Standing at the threshold of a new year, we’re pretty much glad to leave 2025 in the rearview mirror. Yes, there were high spots, but tempered with much shock and sadness. I don’t think I have to enumerate those heartbreaking events. I’m sure you can fill in the blanks. But life does go on. The human spirit is resilient. And opportunities will always

 abound where we can make our own worlds brighter – for ourselves and for others. 

That’s at least what IWOC has always been preoccupied with doing for the last 44 years of our existence, and intend to continue doing in the coming year by supporting its members in their work and even as friends. How?

• Our monthly meetings. A lot of effort (and some anxiety) goes into coming up with programs that we believe will be of interest to our members and subscribers. Judging from much of the feedback, we hit the mark and have even made big differences in how members have benefitted from the info, be it in their businesses or in their writing craft. Best of all, the meetings are recorded – so for those who missed any, no sweat. They can live or relive the experience on our Member Resources page.

• IWOC Writers Social Group. Thanks to member Kathryn Occhipinti recently spearheading the idea, IWOC members can follow, like and share each other’s postings on X, FB, LI, Insta – and whatever platform you champion. It’s a great way to promote yourself and your works and help your fellow writers as well. To join the group, contact Kathryn.

• Mentorships. Betcha didn’t know IWOC has a mentor page. Should you need one or wish to be one, visit Find a Mentor and sign up to give or get mentoring on areas ranging from Advertising, AI, Blogging – and more.

• Member shout-outs. Want to toot your horn about a recent accomplishment? Tell the Membership Committee and they’ll toot it out for you in an eblast that will reach 1000+ contacts, plus they’ll put it on our social platforms.
  

• 50+ Job Sites. All on one page. We’ve vetted over 50 very impressive Job Sites and listed them for you right here. How convenient! Explore and apply to any or all.

• Party  on! Who doesn’t love a fun party, wrapped around fantastic food and lively conversation? It’s what we plan three times a year, just to reconnect with longtime friends and make new ones. Because along with the bread, everyone needs time out for circuses!

If you think of any other ways IWOC can be supportive to your writing endeavors and businesses, be it programs or special events, reach out and tell us. Until then, wishing you a Happy, Healthy, Safe and Fulfilling 2026! 

  -- Laura Stigler

When it comes to AI, as far as writers are concerned, there are two quite divergent, Dickensian schools of thought, with one camp viewing these as the best of times, and the other viewing it as the worst of times: 

• The optimists embrace AI as a tool that can make them more efficient, effective, and productive; 

• The pessimists view it as an abomination at best, an existential threat at worst, to the point of reacting by laying down their pens and quitting the profession. 

That’s according to the results of the masterful AI and the Writing Professionssurvey and analysis of professional writers just conducted by Gotham Ghostwriters and WOBS. Survey design and analysis were conducted by Josh Bernoff, an author of books about writing with 30 years of survey analysis experience, including the 2024 Business Book ROI Study. 

The survey generated a broad collection of 1,481 complete responses from working writers, including 1,190 writing professionals and 291 fiction authors. Here’s a summary of the key findings: 

• Six out of ten writing professionals use AI tools at least sometimes— 26% use them daily. Thought leadership writers are most likely to use them (84%), while journalists (44%) and copy editors (33%) are least likely. 

• Respondents can be divided into four categories:
  
• • Advanced AI users (use AI daily, 6+ different AI-aided tasks weekly) 
  • Basic (use for 3-5 AI-aided tasks weekly)
    
  • Dabbler (use AI at least occasionally, or perform 1-2 AI-aided tasks weekly)
    
  • Nonuser (Use AI rarely or never, does no tasks with AI weekly)

• Notably, writing professionals report income of:  $120,000 for advanced AI users; $100,000 for basic AI users; $73,000 for nonusers. Bernoff considers this to be a case of correlation vs. causation on the theory that the highest-paid writers are the ones most likely to use AI to increase their productivity.
  

