AI and Writing - A Series of Looks Inside: Part One

Oh my goshness! Hello, good people of the blogosphere. I'm going to discuss something that's been discussed to death: AI and writers using AI. We're specifically talking generative AI here, but there are a ton of writing helpers that have been using one form of AI or another for a long time. We'll get into those as we go along, but today, I'll try to do some explaining on how LLMs work. If you already know, feel free to skip to the next post (if it's up). If it's not, wait two days, and I'll have moved on to examining the tools.

When AI first hit the market, I was as flummoxed as everyone else. I had trepidation, but I stood back and watched rather than freak out, and I learned as much as humanly possible about the way it works. I watched videos, did shallow dives, and did deep dives, which I emerged from in a much more confused state than when I went in.

I know, right? UGH. BUT THEN!

I was on the phone with one of my children (one that happens to be a computer genius, and I don't use that word lightly) when I lamented my lack of understanding. She proceeded to explain it to me. Only, she was using computer terminology.

Me: "Okay. You're adorable, but I can't understand a single word coming out of your mouth."

Her: "Hmmm... Well, how would you understand it?"

Me: "Pretend I'm a small child with only a basic understanding of the English language and know nothing about computers."

Her: *thinks for a minute then laughs like a loon* "I think I know how to help you understand."

Me: "Hit me with it."

And that's how I came to understand how a Large Language Model (LLM) works. Let me see if I can explain it the same way. If you're confused when I'm done, please drop me a comment below, and I'll do my level best to get you articles that might help.

Imagine you're a small child learning how to speak. You tune in to your parents, the TV, books, and every other thing that'll talk to you. As time goes on and you consume more information, you learn how to construct a basic sentence.

Example:

Mom always asks if you want more food.

Eventually, you understand to say, "I want more food." You understand this by hearing Dad say those same words in the same order. Mom rewards him with more food. However, the possessive I is something you learn from listening to TV and being corrected. Most babies would say, "Me want more food." Right? It's only through repetition of hearing it in the correct order when you begin to understand it's not me; it's I. Make sense?

Now, imagine you have a vast network of text to learn from because you can't hear (not speaking about the hearing impaired, they learn in other ways). You learn word B comes after word A in a typical sentence because after examining literally thousands of sentences, that word is the one that comes next most often. Word C comes after word B most often, so that's the one you use next. Then, you use word D, putting it all together to convey your idea.

I want more food.

On a much larger scale, this is how LLMs work. They're not smart, and they're not aware; they just have a vast amount of text that tells them what word most commonly follows the first in any conversation. Some of them pull from websites and give you a summary using the exact same method, but they're not regurgitating lines word for word, nor do they steal your words and give them to someone else.

It's highly unlikely you're constructing sentences in the exact way hundreds of other people are, so the likelihood your exact structure and prose would be used by an LLM is about a billion to one.

I can hear you being skeptical. Let's go for one more example.

I create a small language model using text from Bob, Lia, Dot, and Steve. Here's what they give me when I ask, "How do you get ready in the morning?"

Bob: I start by getting out of bed, having coffee, and taking a shower. Then, I brush my teeth and get dressed for the day.

Lia: My mornings start with me having coffee and watching TV. I tend to rush around feeding the animals and sit down to play a game or two after about half an hour. Once I'm relaxed, I get dressed and start to sort out what's for dinner.

Dot: I get up, shower, eat breakfast, brush my teeth, and get dressed.

Steve: I roll out of bed and fall into some clothes before rushing out the door and driving an hour to the office.

From those few responses, my language model would "probably" return something along the lines of: I get out of bed, brush my teeth, and get dressed.

Because those are the most common denominators in the text. Hell, it might not even be able to answer the question based on those limited responses and it not having enough reference material to use.

See how it's not the same but contains the general elements of the other items?

That is how an LLM works, folks. It's not smart enough to pull sentences out of thin air. So now, when you see people freaking out about their words being used to train an LLM, you can just smile and move on.

So, for this series! We'll be looking at the following apps/helpers, and I'll do my best to ask them all the same things/insert the same prompts to see how each one responds.

• ChatGPT
• Sudowrite
• Jasper AI (turned out to be a marketing AI - dropped from list)
  
• Grammarly (simply a word and syntax checker - dropped from list)
• Squibler
• Hyperwrite
• Rytr
• Copy.ai
• Type.ai
• ProWritingAid
• Claude
• Shortly AI
• Anyword
• Quillbot

I'll pepper in some posts about other things as we go to break up the monotony of a series, and those programs that don't have a free test feature won't be studied. This is just what I could find when I did a quick search. These will be updated with links to the individual posts.

