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Melissa Storm's avatar

Thank you so much for having me on the Author Stack today, Russell. And thanks as always for not only encouraging my freak flag to fly, but also helping to hoist it higher!

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Russell Nohelty's avatar

You’re welcome! Happy to do it :)

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Amanda Aaron 🇨🇦's avatar

I have to admit - I laughed out loud at the PS part to see what your prompt was and to find out exactly what I had just read was written by AI. Nicely done!

This certainly gives me hope. I've back several Kickstarters for books. My husband has backed several, SEVERAL Kickstarters for boardgames. Honestly, as a writer, I've been a bit turned off from using Kickstarter for books because the last few authors I've heard from had some serious complaints. I am looking to self-publish my memoir one day and the logistics of the whole thing are still very much up in the air for me.

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Melissa Storm's avatar

I'm all about providing hope, and I love when someone pulls back the curtain so we can see how things work, not just hear a secondhand explanation, which is why I try to do that for others.

I hope to see you inside my Kickstarter, Amanda. It's an amazing platform when you, too, are an amazing person (wink). Eff the scammers!

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A. E. Costello's avatar

"here’s what I wrote to prompt my robot assistant (in this case ChatGPT 5.1, although I’m typically a Gemini simp) to prep this post:" -- does this mean you used A.I. to help you write your posts for Substack or possibly use A.I. in writing your novels? Just curious 🤔

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Melissa Storm's avatar

Sometimes yes and sometimes no. I believe more people need to be open about their use to help others be less afraid and make the choices that are right for them based on logic rather than fear. Yes, AI absolutely helped me write this particular post... And that's why I shared the prompt at the bottom to be transparent and to show people how it can look when AI is used and what goes into it. I hope it helped to see!

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A. E. Costello's avatar

Alrighty thanks for being so open and fearlessly answering my question. 😊

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Melissa Storm's avatar

Nothing to be afraid of from me. Always happy to answer questions. Including on this post if you have more!

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A. E. Costello's avatar

Oh I wasn't afraid of you! It was a great post.

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Melissa Storm's avatar

Awesome. Well met, new friend. I figured you couldn't be too much of a trembling leaf on the vine, given that this is RUSSELL's home base - and he is kind of known for his amazing audacity ;)

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A. E. Costello's avatar

I guess I am still a new leaf...I don't recognize the name Russell.

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