Tag: writing

AI Steals My Words

I’m tempted to have AI blog for me today, because I’m tired from lack of sleep. But I would never do that, because I know what generative AI is: a plagiarism of what’s available on the Internet.

Artificial intelligences such as Chat GPT are “trained” on Internet content. That means the AI studies composition, word usage, style, and content. It captures the writing itself and uses it in other combinations for its own work. What makes my writing unique is my choice of usage, style, composition, and content.

I’m a writer. I don’t like that generative AI can take my work and make it theirs. It seems like an appropriation of my creativity and that of others. I especially don’t like what it does to visual artists, because stealing pieces of images seems more blatant than just stealing words.

Somewhere, an artificial intelligence is scanning this and putting the information in with other writings it’s scanned. And maybe it will spit it out verbatim into someone else’s writing. I don’t know, and maybe that’s the worst part.

Stalled Stories

What do I do when I don’t like where the story is going?

I have this problem with the two works in progress that are not currently in progress. One of them has a main character problem. The main character is a cipher, which is as it should be, as he is keeping a big secret. The thing is that the progression of their relationship seems vapid as a result. Which it might well be, given that he’s keeping a secret, but it’s not good storytelling at the moment.

The other book? The plot got so convoluted that not even I know what’s going on. Why are they going to the planet where they expect the bad guys to be waiting for them? I’m not sure I’ve given them compelling reasons to do something this stupid.

So what do I do? The first thing I do is avoid writing for a while. This is obviously not a good strategy, but this is a blog post about what I do, not what I should do. I’m edging toward the end of my writing hiatus, so I have to try the next step.

Next I start doing some writing exercises. I need to interrogate the two characters in Walk Through Green Fire, explore where they’re at right now and how they feel about it. Interrogating the character is interviewing the character, except for the tricky part that they don’t exist. It helps me get into the character’s motivations.

Then, hopefully I’m in the space to write. If not, I abandon the book and start on another project. I’ve already done this with Walk Through Green Fire once. It may be a fundamentally flawed work, I’m not sure. Or something I’m not willing to write because reasons. In which case, I need to find a new novel. Maybe it’s time to do the Kringle novel for this year.

A Very Difficult Life

Daily writing prompt
Your life without a computer: what does it look like?
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I remember life without computers, because I grew up in the Sixties and Seventies, and the first DOS computers came out just before I went to college. DOS computers didn’t have the Internet or beautiful, intuitive interfaces, and composing a letter on one meant staring at a black screen with green letters. I used a typewriter to type my masters’ thesis because attractive typefaces were a blip in the future and things typed on a computer looked like they had been typed on a computer. And I was one of the more computer literate people I knew.

I would not want to go back there. I didn’t write a novel because it would have taken tens of hours to search for information on desert flora and fauna. I knew American deserts weren’t made of sand, and that’s about it. Years later, after the Internet, I wrote the novel with information I found on the Internet in mere minutes. I use the computer to communicate, to entertain, to research, to compose. My life without it would be difficult and tedious.

On the other hand, expectations of quality and speed were less back then. The one typeface of a computer was acceptable, and the time limitations of snail-mail were tolerable. A writer could get away with fewer books written further apart. My expectations, though, are shaped by the era of fast, aesthetically pleasing, versatile computers that expand the limits of what we produce.

Life without my computer would be tedious and bland. I don’t want to go back there.

Long Break

I haven’t gotten back into my writing routine, and that worries me.

Maybe I’m tired at the end of the day, facing new classes and old challenges. It’s more likely to be that I’m stymied about my current writing projects, pantsing projects that seem more often than not to run themselves into walls.

Maybe I need a break from writing right now, but I’m afraid my break is going to turn into a forever break. I can’t believe that a couple months ago, I said that writing was my flow activity and I could never see myself not writing. Right now writing is not flowing at all, but jolting like riding a bike with square wheels.

I know I’ve written this before. Many times, in fact. This time is not different. I will get over this.

Not Brands, but Reference Groups

Daily writing prompt
What brands do you associate with?
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I don’t associate with any commercial brands, but I do associate with what this question is getting at.

I don’t believe people associate directly with brands, except perhaps with trucks — there are “Chevy people” and “Ford people” in the US, and a few deranged “Tesla bros”. People associate with reference groups, which they use to identify themselves as a part of. This is something I learned in a consumer behavior class many, MANY years ago.