Anyone who uses AI to 100% write a book and does no editing is an ID10T because of the very thing I explained above. However, they can sometimes pull someone out of a funk or help with a sticky spot in a plot (which is how most authors I've interacted, who use AI, use it). 

What AI can't do is generate large amounts of text and it be original. It'll sound dull and robotic (because it is). You can't just plug in a plot and get a good book. Period. So, let's see what these programs can do. If you don't want or need to use any of these, that's fine. Please just move along. :)

One of my biggest challenges will be with the prompts. Authors I know who use AI at all spend literal hours on their prompts then edit the hell out of the text. It's a helper, and IF you're going to use it, that's how it should be used.

I hope you're all looking forward to this. I'm interested to try them! Maybe I'll be disappointed. Maybe you'll find a tool that does exactly what you're looking for (which isn't writing an entire novel for you). We'll see!

Fingers crossed you all enjoyed this post and are stoked about trying stuff.

That's all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Bluesky Social

Good morning, and happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, we're talking about Bluesky, the Twitter replacement. This little app that could has over twenty-one million users as of now, probably due to the mass exodus of X (the app formerly known as Twitter). We'll dive into all the ways it's similar to the Twitter of old, and I'll show you a few things you might not have known about. Ready? Get cozy, grab a cup of coffee, and let's get going!

So, Bluesky. What is it? Where did it come from? How can you use it? What are the awesome features it has that you may not know about? How can you sign up? These are the questions we'll answer today. If you happen to have other questions, feel free to drop them in the comments, and I'll do my level best to find out for you.

What is Bluesky?

Well, it's a mobile and web app that's rather like the Twitter of old. You can post short, to-the-point sentences and use hashtags or media to enhance said post. You can create specific feeds, follow and block, and even send DMs.

Where the heck did Bluesky come from?

According to Britannica, it's actually been around a long time (since 2019), but it's only recently (2023) become available to the public. It's biggest growth happened last year when Twitter changed its name to X and the CEO changed the company's direction. X is being changed to an "everything" platform, while Bluesky will continue to be more like Twitter (but with differences). Add to that, Bluesky is open source, meaning you can tweak it. More on that later...

Is anyone else bored with these answers? I am. Let's get into the fun stuff.

Sign up by clicking here. It's super easy and only takes a few minutes. You can also download the app for iPhone or Android, so you can use it on your phone. Once you do that, you'll be able to navigate to settings:

As you can see, you have options to change quite a few things:

• Add another account
• Account
  
• Privacy and security
• Moderation
• Content and media
• Appearance
• Accessibility
• Languages

You also have the ever-needed Help and About sections.

• Add another account - This allows you to have another handle (username) with a different email address.
• Account - If you click this one, you can change your password, birthday, etc.
• Privacy and security - You can enable two-factor authentication (recommended), and prevent users of the app from seeing you when they're logged out. Because it's an open-source platform, other apps may still be able to see your profile. Just click it and do some reading/exploring.
• Moderation - This option is rather vast, so I suggest checking it out and getting into the nitty gritty, but on a basic level, you can hide nudity (artistic--other nudity isn't allowed), block, or select keywords to unsee.
• Content and media - Manage saved feeds (more in a minute), allow auto-play for other apps, and get down in the nuts and bolts of your follow feed. This app lets you create your own experience, so learning how to use all these things can only help you.
• Appearance - Choose your color mode, size of the text (yay!), theme (dark/light), and font here.
• Accessibility - Alt texts requirements. This is for folks who use a reading app for sites. It tells them what the image is as a descriptor.
• Languages - You can choose from a bajillion languages for your feed, the app, and your content.

When you click your profile from the menu on the left:

 You'll see these options:

That partially hidden one is Lists.

This is your stuff. Your posts, replies, media, etc. HOWEVER, this is where you can have some fun! If you click on Feeds, you'll see only posts from the feeds (#) you've chosen. If you'd like to add Feeds to this section, click Feeds in the menu on the left and make some choices. Just click the + icon at the left of the feed to add it to your list. Very cool, right?

Let's go a little deeper.

If I click on the Artists: Trending feed, this is the first post:

and if I click on that, I get this:

It tells you exactly how to join and participate in that feed. There's a TON more information on that page, so scroll down and read!

