Thank you for being here!

@Kimberly Stebbins I'll be keeping the interview show going and will just show it on IG and all the free social platforms. Come find me @writertherapysessions or @timothycolombawrites I'm sorry it's been such a challenge! I hope things come together soon and I will keep you in my prayers!

@Zane Dowling thank you Zane for sharing your experience! It was a lot of fun digging in!

We walked through the beaded curtains into a narrow hall. On my right was a tall stack of old text books with a dusty computer from the 90s. On its screen was a post-it note with a smily face drawn on it. "That's Reginald," she said, as she continued walking. I scratched my head unsure whether to ask about Reginald or the bookshelf full of pesticide canisters organized by color. "Uh, so Turk says you'll know my situation." "What situation?" She stopped and grimaced at me. "Care to be more specific? You got a rash or something?" "No," I said. I looked around for listening ears, but then realized I looked stupid. By the look on her face, she agreed. "My daughter found a sort of... rock." She sighed and nodded. "Okay, what was it then?" I said. "It was actually a petrified eyeball. Looks nothing like a rock." "So you know why I'm here then?" "Yeah of course. You all keep going on about what I know. Well, I know all of it. Don't know why you all keep asking if I know." "So you'll help me?" "Yeah, why not. I like the look of ya. But I want you to do something for me first. Been a while since I've seen a real tall man like yourself around here." "What do you want?" I imagined the wild things she might ask me to do. How would this local legend, this mystic force inside this town recruit a man such as myself. Could I handle it? What was I signing up for? She cleared her throat and rubbed her hands together.

@Zane Dowling @Melinda Parry @Jessica Wagner @Melle Miller @Kimberly Stebbins - pardon the tag, but wanted to keep this going, ha! "This is Petunia," she said. The glow revealed her proud smirk. "Petunia says she'd like to get a look at that eyeball." We stared at one another for a moment and then I realized she was asking. I pulled the petrified eyeball from my pocket, which felt like a dried peach pit in my hand, and held it out. She withdrew in disgust. "Gross. Give it there, right on top. She want's it." The glowing light seemed to breathe. As I held out the eyeball, it pulsed faster as if anxious. I dropped the eyeball onto the flat top. It rolled for a moment and then snapped to the center, as if magnified. The glowing surface beamed up toward the ceiling. On the ceiling was a large piece of white paper duct taped and a blurry image projected onto it. Then the image came into focus. It was...

@Kayleigh Shoen thank you for listening! People here have great insights and experiences. It’s a lot of fun!

@Zane Dowling I completely feel exactly what you’re saying and would never get mad for that argument. I see your trepidation. And that’s how I am too. I don’t use AI to write for me at all. I use it as a sounding board. Sometimes it’ll suggest actual words that I’ll use but I’ll often use their example as a way to fix something in my own words. It’s up to you to decide. AI cannot actually “fix” anything until you make it so. For example, when I first started, it would rewrite the whole section I sent. I prompted it to no longer do that because it didn’t teach me anything. If you have the time to watch me do it, you’ll see that it really works like an editor would. Things like.. 1. You can trim this section by 10% 2. This wording is a little off or unclear, here’s three suggestions. 3. This is capitalized but it should be 4. Etc. So what there wouldn’t a human editor point out? The writing is still mine - but I’m but longer sitting in silence trying to edit, I can edit faster with an immediate sounding board. Just yesterday, worried that l had written “smiled” too many times, I asked “did I overdue Smiled in this chapter?” The answer, “no but you could probably remove this instance if you’re worried about it.” And it was a good suggestion so I took it. Not that I’m trying to sell you on AI but to be honest, it’s the way it’s going. To get an edge on all the writer’s, polish helps. I don’t condone it writing for you though. Helping yes, replacing no. It sucks (trust me I’ve been losing clients coz of the iPhone camera getting better). It’s adapt or die. And then tools like ElevenLabs are great coz I suck at reading aloud so it reads aloud for me in an expressive voice. As I listen, I hear for what works and what doesn’t. Watch this series, you’ll like what you see. And if you want, I mean this, let’s do a live broadcast with any section you feel comfortable sharing and we’ll edit it together using the prompts that I’ve set up in my ChatGPT. I think you’ll like the results.

@Zane Dowling thank you! It’s an interesting and relevant one. With these AIs, it’s good to lay out your goal and how you want it to happen. I said, I want to improve my prose and contrast me like a serious writer as if you’re a professional, season editor. And I think it’s worked but well see when it’s finished hahah