I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”
Wouldn’t that be awesome?
I wish! Of course, Myrtle the Evil Muse just gave you the side eye and was not amused. VBG
What’s the worst she can do to me? Send one of her muse buddies to torment me with five or six story ideas at once, so I can’t possibly write, or even make notes on them all, and then let all of their main characters into my head, forming a chorus of confusion…
Er, um, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just be hiding under the bed.
Glad she’s recovering!
Thanks!
“Mom fell–she’s going to be fine”
Thank goodness for that.
Glad your mom is recovering!
I hope you both get some nice boring down time soon, for rest and healing.
You and me both. This has been a trial for both of us.