Creativity Reflections on The Year Past and The Year Ahead
Evaluating the Current State of AI and Future Plans
At the beginning of 2024, I pivoted this newsletter to concentrate on the challenges facing creative writers, especially those just starting their writing careers, such as myself. These include the frustration of finding their unique writing voice or style, the writing process that works best for them, and overcoming (or trying to) resistance.
One of my greatest personal blockers has been the almost complete lack of support from my nearest and dearest. Not only lacking but often actively opposing spending any time writing at all. The attitude is that if it doesn’t produce any income, it wastes time and is worthless. It’s not been easy. But I keep plugging away, improving the craft, and writing whenever possible.
I’ve been AI-positive since the release of ChatGPT at the end of November 2022. I’ve been dabbling with this and other tools through 2023 and into 2024. But it has only been over the last few months that my interest in the space and the impact of AI on creativity and creative writing, in particular, has begun to take over the main narrative of the newsletter.
I have always seen AI as a positive for creatives, a potentially brilliant writing assistant, and a welcome brainstorming companion. While I’m not the only writer with this attitude, many refuse to engage with this technology, which worries me.
The AI Revolution Gathers Pace
I'm starting to get concerned about creatives who are ignoring what is, in fact, the AI revolution. Ignoring it is not the smart way to go. The advances are moving so fast that it can feel overwhelming. It would be overwhelming if I were just interested in following Generative AI and studying all the different releases, new functions, features, and extensions.
There have been so many, especially in the last weeks since the beginning of December. Fortunately, I'm more concerned with using these AI tools for creative writing, a manageable subset.
Even the most well-known bloggers, professionals, and experts, such as Ethan Mollick. His most recent subset post popped into my Substack this morning, but it is already outdated. He was writing lists of the latest models but had already been left behind. Gemini 2.0 was released on December 11 but hasn’t been publicly released. So, I suppose it’s fair he only mentions Gemini 1.5 in his article.
AI Can’t Be Ignored
We, as creatives, must use these tools; otherwise, we will be left behind. You can be a purist and say, “No, I just write. I write for the pleasure of it. When I write, I follow the muse. I don't need AI.” But that's not the point. Sure, if you don't want to use AI for the actual creative process, that's fine, but there are so many other aspects of writing where GenAI can help you in significant ways.
Think about publicity and marketing, two of the areas most writers detest. You can use them for blurbs, book descriptions, and tag lines. More recently, with the release of text-to-video tools like Sora, book trailers will become much easier to produce and slicker.
Our imagination cannot keep up with current functionality, let alone what is just over the horizon.
Fiction Writing is Hard
My example: Here we are at the start of the holidays. Yesterday was my last day at my day job, and, as I dictated this, it was Friday, December 20. I have until January 2 free except for family commitments, Christmas, and the New Year. So yeah, I’m going to enjoy them to the max. But I need to take this time to take a step back and take a good, hard look at where I want to be at the same time next year.
This is not a resolution, but I plan to be busy getting back into my first fiction book. I need to make progress on it now. I've written about this several times over the last months, but my main problem is that I have a reasonably good beginning and a pretty good idea of how the story will end. I'm even dabbling with the idea of turning it into the first of a series, but far too early days yet; one step at a time.
But the middle part, the middle build hell, is where I'm stuck. It could well be that I'm not imaginative, but I know that's not the case. This is one example of where I will be using the latest generations of AI to help me push through this barrier. I’ll be sharing all of the trials and tribulations as 2025 progresses.
Personal Changes for 2025
The problem was that my day job thoroughly drained my creative energy. This situation became more impactful over the last two or three months, so finding the energy to sit down and write has been almost impossible. This newsletter was all I could manage.
This year, 2024, I've been working four days a week. From the beginning of January 2025, this commitment will be reduced to three days a week. Of course, this will have a financial impact unless I can find a way to monetize the two days a week I have available for other things.
I could try to get a second job, something small and not requiring a great deal of imagination. They're all low-paid, but okay, money is money, after all. It could be done. At my age, 64, if you're interested, it would be difficult; employers aren’t interested, especially if you can't commit to a full week or at least the larger part of the week. So, what's a writer to do?
I prefer to supplement my income with my writing, which I enjoy. I have a few ideas.
2025 Planning
Relying on the book to be finished, published, and selling well is a non-starter. Of course, I’ll finish and publish it, but that long-term goal won’t produce any income in the short term, most likely never.
I got thinking about what I'm doing here, writing on Substack. The Everyday Solopreneur has passed through several phases over the last two years since I started this Substack in February 2023, but it hasn’t been my intention to monetize it. I write these weekly newsletters for the pleasure of writing and learning how to improve my writing skills.
But to monetize blogging, newsletters, and other forms of content, a writer has to offer something of value that consumers are willing to pay for. This requires a commitment to providing regular updates and valuable insights. I think I can make an impact in the space of AI and its implications for creative writing.
AI Assistance, A Must-Have in 2025
Some wonderful podcasts and Substacks about AI present valuable insights, but they are pretty disjointed. A little bit here, a little bit there, never (s far) in one place. You have to look around. Ethan Mollick, who I've mentioned before, One Useful Thing Substack, The Artificial Intelligence Show podcast, Marketing Against the Grain YouTube channel, and The Creative Penn podcast.
These resources are all good, but they don’t cut it when you need help keeping up to date with the latest possibilities that AI gives us as creative writers. What creatives either can't or often don't want to do is figure out from the current crop of AI offerings which are the best for specific creative tasks.
More often than not, there are several bests that you prefer to use depending on your style and budget. Creatives need to know which AI tools can help and assist with different aspects of writing and publishing. If you're following a self-publishing career, even if you're traditionally published nowadays, you still need to do your marketing to a great extent.
Gone are the days when you wrote your manuscript, submitted it, got a nice, fat advance, and went on with the next project, leaving the publisher, the traditional publisher. Side note: I heard Kevin Tomlinson and the team on the Writers Ink podcast coin the term Legacy Publishing, which I think is becoming more and more accurate as time passes. Trad Publishers used to take care of everything. The writer wrote, and after several drafts, the writer submitted it, and that was it.
Nowadays, even Traditionally Published authors need to be marketing savvy. They are largely responsible for marketing and publicity and need to build their community and audience. This is only one area where generative AI tools can help. Of course, there are aspects that AI will never replace: in-person events, such as attending conferences and networking with other writers and creatives.
Still Working It Out
I’m not completely sure of the creative direction I will take next year. But a few things are certain already. It’s just the details that I have to get right in my head first.
Next week’s post will be the last of the year, the traditional time to discuss New Year’s resolutions, lifestyle changes, etc. Although, in reality, it’ll be just another day, there is something meaningful about the change of the year: a chance to reflect and start anew.
Far be it from me to buck tradition, then. I’ll be laying out my plans in (a bit) more detail, including the next direction for this newsletter, creative plans, and how I’ll tackle those nasty challenges mentioned in the intro to this post. This post, however, has gone on more than long enough.
Final Thoughts
So, how has your year been? Have you met all or most of your goals? I know I haven’t, but I refuse to feel down or disappointed.
While my sometimes overly optimistic plans for 2024 didn’t succeed, I have learned much about myself, the craft, and AI. Overall, I feel that it’s been a successful year, only not with the disciplines I’d been targeting back in January.
Now, I have to stop writing. I’ve got a lot to do to prepare for the holidays. Talk next week. Until then, have a lovely week.