• Contrary to popular opinion, most users don’t employ AI as a digital ghostwriter— Popular uses include finding possible titles, doing searches, and brainstorming; only 7% of writers use it to generate text that's not edited further. So, most respondents don’t use it to churn out “AI slop;” instead, they use it as a productivity tool.

• Writers who use AI think that AI makes them a lot more productive— The more they use the tools, the more they believe this. Across all writing professionals using AI, 43% believe that it makes their writing better, and only 9% believe it makes their writing worse.

• Try it, you’ll like it— The more writers use AI, the less worried they are about it: 57% of advanced AI users think AI is a positive force for the profession, only 3% of non-users agree. 

• The pessimists have been driven to despair by AI:
   
• • 79% are concerned about the erosion of perceived value of human writers;
  • 73% think opportunities for writing professionals will decline in the next five years;
  • A worrisome 45% report reduced demand;
    
  • 40% report reduced income; and,
    
  • Worst of all, 25% are considering giving up their careers due to AI, a result that is consistent regardless of how much those writers use AI. 

• AI is hardly a panacea—It’s more like autopilot on a Tesla—you’re the driver and you need to carefully monitor it based in your lifetime of subject matter expertise. 91% of respondents are worried about hallucinations. 81% are worried about content theft.

To the pessimists, I say “nil desperandum” (don’t despair). View AI as a tool like any other, one that can make you exponentially better, more productive, and typo-free. Embrace it. Write the AI way and see what I mean.

Like any technology, AI opens new opportunities, such as editing AI output. In any event, it’s here to stay. So we need to adapt or die in a professional sense.

Ultimately, writing is simply thought and emotion expressed with visual symbols we call alphabets. I’m optimistic that writing worth reading by real (vs. virtual) writers will prevail in the marketplace of ideas. The only forum I see the rise of the writing machines prevailing in, is marketing applications wherein machines write for machines including SEO (search engine optimization) and GEO (generative engine optimization).

Bernoff is a writer worth reading. I highly recommend that you follow him on LinkedIn. You can download the full survey results here. 

  -- Terry Nugent

I had an amazing time presenting at IWOC’s October 14 meeting and look forward to many other in-person events.

At that meeting, one aspiring author stood out for a major reason: she asked valuable questions during the Q&A which clearly marked her as someone who was looking to understand the process for a traditional publishing deal.

Afterwards, several of the attendees and I went to dinner, where the aspiring author (to protect her privacy, I’ll call her “Lady V”) asked me to please take a look at her pitch and give her feedback. She brought the pitch up on her phone. I knew the moment I started reading it: The opening line was a hook! The rest was too long to pitch in a query to agents. I told her we’d revise the rest over dinner.  

Well, at that wonderful dinner, the more I revised, the more I loved the premise of what Lady V’s story was about. It was perfect for what acquisitions editors are looking for at the moment. Right there, I told Lady V I would love to represent her as her literary agent. We both bubbled over with excitement at this prospect!

I believe in the concept, and just meeting Lady V, I believe in her and the commitment to getting it done right. On a personal level she is pleasant, flexible, open to learning and that goes a long way to representation. I let everyone at the dinner table know that I plan to represent her for those reasons alone. 

Now for the hard part.

The manuscript is currently in a beta reading status. This is normally the last part before pitching. Lady V hasn’t gone through the first part before pitching: Developmental editing, line editing, THEN beta reads.

At my urging, the following day she sent the work off for a sample edit from a group of verified editors listed on my resource page: Angel Payne, Stephanie M. Freeman, Traci Finlay, Ellen Kiley Goeckler, and Mo Systma. I needed Lady V to see the difference in approach and style from different editors and get valuable feedback – which was immediate. “Great premise,” they affirmed. Well, I knew that. But it needs structural work that would have editors sailing through the read while not hitting any speed bumps.

I jumped on a Zoom with one of the editors and Lady V so she could receive that feedback and take notes. I also read the feedback from one of the other editors. She’s going to incorporate that feedback, choose a developmental editor that works well in the genre she’s writing in, then slide it back to the beta reader she had already commissioned. 

If all goes as planned, I’ll be shopping it for a deal by February/March 2026. Send her some good wishes!

