FFs #42: The Writerly Topic Du Jour
Sea Changes, Finding Humor, Valuing Flow, and Leveling Up
In This Issue
We Are Living Through a Sea Change
If you're reading this, you already know we're in the middle of a sea change.
The joke has been on us. We already thought the world was changing at an astonishing rate. And then AI appeared. We found out that we had come nowhere close to the maximum number on the speed change odometer.
Every day, more of us are drinking the delicious new AI-flavored Kool-Aid, if only in self-defense. The article I wrote this week is about the ways I’m using it as of today (excerpt below).
I have no data, but it feels like AI is now the second most frequent topic on Substack Notes, after how to succeed at Substack.
But what I want to mention here is that in the middle of stressful change, I like to look for the humor and the irony. Case in point.
A Little Bit of Ironic Humor
At the beginning of the year, I began a series called Phoenix Your Faith. I decided to try something new. I added journaling prompts at the bottom of each article. And then I posted daily Notes using one prompt per day.
I wasn't sure if this was going to work or not. It was just an experiment. I had seen a few other journaling prompts here and there on Notes. I took that as a hopeful sign.
I was taking a risk, especially since I had sat in on a few of
‘s live sessions on best templates for Substack Notes. And journaling prompts never came up. Nevertheless, I wanted to give it a shot.A couple weeks in, I was beginning to get discouraged because the prompts weren't getting any traction. And then a good friend of mine said something very encouraging. "I was listening to something the other day that said prompts are trending on Substack."
Okay. I decided to keep going. I even developed a lovely Canva template to turn my prompts into images.
What did I get for all that effort? Nada. Crickets.
After a couple more weeks of valiant effort, I decided my time was better spent elsewhere.
I kept writing the articles. I kept including the journaling prompts at the bottom. But I stopped the Notes.
That's fine. Not all experiments are successful, right? 🤷♀️
A few months went by. 📆📆📆📆📆 I didn't give the prompts any more thought.
Then, last week, I woke up one morning and something just clicked.
That comment came back to mind. "I was listening to something the other day that said prompts are trending on Substack."
Ohhhh.
Face palm. 🤦♀️
They were talking about AI prompts, not journaling prompts. Duh!
Oh, well. The joke's on me!
Excerpt: Why Would Anyone Use AI for This?
A Boomer Writer's View of Smart and Foolish Uses of AI
When I started gingerly experimenting with AI in Autumn 2024, I felt like I was being a bit tech-forward. Not anymore. Not even for someone my age (70).
And, almost immediately after I started using AI, I started thinking about writing an article about how I was using it. Just thinking about writing it.
As you might have noticed, in the meantime, AI has lit up the Substack-o-sphere like someone just turned on my still-legal gas stove. Whoosh! (Please don't judge. 😜)
Anyhow, had I written that article all those months ago, I would have had to revise it nearly every month. But just for fun, I thought maybe I'd actually give the topic a go this week.
[Click here to read the rest.]
A Final Bit of Humor
After I scheduled the above article and headed for bed, I realized I should have said Not even for someone at Level 70. Hah!
As befitting today’s topic, I’d like to wish Intel a happy 57th birthday! 🎂
If you know someone who needs to hear what I have to say, please share or restack.
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