Veracity
What constitutes truth?
It will surprise no one who reads these weekly essays to learn that I genuinely love words. The title of my Substack reflects that love—I believe with all my heart that words matter, and I strive to use mine in ways that edify, encourage, comfort, heal…and occasionally entertain. I’m always on the hunt for great words, for a lovely turn of phrase that just makes me smile.
Now and again I fixate on a word or a sentence—something that just feels good in my mouth, in my ears, or in my heart.
Today I’m thinking of the adage “A picture’s worth a thousand words.” It’s true: Pictures speak to us. They can move us, thrill us, inspire us, or horrify us. Whether taken with a camera or drawn by hand, a picture can express volumes.
In what may seem a bit of a non sequitur, I have a…difficult relationship with AI.
Being a creative writer, I have a visceral (and unpleasant) response to the notion of using artificial intelligence for any of my writing. I know of writers who routinely use it, and I struggle not to judge. I also know writers who use it to outline a piece before writing, to proofread a rough draft, or as a catalyst for ideas. And while those feel different to me than wholesale content generation, I still struggle a bit with the approach.
That said, I used it the other day to help me generate some ideas for a project at work. Not for one of my novels—the horror!—but for a new training program at my day job (you know, the one that pays the bills). I found the results to be helpful and, dare I say it, a springboard for my own creativity.
Not gonna lie—it felt a little creepy.
Was it cheating? Was it fair? Did it qualify as my work?
I have a couple of dear writer friends who will laugh at my misgivings (I’m looking at you, Bill Tomoff and Karena deSouza). They have come face to face with the veracity question and land strongly on the side of “How is it any different from brainstorming in a room full of other marketers?” and “How is it different from paying an editor to review your work?” among other salient questions. These are writers—even more, these are humans I respect and admire.
Yet still I am ambivalent.
One area where I’m utterly crystal clear is my books. I have written every single word of Bread Pudding in Barcelona, Something Will Sing to Your Heart, and my new novel, A Thistle in the Cevennes. And that conviction goes beyond the words on the page. It goes to the picture of the work, the story a reader sees at first glance.
It goes to the cover.
I had the priceless blessing of meeting Samantha Sanderson-Marshall when I first interviewed cover artists. She is a true unicorn among designers: a woman who reads novels cover to cover (many only want your synopsis or a few bullet points) and had a vision for the entire four-book series after reading only the first one. She even talked about the artwork for the boxed set, long before I’d written a word of book two. She’s fallen in love with the four main characters and feels their pain and joy. That’s allowed her to create the most astonishingly beautiful covers I can imagine. With book three coming out in a couple of weeks, I have bookstore owners who are as interested in what the cover looks like as they are the story line.
Samantha refuses to use AI. Every single line of these gorgeous covers is painstakingly drawn by hand. They aren’t just works of art. They are works of love.
Could she crank out work faster if she relaxed her standards? Sure. Just like I could “write” more than one book a year. She’d make a lot more money. I’d make…well, I suppose I’d make some money. God knows one doesn’t go into writing indie novels for the cash.
Ah, but I wonder…could we look at these books with the same sense of pride and awe? Would we as eagerly showcase them to the world?
No way.
And so I continue with my snail’s pace of writing and she with her drawing. We will meet once a year to share the latest story of the women who have become our friends and sisters, and we will create something readers can treasure. I’ll keep showing up at author events where people gush over the covers and the authentic women they represent. I won’t judge anyone who feels differently, nor will I change my own conviction.
But when I finish the Blooming series book four (halfway done and yet to be titled), I may very well start a new one.
Maybe I’ll call it Veracity.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
If you’re in the central Florida area, I’d love to meet you and share more about midlife reinvention and my contemporary romance novels, Bread Pudding in Barcelona, Something Will Sing to Your Heart, and A Thistle in the Cevennes. It’s never too late to be who you’ve always dreamed of being.
Storyteller Summit, 11 April, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Oviedo Mall, 1700 Oviedo Mall Blvd, Oviedo FL 32765
The Book End at the Daytona Beach Arts Fest, 12 April, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Downtown Daytona Beach, FL
Tarpon Springs Book Festival, 25 April, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Court Street, Downtown Tarpon Springs FL
Page & Pen, 3 October, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Oviedo Mall, 1700 Oviedo Mall Blvd, Oviedo FL 32765
The Book End at the Halifax Arts Festival, 7-8 November, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
166 South Beach Street, Daytona Beach, FL
Love hearing about your book cover designer! Great great cover art!!!
Love your book covers Cindy!