My A to Z Themes in the past have covered a range of topics and for 2025 the theme is a random assemblage of things that are on my mind--or that just pop into my mind. Whatever! Let's just say I'll be "Tossing It Out" for your entertainment or however it is you perceive these things.
"Vacation" is over. Well, my hiatus is done for now as I come back to the blogging scene. Now it's back to work. And I'll kick things off with music...
Battle of the Bands
Battle of the Bandsisthe blogging event started byFar Away Seriesand now hosted byStMcC Presents Battle of the Bands. This event happens each month on the 15th and on some there is also a Battle on the 1st of the month. My blog is one of those with a second Battle The premise is simple: Listen to the songs presented below and then in the comments vote for your favorite and tell us why you liked it. Then visit the links listed near the bottom of this post for more Battle action.
Work Songs from the Summer of '66
Let's go back to my reflections on the summer of '66 and the hit music I was hearing back then on the Knoxville Tennessee top ten station and through new friends I was meeting as I acclimated to my new environment.
In honor of Labor Day I'm going to honor two songs that I liked pretty well and they always reminded me of specific jobs. Lee Dorsey's song is pretty obviously work inspired. However some of you might find The Capitol's "Cool Jerk" a stretch as far as work goes. But when I first heard it it made me think of a soda jerk (a popular cool job back in the day) so that was the image bopping around in my head. Of course there was the dance crazes back then and the jerk was one. The song makes me want to do the jerk or something and that's cool.
Hey! This ain't work. It's fun. You're supposed to vote on one of these songs. Which one do you prefer? Battles are no fun without you the reader participating. Hopefully you have an opinion of some kind. You don't have to know about music to have an opinion since it all comes down to your own personal taste.
Please vote on your favorite by letting us know your choice in the comment section and tell us why you prefer the version you chose. Then after you've finished here, please visit the other blogs listed below who may or may not be participating this time around. And if you've put up your own BOTB contest let us know that as well so we can vote on yours. I don't know if anyone else will be doing a Battle this time around, but you can still check out these sites. Here are some other places where you might find BOTB posts: StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands 'Curious as a Cathy' Sound of One Hand Typing
September 3 question - What are your thoughts on using AI, such as GPChat, Raptor, and others with your writing? Would you use it for research, storybible, or creating outlines\beats?
Since I haven't had that much experience with using the AI stuff much at all, I'm not much of one to add anything about what I've done. I've played around with those trial song writing generators and it's really creepy how it can come up with some pretty good songs that incorporate all my absurd inputs. It sounds like a lot of the modern music I hear. Not sure I like what's going on, but maybe it's what it is for now. I think a lot of that "writing" will start getting pretty stale. A lot more stale than it is now.
Talk about shirking work on Labor Day. AI offers a lot of potential for shortcuts. But is it worth it in the long run? Time will tell I guess.
Don't you think a lot of fun of writing is in doing the hard stuff like research and such? I know I can end up going down a lot of rabbit hole chases when I do research--what about you?
