Tag Archives: writing

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I asked ChatGPT to help me write a blog post

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AI-generated content is becoming more prevalent as individuals and businesses alike look for ways to streamline their creative processes. As a writer, I am both nervous and intrigued by the possibilities of AI. From a creative workers’ perspective, I worry companies looking to cut costs will use AI as an easy and cheap way to mass produce content. From a broader human perspective, I am curious about how AI can be used to diversify content and enable more people to be in this space.

While many AI content tools exist, they aren’t free or for public use. OpenAI, however, has launched a free program, ChatGPT, which generates responses to questions and commands posed by users.

I decided to put the tool to the test by asking a series of questions that could help me produce an informative blog post on whether my fifth grader needs a smartphone. If you follow my blog, you may recall, I already wrote about this topic, and if you want to read that post for comparison, you can do so here.

Please note that up to and including this paragraph has been written by me. I use italics to differentiate the AI-generated portions below.

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Writing can save lives

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The first few months or so after I gave birth to my first child were a blur of sleepless nights, days without a decent shower, and scrambling to eat to keep up with the never-ending hunger I felt from constant breastfeeding.

I was often exhausted, overwhelmed, angry, sad and confused.

New motherhood brought on a slew of emotions I had little experience with before I had kids.

I needed a way to process those emotions — to make sense of what I was experiencing — so, I turned to writing.

I started this blog in 2013, shortly after I made the decision to leave my job and become a stay-at-home mom.

My first entries were short, often nonsensical ramblings, I never intended many people to see. Though, I guess, subconsciously, I was hoping others would read it, otherwise I would have stuck with an old-school journal.

Regardless of my intent, getting my thoughts about parenting out of my head and on to the screen helped me to work through some of the harder parts of motherhood.

Writing might seem like a simple solution, but for me and others, like Kimberly Zapata, the founder of Greater Than Illness, there is so much more to writing than words on paper. 

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Blogging for Better: The Voices and Faces Project

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As a writer myself, I can vouch for the power of words, which is why I am honored to introduce our next Blogging for Better charity:

The Voices and Faces Project

Gender-based violence impacts the lives of millions, forever changing how they experience the world. We hear about the suffering they face, but, far too frequently, those stories are told through the eyes of the legal system, the media, the general public, and not through the lens of the survivors themselves. Fear, shame, anger and resentment often prevents these survivors from sharing their stories; stories that need to be heard; stories that need to be told.

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Enter the Voices and Faces Project, a nonprofit dedicated to helping survivors of gender-based violence put their stories into words. Through writing workshops, trained advocates help survivors create memoirs, short stories, poetry and more to articulate their experiences. These creative works not only serve to heal, they bring a humanity to the often cold, statistical experience of gender-based violence. These survivors are not just numbers, they are humans with stories we all need to hear.

“Many survivors of sexual violence, myself included, find that sharing their stories can help them heal themselves, and heal others,” says Lea Grover, Special Projects Associate for the Voices and Faces Project.

“The Voices and Faces Project’s testimonial writing workshop, “The Stories We Tell,” connects survivors to each other and helps them develop the tools to turn their experiences into action. It opens doors to advocacy and activism in many forms, and graduates of the workshop have gone on to write books, found their own organizations, and do the work of making the world safer for both those who have survived sexual violence and those who are at risk of experiencing it.”

The Voices and Faces Project covers the cost of the workshop for everyone who is accepted, which is why contributions to this worthy cause are so needed.

Throughout the month of November, as part of our Blogging for Better efforts, myself and others will be promoting the Voices and Faces Project, bringing attention to and raising funds for this worthy cause.

If you are blogger, writer or social media influencer interested in learning more about Blogging for Better, please email me at maybeillshowertoday at gmail dot com. You can also request to join our private Facebook group here.

 

 

I don’t regret putting my five-year-old in first grade

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I was an anxious newly minted mom of a school-age child, one year ago, and like most parents preparing their kid for kindergarten, I worried about my son making new friends, handling the school work and whether he would eat the lunches I made. Having never sent my child to daycare or preschool, I was thrusting him into a whole new world. And, all of this was happening when he was only four years old.

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My eldest was born in November 2012, which fell about a month behind the New York State cut-off for entering kindergarten in 2017. I knew he would likely be the youngest child in his class, and how many parents in my place would have held him back. I had every intention of sending my son to school, but the voices of concern both in my head, and from without, filled me with a lot of doubt. I wondered if I was making the right choice, especially since conventional wisdom is to red-shirt children. Continue reading →

Towing the privacy line as parent blogger

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I started my blog in 2013 out of a need to keep writing (my lifelong creative outlet) and to vent about my struggles as a new mother. While, I understood anything I put online wasn’t technically private, I did little to promote my work and gain an audience beyond my family and a few random followers. My writing was raw and more like what I would journal in a private notebook than something worthy of a larger audience. However, even from the beginning, I hesitated to reveal every personal detail.

