ChatGPT might be here to stay, but so am I

Posted on March 31, 2023March 8, 2023

The publishing industry has been in a big, confused mess about the emergence of ChatGPT, a freely accessible artificial intelligence (AI) program designed to write creative works based on a series of prompts. [1] While the technology could significantly improve things for some people, writers everywhere are uncertain about the full impacts that the technology will have on the publishing industry.

The ChatGPT program can write any story of any length in almost any style. And therein lies the problem.

At the moment, it is reasonably easy to tell when a piece of writing has been generated by ChatGPT, but as the algorithm learns—and I really mean "learns"—it will get harder and harder to tell. The market was already overwhelmed by the scam writers out to make a quick buck, but when ChatGPT came online, the saturation became worse.

Literary magazines like Clarkesworld became inundated with AI-generated stories, and they closed their submissions portal as a result, while they figure out how to handle this miss. [2] Amazon has seen a sudden increase in self-published books on the platform. [3] And there is now great concern about the future of professional ghostwriters, knowing that businesses no longer need to hire a ghostwriter when they can get an AI program to write their material for free.

Exactly where this is all going and how the industry will ultimately respond to AI-generated stories is still unknown.

2022 is over. Time to look to the future with 2023!

Posted on December 30, 2022December 28, 2022

The Yearly Wheel Keeps Turning: Bring in 2022

Posted on November 23, 2021September 8, 2022

It's that time of year again, when I sit down and look at everything that I had set out to do for 2021 and assess what I can do to influence my successes in the coming year. More often than not, I'm reminded of something that was a massive step forward that I had completely forgotten about in the wake of all the negative.

Between COVID-Delta and the constant stream of lockdowns, the crazy of copyright laws, the push for increasing diversity, and all crazy that has ensued in my personal life, there is only one thing that I can do: focus on what I can control and breathe. (Okay, that's two things.)

And my biggest lesson in 2021 is that I need to learn how to say "No."

Today's post is long, but it is what it is.

Advice out of the mouths of babes

Posted on October 14, 2021November 8, 2022

Some years ago, my daughter and I were having a conversation about what it was she would like to do for the coming year. She's a dancer, and at the time, she was interested in the idea of turning her dancing into a career. She was only 13 at the time, but even then, she knew that if she wanted to go professional, she was going to have to work hard to be the best she could be—and some.

The performing arts are just as competitive as the publishing industry, if not more so.

Anyway, I had received an email from her dance school about auditions for a competition dance team. She had never been part of a competition team, but she was being invited specifically to audition. When I asked her if she was interested, she hummed and hawed for a bit, then she said something that hit a little closer to home than she realized.

"I'm never going to make it if I don't take a risk and put myself out there."

BAM! The fist hit me in the gut, and she never lifted a finger. She was talking about her own dreams and her own aspirations, yet her words carried a message that was powerful.