In a recent chatroom, someone asked if there was any hope left for struggling writers with so many other writers taking shortcuts with AI. My response was that if fear of AI knocks you off your game, maybe you aren’t playing the right game.
Many of us live in fear that we aren’t being productive with our writing. We aren’t publishing enough, marketing enough, or selling enough. There are plenty of other ways to make money in this world, and writing is not at the forefront of those opportunities.
Writing is a love dance with words.
If you start with a story to tell, it’s still about dancing with words.
If you have strong journalism skills, it’s still about dancing with words.
If you need to make money to prove you are a writer, it’s still about dancing with words.
For a moment, toss the concept of being professional, making money, or becoming well known.
When writing feels inherent…
When writing gives you solace…
When writing transports you to a better place…
When writing allows you to give yourself grace and not compete…
When writing isn’t about legacy, career, or proving a point…
That’s loving yourself. That’s appreciating yourself. That’s self-love that we do so little of today. Tune the world out and write for no good purpose other than to enjoy it. Maybe you have a plan for it, like working on a novel, or maybe you don’t. Let the moment be about being good to yourself for no other reason than to make yourself happy.
I think there are two separate ideas here: Making money as a writer, and having creative satisfaction as a writer.
Sometimes those two things meet; often they don’t.
I and many of my writing friends make the bulk of our livings writing stuff that isn’t particularly fun or personal: ghostwritten material; white papers; sponsored material for publications.
I write and sell plenty of personal stuff too, like essays and fiction. But it doesn’t pay nearly as well as the other stuff.
Personally, I think there is a place for using AI in all types of writing. The evolving question is where that place is. I know writers who use AI for brainstorming and to write first drafts that they use as a base for further revisions, for both money work and creative work.
All the surveys I see show that AI use in growing among professional writers.
To me, the main thing is run your own race based on what’s important to you, rather than on what others think or what you think you should be accomplishing.