Video Killed the Radio Star (And I Was There to Watch) So I have a thought, and it showed up this morning with the radio on... I was getting ready for the day, half awake, the way I am most mornings before the Diet Coke kicks in, and the song came on. You know the one. And a line went right between the eyes before I'd even found my shoes. "They took the credit for your second symphony / Rewritten by machine on new technology." Sigh. I stood there in the hallway like an idiot with one sock on. Because I was there. I mean I was really there, for the very first one. Around 1981, I was twelve (maybe thirteen, the math argues with my memory a little), sitting on the living room floor of the friends across the street with basically the whole neighborhood crammed in around a television, waiting for MTV to start. We didn't have cable at our house. We didn't even have a color TV, that didn't happen for me until I was seventeen, so the whole reason I was on that floor was that somebody else had the future and was kind enough to let the rest of us watch it come on. Blew my 14 year old's mind when he found out I was alive before we had color! And the first thing they played was a song about how the future was going to kill the thing we were all about to stop doing. Let that sink in for a second, because I don't think we noticed it then. A room full of kids, cheering a new technology, and the opening statement of that technology was a lament for the technology it was replacing. Nobody on that floor was thinking about the radio star. We were thinking about the pictures. The pictures were amazing. "Video killed the radio star / In my mind and in my car, we can't rewind we've gone too far." (I typed "to far" in my notes this morning. Fixed it. Leave me alone, I was typing on my phone.) Okay, here's where the tangent starts, and I'm flagging it now so you can't say I didn't warn you. The radio is still here and Murphy's radio won't leave me alone. I know that sounds obvious. It was playing in my hallway this morning. It's in my car. It's in the shop right now, humming along behind the laser. Video did not kill the radio star, not the way the song said it would, not the way everybody in 1981 half believed. What actually happened is weirder and a lot more boring. Some radio stars did lose their careers, because they didn't look right for the new thing, and that's a real loss and I'm not going to pretend it isn't. Some people who'd never have been heard before suddenly had a camera and an audience. Radio changed what it was. Video changed what it was. Then the internet showed up and did it all again to both of them, and somebody always stands up and says this is the end of the real thing.

WordCrafter.Pro has 390 Functions. Wow. I'm the Lead for my team of four at work and have been the only one working for the last two days for various reasons and have been constantly busy doing Customer Support at our walk up window, teams calls, meetings *gads I hate meetings*, and at times been working with 3 and 4 people at the same time. and thanks to my friend Claude working on several other projects whenever I like at my phone and check in, tweak, respond to queries, or ask questions. In between customers the only noise is the air handler humming along in the back room. I should have put on some music. oh well. - I added the features of Twos, goblin tools, Octarine and Things to my Mindvault app, it keeps biggering and trying to figure out where to host it to share it with you fun folks. - Started a whole new graphics project codenamed: mythicmaidens that's really just a merge of about a dozen ideas using comfyui, character cards, images and video editing....hmmm some drama stuff, as usual its a separate tool that has been boning arond my head that will probably become a wcp plugin - noodled on something affinity related dealing with a system something like photoshop plugins - Found som ebugs in my layoutcrafter work over the weekend and maybe a major change there. - added to the WCP project manager plugin (nope you haven't seen it yet) - deep testing of empirecrafter's ties to marketcrafter before releasing both (*I* need these two) - adding and mcp server to both mindvault and Wordcrafter.pro that when finished will show up as Claude connectors so you can talk directly to both apps from Claude and do some really cool interactions with the data and functions within them and i doing this hit the 390 functions number. That's 390 Front facing functions for you of a total 588 that include admin tools and backside functions. Wow. Didn't have clue. The mcp server will be able to use or interact with all of them directly from Claude to further expand your toolset and what you can do.

When Life Splashes (Keep the Boat Moving) So I have a confession, and it's going to sound like an odd way to open a workflow article. My plan did not survive this month. Not one piece of it. The plan didn't survive contact with the first Tuesday. Whew. Here's the short version of the last few weeks. I was sick for several days and still pushing through it. We had craft shows, which means up all night making inventory and then standing in a tent for eight to 12 hours in old shoes. The day job started eating eight to ten hours every day. Three boys in the house who need things, because that's what boys do. And underneath all of it, over 92 projects in the works, most of them more than half done, because I can't leave a good idea alone. That's the splash of life. And if you're reading this, I'd bet yours has a different shape but the same wet feeling. The demons aren't what you think People talk about the demons like they're one thing. In my experience there are two, and they work as a team. The first is the pile. Too much to do, not enough hours, and the volume was never sized to one human. That one is just math and i don't math well without a calculator. The second is the voice that shows up when the pile wins. It wears the costume of responsibility and says "you're not ready yet" or "you've fallen too far behind to start again." That's fear and self-doubt, and it feeds on the first demon. Now add ADHD, which is how my particular version runs. I don't have steady days. I have highs and lows. On a high, I'm hyper productive, I build whole systems before lunch, and I'm convinced this is finally the one that works. On a low, I can't open the document I was thrilled about forty-eight hours ago. The high builds the system. The low breaks it. And then the demon says "see, you can't keep a system," and the high shows up and builds a new one. (ed. --Today was a lego builder. i'll put it in another post) (Sidebar: that's how you end up with 92 projects. Every high starts something. Every low leaves it half done. It's not a character flaw, it's a pattern, and a pattern you can plan around once you can see it. Or start a new project trying to build a new tool to help and then share it with friends).

or the beginnings of one. Check it out and play the demo https://ashwake-4rz9fhtb.manus.game Let me know what you think... this is a really really rough drafting

I'm Michael. I built the Professional Writing System and WordCrafter Pro after spending years trying to wrangle AI tools into something that actually helps writers write better stories — not just faster ones. The Professional Writing System is a set of Claude skills to help you as authors get the words out and get published. Each skill has a group of personas who are experts in their field that let you discuss your book not order the AI to do your bidding. They help you work out ideas, build the story Bible & outline, design believable characters, write your story (with help not write for you), and edit the work afterwards. The Merch and Marketing skills step in to help you build products around your story and sell it (the most important part) WordCrafter Pro is the latest in AI Writing Aids that has the entire PWS System baked in. Here in a scrivener styled interface you can organize all of your pieces together, control your context windows, get help when needed and get the stories published! With this system you never have to write alone again. You can even talk to the persona's individually ***** What you've walked into is the community hub for everything PWS: the skill files, the app we're building, the classes, the challenges, and most importantly, the other writers doing this work alongside you. Here's what to do right now: 1. Introduce yourself in the Introductions category. Tell us your name, what you write, and your biggest creative challenge right now. 2. Grab the free PWS Quick-Start Guide at [this link] It explains the four-phase system and shows you exactly where to start. 3. Browse the Start Here posts. The PWS Overview explains all four phases. The Community Rules are short and worth reading. This community is free and always will be. A paid Inner Circle tier is coming for writers who want deeper access, but everything you need to use the system lives here at no cost. the skills themselves and the PWS Studio App I'm developing will have a cost, but if you are reading this there will be a huge discount.