I hesitated to write this post because I’m not sure how it’ll be received. I suppose I could do a video to go along with it so you can hear the tone of my voice and see the expression on my face, but that would take additional time out of my day, and I am hoping to get some writing in. I mean this to be given in a pleasant tone with a smile on my face. You will probably detect some frustration since there is frustration underlying all of this. The bottom line is that I wish I could do more but can’t. Specifically, I wish I could write more books like I used to, but I’m quickly learning I can’t.

Each week is different. Some are easier than others, but something will pop up at some point that will require my attention. For example. Here is my week so far:

I spent Monday with my son at the doctor’s and then helped him fill out paperwork to see if he qualifies for medical assistance since he is now an adult (and therefore no longer on my husband’s health insurance). I spent Tuesday with another son running all over the place to figure out where to get foreign currency converted to US dollars. This is my deaf son who can’t drive. So he couldn’t take himself to these places, which is why I took him. They used to do this at the airport but not anymore. That person referred me to a bank downtown that required an account to do it there. It turned out my bank was able to do it, but by the time I figured that out, we had been out for three hours. He also wants me to help him find a job. Since he can’t hear, he needs help with the interview process because just about every employer refuses to do a text interview or set up an ASL interpreter to interview on FaceTime, or a similar program. He did have a job, but long story short, he blew it. I would be tougher on him except this is the one who has something mentally going on that I am unable to get help for until he lets me get him in for counseling. (Since he’s an adult, I can’t force this unless he is a harm to himself or others.). I believe if we could pinpoint what is happening mentally, then we would could access services to help him. But since he has this idea that a mental issue means he is stupid, he will not work with me on this. We really should not shame people who have mental problems. Anyway, yesterday came, and I spent that with another son taking the 5-mile walk to work off my stress. (That worked. I felt a lot better after that walk.) However, after I came home to sit to write, I got so sick to my stomach that I had to spend an hour in bed. By then, I was too wiped out to write, so I spent time with the TV. Today is Thursday. I might actually get something written today. But first, I thought I’d write this post because I have a lot going on inside my head that needs to be dumped out before I can make it to the creative side of my brain.

So anyway, that has been my week so far. And every day I was supposed to write but didn’t, there’s this voice in the back of my mind saying, “You have failed, Ruth. At one time, you wrote books, and you actually made this a thriving business where you could support your family. Now you would probably be better off taking an outside job.” And maybe I would. I am currently bouncing the idea of doing temporary jobs. Maybe something for the Christmas season. Then I think, “If I do that, who will manage the house? Who will run the errands when they pop up? When will I have time to walk? Will I still have time to cook the meals that will improve my health?” Look, I know people say, “Let the house go dirty. Let the chores go undone.” That will only stress me out more. Maybe you aren’t bothered by dirt and laundry/dishes/trash that gets piled up, but I am. I can’t focus until my home is in order. My mom would be happy since growing up, I was a pretty messy kid.

I think this is why some authors are going to using AI to write books. I think it’s the pressure. Pressure comes in several forms.

Pressure to make money is one of them. The money thing is tangible. It’s something you can actually measure. When you need to pay bills, you need money to do that. I am very fortunate in that my husband works and the kids who are able to are helping, but even then, I sometimes need to dig into my writing income to make up for something that pops up, like a car repair. I’m now 50. My husband is now 52. We are just now realizing that we need to do some investments so we have something for retirement. I try not to get depressed when I think of the time we lost in not doing this sooner. Doing that won’t change anything. But this is the time to get our act together, and I do try to scrape whatever I can from my writing money to put into a retirement account. When people write to me about how they’re on a limited income, I want to say, “You and me both.” I don’t have this waterfall of money coming in. I used to. I won’t lie. It was great. But that all came down to luck and timing. I happened to start publishing books when the Kindle was brand new and it was easy to get noticed. Back then, it was easier to send someone a free book if they wanted it. (And a lot of people want free books.) The thing is, I could use the money from my books. I don’t mean to come off as a snark as I write this, but I have invested time, money, and energy into these books. I did work to make them. I am not using AI in any step of this process. It’s all me. I don’t think it’s selfish of me to ask to be paid for the work I did. I mean, if I were to work at a mall helping Santa, people would understand that I deserve a paycheck. But a lot of writers are asked to give out their work for free as if what they did isn’t deserving of money.

Another pressure authors face is frequency of releases. I know that people mean it as a compliment when they ask, “When is your next book coming out?” I understand that this comes from a place of love. But this still hurts. It takes time to think of the story idea, to write it down, and then to edit it so it’s ready for the world. That process used to take me 4-5 months. Now, with all the stuff I have happening in my personal life, it takes almost a year. Granted, I work on about 3 books at a time, so I think that comes out to 2 books a year. Three is too ambitious at this point. So I go through all of that work on a single book. I publish it, and the next day, there’s the “When is the next book coming out?” question. I can’t speak for other authors, but this stresses me out. I know that stress is my doing. I have tried to place that in the “don’t worry about it” category, but that question continues to linger in the back of my mind once a person asks it. So, like it or not, the question is there. The expectation of me being able to produce the book FAST is there. I have no idea how to deal with it, except to stop writing series. That’s a killer right there since some people won’t read Book 1 until the entire series is done, and at that point, we’re looking at four or five years, given my current pacing.

