Greetings everyone,
I just came back from my last trip; I spent the weekend in Biarritz. My 8-month stay in France is officially coming to a close. It has been an amazing time and a very formative period. Much has changed in the last 8 months — I’ve learned a bit of French, started a side hustle, developed my research skills, improved my writing, and travelled the world. I am looking forward to coming home and starting the next phase of my personal and professional life. I’ve got an MSc to finish when I get home, and a Ph.D. to prepare for. So the world won’t stop when I leave. But I have a lot to thank Bordeaux for. It will always be a special place for me.
Delay is natural to a writer. He is like a surfer—he bides his time, waits for the perfect wave on which to ride in. Delay is instinctive with him. He waits for the surge (of emotion? of strength? of courage?) that will carry him along.
EB White (1899-1985)
✏️ Why AI is Good for Writers
AI is good for the writer.
It will provide new jobs, better pay, and more power.
Not for the writer who uses it, though.
Writing will be done by AI in the not-so-foreseeable future. I envision a time when AI will be able to write us scientific articles, novels, advertisements, and more. It will know human psychology and what is eye-catching and attention-grabbing, and will be able to write pieces that read well, engage well, and do well. For 90% of the population, AI-generated writing will be sufficient.
The writers who rely on AI now will eventually be replaced by AI altogether. But those who refuse it, who keep their craft pure and perfect it, will thrive. Like the legendary bookbinder who makes his living creating beautiful book bindings in an era of industrialized book printing, they will be sought out for their excellence, their mastery of the craft, their unique style, and most importantly, their humanity and flaws.
I think that writers who continue to refine their craft and write from the heart, without the aid or assistance of AI, will be rewarded. Just like architecture of the past stands out in a world that looks the same, the best human writers will stand out in a world of writing that will look the same. Their work will be sought out and rewarded, handsomely, because those who want the best are willing to pay for the best. Only the best will survive — they must be masters of detail, emotion, and structure. But perfection is not the goal; excellent writing is not a perfect mathematical product. Excellent writing is genuine, high-quality, and human. It is its excellence, composed of true mastery, timely rhythm, pulsating excitement, and honest imperfection, that will make it valuable.
Good writers who love their craft have nothing to worry about. What they lack in grammatical perfection and breadth of knowledge, they will make up for in humanness, colour, memory, and evolution.
💡 Food for Thought
Necessitas etiam timidos fortes facit — need makes even the timid brave (Sallust, The Conspiracy of Catiline)
🔗 Sunday Best
How to Forgive Yourself
By Nathaniel Wade & Marilyn Cornish
Beginning the process of self-forgiveness does not mean that you won’t ever make mistakes again. But it does mean accepting that what you have done was wrong and should not continue.
Rick Rubin: How to Access Your Creativity
On the Huberman Lab Podcast
We [Andrew & Rick] discuss topics such as finding inspiration, the role of feelings as guideposts, learning from observing nature, balancing self-doubt and anxiety, and adopting new perspectives to channel the creative process. Rick also shares his thoughts on using deadlines, eliminating distractions, and how our experiences and emotions influence the creative process. Additionally, we discuss his love for professional wrestling. Our conversation can be applied to any activity or profession to access creativity.
You Can Live the Wrong Life
An interview with Rachel Cusk on the Louisiana Channel.
On writing, discipline, language, talent, and life.
Cusk compares starting a novel to “setting out on a mountain climbing trip without the right equipment, and not having read the weather forecast.” The real trial, she finds, is staying with the story, and accepting when you have to leave it. She doesn’t read fiction when writing, as she finds that it influences her writing too much. […]
It can easily be seen that all the valuable achievements, material, spiritual, and moral, which we receive from society have been brought about in the course of countless generations by creative individuals.
—Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Thanks for coming!
AT