Maybe the usual competition/magazine guidelines about AI (i.e. don’t use it at all) are becoming untenable. As AI becomes an ever more standard, useful tool, competent writers are expected to use it, in the way that they already use spell-checkers and style-checkers.
The Bournemouth Writing Prize includes the following in its guidelines, which may show how things will be in the future -
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools (including generative text or image systems) is not permitted as a primary author of submitted work. AI tools may be ONLY be used for copyediting:
- The submission remains substantially the author’s own work, demonstrating clear human creative control and decision-making
- The work is not wholly or predominantly generated by AI
- Any use of AI tools is clearly declared at the point of submission
Authors must include a brief statement outlining any use of AI in the creation of their work. Failure to disclose AI use may result in disqualification or withdrawal of the submission. We reserve the right to reject submissions where AI use is deemed to undermine originality, authorship, or the integrity of the publication.
I visited Glasgow a few times during the Commonwealth games. The traffic cone hat has become a Glasgow symbol. The statue where it all began is outside the Museum of Modern Art
The cone idea has spread. This is Charles Rennie Mackintosh. The clouds were there all week. Each day it rained while Cambridge baked. It rained so hard at the athletics one evening (we were in an uncovered stand) that they offered us free tickets for the next day
I saw signs of several cultures. These images of Morocco - Marrakesh/Marrakech, Rabat, Tangier, Casablanca,Fes - were nostalgic. Scottish versions of pizza included haggis. Licensed breakfasts were served from 9 am.
And there are many murals. I liked this one on Hope Street.
So another Flash Fiction Festival is over. On the way to Bristol I popped into Tewkesbury and Chelmsford, both for the first time. As ever, there was a mix of first-timers and old-hands, of barely published and heavily published authors, all happy to talk with each other. Many countries were represented. Jude Higgins and her many helpers deserve all the praise they get for organising, and for setting the tone.
The headliner Ellen Renton comes from Edinburgh with an MA in Creative Writing: Poetry from the University of East Anglia. I liked many of her pieces, including phrases like "there's no chorus to this song, or if there is, the music never reaches it". Among the open-mic contributions there was an Italian poem translated, and some poems translated from an Ethiopian language for which 2 translations are needed: one a plain translation and another conveying the deeper meanings. There was a witty, rhyming poem about bees that I liked. Overall it was one of the most interesting CB1 evenings.
My story collection "By All Means" (ISBN 978-0-9570984-9-7), published by Nine Arches Press, is on sale from 
My poetry pamphlet "Moving Parts" (ISBN 978-1-905939-59-6) is out now, on sale at the 
