In this Update

NaNoWriMo - On my way to 50k
AI art  - Love it or leave it?
Survey - Results are in
Book Deals - Mystery-thriller boxset

Hello ,

Last year, I told you about National Novel Writing Month, which is a writing contest (of sorts) where the "prize" is a certificate awarded to all participants who pump out a 50,000-word manuscript during the month of November.

That's right: 50,000 words. One month.

To put that in perspective, the first Harry Potter book is about 77,000 words.

In the past, I couldn’t even think about signing up for this crazy contest because the timing was never right. I was either in the middle of launching a book or well into writing another one. So sad for me. 😉

Well, this year the stars have aligned.

Armed with a fresh batch of catastrophes to throw at our unfortunate yet strong-willed protagonist, Syd Brixton, I’m giving NanNoWriMo a whirl.

If this crazy experiment works out, you could be reading book 3 in the TimeBlink series a lot sooner than expected. I'll keep you posted.

Would you be surprised if I told you I created the above images using artificial intelligence?

It’s true. They came from the AI art generator app, Dream by WOMBO.

I simply typed in a few keywords related to the various settings in my books and choose an art style such as Retro-futurism, Mystical, or Analogue, and presto! Instant art.

At first, it spewed out some pretty bizarre results—like a woman holding a decapitated head by a chain!—but after a bit of trial and error, I had some success, and the better ones are pictured above. If you've read my TimeBlink books, you'll probably recognize the scenes depicted in the images right away.

Fun, right? But you might be wondering about copyright.

I've thought about that, too. After all, the finished works are derivative and don't just magically appear out of nowhere. However, as a casual user, I'm not too worried. It's not like I'm using the images on my next book cover or in advertising campaigns. If that were the case, I'd be looking over my shoulder for copyright lawyers the rest of my life. No, thank you!

Do you love the idea of AI art? Or would you rather see it go away?

A big thank you to everyone who participated in last month's reader survey. Here are the highlights:

What format do you read?
- 77% eBooks
- 23% paperbacks
- 0% hardcovers and audiobooks

- Most eBook readers cited convenience as their main reason for preferring digital books with price being a close second.
- 7% chose environmental benefit as their reason for reading eBooks.
- 60% of the paperback lovers said they prefer holding a "real" book in their hands as opposed to a device

Satisfaction level of this newsletter.
- 62% of respondents said they always enjoy it
- 92% said once a month was the perfect frequency
- only 15% would be more inclined to read it if it went out on the first Sunday of the month, so I'm sticking with Thursdays.
- Content satisfaction was a wash. Readers neither loved nor disliked any of the features more than others, so I'll keep mixing it up like I've always done.

Thanks again for your input. As always, this is your newsletter, so if you have any questions or further feedback, feel free to email me any time...yes, even during NaNoWriMo.

Helping fellow authors spread the news about their books. Right now, you can preorder Audrey Walker's intriguing murder-mystery-thriller (eBook) boxset for just 99¢.

Thanks for spending time with me today, . I appreciate your interest in my work.

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