The Myth That Nobody Writes Anymore

I've actually seen this artcument many times about writing recently. I don't write books, apparently Amazon is flooded with AI generated kindle books. A few actual writers I know have had their books fed through AI and regurgitated as something else and republished. It's a bit of a mess.

Now, I'm speaking here of generative AI to produce the text of the book itself. Some writers use AI to brain storm ideas, help outline or other research related things. I'm not going to get into the morals and ethics of that as that would be a REALLY long post.

I'm talking about using ChatGPT or Claude to generate the actual text of the book itself and even the cover. I will admit, I'm not as good at sniffing out AI images and text as I used to be. It's gotten better, but that's part of the tell.

A.I. is TOO Good

One tell with AI anything is how perfect it looks. I know my writing is sloppy and despite my best efforts I still leave typos and I tend to ramble. AI articles and stories read like a travel brochure or "stereo instructions." they are very clean, crisp and precise. I guess when you read something if that is what you want then that is fine. But there is just no personality behind it.

A big part of what I think makes my art and writing stand out is the imperfections. My imperfections and quirks and bad habits are what makes it unique. Anyone can have AI spit out an article for you, but that doesn't mean anyone will reasonate with it or like it.

We wrote everything in the olden days

When I was in college, there were times I had to write a 10,000 word research paper and did all of it the night before and all my reference citations. I didn't have anything to just barf out something mostly researched that didn't sound like me and turn it in. One professor I follow on Facebook posted one paper and there was a line in the middle of it that said. "Is that good or would you like me to make it sound more professional?"

Like if you are going to use generative AI to write for you, at least remove the different prompts! I have a confession to make. When I had my art website, I would sometimes let the sites AI write my product descriptions. Creating art is a lot of fun. Posting it for sale is draining. Posting it for sale when you know likely no one is going to buy it is even more soul sucking.

So, out of laziness and frustration I'd just use the AI which was always unimaginitive as hell. Things like "bold abstract piece on archival paper. Various lines and colors blending into a unique pattern."

Like my descriptions usually talked about what the art was actually about. The story behind it and my mindset as I finished it. Not the specs any idiot can already see first hand.

I know I sound like a real old timer yelling "back in my day!"

Mind you, I'm not anti-technology. I love tech. I had the first Android phone as soon as it came out. I draw on a Samsung tablet and blog on a laptop. I just don't like tech to do EVERYTHING. For me, writing and blogging is fun. Its a blast to start a blog out with one idea (I don't outline these.) just start letting the words flow and seeing where my head takes me. I guess its a form of intuitive writing, but blogging.

I wrote really awful horror books back in the day. All are out of print now where they belong. I would average writing 1000-3000 words a day writing. It was and is never about the results but always about the journey. The process. How did we get here and where are we going? That's what matters and that's what readers enjoy.

Reading a blog or article should be the reader joining the writer on a journey of discovery and learning. Not the writer just talking at people. When you use AI to create an article, that's what it feels like.

If I wanted to blow this blog up over night, I could use AI to write a bunch of SEO friendly articles and crank them out 2-3 or more a day and blast them out there and gain new followers and paid subscribers probably pretty quickly. And I want this blog to be successful. But I want to do it the right way. One thing I've learned is that "blow up" success is usually short lived. Building slow and over time is what has readers and supporters take root and slow growth is sustainable.

So, I guess the ulitmate thing is what do you want your legacy to be and be known for? Being a hack prompt jockey or putting out something real that people can relate to and grow with. The second one is harder and takes much longer, but the rewards in the end both mentally and success-wise will be much greater. I heard someone say once "Do hard things, and great things will happen." It's easy to take the shortcut. God knows in my life I talked myself out of harder paths to take short cuts numerous times. Pretty much every time it blew up in my face.

The Truth is, there are not short cuts and no easy ways. Especially if you are trying to be successful on the internet today. There is so much AI slop and fake articles and fake news, adding to it won't set you apart. If anything, creating real, human made and authentic content will be what sets you apart. People want to hear YOUR journey, YOUR voice and get to know YOU the human, Not the AI version.

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