Writing every day is not a chore; is it a lot like breathing? Sometimes. Often, it's such a natural process that I don't think about it; other times, it's laboured. Still, it is optional, unlike breathing, and given the choice, it's something I do every day, but unlike the populous in Richard J Dowling's novel, I haven't yet reached the point where I am asking my AI how best to breathe.

What about writing?

Well, AI has moved on a tad since Clippy.
Although "nice" may very well still be a weak modifier, AI can, through various tools, help the writing process.

Grammarly is a good basic smart checker for spelling, punctuation, and grammar; Grok and ChatGPT are able to do this, but they all may differ about where a comma should fall. Autocrit, as a dedicated writer's tool, helps identify weaknesses and is a good online subscription resource.

There are many others, and I am not going to try to be comprehensive.

The actual writing AI can do... well, that's a really mixed set of results, much like the AI image generator engines. I can get something that works, but to get there, I still find that, more often than not, I need to generate tens of images before one is just about okay.
AI writing is much the same at present; leaving it to its own devices, albeit with a starter question or prompt, will sometimes surprise, but not very often.

However, even bad ideas are helpful, prompting the user to come up with something different. When stuck on how to put something, AI can sometimes reword my awkward turn of phrase; well, often, it cannot, but reacting to the result seems to spur my mind and break that moment of writer's block.

Technical questions, for me, for my writing, so facts and characteristics of history have only proved you have to check AI outputs.

That said, I've noticed how AI has improved in the 18 months, or so I have been using it, and where AI will be next year or five or ten years hence is a sobering question, making these interesting times.


Projects
 
"Mankind counted four hundred and ten years since the legendary Utan-Perath, one of the long-lived first men, founded Erock—a citadel growing into a walled city, standing tall on the Plains of Shinar—beside the river bearing his name."

Right now, I write this! My Prequel to Dragon's Unleashed.

Okay, to be precise—now—I am typing this commentary on my writing, but I'm concentrating on completing this free-to-read give-away freebie work.

That means C17th Vampires and other projects are taking a back seat.

Having hit 18k words already, the Prequel is going to be a Novella. I have completed the short Prologue, Chapters 1 to 3, and I anticipate two more chapters and a brief epilogue.

I have set strict guidelines for myself: The Prequel will not spoil the main novel. So, if a mystery unfolds later in the main story, I won't give away the secret in the Prequel. Instead, I will revisit some plot threads from earlier in the characters' lives, things I introduced, but with an eye to the future left dangling.
I think it's working, and I am pleased so far.

That said, my mind still bounces around, and I have been mulling between friends an idea for a story featuring Astral Travel vs Travelling in the Spirit.
Where this fits in—given I have a related concept: Arthur King, Spectral Detective, is a challenge of time and resources.