What I recommend to those who are querying:

• A tight one- to two-paragraph pitch that's in the voice of the character.
• A 2-to-3 paragraph bio that focuses on what you've accomplished and what you're looking to accomplish with your literary career.
• Make sure you have a digital footprint somewhere. One of the first things I check is Facebook and Instagram. 
• QueryTracker is where most authors find agents. Also, Manuscript Wish List.

Good reads: Pick up a copy of The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman, On Writing by Stephen King, The Plot Clock by Joyce Sweeney, and Telling Your Tale by Angela Benson.

I hope all of you reading this story have found it inspiring in itself. With talent, hard work, and a can-do attitude, you never know where your next opportunity will pop up. But it will!

-- Lissa Woodson

A round of applause please for those who attended our September 9 Writers Roundtable. This particular session was a bit different from all those past. No newbies were in attendance. Most everyone was a seasoned writer. So the perennial questions usually posed – “How do you find work?” “How do I deal with clients delinquent in their payments?” “How much should I charge?” – none of those came up. Instead, more current concerns and issues were raised. 

As is our custom, we did not record the Roundtable meeting out of respect for everyone’s privacy. But that doesn’t mean those who couldn't attend should be kept in the dark. I’d like to share some of the topics discussed that may be on your mind as well. Such as...

1.      Artificial Intelligence (AI). Ah, yes. The very mention of those words (or initials) gets the hackles up and the conversation rolling. Although when asked who uses it, at first there were crickets. 

•  No one really wanted to admit it, perhaps thinking they would be publicly scorned for having AI do any writing for them. Until one brave soul piped up, explaining how he uses it when writing Substack articles: He dictates the content to Chat GPT. Then reads it afterwards, and does any necessary editing. All the words, thoughts and ideas are his. But this “dictation” method seems to let his writing process flow. Fair enough! 

• Another usage mentioned: Zoom meeting summations, often to comical results. It is handy in that you don’t necessarily have to take notes. Nevertheless you still better pay attention to what’s being said in the meeting because AI may miss some of the most important points made. And include some irrelevant details. Such as when someone sidetracks the meeting to discuss their irritable bowel syndrome. TMI.

• In the area of research, cautionary tales were voiced – like the famous one where a lawyer submitted a legal brief chockful of case fabrications. He got his knuckles rapped because of it. Awkward!  So if you do happen to use AI for research purposes, double down on searching out and corroborating any “facts” it may have presented. 
  

2.      Independent Contractors: Where do we stand? This is a topic I’ve written about in a few Stet issues over the past five years concerning the classification of freelancers and efforts to turn them (us) into W-2 employees. In our group, I was asked to give an update and brief background for those unfamiliar with the issue: 

•  It all started in 2019. A new rule (AB5) was implemented in California, causing 4 million freelancers in hundreds of professions to lose their gigs due to wrongly being misclassified, igniting a backlash not just in the Golden State, but in states across the nation. Why? Read on...

• Spurred on by the California ruling, some other states (including Illinois) started thinking the classification of Independent Contractors was something that needed to be addressed and began making efforts to create their own rules. It has yet to be resolved. Illinois is still tinkering.

• On the federal level, bills protecting Independent Contractors are still being debated in Congress. I urge you to contact your two U.S. Senators and Representative. Tell them to support freelancers. Then keep your fingers crossed that Congress rules in favor of our freelance way of life.

• For more background, please visit Fight for Freelancers USA. To keep up with the latest news on this topic, I suggest subscribing (it's free) to the Substack “Freelance Busting” columns of Kim Kavin, the co-founder of Fight for Freelancers USA and a brilliant go-to authority on the topic. She’s an excellent writer – and funny to boot.
  

3.    The IWOC / Writers and Publishers Network merge. What’s going on? The process is ongoing, albeit slowly. But in the meantime, it’s business (and pleasure) as usual, with programs and parties continuing to be in the works.