Now, let's go into how you start your own kind of community. If you click on Starter Pack, it allows you to either have one begun for you or for you to create one yourself. You name it, add stuff, and invite people.

Last, but certainly not least, you can make yourself Lists. This is a throwback from Twitter, and I had a ton of lists there so I could only see the people I wanted to see. To add someone to a list, first create a new list by clicking Lists on the menu on the left, then click the three dots on the person's profile page who you'd like to add, select add to Lists, and then choose which list you'd like them on.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

There are a ton of things you can do with Bluesky as a developer, but most people I know just want to see what they want to see, so this quicky walked you through that. You can add apps on the platform to do other things, and if you're into that, by all means... This is just what I could reasonably fit into a single blog post. :)

I hope this post helps you get the most out of your Bluesky experience and that you enjoyed the read! :D

Also, if you'd like to connect on Bluesky, I'm here.

That's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Look! I'm back again.

Hello, good people of the blogosphere! Welcome. I'm back, it's a Friday, and the weekend is looming. Today, I'm just gonna talk about whatever, and next week, I'm gonna work on a schedule for all the writerly advice. There are so many new things out there to get in on, and so much that's gone away, I really need to do a bit of a deep dive before I start talking out my azz.

As I said on Wednesday, I'm trying to get back in the habit of sitting down and writing, so showing up twice this week is my idea of a start. :)

Did any of you know I started a YouTube channel? I may or may not have posted about it here, but I don't "think" I did? I'll have to go look...

I did! Link: http://jomichaels.blogspot.com/2020/08/baking-cooking-and-recipe-submissions.html

Anyway, I plan to start making videos again once I get myself moved. All that should be happening in May-ish. I already have a video schedule I can follow, and on the plus side, y'all will get to see a lot more of my grandchildren! I did a video when my eldest granddaughter was still very young (we made turkey cupcakes), and I just know she'll be down to do some more. I have a lot to teach her. :)

My new kitchen is just as fabulous as the one I have now, with the addition of a butcher block countertop, so bread making should be a lot easier. Granite is kind of a PITA when it comes to bread and pasta because of the cooler temperature of the surface... Blah, blah, blah.

Would you believe the spammers have already started again in the comments section? That's so annoying. I need them to stop. OH! And on the topic of commenters...

That last post I wrote here forever ago saying I was giving up because someone was being an azz? I don't even remember the comment the troll made, so it's not bothering me any longer. Yay. Hopefully, they stay away.

I know I'm all over the place right now, but look, I haven't been here for a while, and I'm not really sure what my focus is today except being here. Period. I'm literally just writing.

Anyway, I'll see you all next week, and I promise I'll have direction! No more rambling.

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Uh... Wow. What's Going on With this Blog?

Long freaking time no see, eh? I'm thinking of doing a little revival here because I need the habit of writing to come back and sit with me again. After 2020, things got a bit crazy for me. If you read my post from that year, you'll know a lot happened, but the blows just kept coming.

• My second-eldest son died.
• My mother died.
• My hubby changed jobs.
• I changed jobs.
• My art exploded (if there's one positive thing about grief...).
• We decided to move this year (after renovations--Lort help us all).
• I got five new pets, and I've lost four of them--the one hitting the hardest was the first one I got. She was the goodest girly and was very special to me.
• I haven't been able to write novels.

All that being said (typed?), I'm trying my darndest to come back. I have my last author conference this coming April (Authors Rock Roanoke), and after that, we move. I'm hoping to get back to some semblance of a routine once the dust settles.

Also! If any of you read Recipe for Redemption by TJ Kelly, a collab with Tia, Kelly, and myself, you'll be excited to know we've officially finished book two and are moving on to the editing stage! Yay! I think our title for book 2 is: Recipe for Redemption 2: Izzy's Story. After we get this one published, we're going on to Frankie. ;) I just have two more recipes to add to book two: Gluten-free Corn Cookies and Corn Cakes. Hey, it's set in Iowa. No shade. It will, however, have a hushpuppy recipe in it that's TO. DIE. FOR. So freaking yum.

I'm hoping to have copies at Roanoke, so if you're into RfR and would like some free recipe cards (and maybe the second book?), tickets for the event are only $5, and you can get them at the link above.

I have to say, I'm so grateful for those two ladies. We've continued our tradition of a yearly trip together after 2020, and those have given me something to look forward to while helping me hold on to the small thread of sanity I have left.

Did I say sanity? Not even sure what that means any longer, but here we are!

Moving on...

