12 Comments
Feb 3Liked by Patrick E McLean

Wise words. Right priorities. We'll always be here for the next novel. Family is a beautiful things. Many regret not doing what you're doing. Those years fly by! Good call bro.

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Feb 2Liked by Patrick E McLean

You have brought so much joy to me and my husband, and my small book club followers. . AI ain’t got nothing on you. Your one of a kind, and it has been a joy reading someone that feels like a REAL person. My small opinion may not matter, but your books changed my life and got me through some really dark places. You will be missed.

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Feb 2Liked by Patrick E McLean

Welp, I've bought everything I could find that you've written and thoroughly enjoyed all of it. Can't argue with your logic, novel writing is a wretched business proposition, but I will miss your stuff. The blow is softened knowing you are taking care of yourself and your family, and if it helps, know that you've got real fans out here.

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Feb 2Liked by Patrick E McLean

It's only February and I'm just about done with book #2 for 2023, so I guess I'd better slow down. "Direct" by Kathryn Judge is about industry "middlemen" writ large and full of examples from finance, consumer goods, food, and real estate. I wonder if, having published it, she has anything to say about the value of publishers, pre- or post- "American Dirt."

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Feb 2Liked by Patrick E McLean

"Generalize to every line you write."

I would like to know what this means, and what, if anything, it has something to do with ChatGPT. I Googled, but it's not obvious to me. I also don't have Twitter, so I couldn't ask directly.

As for reading books, I recently stopped. I used to read a few pages while my characters were getting points in a game I was playing, but I had to cut down on the time I spend on that game, so no more time to read books while the game is doing its thing. Now I just use the in-game function to skip that gameplay. And buying books? That was a long time ago. Now I just borrow books from the library. I am a humongous cheapskate.

Writing books seems like a lottery. If you're really lucky you go viral for some reason.

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When I first read the title of this post, I was certain that you were going to explain how you were just done with creative endeavours all together. While this post isn’t exactly comforting (the dominance of romance novels and the rise of AI stories are a bit scary) I am glad that you’re still being creative through other means. I wish you luck with your short film!

And by the way? I greatly enjoyed your narration for A Town Called Nowhere. Writers aren’t typically known for their acting skills so I wasn’t expecting much when I first gave it a listen, but you did a very good job.

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