4.    The IWOC evolution. Since its inception in 1981, IWOC has been catering to the needs of freelancers who actually make their living at what they've been gifted to do: write. But for the last few years, we’ve been attracting more book authors and so, we’ve been offering more programs that cater to their needs as well. And why not! Writers need help in their efforts to succeed no matter their disciplines or areas of expertise. Period. Thus, we’re expanding our mission statement to express the widening of our tent. Welcome all writers!

5.    Speaking of programs… Every month we’re faced with the challenge of coming up with programs that will best serve our members. In the 44 years of our existence, not a month was ever missed. Still, someone wondered why we don’t have programs on such-and-such subjects. Our suggestion: Suggest them! Contact our Program Committee. Let them know the sort of programs that would capture your interest. They will love hearing from you. Guaranteed. (Better yet, join the Committee!)

That closes the books on the Writers Roundtable 2025. Thank you to those who’ve attended and engaged in the lively conversation. To those who missed it, we missed you. Then again, there’s always next year!

Till the next round…

-- Laura Stigler

Is it me? Or did 2024-25 fly by at warp speed? Either way, it’s a good time to reflect on the good times IWOC-ers had this past year... and to zoom forward for a quick look at what lies ahead. Happy travels!

2024-25 IWOC Programs 

Challenging as it may have been – and always is when it comes to mining for programs and speakers that would capture the interest of IWOC members and friends of IWOC, once again the Program Committee of Betsy Storm, Jay Schwarz and Jeff Steele (with contributions from other IWOC-ers) has jam-packed the year serving up the following. Anyone who came and saw, came out wiser busines

speople and savvier self-marketers, loaded with ideas about adding more “value added” aspects to their writing craft and writing services. 

• IWOC’S Ever-popular Annual Writers’ Roundtable, where everyone gets their say. (This is the only program not recorded, so all participants can speak freely.)

• The Nuts & Bolts of Screenwriting: Award-winning fiction and screenplay writer Audrey Wilson discussed how to structure your story for film, develop characters and craft a scene using dialogue and visuals to forward the plot. 

• Keys to Successfully Promoting Your Book: Joe Marich of Marich Media (who represented Michael Crichton and Australia’s best-selling author David Rollins) amusingly demonstrated how to effectively use literary marketing and media relations to get your book noticed.

• Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Explained 2.0: Friesen Press publishing consultant Christoph Koniczek outlined the ways in which self-publishing differs from traditional publishing, and covered new info regarding recent changes in the self-publishing industry.

• How to Be Your Own Best Editor: Melissa Harris and Jenn Bane, authors of Everybody Needs an Editor: The Essential Guide to Clear and Effective Writing, gave a game-changing presentation on how to be merciless in editing whatever you’re writing – to the point where it’s sharp, grabs attention – and moves the reader emotionally, intellectually or into action.

• Tapping New Writing Opportunities:. Creative Groove founder Jen Jones Donatelli shared best practices and a multitude of resources that have helped her and her creative clients break into various publications, publishers and more...and build a diverse portfolio along the way. 

• How Writers Can Use AI as a Trusted Ally:  Taking the heebie-jeebies out of the whole subject of AI, Matt Cardoni explained how writers can use the ever-expanding box of AI tools to get jobs done better and more efficiently.   

• Collaborate to Create: Co-authoring Non-Fiction:  Author Matty Dalrymple charmingly made the case for collaborating with fellow authors, recounting how it can expand audience reach, create new opportunities for income, and grow your platform.

Got ideas for writing- or business-related programs? Contact the Program Committee. We welcome them all! 

2024-25 IWOC Parties

Keep a bunch of freelance writers cooped up in their lairs all year and when given the chance, they come out to play in full force. As is our tradition, last year we gave everyone three chances to let loose and party like it’s – well, 2024. At December’s Holiday Party, we let it all hang out at hands-down fave Star of Siam. For our perennial August Greektown bacchanal, we opa’d at scenic Athena. And to welcome the Spring Equinox, we dove into delectable appies, BBQ ribs, chicken and veggie kabobs at the Weber Grill. Fab-u-licious.