That leads to two other pressures in the author world.

The more time that goes between one book and another in a series, the lower potential that series has of making good money. That’s a form a pressure in itself. People may forget about the series. People may lose interest in the series. It’s not intentional. It just happens. Then if they get an email from me about a release, they won’t remember my name (or maybe, they have lost interest), and they unsubscribe from my newsletter. I don’t take these things personally. Tastes change. I’m fine with that.

Some people don’t read standalones. Standalones are harder to sell than series. That’s why so many authors do series. It’s a marketing tool. If people get invested in Book 1, chances are good that they’ll go on to Book 2, etc. With a standalone, the book is done, and people figure that’s it. Even if the standalones take place in the same world with the same characters popping up here and there, there is something about the cohesion of the “series” that is more of a pull to some readers. My guess is that the readers who prefer series are fast readers. They probably go through a series in a couple of days. So for them, it’s quick and easy. They don’t realize that writing the book took a lot of time. I was watching a TV series the other day to wind down so I could “de-stress”, and I thought, “I watched four episodes in two hours. I wonder how long each episode actually took to make?” I mean, on my end, it was easy. I only had to sit back and consume the content. But I know it wasn’t quick for the people creating the episodes. I don’t know everything that goes on with creating a TV series, but certainly you have your writers, you have the voice actors, and you have the people who need to do the animation. (The animation is probably done on a computer these days, but I’m sure they have to work with some software to make the cartoon happen). I’m sure there’s also some research and editing that goes on as well. There are a lot of moving parts to create something, no matter what it is.

So why do I say AI will be attractive to some authors?

AI is going to take a lot of the pressure out of creating a book. If you can jot down a story idea–maybe get an outline going–and feed that into an AI program, it can produce something quickly. Then all you have to do is read through the story and edit it. Clean it up. I bet that saves months off the work. Then you can confidently produce stuff fast for readers. People debate whether or not you can tell if something is written by AI. If you are familiar with a certain writer’s style, then yes, I’m sure you can tell if that specific author used AI. But let’s say this is a new author to you. How would you know? Writers have many different styles in their storytelling. There have been a few books that I checked out in the KU library that made me think, “Either this is a brand new writer, a writer whose second language is English, or this was written by AI.” My hunch is that I probably did read an AI book somewhere along the way, but the style could very well be from a brand new author (because writing is typically chunky at that stage), and if someone is writing a book in English without English being their first language, I can see them wording things differently than a native English writer would, too. But there is definitely something “different” about some of the books I’ve come across.

So I get why an author would use AI. AI takes shortcuts. It enables readers to get books faster. It has the potential to earn money since books are getting out there faster. I don’t think most readers care if the book was written by AI as long as they enjoy the story. I realize there will always be some readers who will raise hell over this issue, but I think as a majority, readers don’t care.

If you have an author who you like AND you want that author (not some AI program) to keep writing their books, support them. Buy their books. Don’t ask for free ones. If they have ones that are free, then, by all means, take them. But don’t send them an email about how you love their work but can’t afford books. If you truly value the author, you will buy their books. If you can’t afford to buy books, go to a library or use a subscription service like KU, Kobo Plus, or Everand. There are legitimate ways you can get books without buying them. Review their books. It doesn’t have to be a long review. You can just leave a sentence saying that you enjoyed it. Tell others about their books. If you come across someone who would like the kind of books the author writes, let them know about it. In my experience, readers trust other readers more than they trust authors to tell them about a good book. Writers are biased. Readers are not. If you contact the author, just tell them you enjoyed the book. Do not follow up with a, “When is the next one going to be out?” or “When will you write this particular book?” I can already tell you the answer to these questions. The next book will be out when the writer’s life is settled enough where they can get it done. Also, not all story ideas are ready to write at the moment they are conceived. Some books take time to think through before we can even start writing them. You can’t rush the process (unless you want AI to do it). And the purpose of this segment is to help authors avoid using AI. Get to know them. I don’t know where your author hangs out, but it never hurts to engage with them on some level. You don’t have to discuss their books with them. You can simply get to know them as a person. Start off casual and go from there. It doesn’t have to be deep to establish a connection. We don’t just publish for money. We publish to share our stories with others. Knowing that others are enjoying the books–and knowing WHO these people are–gives us a reason to keep publishing. If we didn’t want this connection, we would just write stories and keep them in a folder. Most of the time, we have no idea where to find you. It’s easier for you to find us.