Writing

“Did you know that the secret to the best hot chocolate is to basically just use melted chocolate? With maybe a dash of heavy cream.”

A great hullabaloo arose in Author World over an article recently published by The Atlantic. It blows open the extent to which companies like Meta are using pirated books to train their AI models. LibGen is the pirated books data base and it now houses millions of books

An indie author explains how she uses AI for brainstorming, research, editing, marketing and publishing while keeping creative control. This practical, nuanced guide covers KDP, Draft2Digital and IngramSpark policies, copyright concerns, AI-generated images, fact-checking and the boundaries that keep the human author responsible for the finished work.

For a very long time, I treated writing as a referendum on my worth. Not consciously, perhaps — but emotionally? That was often the system running underneath everything. Lately, though, something has been changing. I’m still ambitious. I still want readers. But I no longer want to build a creative life fuelled entirely by pressure.

Publishing loves a schedule. Stories, inconveniently, are less obedient. I wrote about delayed books, creative burnout, and the guiding principles helping me protect the work, the wonder, and my sanity.

You can write a million words and still not improve. Repetition builds comfort. Deliberate practice builds skill. The difference is what you choose to pay attention to.

Creative work is increasingly public. We share updates, track metrics, and celebrate milestones. But being seen doing the work is not the same as getting better at it. On the difference between performance and practice, and why the deepest growth often happens offstage.