I’ve always loved to read, and it was magnified in High School, when my auntie would make us check out no less than two books from the local library every two weeks, or however long we had before we had to return them.
And she wasn’t done there.
She also brought ALDI bags to fill with books, checking out tens of books at a time.
We were the only kids who looked like we had just gone grocery shopping as we came out of the library.
This is why I will always be an advocate for reading. In the words of Malcolm X:
“My alma mater was books, a good library…. I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.”
Which is why I teamed up for an amazing challenge.
The 1 Million Reading Black Books Summer Reading Club aims to encourage a million Black people to read at least one book this summer!
Joining is easy.
Pledge to read and finish reading a book by a Black author by the end of the summer.
It’s been a minute since I’ve talked about publishing on this blog. Mostly, I was just tired of giving advice. Still am.
Most of the work is doing the thing. Failing at it. Succeeding at it, and failing again until you find your groove.
Buttttt… our latest viral sensations have brought me out of hiding.
Enter AI and Dr. Cheyenne Bryant
These seem like unrelated, separate topics, but stay with me.
Lately, I’ve been noticing tons of creators with social media captions that use the same “It’s not x, it’s y” ChatGPT cadence, including authors.
Why are people who write books using AI to write their social captions? Isn’t being creative like, our literal job?
The “it’s not x, it’s y” cadence sounds like: “It’s not just a meal, it’s an experience.”
The words are also structured a certain way, and it is noticeable for those who know what to look for.
For me, it’s mostly noticeable when someone drastically changes how they write. Since I’m a poet, I compare it to suddenly sounding like a poetic professor. You’ve once been an emperor of typos, and now the words flow neatly on top of one another.
The phrases are very well-written, too well-written for a person who has never written in such a way.
It seems to mimic how professional writers write, except now everyone is doing it.
Suddenly, everyone’s Insta captions and Facebook posts are grammatically correct, inspirational, and profoundly poetic.
It is also profoundly fake.
While it might read pretty, it waters down the writer’s authentic voice.
I’d be remiss not to mention that this is not everyone. There are some fantastic, extraordinary writers out there, and for the record, AI is mimicking the genius of the real brain.
The most tell-tale sign is whether I can sense your personality in your writing, or if instead you just sound like an English teacher when you are not one.
The twist in all of this is that typos will become the new normal. They will signal that the person who wrote the piece is a human who makes mistakes and uses their own mind.
You Sound Just Like Everybody Else
What should be most disturbing is that using chat to write will have you sounding like everyone else in the same way that all those AI flyers look the same.
These flyers are always way too cluttered. There is too much information on them, and they end up drawing attention away from the core message, which is drowned out by so many colors and images.
This leads me to question if people are even trying to make changes to the prompts, templates, or whatever they are using.
As a reminder, Canva still exists and has some great free and paid templates from real graphic artists. For my poetry contest, I hired someone on Fiverr to handle the initial design, then paid for the source file. The source file allows me to go in and edit it into as many versions as I want without paying for them. So far, I have turned two graphics into seven to promote my sponsors and judges. It was the best $20 I’d ever spent.
Ya’ll are watering down your voice and image.
I’ve also been seeing a ton of new self-published books with AI/ChatGPT-generated book covers. I cannot emphasize how strongly I recommend not doing this.
You are likely damaging your author brand and marketing strategy before they even begin.
And this isn’t just my opinion. It’s what readers are saying.
Additionally, I have been monitoring the bookish community on Threads, and many readers say they don’t trust books with AI-generated covers.
If your book cover is AI-generated, it’s hard not to wonder if your book was written by ChatGPT, Gemini, or any other artificial intelligence software.
It’s hard not to wonder if you’ve put the hard work in to write or if the computer has done the writing for you.
Consequently, even if you did write the book, it’s challenging for readers to see you as an authentic voice.
The book cover is your first impression. Lose readers there, and they are not reading your book.
Speaking of authenticity, enter Dr. Cheyenne Bryant, the woman currently under fire for the legitimacy of her doctorate and the location of her dissertation.
Dr. Bryant also just published a book that people are saying sounds like it was written by AI.
With twelve 1-2-star Amazon reviews, it is littered with claims of fraud stemming from her latest allegations that she is not a real therapist or psychologist.
Susan Branch is in a different kind of prison. She is a prisoner of her husband’s illnesses. From broken bones, surgeries, rashes, and medications she sometimes steals from her job as a medical clerk of a podiatrist, Susan is forced to take care of her ailing husband. John is diagnosed with Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, a complicated blood disorder, and for Susan, “In sickness and in health” takes on a literal meaning.
“Medications to give, wounds to clean, bed pans to empty, and food to serve.” (pg. 20) Taking care of John has become Susan’s life, going to work her only reprieve before returning to a home where she is locked inside the unsanitary cell of her and John’s bedroom.
As the story unfolds, John begins to feel less like a husband and more like a helpless child trapped in a man’s body. Susan reads to him until her voice cracks, feeds him baby food, hums lullabies meant to soothe infants, and speaks to him like a mother coaxing a toddler to behave, calling him a ‘good boy.’
