No Ghost in the Machine

2-minute read

Last week, I shared my experience with a music AI tool I used as research for an upcoming book about a rock and roll band. Many folks wrote back and said how much they liked the music, for which I’m grateful. I enjoyed these conversations since many of them led down the rabbit hole of 1980s hair metal bands.

One reader, however, expressed her anger about my using AI. She said she unsubscribed from my newsletter and would never read one of my books again because she believed I used AI to write them.

I responded and thanked her for her feedback. I sincerely was grateful that she shared her feelings because she reminded me how sensitive the AI subject is currently.

Her feedback also clarified that I cannot leave any ambiguity in how I’m using AI or experimenting with it.

So let me restate this: I write my stories. Not AI, not a ghostwriter. Me.

I started writing short stories in the late 1990s to deal with emotions following my divorce. The first three books I wrote were in 2004, 2005, and 2006. Those three stories remained unpublished until 2021. The Side Hustle (the 509 Crime Stories #1) hit the shelves in January 2019, long before AI overtook our national conversation.

I love the process of writing, even though it can be immensely frustrating (as I’m currently experiencing with the latest Cozy Up book). I also love the editing process, as strange as that sounds. Tweaking sentences and concepts until they feel right is like chipping the rough edges off a marble statue.

From craft to publication, my writing process takes roughly two years. For example, The Lesser Murder (book 18 in the 509 Crime Stories) was published May 27, 2026. The first day I wrote words for that book was on May 25, 2024. I keep track of the words I write every morning and for which book, so I can pinpoint the exact date I started.

For those keeping score, I wrote 1,046 words that day. 😊