I'm still editing and formatting, and one of my clients is releasing the last in a series soon, so I'll be back with details once that happens.

Hold out hope I can keep going with the blog. If I can, it'll mean new books are coming soon. I have a number of them mostly written, so it shouldn't be long before they're done. Book three in my Guerrilla Grannies series, and book two in the Angels and Vampires series. Again, both are nearly done, but when I had things start to go south, they really took me off my path. I also have a cult book I plan to release sometime this year. It's also about two chapters from conclusion but has no definitive cover yet, BUT the handbook has a loose cover, and I'll show it below. I had a difficult time finding the motivation to finish any of these things. Seeing as I'm here now, it's a positive thing. Cross your fingers!

I have to include some of the pretty things in this post for you all to look at, so here you go!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Cover Competition - The Adventures of Tara and Pep Pep Book Four: Learning About 911

Good morning and happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I have a request coming to you all from the very sweet Wanda L. Roberts. Grab your coffee or tea and let's get going!

I'm sure you've all heard of AllAuthor by now, and I'm sure you know they do a cover of the month competition.

Wanda's children's book, The Adventures of Tara and Pep Pep Book Four: Learning About 911, was chosen for this month's contest, and she's asking you all to pop on over and give her a vote, if you don't mind. Links and such you need to complete this are next, so keep scrolling!

Click here to vote for this cute cover.

You'll need to log in, but you can do so either with your Facebook credentials or with your AllAuthor account (or create an AllAuthor account).

Here's a snapshot of the book cover you'll be voting for:

Isn't that cute?

If you'd like to buy the book, you can find it on Amazon here. 

$2.99 for Kindle and $9.99 for paperback.

Blurb: The Adventures of Tara and Pep Pep is an adorable book series that is sure to bring out international smiling faces everywhere. The fun educational activities included in each book encourage your child to learn numbers, colors, and words as well as compassion towards rescue dogs.

These beautiful stories of Toby, his dad, and Tara and Pep Pep are sure to be adored by children, and warm any mother's heart! Come along with Tara and Pep Pep while they visit the 911 emergency facilities and learn from Mid Molly Mobile how to handle a emergency!

Thank you all so much!

That's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

6 Routine and Productivity Tips

Happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! I hope you're all enjoying your new year thus far. Today, I'm talking about how to stick to your routine and be productive no matter what you're doing. I won't bore you with a long introduction up here, so grab your coffee or tea, and let's dive on in!

As you all may know, when the pandemic hit, my characters ran from Covid like the bulls in the streets of Pamplona, abandoning me to the woes and worries of the world with nothing to distract me and the very real possibility of getting trampled by depression. It was touch and go there for a minute, but I managed, through the power of flour, to pull myself out of the trenches and keep forging ahead. I created my baking channel and companion cookbook.

My biggest assets have always been my ability to schedule myself for maximum productivity and form routines to keep myself focused. I changed gears so fast I'm surprised my transmission didn't fall out, but here we are, nearly a year later, and I'm still going strong. Below, I'll share a few of my most helpful tips for achieving something you wish to do.

1. Take the time to learn everything you can about the thing you're trying to do. Whether that's using a video camera, editing reels, or proofing dough, find out the how and the why. You'll be better prepared when you get to the action stage of this list.
2. Use a calendar and be realistic. Don't set yourself unobtainable goals a year in the future. Start now (or as soon as humanly possible) and start small. There's no need to go crazy. 100 words every day for a year is 36,500 words. Things add up. Pick a date and just start!
   
3. Plan ahead. Grab yourself a day planner with the hours of each day outlined (mine was $20 at Michael's). Spend an hour each Sunday planning your week. If that's not realistic, loosely outline targets you want to hit then segment and figure out how many hours you need to use to achieve them. Find those hours. For my YouTube channel, I plan a whole three months ahead, and I know exactly when I need to start taping recipes for the next quarter to get them all done in time. Then, I break that down by days then by hours (photo below). Usually, I have lunch breaks planned out, too, but I've been horribly lacking in that area lately, choosing to eat what I film instead. :)
   
4. Stick to your planned routine as though your very life depended on it. Don't let anything get in the way. If you have other obligations, schedule around them to begin with. If something pops up that you can't avoid, reschedule your action item right away. Don't put things off with the intention to "get to them" later and not making a firm plan to do so. You'll never get to them.
   