John pouts, sulks, and whines when things don’t go his way, and Susan seems to shrink a little more each day, her life orbiting entirely around John’s frailty. She is no longer a wife, not even quite a woman anymore, but a nurse, a mother, a prisoner in her own home.
My version of John and Susan using Chatgpt Sora, lol.
As the story progresses, we learn more about John Branch’s history, his upbringing, and his perspective on life. Readers gain insight into how John Branche’s response to the trauma of his childhood has influenced his adult decisions. When I read this story years ago, I said he was retarded. However, this progeny of old money is not retarded at all. John is quite the mastermind and narcissist with a sophisticated way of manipulating those around him. John does not believe his actions are wrong. He thinks we are all guided by our natural instincts. Speaking of nature, the author plays well with irony and karma.
This story is well-written and fleshed out. The more you read, the more is revealed. Just when you think you’ve figured it out, there are more layers of the onion to peel off. The author keeps you on your toes, and the more I read, the more I found myself imagining watching an episode of American Horror Story.
Psychological fiction might just be my new favorite genre. I love twists and things that make me go “Whaatt??”
There are parts of the story where I felt sorry for Susan, and parts when I didn’t. Is she a prisoner, or is she also sick? Or, as John would say, are we all just a little sick?
“Most of us hide it so deep within that we can convince ourselves it doesn’t exist, while it gestates like a mutant embryo. But you can detect it in everyone. You can sniff it out. You can see it in people’s eyes when they think no one is watching them. There are tells—religion, porn addiction, smoking, or something as innocent as nail biting. Anything to distract themselves from the beast slumbering inside.”
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I believe reading to be so powerful that it has the capacity to make one wise regardless of whose institution of higher learning the person has or has not attended. In the world of books, it makes no difference whether they completed grade school, high school, or learned to read later in life. That is the capability of the human mind. It is reprogrammable for excellence. The person who spends more time reading than engaging in frivolous activities can become a person of intellect of the highest degree despite their circumstances. Of this, I am sure.
My experience with reading is that it has an unparalleled ability to jolt the mind into action, turning readers into superheroes capable of phonemic awareness, visual and auditory processes, comprehension, and fluency. Nothing would make me happier for this generation than for them to sit down with a book and taste the deliciousness of its knowledge on their tongues. Magic exists in the world of expanded vocabularies, the ability to think critically, analyze, and solve problems. With just one flavorful novel, they, too, can be hooked on the limitless potential of being a well-read person.
Many people ask me how I manage doing so many things. First, you should know I don’t have a 9-5 and no small children to look out for, so this gives me more flexibility with my day. Here are some things I do daily to increase productivity.
I Walk Daily
One of the first things I do in the morning after prayer and coffee is walk a mile. Georgia is a hilly place and there’s this big hill around my house that will have you dying chile, but is a great way to get the blood pumping. If I don’t walk around the house, me and hubs go to the park and do two rounds around the area.
If I feel like doing more, I come back and hit the treadmill or the AB machine. You might wonder what this has to do with anything.
Physical activity helps to reduce anxiety, depression, and negative moods by improving self-esteem and cognitive function.The way I feel after a good workout and all the creativity flowing through me is thrilling. I feel energetic and happier than sluggish and irritated. It doesn’t have to be over the top. Thirty minutes a few times a week consistently can work wonders. You’ll find you have more mental clarity and creativity after working out.
I Don’t Watch Much TV
As much as I love my black movies and go around quoting them, the truth is I don’t actually watch a lot of TV during the day. Most of my TV watching is in the evenings and on the weekends. During the day, I’m working. If I finish early, I read or listen to a podcast or I’ll have an inspirational YouTube video playing in the background. I can listen to Maya Angelou interviews all day.
I Set Deadlines
This is important for me because I forget a lot. I set dates for important stuff I need to get done. I mark these dates on a calendar and it has to be a literal, physical calendar and not my phone because again, I’ll forget. Setting deadlines also helps me to be more accountable for what I said I would do.
Sleep
I sleep more now than I did before and it has made a tremendous difference. I don’t necessarily go to bed super early, but I take naps if I am feeling tired during the day. Yesterday, I got a lot of good rest because I went to bed earlier than usual. Slept for a few hours, woke up to eat and went back to bed. It was great. When we sleep, our brain reorganizes and recharges itself, and removes toxic waste byproducts which have accumulated throughout the day. This shows that sleeping can clear the brain and help maintain its normal functioning. If you are not getting enough sleep, it’s like a computer whose battery is low, it will eventually shut down. This means this “No days off, no sleep” grind culture is actually not very healthy.
Schedule Blog Posts
Far as keeping this blog updated is concerned, a lot of the posts ya’ll read I’ve scheduled to go live days in advance. First, I write a draft. When I come back to finish it I set a time I want it to publish. I also have the WordPress app on my phone so I can share the post on Twitter and respond to comments on the go.
Other things that help me is that I drink a lot of water and I don’t smoke or drink hard liquor. (I do drink wine.)
The PBS Blog 