Time solves most things.

And what time can't solve, you have to solve yourself--Haruki Murakami

I am a little stuck on my third book. Luckily, I am starting to climb out of looping rewrites that better reflect my intention. Nobody tells you how much cultivation the first two will take from your life. Although on a positive note — I received this little gem in the mail the other day. Working with the team in Japan was a dream. I am not here to call people out but sweet fancy Moses we can all learn from them…

Research is a big part of my work week and non-fiction and its sirens of bibliography are relentless. The good news is I have discovered a new ritual. Reading while waiting for gigantic datasets to run on my computer.

Writing is easy. The problem is the accessibility. Once you gain access to the ideas, the discipline, and the time — boom — easy peasy.

I learned a trick in college while accompanying my friend to his triathlons. I admired his hard work and awe inspiring physical fitness. He shared a secret about how to get started in triathlon. He said — just do one. So I did. Running marathons, completing 100 + mile bike races and endurance races were the same secret sauce. Simply do the hard work, and show up.

The hard part for writing is locating your door to accessibility. My door tends to open between 4 and 4:30 in the morning. I make a cup of coffee, either eat something light while waiting for the coffee to “engage” or pack something to eat on the trail.

Early mornings are generous with their time and attention. I have almost 2 hours before my husband is up and I can get a lot of work in motion before I head out with my dog Birdie.

On most days I am home in about 2 hours followed by a shower and breakfast. On the trail I listen to podcasts. Spoken word keeps me in touch with what is going on around me — although I keep a pretty saucy playlist on hand for those days when a cattle prod would be more appropriate, but not on hand.

Otherppl with Brad Listi has been on rotation since sometime in the past 10 years or so. Today was stellar. In addition to reading anything by Haruki Murakami, I am a huge Karl Ove Knausgaard fan. Although learning how someone else tackles a creative endeavor is of limited value to developing what you specifically require— it can be wildly informative and instructional.

The idea of thinking about the rituals I have in place to begin my writing day was a big one. Every writer I enjoy has something. Haruki is a runner.

In the age of curation AI morphing into content AI we need to be vigilant. Vigilant if our goals aren’t simply the easiest route to eyeballs or profit. I want to believe or I need to believe that there are enough of us that don’t want canned writing created by algorithms.

The day that writers become obsolete because AI can churn out average drivel to the masses will be the end of culture — and without culture what inspires ideas and vision for the future of humanity?

You heard it here first folks. Not really. I say it all the time. I would never use AI to generate words and then pass them off as my own. I want to read your literary and grammatical tics. Breathe your humanity into what you create. Be bold. Be fearless.

I want to share a talk I watched about what we are missing with AI. The stuff the blathering heads with dollar signs for eyeballs don’t warn us about. Full disclosure—I believe in responsible AI but the regulation has to be in place before the harms escalate. These systems are evolving in ways we can’t predict. Perhaps they shouldn’t be out in the public sphere until we can get ahead of them—maybe it’s too late.