On AI

 As a new, self-published author I feel it is prerequisite that I share my opinion on AI. No, I did not use AI in creating this book. That includes brainstorming, outlining, writing, and editing. I did use a popular editing software for one of my self editing passes, but I only used the legacy tools like sentence length and adverb finder. (And when I played MadLibs as a kid, adverbs were my second favorite part of speech, so I couldn’t get rid of all of them!) I did have Microsoft Word’s AI tool read my manuscript out loud to check for flow, but I wouldn’t want anyone else to hear that evenly-spread, artificial cheer.

There are many reasons I have stayed away from AI, but there are three questions I ask myself when things get hard.

1. If someone I really looked up to reached out to me via email, would I use AI to respond? No. I would probably stress unnecessarily over the response, and would go through rewrites and have my wife double check everything before I sent it, but I would be essentially introducing myself. I wouldn’t want anyone to do that but me. This book is my introduction to the world.
   
2. Would I use AI to write a Best Man’s Speech or a Funeral Eulogy? No. Now I am introducing a person I care about to the audience. Not just the facts of the person’s life, also the ways they influenced me. I have grown to care about these characters. Let me introduce them to you.
   
3. Finally, let’s picture the near impossible scenario that one day Brandon Sanderson, Susan Collins, or even the late-great Norton Juster offered to ghost write a novel in my series. It would probably be good, maybe even better than what I will create, but it’s mine, and I want to tell it myself.

On top of that, I enjoy working with other creative people. I am lucky to be close to artists and editors. They not only produce amazing things that work with my vision, but they inspire and encourage me to keep writing and improving.