Events of Interest

IWOC wasn’t the only one who put on must-see programs. We also passed the word to IWOC members about these world class events:

• Share Your Story on Jacqui Just Chatters podcasts, offered several times throughout the year

• Next Generation Short Story Awards: IWOC-ers were called upon to enter their short stories in this prestigious Nonprofit Awards Program 

• Summer Writers’ Conference on Martha’s Vineyard, where writers gathered from the world over

• Chicago Screenwriters Network held 2 free events hosted by the Chicago International Film Festival: A master class on Writing for Film & TV with Virgil Williams and a Black History Month screening of "Mudbound."

• American Writers Museum offered IWOC members free tix to see Pulitzer Prize winning humorist Dave Barry be interviewed by WTTW’s Mark Bazer on – where else? -- The Interview Show. 

• American Writers Museum offered more free tix, this time to attend “Faith is Funny,” part of the AWM’s program series, American Prophets: Writers, Religion and Culture that featured four famous comedians. 

• “Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between”: An exclusive (and free) screening with the filmmakers of this documentary examining the of the lauded singer/songwriter’s 50-year career. 

Reflections on the future

While it was indeed an excellent year and IWOC has had a wonderful, 40+ year run, it’s no secret that the times they are a-changing. Due to the many factors that I covered in last year’s President’s Post, IWOC is in the complex process of merging with the Writers & Publishers Network. But we’re not going away just yet. Until that merger is complete, we’ll still be planning programs and parties to educate and entertain all our members and subscribers, starting with our September 9 ever-popular Writers Roundtable.* Hope to see you there!

*Don’t forget: On September 9, we’ll be holding elections on the 2025-26 Board of Directors slate. Mark it down and please attend!

-- Laura Stigler

I dedicate the following to anyone who has ever loved…a car.

We didn't want to give you up. We really didn’t. I hope you believe us. We did everything we could to keep you in our lives for as long as we could. Longer than most would do for their automobiles. Two decades is a long time in car years. But like beloved family members, or best friends. Or pets. The time together is never long enough. Never mind that your undercarriage was rusted out. Who would look? Never mind the AC stopped working. We opened the windows and the breezes sufficed. Never mind that the oil leaked out on to the garage floor, caught on a cardboard pad that we’d periodically replace. So what’s a little incontinence? Do you discard a person just because the body is slowly breaking down? 

From that first day back in December, 2005, we felt we were made for each other. There was no period of adjustment. No ramp-up time needed to acclimate ourselves to your cabin. We instantly felt at home. You weren’t an automobile. You were an extension of ourselves. Smart looking, if I may. Comfortable to be with. Classy, but not flashy. You were us! Whenever I approached you or saw you approaching me, I swelled with pride. You were immediately identifiable from a distance, with your pert, Mona Lisa-smile grill – unlike today’s grills, designed to look like mad dogs with mouths wide open, bearing their fangs. And your color! It stood out from any other on the road. “Parchment” it was called. Whether in a parking lot or parked along the street, we could pick you out in an instant. Like us in Nashville, you did not blend.

Your features? They were ahead of their time – at the time: There was the “beep beep” parking assist that has become rare in today’s autos. Living with it for 20 years, we now can’t – won’t -- live without it. It has been a “must” for our next car. There was the robotic-looking cup holder that stayed camouflaged within the dash, yet with a gentle prod, appeared gracefully, silently unfolding its slender arm. So cool! So Scandinavian! There were power seats on both driver and passenger side, operating in six different positions – including up and down – even for the passenger! And yes, embedded in its rearview mirror, it even had a compass – something today’s cars can no longer accommodate, due to all the electronics interfering with the Earth’s magnetic field. It all made so much smart sense. Not surprising, considering Saab’s aviation pedigree. 

Our sweet Saab. Our home on the road. Like any home, when you leave it, memories start flooding in. But cars are special in that everything goes on in a confined, enclosed space. Conversations are carefree as you pass city streets and country lanes. Eyes on the road, talk flows like streams of consciousness, or as Ken would call it, streams of unconsciousness. And when we embarked on our songwriting journey, I’d sing my songs to Ken and he'd react exactly as I’d hope. To Something Done – bursting out with, “Oh, that’s fantastic!” And I Bought a Gun Today – “Who ARE you???” and Falling – “Moody. You’ve literally captured the act of falling – but in love!” One of the best memories of all was sitting in the Jewel parking lot, coming up with lines to the second verse of Beautiful Place – “Every night’s a date night…an I-can’t-wait night…Eating Popeye’s chicken…in our little kitchen.” Top of the world, ma! 

