Author: Judy L Mohr

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AI-Generated vs AI-Assisted: Where I draw the line

If you aren't sure what I'm talking about when I say ChatGPT… What rock have you been living under?

Writers around the world (novelists, screenwriters, poets, short story writers, etc.) became concerned when ChatGPT exploded onto the scene in late 2022. No one really knew what it could do or how far it would go. And the market became flooded with AI-generated stories—most of which were not worth the 1s and 0s used to create them. But ChatGPT evolved… and so did the concerns.

In 2023, it came to light the copyright nightmare that was ChatGPT, and we're still trying to deal with that as an industry. Amazon added tags to their KDP system, requiring that publishers specify if a body of work was created using artificial intelligence (AI). Lines were being drawn about the ethical usage of the technology, and lawsuits were filed against OpenAI (and other AI developers) regarding their abuse of copyright laws in sourcing the materials used for training of the algorithms.

We are now in 2024, and there is still so much we don't know or can't agree on regarding the usage of AI within publishing. There is only one thing that is certain: AI is here to stay.

As writers and editors, we are now being forced to make decisions about how we will conduct business. It's about drawing a line between AI-generated works and AI-assisted works.

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I’m where chain mail comes to die

Frequently, I'll see a post on Facebook (or some other social media feed, but mainly Facebook, because that is where I tend to spend most of my social media time) where the post is encouraging people to copy the post and paste it into their own personal feeds. It might be a "challenge" post, sharing a photo about something random. Or it's a post about sharing some statement about being seen. Or something else entirely different. And…

Nope. Can't be bothered. Seriously, peeps, I am that lazy.

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Accountability is a good thing… until it becomes reliability

When you are first starting out on forging a new routine, external accountability can be beneficial. Like meeting a friend at the gym on certain days of the week. If you don't show up, you get that phone call.

"Where are you?"

For writers, that external accountability can be used to help keep you on track with your self-imposed writing deadlines. Or it could be as simple as showing up for that write-in and buckling down to write.

However, there is a danger that accountability can shift to reliability.

Let's say that you've been going to the gym regularly with a particular friend, but that friend is going on holiday out of town. Are you the type of person who keeps going to the gym anyway, or do you find an excuse—any excuse—to not follow through on an established routine? If you're the one to find an excuse, then you have slipped into the realm of reliability.

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My Amazon Nightmares

Some of you will already know about my Amazon publishing nightmare, because I've made mention of it on my Facebook (or I've spoken to you behind the scenes and have sought advice). But for anyone who doesn't know…

Mid-January 2024, Amazon's automated systems decided that I'm a fraudulent and misleading person, and closed my account. It was a heartbreaking moment, because I honestly believed that the 2024 version of my book would get published without it being available for purchase through one of the largest online bookstores. To my relief, that is not the case—I managed to convince Amazon to give me my KDP account back—but we were running close to the wire.

There are positives in all of this mess, even though it is a mess. And there are lessons that I'm learning too.

Stick around, and I'll fill you in on the details.

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Woman with knee tucked up in front of her while typing on a laptop and enjoying a cup of coffee.

18 Tricks for Getting Past Writer’s Block

Writer's block is a real thing, and there could be any number of reasons for why it's happening. You could be out of practice with the flow of writing. Your editing brain could be constantly clicking in and getting in the way of your writing brain. You could be fighting with characters who want to run away with the story, and you could be getting too many ideas from outside sources, distracting you with the new shiny! Or it could be something simple as you're tired and not thinking straight.

Whatever the reason, to deny that writer's block exists is a fool's exercise. However, the ways to get past it count in the hundreds of thousands.

In today's post, I want to just throw some ideas out there on how you could get those creative juices flowing again. This list is far from exhaustive, but the more tools a writer has in their toolbox, the better the chances you have to actually solve the issue that you're having.

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