And Tell Her About the Shape I’m In
Note: I wrote the original post on Substack, so I put the link above in case you already subscribe to that platform.
OK, the title of this piece from “Goin’ Down Slow”1 reflects the latest chapter of what might be called The Writing Blues According to Drew.
No advice seeking here; no deep-rooted confession about the trials & tribulations of a fiction author committed to human-generated writing only in the days of AI; no sign-up for a special deal on such-and-such a story or novel.
No doubt a more accurate title for this article would’ve been “Wtf Am I Going to Do Now?” But I’ve always liked Duane Allman’s version of “Goin’ Down Slow” by St. Louis Jimmy Oden & figured it’s an accurate description of my current situation.
Backstory
I spend the lion’s share of my writing time composing fiction (two Oregon Companion novels published; a few short stories here on Substack; a third novel nearly completed). I dabble on Substack, Medium, & tuhat as a way of exploring forums for sharing, learning, & supporting others.
Some time ago, I followed the advice of another writer on Substack to turn off Pangram on a global setting since I want nothing whatsoever to do with it. (Yeah, I’m a self-described troglodyte when it comes to AI, but I’m not into witch hunting, trust me.)
But come to find out…apparently such a global setting isn’t possible.
Dilemma
This morning, I read an article by Anna Seirian that set me back on my figurative feet:
Goin’ Forward
So now what do I do?
- Leave things as they stand?
- Scrounge around looking for that global no-scan setting to change again just in case?
- Disable detection for each article I write?
- Allow detection for each article I write?
- Pick up an electric guitar & forget about writing fiction? (OK, not an option on multiple levels.)
In the meantime, I’m cleaning up this article while listening to Duane Allman’s outrageous guitar playing.
P.S. Wouldn’t you know? I picked option #3 above just to see what that would do, but lo & behold, Substack put me in a loop. Whenever I try to re-enable AI detection, nothing happens. Maybe the die has been cast.