So often I was alone in the car when lyrics popped in my head – (You’re Still There) “Buy a bunch of lacy push-up bras…Drown my sorrows in Häagen-Dazs.” And (Watershed Moments)  “I recall when you were three-foot tall, asking me to dance” as I exited the parking lot at Treasure Island. And as I parked in the Old Orchard parking lot, (Party in the Back)  “Got the old man smilin’ like I knew he would, Boss high-fivin’, it’s all good”). And so many more.

It was always special showing our new cars to our Moms and Dad. I wish Mom could have seen the Saab. She would have loved everything about it, the color, the sophisticated shape – saying how gorgeous and “smart-looking” it was. But I know she was with us in spirit when we’d drive Dad and Mom-in-Law Adrienne everywhere, talking non-stop as we’d travel out to Judy and Dan’s. Or to doctor appointments. Or wherever they wished to go. After Dad willingly gave up the keys to his cherished 1989 Lincoln Town Car, I’d love taking him shopping at Jewel, where he chided me for walking slower than his swiftly striding 94-year-old-legs. I’d take him to the post office (he never trusted mailboxes), and to his favorite hangout, the hardware store, always eager to rummage through the sales bins or search for a gadget to add to his already overcrowded workshop, or I should say, his tool emporium. 

The Saab. Memories. A part of our little family. After a long and reluctant search, we finally found our new car, a Nissan Sentra. Shiny black with “cappuccino” leather interior. It is, admittedly, gorgeous. It has the rare “beep beep.” Yay! A driver’s power seat – not the passenger’s seat, but it is raised high enough so I could see over the dash. Sitting in its cabin surrounded by all the computerized features made me feel like Rumpelstiltskin having just woken up in a new, almost foreign technological age. Hopefully, we’ll get used to it. But we couldn’t help getting emotional about it. 

As our Saab was parked at the dealership behind the bars of a wrought iron fence, I was hoping it couldn’t see us, standing by our new Sentra. I can’t imagine how it must’ve felt. An old, favorite dog being replaced by a frisky young pup. I hope it didn’t look as we drove away. And I pray, how I pray, it found a new home. Someone who will fix it up. And love it and care for it like we did.

Love, your daddy and mommy, 

Ken & Laura 

-- Laura Stigler

For those who had enough of my tech talk, I apologize. But last month I did promise to lend a few more tips here in the June Stet. I also promise this will be my last column on the subject. (Unless, of course, you beg me for more!) 

The reason for these columns, by the way, is because many times, tech issues can be the bane of a writer’s existence. Whether it’s a software upgrade, a computer glitch or our own mere ignorance, it can interrupt our work flow, aggravating us, distracting us, getting in the way of making progress – or a deadline. So if even one of these tips can get you through all that, then my work here is done. 

It's on the menu. This might seem a labor intensive exercise, but is often where you’ll find your answers. The idea here is to check every item in that menu bar (including "Preferences" and "Settings") to see if something might apply to your problem. Say you’re writing an article in a Microsoft Word document. Suddenly, a word you’re using is indicated as misspelled. But you know it isn’t! You hold down your mouse to see what suggestions are being offered, and the suggestions are in another language! For instance, “Willkommen” is suggested to replace “Welcome.” Huh? But examine the menu. When you get to “Tools,” “Language” is in the drop-down menu. Click on that and sure enough, “German” is highlighted. The solution: Scroll to “English (US),” make that your default language. Dort! Problem solved.

