You know what really pisses me off? The automated pop-up text of some of these AI tools that say, “Sit back and relax! [insert AI tool here] is making magic!”
Magic is watching the fireflies come out at twilight. It’s taking a peek at your very first go at homemade focaccia rising golden in the oven. It’s seeing your kid ride a bike for the first time, the chance to pick up with an old friend exactly where you left off even if years ago, or the joy of the just-so thrift find you’ve been on the hunt for for ages.
Pressing a button is not magic, it never will be, and it’s insulting to suggest we should think it so—that we should be so easily pleased.
We started this summer seasonal intensive on rewilding your writing with my argument that:
So we’ll come full circle back to this authenticity of human voice now at summer’s near end.
Creative writer as you are, you know in your bones that magic has never been sourced in ease, but rather a hard-won journey.
There’s no story in the pressing of a button or double-click of a mouse. By bypassing the creative process, we end up bypassing everything about the craft of writing that ultimately make us proud.
So let’s make ourselves proud. Let’s make our own magic, owning the process, the zig-zag struggle, and the human powers of self-expression toward work that is wholly our own and honest-won.
Maybe you could press a button and in seconds have the book you wanted to write. But it won’t feel fulfilling because you outsourced the process instead of owning it.
The more you own your creative process, the prouder you’ll be of your work in the end. The struggle is proof that you are showing up to the work with your whole self. Through trying, trying, and trying again, you strengthen your creative muscles, channeling all your efforts into making something that is uniquely yours—watermarked with your human signature.
Inexplicably, in what seems to be the shortest summer ever, it’s officially mid-August and TOMORROW we are gathering on Zoom to conclude our summer seasonal intensive on rewilded writing.
When: Friday August 14 12pm ET // 9am PT
Where: Zoom link, below for all paid subscribers
Who: all paid subscribers, with replay sent afterward. As always, you are welcome to join and cancel your subscription at any time.
In this session, we will explore together:
The most common constraints of rewilded writing, and how to liberate yourself from these constraints
The catch of comp titles, trend-chasing, and letting comparative analysis take over your writing process
How to create your own enlivening practice of the private draft, locked from outsider eyes, and tips for rewilding your writing starting with that pivotal first draft
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