sky opens up: 14mar26

I need to get clearing up and planting in the garden, but there’s still too much to do in the office.

So coders who use AI heavily are having their brains fried, apparently. Meta’s next AI environment doesn’t work properly – apparently X’s Grok is going to need to be rebuilt from the ground up too – but Meta still plans to lay off 20% of its staff precisely because one coder who’s all in on Claude can do the work of ten coders – and get their brains fried.

Last night I read WRITING, Marguerite Duras (UK) (US+) cover to cover: the author was clearly mad as snakes by the time she wrote it, but she was still brilliant and the main section of the book is jaggedly true and coldly luminous.

A writer is an odd thing. He’s a contradiction, and he makes no sense. Writing also means not speaking. Keeping silent. Screaming without sound. A writer is often quite restful; she listens a lot. She doesn’t speak much because it’s impossible to speak to someone about a book one has written, and especially about a book one is writing. It’s impossible. It’s the opposite of the cinema, the theater, and other performances. It’s the opposite of any kind of reading. It’s the hardest of all. It’s the worst. Because a book is the unknown, it’s night, it’s closed off, and that’s that.

Accessions:

Madeline Cash’s LOST LAMBS was on Kindle sale for 99p. I also read this interview with her, where she talked about wanting to write a systems/maximalist novel, which is a form I’ve been thinking about on and off of late. It’s gotten a lot of press, so I thought I’d give it a go.

LOST LAMBS, Madeline Cash (UK) (US+)

STATUS: moving more music to SD cards, to power the non-networked digital audio player.

READING: THE BOOK OF COMMENTARY / UNQUIET GARDEN OF THE SOUL, Alexander Kluge (UK) (US+)

For me, reading and writing mean COLLECTING. That remains true even today. It stands in contrast to the postulate that an author creates what they write from within themselves. Following the author’s inner voice, I write sentences that come from me. What truly inflames me, however, is my discovery of THE ALREADY SAID. Amazing finds. For me, what I think inside would be too ‘repetitive’.

LISTENING: Dream Time: All Queens Day – Celebrating Alice Coltrane

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.