Tag: AI
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When Your Editing Software Loves You… Then Tries to Ruin Your Life
Me vs. ProWritingAid This morning, I made a terrible mistake: I ran two ProWritingAid reports back-to-back. If you’ve never done this, imagine getting a standing ovation and a slap across the face in the same ten seconds. That’s the vibe. I started with the Virtual Beta Reader report for Countess of Cons, which basically sent…
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Me and My AI: A Performance Review (Spoiler: I Passed)
I recently asked my AI assistant, ChatGPT—affectionately known as Scripty McPromptface—how it would describe my ability using it. Because if you’re going to collaborate with an artificial intelligence, you might as well ask for your annual evaluation. Scripty’s Report Card Apparently, I’m not too shabby. Scripty said I use it “like a seasoned collaborator, not…
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From Gilded Age Grifter to Aer Lingus Diva
I’m sitting at Gate 9 at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut, waiting to board a 6:05 p.m. plane to Dublin. The seats are filling fast. Uh oh. Does that mean some poor schmuck is going to get wedged between me and my husband? He likes the window. I like the aisle. (Seventy-year-old bladder. Two kids.)…
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Relax, Nobody’s Stealing Your Masterpiece (Probably): Practical paranoia tips for writers who want to share online without losing sleep
DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer. The information I share here is gleaned from my experiences and various sources I have consulted. Copyright law varies by country—always double-check your own country’s rules. If you’re a writer in 2025, chances are you’ve workshopped a scene online, uploaded a chapter to a critique group, or asked an…
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Chicago, 1892: A Day in the Life of a Divorced Diamond Seller
I took up Coach Carole’s Thursday GenAI Club challenge for Week 2: Time Travel Thursdays. The prompt invited us to time-travel with a favorite ancestor, so I adapted it for my husband’s great-grandmother, Catherine—who just happens to be the subject of my next novel (Countess of Cons: The Story of a Gilded Age Grifter). I…
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When “I’m Done” Isn’t Really Done
A love letter to every writer who’s ever found a typo … after launch. I thought I was done. I revised the children’s book. I corrected all the errors. I double-checked the margins, the text boxes, the captions. I pressed the magic button: Download. I uploaded the newest version (Number 6,262?) to Amazon. Ran it…
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Using AI Art to Illustrate a Children’s Book: Confessions from a Reluctant Collaborator
When I first started working on Doris’s New Home—the illustrated children’s companion to my novel Nothing Really Bad Will Happen, about a young Jewish girl fleeing Vienna in 1938—I didn’t expect to have so many sleepless nights over the pictures. Words? Sure, I know how to choose a verb, tighten a paragraph, untangle a timeline.…
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Three Times NOT the Charm: When AI Illustrations Go Off the Rails
When I set out to improve an illustration for my forthcoming children’s book, Doris’s New Home, I wasn’t expecting a breakdown of logic, perspective, and anatomy. I expected a quick revision. Just a few tweaks, really. I just wanted a warm family dinner scene. So I gave ChatGPT a clear prompt: “All the family members…
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When AI Crosses a Line: A Lesson from a Steerage Scene That Looked All Too Familiar
Posted by Deborah Samuel Holman, Author of Nothing Really Bad Will Happen and the upcoming children’s version inspired by it NOTE: This post also appears on my family history and the book blogs—because it touches all three worlds. When I began adapting my adult novel Nothing Really Bad Will Happen into a version for my…
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RootsTech 2025 – Day 3 Recap
RootsTech is always an energizing whirlwind of ideas, connections, and discoveries, and this year was no exception! Today was the last day of classes, but Cheryl and I are staying a couple extra days to make use of the Family Search Library. My first session of the day was Using ChatGPT as Your Personal Writing…
deborahsholman.com 