Nick, no idea how you manage to write posts like this every single day!
Seeing words that carry no weight in a sentence is a "stop reading" for me. AI adds a lot of words, unnecessary ones that are just filler and I'm guessing because many of us are so far removed from our schooling years, and teachers struggled to make grammar fun, no one is questioning if every second sentence needs to start with "And" or "But" or noticing that they have sliced a sentence in half, creating a meaningless sentence fragment that doesn't carry the clever punch they thought it did... Light and shade disappears when AI touches too much.
Okay vent over, lol. Editing with AI is incredible and it makes me paranoid in equal measure.
Dallas, this is the kind of comment that makes me want to quit and let you write the newsletter. "Words that carry no weight" and "light and shade disappears"... that's the whole damn pupusa right there.
The paranoia makes sense. AI is incredible AND it's trying to sand down everything that makes your writing yours. Both things are true. The tension is the point.
(As for daily posting: I wish I had a sexy answer here. The truth is I've locked myself inside like a gremlin and I'm not coming out until I crack this for everyone. No social life. Just slop detection. My therapist is concerned.)
I often feel like my writing is too emotional (ha, they should have met 13 year old me!) but now I am holding onto that fiercely 😂 I'm obsessed with every word, lol - I blame studying linguistics 🤦🏻♀️
Do you have snacks inside this gremlin? Or a stiff bourbon to see you though? At least your therapist is at the bottom of the cliff, prepped to catch you if needed!
Also, Tuesdays. You have feelings about Tuesdays. I appreciate that.
Bourbon: check. Snacks: check. Therapist: she's less "safety net" and more "wildlife documentary narrator" at this point. ("And here we see the gremlin, attempting another draft. Fascinating.")
Tuesdays have wronged me specifically and I'm holding that grudge forever.
(But seriously: "too emotional" is never the diagnosis. Boring is the diagnosis. You studied linguistics, which means you can feel and articulate. That's the combination most writers would kill for. Keep being obsessed with every word. That's the part AI can't fake.)
Ha! The giant sentence is perfect proof of concept. AI would never let you get away with that. It would've chopped it into four polite, forgettable pieces.
All great advice, most of which applies to my pre AI offerings, which is why I appointed it to be my editor in the first place. It’s an improvement, if you ask me. Also, Mercury retrograde references now? I’m impressed.
*Maybe a bit heavy for me... there is so much good stuff, I would have appreciated tasting it over 3 or 4 rounds.
When stuff is so good it's like caviar. You can't serve it as a dish overflowing smoking spaghetti. You need to give it out in small tiny portions so that the fine details can be truly appreciated, without your mind being occupied by the worry of how will I eat (read) all of the rest.
I do this mistake all the time. I fall in love so much with a topic, that I forget about serving it in a way that makes my readers appreciate it like a tiny pearl found on the beach.
This is the kind of feedback that stings because it's true, Robin. I deliberately went long here... wanted a single pillar post I could point to whenever someone asks about slop detection. But "caviar served as overflowing spaghetti" is now seared into my brain.
You've given me something to chew on for the next one. (And I say this with genuine gratitude, not defensive cope.)
The moment you wrote: "wanted a single pillar post I could point to whenever someone asks about slop detection" I had to acknowledge that - if this was your goal - you did accomplish it with top grades.
Now the question becomes: how can one best accomplish this kind of goal - building pillar content (knowledge infrastructure) that wants to be saved and repeatedly consulted over time - in a way that remains highly digestible for the average reader, without sacrificing its key strenghts?
Let's analyze the possibilities: to you the honour of the first serve.
Your question is a good one and I'm open to suggestions on it. I was content with just being able to point people that DM me on certain topics to a single source, but I think the post could be doing more work than just that...
Nick, no idea how you manage to write posts like this every single day!