Bangkok, Thailand – April 16, 2022 : Stanley of pink stainless steel thermos travel mug to keep the drink warm or cold. Stanley Go Vacuum Bottle 12.5 OZ

Reference groups can be associative — “I am a member of this group”. For example, one of my reference groups is “college professor”, which makes me prone to buying gas-efficient vehicles and Starbucks coffee. Reference groups can be dissociative — “I would not be caught dead being a member of this group”. I am vehemently not a member of the reference group that listens to Kid Rock and drinks Budweiser beer. Last, they can be aspirational — “I would like to be a member of that group.” I would like to be a member of the upscale ecologically conscious consumer who has a home composter and a butterfly garden landscaped by someone else.

We buy brands because of their association with reference groups, because we want to be a member of that reference group. We refuse to buy certain things from our dissociative reference groups. We don’t so much say “I’m a Ford person” — unless we’re talking about trucks, and even then, we buy them largely based on our perceptions of who’s in that group. I will excuse myself to drink my home-roasted coffee, which marks me as part of the aspirational group “coffee snobs” now.

Ten Days till Publication!

Ten days till I publish Kringle Through the Snow! As the link says, it’s on Amazon Kindle, available as e-book and paperback.

I’m proud of this one, not surprisingly. (I could say that about any of my books). This one involves a genuine nerd, Wade Nelson, who falls for his neighbor, Sierra DuBois, who is a successful event planner. Just as their romance is progressing, Sierra’s sudden change of heart leaves them estranged. It will take good communication and some Santa Magic to bring them back together.

What I like about this story are the characters. Wade isn’t the stereotypical nerd who plays Dungeons and Dragons. Yes, he plays Dungeons and Dragons, but he’s not the unwashed stereotype. (Stereotypes aren’t cool). Likewise, Sierra isn’t your stereotypical Type-A event planner, although she is driven to excel. They, like my other characters, are a bit quirky and not what you’d see on the Hallmark Channel.

Maybe that’s the point. My Kringle Chronicles romances feature protagonists who usually get relegated to the role of quirky sidekick in other stories. Nobody is the homecoming queen; nobody is a millionaire. The wish fulfillment doesn’t have to include wishing you were someone more impressive.

Remember, the book comes out ten days from today. And if you have a hankering for a signed version, we can arrange something.

Book Promotion Time

I haven’t promoted my works lately. I’ve read somewhere (I don’t remember where) that I should be promoting my work 1/3 of the time, but that would be twice a week and I think that might be a bit excessive. On the other hand, I hardly ever promote my work.

The first book I want to promote is Kringle Through the Snow, which will be coming out on Kindle October 1st. It’s a Christmas romance in the Kringle Chronicles series. Self-professed nerd Wade Nelson meets high-energy event planner Sierra DuBois, and they struggle through Sierra’s abrupt goodbye. It will take soul-searching and a bit of Santa magic for them to find their happiness together.

The second book I want to promote will be arriving January 1, 2025 on Kindle, the third in the Hidden in Plain Sight series. In Reclaiming the Balance, sculptor Janice Wilkens escapes her abusive boyfriend to alarming news at the ecocollective Barn Swallows’ Dance. There, she meets the androgynous half-human Amarel Stein, who helps her accept that her son is likewise non-human. Janice’s ex wants her back to father more soldiers on, and Amarel and Janice must fight back and rescue Janice’s son from his captivity. Amarel and Janice will have to reconcile their differences to find the way to each other.

There are other books. I have written five other Kringle Chronicles books and two other Hidden in Plain Sight books. There are more on the way. You can find them all at Lauren Leach-Steffens’ Amazon page.

2001st Post!

This is my 2001st post! I missed post 2000 because I wrote in answer to one of WordPress’s prompts. But I’ve actually stuck to this for 2000 posts!

My first post was Calling All Creatives, and it had four views. I get a few more views now, but would still like more readership. My most popular post was an anniversary post which got 65 views. My 2000th post was on the prompt “My Most Valuable Lesson” today.

What have I learned from 2000 posts?

  • One doesn’t get to 2000 posts by deciding to get there; one keeps writing one at a time until it happens.
  • Posts are better with pictures.
  • Using the supplied prompts boosts number of readers, and some of them stay on as regular readers.
  • WordPress does a far better job of sorting out riff-raff than Blogger. I have no more links from webcam girls showing up in my feed.
  • I can’t predict which posts will become more popular.
  • Not every reader likes the post, but enough do.
  • 2000 posts is a lot of posts.

Here’s to 2000 more posts!