5. Tell people what you're doing, and ask them not to disturb you during that time. Turn off all your ringers if you need to, and step away from the computer if you can. If not, disable your internet while you write or film or hammer or knit, whatever you're doing. Be as protective of your time as a mama bear is with her cubs. People interrupt? Maul their asses. You now have permission. :) Aren't I generous? haha
6. Be a finisher. If it matters to you, you'll find a way, and if not, you'll find an excuse. Close your eyes, dive in, and give it everything you've got. Even if nothing comes of it, you gave it your all, and that makes you a winner every time. Celebrate those successes of finishing. Even if it's only forty-five minutes all to yourself (if you get this reference, you're now my bestie-haha! I'm totally kidding, Tia. You'll always be my bestie!).
   

Above all, don't be hard on yourself. Enjoy whatever it is you're doing, because if you don't enjoy it, what's the point? You don't have to be what everyone else considers perfect. Be your own version of greatness. Yours is the only opinion that matters.

I hope you all got something out of this and forge ahead with new energy in this year of 2021. Our future is what we make it. Let's make it great.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Life - Now and Then

Happy Thursday, y'all!

What's everyone been up to?

Today, I'm musing. Thinking about the past, the present, and the future.

It's strange to me to think that we'll eventually refer to time as before COVID and after. I'll admit, I was a bit worried there in the beginning, before the studies of people on my particular brand of medication were done. Having an immune system that acts like the Hulk on steroids is no joke. Many of the folks in the group I'm in (specifically for this medication) have gotten the 'Rona and did just fine. Seeing as I'm relatively healthy otherwise, I relaxed a little when I read those posts and the studies that came out of the first group of deaths and survivals (from actual doctors, not the news).

Yes, I still wear my mask everywhere, but I was a shut in before all this mess. Not too much has changed with that. But so many things have changed with me as a person...

Do you find that to be true? Did you experience any kind of growth during this quarantine and everything that happened because of it? I'll turn comments back on for this post so I can hear from y'all. Spammers have been out of control or I would've done it sooner. Nothing like waking up to fifty notifications about comments that are all BS. *eye roll*

I was struggling with a lot of things: loss of my alone time, loss of motivation, loss of concentration... I could go on and on. But sharing my cooking has really helped me pull myself back together. Added bonus: I GOT A NEW PLANNER with hourly slots. I can't even tell you how much these things help me. I'm back in the groove so much more now than I was before.

Of course, there are still adjustments to be made. My kiddo is home most of the time now, so I still need to plan around that. She has no issue barging in on me while I'm working. Haha. It is what it is for now, but I need to get back to writing. There's no way to explain to anyone what interruptions do to a writer's train of thought unless that person is also a writer. I need silence and a strict schedule.

Know what writers also need, I've found? A guarantee that what we're doing won't be yanked out from under us suddenly. When we commit to a book, to putting words on the page, we need to feel like it'll be complete at some point or we lose all desire to sit down and work at it.

At least, that's me. If I think that tomorrow will be the end of my writing career, I start to wonder why I'd even bother with another book or why I'd worry about finishing what I'm working on. What's the point?

Thankfully, I've still been working on the second installment of Recipe for Redemption with Tia and Kelly. This one is Izzy's story, and it's shaping up to be one helluva novel. With that will come an all new set of recipes (that I get to create) for the book.

How fun is that?

Anyway, I do wonder when, or if, things will return to some semblance of what they were before. I'm thinking things will change in ways we can't even fathom yet, but I also look forward to a future where there's not a big question mark hanging over everyone's heads.

Things that happened in my life during quarantine: EVERYTHING I WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO GOT CANCELLED. A new job and total move to a different state (for me) threatened. Hubby lost his job and had to find a new one. Everyone was home all the time. Kiddo struggled with her social life from being housebound. Finances went tits up along with the old job, and we had to do some major adjusting quickly. I gained the COVID-20 around my middle. My arthritis finally hit a breaking point, and even moving started causing pain. I started a new medication for my MS that has weird side effects. SO MUCH. Ugh.

But all that aside, I've learned a lot, too. I've taken on deep introspection, and I've started to realize my emotional triggers more deeply than I did before. For that, I'm grateful. I now know why I burst into tears after a particularly intense workout and why I get so damned upset when things change without advance notice. It's taken a lot, but I'm getting there. 

How about y'all?

As you all know, I also started a cooking channel over on YouTube. Feel free to join me!

Now I just feel like I'm rambling, so I'll head on out of here. I hope everyone has an amazing week ahead.

Until next time, WRITE ON.

Jo