YoYo-ING
I am currently on a yoyo blog reading schedule. There’s a week where things go really well and I catch up on my Feedly (and I am all stoked and vow to stay on top of it), and then the next week is crazy and I get helplessly behind on reading (and posting). Anyone else? Do you have a blog reading schedule? Do you just catch up when you can?
more thoughts on A.I.
I came across an Instagram post, linking to an article in the New York times by Bret Stephens, titled “I am begging you: never write with A.I.”
While I have mixed feeling about employing A.I.’s help to assist with certain tasks (I do see some benefits), I firmly agree with the statement that we should NOT let A.I. do our writing. Bret Stephens put it this way: “The problem with writing with A.I. is that it’s mentally enfeebling – an escalator toward a result when you really need to make a daily habit of taking the stairs”. And another writer, Dave Eggers, said in an interview that it’s a crime against yourself to let a machine speak for you, that it equates to the silencing of your own voice. That’s a powerful statement.
I mean, ask yourself this: why should someone take the time to read something that you didn’t take the time to write?
Book: YESTERYEAR
I know that many of you have recently read Yesteryear and I was intrigued and requested it from the library. Luckily, it was available (I expected to be on the waitlist) and I was able to borrow it right away. I read it in a few days. I want to say I enjoyed it based on the speed that I go through it, but it was also one of the weirdest books I’ve read in a while. I kinda had a hunch towards the end about how the “two storylines” were going to come together, but there were also some “loose ends” (of which I am not a fan in books).
HAPPY HOUR
I met up with my old coworkers for Happy Hour this week. It’s been a while (8 months?!) since we last saw each other. It still feels very normal to be around them, after all, we worked together for 20 years, even though we don’t really keep up in between meet-ups. We had a great time catching up. One of them has taken a new job at the state, the other is in early retirement (and loving it). Of course, they inquired about how things are at our office. I don’t think they regret to have left last year when they did, but I am sure it’s also still a bit strange to not be part of that environment anymore.
ANOTHER UPDATE ON MY Niece’s HEALTH
My niece had her follow-up appointment with the new doctor and her recent test results have uncovered a slew of compounding issues. I cannot even begin to summarize the findings, but let’s just say that it’s a combination of many things (bacteria, virus, allergy, histamines in overdrive, etc.). The doctor called it something like ‘the perfect storm’. Why no other doctor before had bothered to look at certain things is a mystery to me, but I am also not surprised. From my own experience, it seems like doctor’s do some standard tests and if they don’t reveal a simple, textbook diagnosis, they seem to shrug their shoulders. I feel like very few doctors look for the rootcause of symptoms holistically – or in unexpected places (like, in my niece’s case, there was also a problem with a leaky retainer that she got after getting her braces off).
Anyway, this doctor seems to have clues on how my niece’s problems started and, more importantly, a plan for treatment. It’ll be a long road because they’ll have to address issues one by one, but at least, there seems to be a plan, which makes me a lot more hopeful.
TGIF, friends. Hope you have a great weekend!
coco
August 8, 2026 at 1:05 amI firmly believe we should not rely on AI for our production (writing, thinking0, it’s good to organize inputs (research type, background info). I like the elevator vs stairs analogy, it’s so true.
Nicole MacPherson
August 8, 2026 at 5:39 amOh, I HATE AI for writing. When I was writing my book, a friend’s husband so very helpfully told me I should run it through Chat GPT to “tighten things up.” Let the record show he hadn’t read a word of my writing, because he “only reads solid things, like non-fiction he can learn from.” I feel like this says everything you need to know.
I’m so glad your niece has a path forward but what the fuck, why is it so hard to get a doctor to look into the root of something? Argh.
Yesteryear was SUCH a weird book. I liked it, but didn’t LOVE it.
Birchie
August 8, 2026 at 5:47 amHow helpful…writing advice from someone who doesn’t write and doesn’t read.
Birchie
August 8, 2026 at 5:44 amI never have a problem reading blogs, but commenting is where I can’t keep up. I do the best I can, but if I run out of time then I run out of time. Writing my blog…yeah somehow even now that I don’t have a job I still can’t seem to find the time for that. People, I’m doing my best!