Reboot. Ah, the answer to so many computer – and life’s problems! One example: I was trying to do the very quotidian task of printing a one-page document. What could go wrong, right? After giving the “Print” command, I noticed the printer was taking wayyyy too long to upload the doc. Losing patience, I cancelled and tried again. I waited again. Still nothing. Finally, I turned off the printer, waited 30 seconds (always the recommended waiting time), and turned it back on. Boom-sha-ka-la-ka! The printer spat out a perfect copy within seconds. The lesson: When your device is acting odd, balking, freezing – whatever, do the reboot. It can’t hurt and most always works.

YouTube demos. Anything you can’t figure out, chances are YouTube has a demo of it. Some problems you’re encountering may be more complex than others. I won’t get into it but here’s an example – that I was able to improve on in the comment section, and was thanked by the YouTube creator!

Then there are demos of stupid stuff. Like how in the heck do I put the ear pods back in the too-clever-by-half Apple Travel Case? After wasting 15 minutes trying to figure out the darn thing, I consulted YouTube. Sure enough, a simple demo solved it beautifully. I had to sit back and marvel at Apple's cleverness.

Again, I could go on with more tips. But don’t worry. I won’t. However I will leave you with this last bit of advice -- a warning my husband gave me after I had experienced an iPhone nightmare: Don’t do anything technical after 8:00pm. Nothing good ever happens then. Trust me.

-- Laura Stigler

And the hints just keep on coming. Remember my last month’s post where I dropped a bunch of tech-related tips for you to file away? By popular demand, I’m back to give you a few more you may find handy, whether it’s on your computer, smartphone or just being online. The following are not tips I’ve received from so-called tech gurus, but ones I discovered either purely by accident (aka dumb luck) or just my own dogged determination to find an answer. (There MUST be a pony in here somewhere!)

I’ll start with my latest encounter with an Apple “Genius.” Recently, I upgraded my iPhone to iOS 18.3.2. I did so reluctantly because it’s never simple. Upgrades always take you out of your comfort zone, delete things you like, add things you’ll never need, etc. But I went ahead with the upgrade just to stop the hounding of notifications to do so. 

It ended up going pretty smoothly – that is, until I wanted to check on some photos my sister had sent in previous texts. I went to the area where all her photos are stored. They were gone. So were photos from other friends’ texts. Now I’ll admit, I seldom check on those pix. But when you want them, you want them. For reference. For nostalgia. Whatever. I felt sick to my stomach. I called Apple Support, steam blowing out of my ears. Barely controlling my temper, I told the Genius what happened. She put me on hold for a few minutes, only to come back to tell me that yeah, with the upgrade, those photos were eliminated. “What?” I said in a modulated scream, ”Why would Apple ever want to do that?”  “I know. I know. I’m sorry. It’s happened to me, too,” the Genius empathized. 

I still couldn’t believe it. The software Geniuses at Apple could not be that stupid. I sat at the edge of my bed and started to look at my settings. Maybe I had something turned off. I made sure that everything in the Messages app that said “shared” was turned on. It was. Nothing seemed awry. I went back to my sister’s texts where the photos have been stored...and suddenly...several started to appear. Slowly, more and more popped up, with a message saying something like, “Indexing may take time to complete.” Sure enough, the following day, all the photos were back in place. A big “Whew!!!”

So there it was. The “indexing” process. Something I learned a while ago when the same thing happened to all my emails. I should have known! I so badly wanted to call Apple back and inform them of what they obviously did not know. Maybe I will. But for now, I can’t help but gloat. HEY APPLE, WHO’S THE GENIUS NOW!

The lesson: Instead of panicking at what you think may have been lost, wait. It does take time to “index” -- get things back in order – photos and emails. If in a day or two everything is still missing, I then give you permission to call Support. And scream.

(This one tip took longer for me to explain than I thought. Will continue with more in the June post. Stay tuned.)

-- Laura Stigler

Hey, listen. If the folks at Apple’s “Genius Bar” can call themselves that, why can’t I? More than once I’ve been able to solve my tech problems while they put me on hold to consult their supervisors. They’d come back with some roundabout answer – if any answer at all, and I would tell them a far simpler solution I discovered by pure dumb luck. Put that in your e-cigs and vape it, Einsteins!