Seeing words that carry no weight in a sentence is a "stop reading" for me. AI adds a lot of words, unnecessary ones that are just filler and I'm guessing because many of us are so far removed from our schooling years, and teachers struggled to make grammar fun, no one is questioning if every second sentence needs to start with "And" or "But" or noticing that they have sliced a sentence in half, creating a meaningless sentence fragment that doesn't carry the clever punch they thought it did... Light and shade disappears when AI touches too much.
Okay vent over, lol. Editing with AI is incredible and it makes me paranoid in equal measure.
Dallas, this is the kind of comment that makes me want to quit and let you write the newsletter. "Words that carry no weight" and "light and shade disappears"... that's the whole damn pupusa right there.
The paranoia makes sense. AI is incredible AND it's trying to sand down everything that makes your writing yours. Both things are true. The tension is the point.
(As for daily posting: I wish I had a sexy answer here. The truth is I've locked myself inside like a gremlin and I'm not coming out until I crack this for everyone. No social life. Just slop detection. My therapist is concerned.)
Please don't quit! This is really good stuff.
I often feel like my writing is too emotional (ha, they should have met 13 year old me!) but now I am holding onto that fiercely 😂 I'm obsessed with every word, lol - I blame studying linguistics 🤦🏻♀️
Do you have snacks inside this gremlin? Or a stiff bourbon to see you though? At least your therapist is at the bottom of the cliff, prepped to catch you if needed!
Also, Tuesdays. You have feelings about Tuesdays. I appreciate that.
Bourbon: check. Snacks: check. Therapist: she's less "safety net" and more "wildlife documentary narrator" at this point. ("And here we see the gremlin, attempting another draft. Fascinating.")
Tuesdays have wronged me specifically and I'm holding that grudge forever.
(But seriously: "too emotional" is never the diagnosis. Boring is the diagnosis. You studied linguistics, which means you can feel and articulate. That's the combination most writers would kill for. Keep being obsessed with every word. That's the part AI can't fake.)
Sounds like all is in order, then!
Appreciate the kind words, Nick! Will keep trying.
Looking forward to tomorrow's installment!
Gosh, apologies for the giant sentence in the middle para 😂 At least you know a human wrote that, lol.
Ha! The giant sentence is perfect proof of concept. AI would never let you get away with that. It would've chopped it into four polite, forgettable pieces.
The tangle is the humanity. Keep it.
All great advice, most of which applies to my pre AI offerings, which is why I appointed it to be my editor in the first place. It’s an improvement, if you ask me. Also, Mercury retrograde references now? I’m impressed.
An astrologer who appointed AI as editor. That's the most on-brand collaboration I've heard all week.
And the Mercury retrograde reference was placed there with surgical precision. You were absolutely the intended audience 🤗
An excellent piece Nick.
*Maybe a bit heavy for me... there is so much good stuff, I would have appreciated tasting it over 3 or 4 rounds.
When stuff is so good it's like caviar. You can't serve it as a dish overflowing smoking spaghetti. You need to give it out in small tiny portions so that the fine details can be truly appreciated, without your mind being occupied by the worry of how will I eat (read) all of the rest.
I do this mistake all the time. I fall in love so much with a topic, that I forget about serving it in a way that makes my readers appreciate it like a tiny pearl found on the beach.
This is the kind of feedback that stings because it's true, Robin. I deliberately went long here... wanted a single pillar post I could point to whenever someone asks about slop detection. But "caviar served as overflowing spaghetti" is now seared into my brain.
You've given me something to chew on for the next one. (And I say this with genuine gratitude, not defensive cope.)
The moment you wrote: "wanted a single pillar post I could point to whenever someone asks about slop detection" I had to acknowledge that - if this was your goal - you did accomplish it with top grades.
Now the question becomes: how can one best accomplish this kind of goal - building pillar content (knowledge infrastructure) that wants to be saved and repeatedly consulted over time - in a way that remains highly digestible for the average reader, without sacrificing its key strenghts?
Let's analyze the possibilities: to you the honour of the first serve.
Your question is a good one and I'm open to suggestions on it. I was content with just being able to point people that DM me on certain topics to a single source, but I think the post could be doing more work than just that...