Woof, the problem with letting AI do your writing should be obvious to anyone who has ever tried it. I agree that AI is great at quite a few things, and even if it wasn’t, it’s here and it’s a thing so it’s on us to figure out how to best use it.
I agree that Yesteryear was both enjoyable and weird! It’s not a bad combination.
I’m so glad that your niece has a doctor who is willing to do more than to shrug his/her shoulders! It’s so frustrating when that happens, but sadly it is not uncommon.
J
August 8, 2026 at 6:52 amI’m glad your niece finally has the right doctor for her, and I hope having a plan helps make everyone feel better in the short term, and that the treatments make her feel better sooner rather than later.
AI – BAH.
Blogging – I always feel so behind these days.
Ernie
August 8, 2026 at 11:11 amI’m so glad this latest doctor is uncovering more info. I hope it leads to simple adjustments and long term fixes. Goodness – long over due.
I so agree that AI should not do our writing for us. I’m in a writers group and there was a woman who was submitting writing strictly AI work and it was frustrating. We updated our policy and AI work is not accepted anymore.
I feel like I had a decent blog reading schedule. I often read during morning naps while the tots play in the family room. That tends to go out the window in the summer. My goal is to write more so I have pushed blog reading to the least priority time slot. And I catch up when I can.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
August 9, 2026 at 12:15 amSuch good news on your niece. I hope she can make a full recovery rather sooner than later.
I’ve seen Yesteryear left and right but I have a feeling I will not enjoy this book and it is overly hyped. Maybe at one point I do the audiobook but I have more interesting titles on my TBR these days.
As for AI… well, I use it for writing. I write so so many social media posts that it is just a speed thing. But I do have trained it accordingly and it writes different for all my clients. And I always change things if I feel it is too generic. I also always give pointers on where the focus is and what I want as a take aways. If you do not do this it is just crap. But most people don’t do it. I love it for writing out boring posts. Like I have to write about events where it’s basically just time and day. It would take forever to come up with some sort of accompanying sentence because I get no input. So the AI gives me an option and I can work from there.
But I agree in longford content. That should be written by a human. I will never the AI write my personal blogposts or a poem or what not. I have picked up a book that was obviously written by AI and immediately DNFed it. But I also had read a book that was written pre-AI and it read like AI since AI obviously learned form these kinds of writing. It was so so annoying to read and I felt so bad for the author.
Elisabeth
August 10, 2026 at 5:25 amI am so glad your niece has someone who is taking her seriously. It can make all the difference. What a long road she’s been on, but I hope this offers some light at the end of the tunnel. <3
I loved Yesteryear. It was the right book/right time for me, I guess. I just really wanted to get sucked in and it did that. I couldn't put it down and read it in a single day.
NGS
August 10, 2026 at 6:33 amOh, man, diagnosing illnesses is so hard sometimes. I have a friend who has been having issues with food and losing weight and has been on a feeding tube for over a year and she HAS NO DIAGNOSIS. It’s a nightmare. I hope your niece can find some relief now.
I found Yesteryear to be misogynistic and dumb, to be honest. I’m obviously not the audience for a book about how women are at fault for literally everything, including their own abuse.
San, I have a goal of writing five comments a day on blogs and my percentage is very, very, very bad. I just run out of time if I want to keep the wheels going on my life. I have decided that’s okay – my priorities have to be keeping myself and my household running, right?
Lisa's Yarns
August 11, 2026 at 11:45 amDiagnoses can be so hard to figure out. It’s like solving a mystery. Unfortunately, I think a big part of the problem is how many patients a doctor is expected to see in a given day. The appts are so short and it’s my understanding that they closely track the # of patients and there might be negative consequences if they don’t hit their #s… It’s not great at all and I wish there was a solution to this, but I have little faith that it will be solved given the structure of our health care system. :( I was so lucky to get my RA diagnosed fairly quickly, but I was a textbook case between my physical symptoms and some markers in the inflammation panel they ran.
I mostly read blog posts on my phone and try to keep up but I’ve been extra busy with work travel, etc and have been writing fewer comments lately. There are only so many hours in the day and we all have a lot of demands on our time!