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While, I want my blog to be a place where I can be candid about my experiences as a mother, I also need to be mindful of my family and how my writing impacts their lives. I am sure, I have already written plenty which could embarrass my children, which is why, I will never write anything which mentions their real names, or share photos of them with clear shots of their faces. I do understand that because I myself am not anonymous, there are ways for people to find out who they are, but I at least can make it more challenging. Continue reading →

No two truths are alike

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I am a terrible liar. Withholding truth manifests as physical discomfort in my body. Perhaps, this is why my five-year-old knows more about where babies come from than most of his peers, and I will probably end up buzz killing the tooth fairy. If there was an opposite for compulsive liars, it would be me. I am compulsively honest.

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My propensity toward the truth doesn’t mean I never lie, or skew the facts. There are aspects of my life, which I choose not to share on this blog, for example, as well as the general societal expectations, such as not telling a stranger you find there outfit unattractive. We all have to navigate our own reality.

We are a society craving authenticity. We want to experience things that are tangible and real. We want to read an article and not have to second-guess its motives. We want to follow our favorite influencers and trust they are presenting their true selves.

What is truth? Seems like a simple enough question to answer. Truth means facts. Truth is real. Truth is right. Truth cannot be debated or skewed. There is the truth and there are lies.  Continue reading →

Here I am, 35 and OK

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During the early 2000s, “Sex and the City” was one of the hottest shows on television. I, a young college student, watched in awe as those 30-something-year-old women gallivanted about New York City, enjoying an endless slew of men, fashion and cosmopolitans. Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha seemed to have it all — great apartments, fabulous careers and access to the best clubs. Yet, no matter how wonderful their lives were, there was an undercurrent of emptiness following through the series.

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This feeling was exemplified by the episode featuring Carrie’s 35th birthday. In one of the saddest displays ever seen on television, we find Carrie, sitting alone at a huge table, wondering when her friends will arrive. Making matters worse, at a nearby table, an exuberant young lady is celebrating her own birthday, at which she exclaims, “Twenty-five! Fuck, I’m old!”

I turn 35 this week, and as a married woman with kids, my life is very different than the one portrayed by Sarah Jessica Parker on “Sex and the City.” Funny how when I watched the show in youth, I pictured my adult life involving lots of parties and a great career. Marriage and family were not top of mind. My life is very different than how I envisioned it at 19, and in many ways, I have what those women were striving for, a husband, a family – people with whom I can share my celebrations as well as sadness.

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Promote early literacy skills with this ABC lift-the-flap train

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This post contains affiliate links. I get a small percentage from purchases made through the links on this post.

I am a blogger, and, as you might have guessed, I loved reading and writing in elementary school. I devoured books and composed stories of my own, many of which my parents still saved to this day.

Yes, I was one of those kids who read for “fun.”

My oldest, so far, shows no signs of having inherited this trait. He is much more into running around, building train sets and pondering highly existential thoughts. Sitting down and working on his writing is not high on his list of priorities.
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Granted, my son, who will be five in November, is very young for Kindergarten, and may develop more of an interest in writing as it gets more comfortable for him.

Like all of you, I want my child to do well, without pushing him so far that he completely loses any interest in learning.

So, when I learned he needed a little more help with his literacy skills, I knew I had to come up with some fun ways to make reading and writing fun. Continue reading →

Band-Aids, branding and blogging

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No trademarks were harmed in the posting of this picture

“You have three days to make ‘band-aid’ a thing in a post, article, meme, or live video.,” so were the words of the great Ms. Mary Katherine Backstrom, award-winning creator of Mom Babble, in the writers group she hosts.

I actually heard about this challenge after seeing an odd number of posts referencing band-aids. My initial reaction, before I knew what was going on, was to respond with: “No! Band-aid is a trademarked name by Johnson and Johnson.” I wanted to help my fellow bloggers avoid potential legal pitfalls for unwittingly publishing copyrighted material. Continue reading →

Making connections and forging friendships at BlogHer 2016

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Way back in the early days of 2015, I attended a live reading of several excerpts from the book, Listen To Your Mother. It was here that I met Melisa Wells, the woman responsible for all things social media at BlogHer, and its parent company, SheKnows Media, the sponsors of the event. I got to chatting with Melissa and a few other women from BlogHer, including Sponsor Experience Manager Liz Katkics Thompson and co-founder and COO, Elisa Camahort Page, and learned about their annual conference. I was completely bummed, because, although the event was in my home city, I already had plans for that week.

Not one to wallow over disappointment, I accepted my fate, and became determined to attend the following year. In the year that followed, I kept writing, achieved many of my publishing goals, and slowly grew my social presence. All the while keeping tabs on news regarding BlogHer 2016.

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