Comments for Kristen Lamb

Comment on Chasing AI Rainbows & Fool’s Gold: Real Writers Know How to DIG by Kristen Lamb

Kristen Lamb — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 20:28:17 +0000

In reply to Jane Ryder. Yeah, I will be writing new material on this soon. Have had some predictions of my own I was waiting to see play out. Thanks for the thoughtful comment!

Comment on Chasing AI Rainbows & Fool’s Gold: Real Writers Know How to DIG by Jane Ryder

Jane Ryder — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 14:18:31 +0000

Wow. That was incredibly well said! I agree completely. I can take it even further. I have a library science degree and worked as a librarian for a while in a major metropolitan library system (before discovering I’m not cut out to answer the same exact question 27 times a day). I became a librarian just as computers were becoming commonplace and the internet was beginning to be a thing, so I’ve seen the way we gather information change dramatically, and while it’s made life easier, I wouldn’t say it’s better. When I was in college and grad school then library school, we had to dig and mine for information — we had to LEARN how to find things out. We couldn’t just google anything: we had to figure out the most likely terms to search — first the card catalog, then databases — and each source would lead us to more sources. Because of that we learned all kinds of things along the way. They may not have been directly relevant to what we were searching for, but they provided context and added to the sum of our knowledge, which made us more rounded human beings and better citizens of the world. Also, for information to be preserved in a library or database, that almost always meant it had been vetted by other experts, ensuring it was factual and accurate. With the internet, we don’t even have to spell something correctly for a search engine to come back with the answer, and it takes us right where we want to go. We lose out on learning anything but the exact answer we were looking for.

Ironically, ChatGPT once flattered me with this description of my librarian-learned skills: “Librarians aren’t trained to be walking encyclopedias—they’re trained to be reliable navigators of uncertainty. That’s a very different skill. A good librarian isn’t the person who has all the answers; they’re the person who knows how to find the best answer, evaluate it, and recognize when the available information is incomplete or contradictory.”

We don’t evaluate information anymore. And as AI continues to learn, it’s going to get harder and harder to distinguish computer-generated from real. That’s just going to speed up the dumbing-down of humanity.

Comment on Narrative Style: The Heart of Storytelling & Why It Also Matters in Memoir by Lucas Walker

Lucas Walker — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 16:16:10 +0000

Appreciate the step-by-step breakdown. Very beginner friendly.

Comment on Chasing AI Rainbows & Fool’s Gold: Real Writers Know How to DIG by Philip Loyd

Philip Loyd — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 09:35:28 +0000

Real writers! Yes! You nailed it! REAL WRITERS MARKET

Comment on If AI Loves Your Writing, Be Very VERY Worried by Geoff

Geoff — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:52:46 +0000

There is something deeply insulting about a toaster-brained algorithm loving your prose. If the machine thinks it is great, it probably means you used so many predictable tropes that it could map out your entire plot before chapter three. Have you ever caught yourself unconsciously writing exactly what the bot wants just to see the green checkmark?

Comment on Why Americans Measure in Football Fields & Likely Always Will by DJ Austin

DJ Austin — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 16:39:36 +0000

The MAIN problem with the metric system is that it’s based on TEN, which is ONLY divisible by TWO and FIVE. We should actually be using a base TWELVE system, which is divisible by TWO, THREE, FOUR, and SIX. There are a great many measurements which are base twelve already and will NEVER be based on division by five (division by two already works in a base twelve system). Try to buy a five-pack of beer, or pack several ten-packs of eggs on a pallet, or explain how long a quarter-hour (fifteen minutes) would be in a twenty hour day. I’m all for eliminating the metric system entirely, and believe that in a thousand years it’ll be a curiosity of history.
By the way, counting by twelve is actually EASIER than counting by ten. If you use your thumb for a marker, touch in turn each of the three segments of your four fingers to count to twelve, then use the other hand to count the twelves. Two hands, twelve dozen (144 in base ten). Base ten? Five fingers x two hands, THAT’S IT!

Comment on Chasing AI Rainbows & Fool’s Gold: Real Writers Know How to DIG by Kristen Lamb

Kristen Lamb — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 02:58:58 +0000

In reply to Rachel Thompson. I use AI to check for typos, grammar glitches, etc. I think that is a great use for AI (and yes, spellcheck and Grammarly and all that count as AI).

Comment on Chasing AI Rainbows & Fool’s Gold: Real Writers Know How to DIG by Kristen Lamb

Kristen Lamb — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 02:57:32 +0000

In reply to Jane McBay.

And I HATE that! Because it makes everyone suspicious of creatives. The frigging EM DASH is a great example. Go look through my posts. I have almost 20 years of articles on-line and you can see I LOVE the em dash…but so does AI. Now, every time someone sees an EM DASH, they roll their eyes and go, “Must be AI” OR they are at least suspicious.

We have enough BS that rips people out of the fictive dream without this nonsense.

Comment on Chasing AI Rainbows & Fool’s Gold: Real Writers Know How to DIG by Kristen Lamb

Kristen Lamb — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 02:55:08 +0000

In reply to merrymuhsman.

GURL! If you lived next door we’d get nothing done, LOL! Or we would just have the most AWESOME writing group…ever! Yeah I use it for that and, as you know, I will feed work through to look for typos, grammar, repetitive words and any obvious problems…but I FIX THOSE.

And thanks for the confidence boost. I was worried no one really wanted to hear anything more about AI.

Comment on Chasing AI Rainbows & Fool’s Gold: Real Writers Know How to DIG by curt wendelboe

curt wendelboe — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 18:23:29 +0000

AI in the writing context is evil. It has revolutionized many aspects of our lives–medicine, the military, transportation–but witting isn’t one of them. With any luck someone will come up with a bad ass way to spot and discard writing developed through AI. Excellent article, and I am glad someone folks are sounding the alarm before we can’t put the genie back in the bottle (to use a non-AI cliche.)