Out of action. What’s a writer to do when they have buggered up their shoulders, arms or hands? We need our digits like a porn star needs. For the past couple of weeks, every time I try to type or use the trackpad with my right hand, I am met with shooting pain that travels towards my shoulder. For the most part, it’s nothing major. No pain when I move the arm. I can do everything else that I need to do except for fine motor skills stuff. The pain isn’t constant and I forget until I type or use silver. I wouldn’t be complaining about it except I am missing in action online. My physiotherapist gave me the order to rest the arm. Okay, if you insist.
Life is crawling, and the change of pace is a novelty… Frustration creeps in. I’m acutely aware of how much I actually do with my hands daily. My soul needs to be creative. But typing and using a trackpad with one hand makes me want to bring out my inner Homer Simpson and sit in front of the idiot box in my anti-rape underwear. Goodbye, dreams, hope and sex sanity.
I have caught up on sleep and spent time relaxing. Energy has returned in abundance, and being idle is nearly impossible. Ants in my pants syndrome. Obviously, with my shoulder screaming murder, I can’t work on my blogs, comments and reciprocation — missing you guys, but there is way too much typing, track padding, tapping and whatnot. The question becomes, what am I capable of doing? What are some creative avenues that aren’t so taxing on my right shoulder?
Well, my tongue is fine and good to go (don’t be rude). Hello, dictation. Admittedly, I am not a stranger to dictation. Dragon and I have been in a love-hate relationship on and off for years. Full disclaimer, I came back crawling — this post is our spawn.
Dictation (Dragon Professional — Train Your Dragon)
Dictation takes a while to get used. Feeling a wee bit rusty at the moment. The Muse prefers to type. She finds typing easier to tap into the automatic writing world. My brain hasn’t completely made the shift from typing to speaking yet. I’m sure it will come with practice. Back in the 90s, before typing became the norm, I handwrote everything. Oh, I know, the horror, the child abuse. Shared home desktop computers started creeping into households. During high school, I handwrote all my essays and then typed them up. My brain could not flow ideas through a keyboard. I needed a pen and paper.
By the time I reached university, I realised I didn’t have time to double-handle my words and started typing directly on the computer. Let’s be honest, writing my papers twice cut into my booze time. And I just wasn’t having it. All-nighters, high on Redbull to complete assignments change a person.
I don’t recall the adjustment period. Weeks? Doubtful. Months? Maybe. A year? Most likely. My money is on a gradual transition. For years, after I mastered typing thoughts directly onto a screen, I still planned projects and brain-dumped by hand. The process of automatic writing to automatic typing is a complete rewiring of the brain. And now, I do everything on devices automatically, the switch complete. Handwriting is atrocious and uncomfortable. A five-year-old writes more legibly than I do.
Just like I got used to typing many eons ago, dictation will become more natural. I remember a few years ago when I first started. It was okay because as I type, I tend to stop and think about my words. My only real issue was having to talk to my laptop so slowly like I was talking to a drunk loser at a nightclub. Speak naturally and Dragon works out of the box? My arse! False advertisement!
There are some words and sentences I prefer to type, especially as a fiction writer. I imagine over time my brain, The Muse, will use my vocal cords as a second automatic language. Hopefully, no one will be listening, because if I have to say out loud the shitz The Muse demands… Well, let’s just say there is a little thing called a mental institution self-censorship.
But anyway, thanks to the stabbing pain in my shoulder when I type more than a few words, dictation is my friend. It’s a skill I should be working on, anyway. So much faster than typing. My left hand is getting sloppy and doesn’t like having to do all the swiping, clicking, and typing.
It’s not all doom and gloom. I’m taking this time to catch up on other interests. I’ve been looking into AI writing. Please, lower your weapons (or are you happy to see me?). I travelled to the dark side, so you don’t have to. My mission is to find ways to be creative without relying on my hands so much. Even while I was dictating my book earlier this year, I noticed that the voicebox started to rebel after about 90 minutes. Two hours tops. Dragon throws tantrums when the slurring begins. So, while dictation is a blessing, there are limitations.
The AI Project (AI as A Creative Writing Assistant)
Using AI to create fiction is just another avenue. I would still be the creative force making all the story decisions. AI just provides options and helps when stuck. I’m still the Queen of the universe and The Muse gets the final say. Besides, I’m curious to see if quality can be produced by tech and what are the limitations? The good stuff still needs a lot of human input… For now, at least. The AI project, if I go ahead, will be treated as a game of sorts. No erotica though. Sorry… the masters of the internet have blocked such content. For some reason, words are worse than Instagram the porn sites that the kiddies are stumbling upon.
Using AI as a writer is a taboo subject. There are ethical issues surrounding copyright, human input versus the machine, and the training of AI “steals” original content. Too much for me to dive into here. Instead, let me ask writers, how many of us have dabbled with AI images? They are fantastic. As someone who has zero artistic talent, so bad even stick figures are unrecognizable, AI images provide another type of creative outlet. I’m sure the original artists who honed their skills are thrilled with not being compensated for their work (If you’re as slow as Dragon, that’s 100% sarcasm). Yet, many writers keep using AI images because we are mentally artistically challenged. Should creating fiction or blog posts be any different to creating images as long as there is transparency?
Popular writing apps like Dragon, ProWritingAid, and Grammarly are AI tools too. Every writer should be using ProWritingAid/Grammarly to edit their text before unleashing it into the world. The work still belongs to the human who slaved away but editing apps polish text. There is no denying AI writing tools are fantastic. I don’t have any hard-core opinions either way regarding AI and writing. The ethics are sticky and complex. My inarticulate point for this post is AI can do the heavy lifting for writers who have a disability or an injury that prevents them from typing pages upon pages. Levels the playing field. I want to use AI to expand on my ideas and text. More akin to editing or having a helper… a junior slave writer.
AI is here whether we like it or not. I would rather have a play and keep an open mind. And relax Human Writer Lovers, I won’t be posting any work that isn’t my own. Besides, I don’t think AI can be smutty or snarky. At least not in any meaningful way. I am truly gifted.
Takeaway
Being injured or having a disability that prevents creativity sucks like hairy balls. Life can be pretty mean and cruel. Every writer is destined to be out of action due to an injury eventually. But unicorns have arrived. AI technology has exploded. New opportunities are available for everyone. Dictation isn’t perfect, but it gets better all the time. Same with AI to produce text or images. Driving the AI is a person. AI doesn’t magically work without human input. The real question is, how much is the machine and how much is the writer? Perhaps it’s the ratio that matters? Nobody wants to be duped into reading a soulless machine.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and engineer a story with ChatGPT. Or maybe I’ll just watch TV…
Categories: Technology, Writing Battles
THE WRITING ASYLUM 
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