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While waiting for feedback, LEAVE YOUR MANUSCRIPT ALONE!

The work of a writer is never really done. We are constantly tinkering with that manuscript, because there is always something that could be changed to make it better. But eventually, there comes a point when we have to put that manuscript into the metaphorical drawer and leave it alone.

When that manuscript is in the hands of another person, that's the perfect time to ignore that manuscript. Resist the urge to fix that typo or change that sentence. Just forget about it. Because if you keep tinkering, then the comments that come back might no longer be valid.

But some writers believe they have the perfect solution for this: Just send the editor the latest version. Never might that the editor is now screaming into the void, because everything that they had done up until that point has been made redundant and they have to start over again. But, at least they have the right version now, right?

Excuse me while I sit here with the phone at arm's length as my editing buddies go into a complete meltdown over the situation.

And the fallout is never pretty.

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Old-fashioned printing press.

Obtaining Your Own ISBNs

For those who are self publishing, if you are using portals such as Draft2Digital or Amazon KDP, it is highly attractive to use the free ISBNs available through those publishing portals. For some writers, the cost of the ISBNs is something that is not in the budgets. But those free ISBNs are not registered to you. They're not something that you can take with you when using another publishing portal. And if you were to run an ISBN search, you would not be listed as the publisher.

In today's post, we are going to talk about the importance of sourcing your own ISBN numbers if you are self-publishing your books.

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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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