My son has beaten me at the New York Time's app game Crossplay 100% of the time.
100%
And when I say he's beaten me? I mean, he clobbers me. I haven't been losing by a few points. I've been losing by hundreds of points at a time. Crossplay is like online Scrabble. It's a battle of words. As a writer, I should be good at that! But I'm not.
He asked me if I wanted to surrender, admit defeat, and play the app-computer instead.
Ha! Rude boy, you know your mother better than that. Was I not the one who played Slow Ride on Guitar Hero for years because I never scored high enough to move onto the next level? I'd still be working on mastering the skill if we hadn't lost the game to the basement flood of 2016.
Sometimes, I feel like writing takes the same level of obstinate dedication and that can get a little depressing. Sigh. Call it insecurity.
And then, one day...
One never knows when the mood will turn from insecure to braggadocios.
Yes, I sent this to him. I AM that childish.
Thank you to this month's awesome co-hosts! Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Liza at Middle Passages, JH Moncrieff, and Jemima Pett...you guys rock!
October 7 optional question: Many people are calling for writers who use AI to disclose it. Most who employ ghostwriters do not admit it - do you think authors who use ghostwriters should have to disclose that, too?
Excellent question, Melissa. Yes, I think they absolutely should. I was in a bookstore lately and saw a title from an author that I enjoyed years ago. I was shocked to see there so many more books than I had ever heard of. My avid-reading friend, who was shopping with me, informed me that the author had used a ghostwriter and that her estate continued to produce stories post-mortem with her ghostwriter. I lost all interest. I love writing and I love stories, and when art is replaced by a mass-produced commodity, I'm out.
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