A Matter of Perspective

Another session of NaNoWriMo is coming up. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) takes place every November with several “camps” throughout the year to keep people writing.

I have to say I am rather torn about this year’s main event in November. I want to do it, but I also do not want to do it.

I want to do it because I would really like to get my book done. I don’t want to do it because if I get it done, that means I should probably share it with others and eventually get it published.

“What’s the hold up?” you may be wondering.

Well, let me explain.

If I get it done and pour my blood, sweat and tears into the story and it turns out that nobody likes it, then I will feel like I have failed. That is a very real thing for a lot of writers.

We do struggle with our egos. We want people to like what we write. We want people to read it, to quote it, to buy it. We want to be known.

But being known takes a lot of risk and for those of us with more fragile egos, it takes a lot of bravery. Sometimes more than I have!

Getting published these days is so much easier than it used to be thanks to Amazon and other online publishing tools. In fact, thanks to AI, writing is even easier.

But when I write, I like it to flow from me, not from the Internet. I want my words to be the words that I think, say and feel. Not the words of an inanimate object who may be able to write those words, but will [with hope] never feel them.

I think humans are very lazy when they use these AI machines to write for them. I have done it, but never put my name to it unless I significantly change things. These days, if I don’t have time to write it myself, I sure won’t have time to rewrite something that AI wrote for me!

I guess I am just “old school” when it comes to writing. I have heard many Christian authors say they have used AI to help write their books. I feel like that is cheating. If God gives you the ability to write, why would you not do that?

Anyway, I don’t know if I will be attempting the NaNoWriMo challenge of writing a 50,000 word first draft of a novel in November. If I do decide to do it, you can be sure of two things:

1. I will write it myself.

2. I will keep you updated!