So while I’m not yet to the level of, say, a Steve Jobs, I feel somewhat equipped to pass along to you some fairly basic tech knowledge that I’ve gained along the way. Maybe you have already discovered these helpful nuggets, but for those who’ve ever been stymied with various computer or online tech issues, some of these solutions may come to your rescue, eliciting an “Aha!” at the discovery. Or a forehead-smacking “Doh!” response, since they may be so simple. So obvious. 

So here we go:

Switch browsers: That’s right. Just switching your browser can solve many issues. As when you click on a link and the page won’t load. Or in my case, I was trying to create a hyperlink for a client’s website. The link wouldn’t link! I switched from Safari to Chrome – and voilà! the hyperlink worked. I will say, much as I love my iMac, there may be sites you visit that are not optimized for Safari (Mac’s built-in browser). So it’s always good to download a few different browsers on to your dock. Besides Safari (my default), I have Chrome and Microsoft Edge. Firefox is also a good one. And speaking of Microsoft Edge...

Whole-page screenshots: Say you’ve written a magazine article. For your portfolio, you want to keep a copy as it appears online. If the content was long and necessitated scrolling, I normally would have to take screenshots window by window and then cobble them together within a PDF. Not with Microsoft Edge! You simply 1) go to the three little dots in the upper right corner, 2) go to “Screenshots” and choose “Capture.” 3) Hold your mouse down, drag it horizontally across the article, then scroll down all the way to the end. Once you’ve captured the entire article, let go of the mouse and there it is: your entire content appearing from top to bottom with all the images and masthead that accompanied it – in the popular PNG format. Then click "save." It’s a beautiful thing.  

Leave it to AI: Be it a Microsoft issue, Zoom, HP – or wherever I was looking for technical support, I can’t tell you how many times I’d enter the topic of my concern on their “help” page, and up would pop hundreds of articles – all of which had nothing to do with the what I was looking for. Community forums? Usually they’re filled with lots of “expert” advice that is way more complicated than need be. “Empty your cache!” (I call it the monkey test.) “Trash your operating system and reinstall!” (Gaaaa!) “Whirl a rubber chicken over your head while hopping on one foot!” Ok, maybe not that last one, but just as useless. Often the solution: I simply enter the question or problem in Google along with the name of the software / platform / app, etc. with which I was having trouble. Sure enough, not only will AI come up with the exact and simple answer, but provide the link to where the solution is found on the software’s (platform’s, app’s, etc.) very own support pages! 

Many solutions I’ve found by pure accident. In fact, in doing a bit of research for this article, I JUST discovered something you can do on Safari: In the “File” menu, export an entire online article (or web page, etc.) as a gorgeous PDF (as opposed to doing the screenshot method described above)!!! Sooo streamlined! I’ve checked and you can’t do that on Chrome or Edge. Yay, Safari! 

These are just the tip of the tech tips I’ve serendipitously discovered. I’d like to share more. Perhaps in another article. This sort of thing actually gets me high. Call me a geek. Even better, call me a Genius. But call me especially if you need some help! I promise I won’t ask you to whirl a rubber chicken over your head.

-- Laura Stigler

A few weeks ago, an article was brought to my attention that was written by Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg. Or I should say, written by AI impersonating Mr. Steinberg. With a few directives entered into ChatGPT by Neil, the article captured his essence, spitting forth his snark, his self-deprecating humor, his penchant for clever metaphors, his knack for irony, his general wise-a**, often cynical tone. Much to Neil’s chagrin – and frankly, mine – the writing was remarkably good. 

Damn! How could this be? It left me – and Neil – with an uneasy feeling. Like being introduced to someone who looked, acted, sounded and talked exactly like you. Creepy.

So is this what our world of writing is coming to? Can we be replaced or ripped off that easily? Granted, humans have been parodying (and parroting) other people’s styles for eons, be it in the writing or entertainment profession. I myself have often done it in my own writing projects, assuming someone else’s character/personality. My Dad, a writer, used to call it “Method Writing.” You take on the voice, mannerisms, style, etc. that would conjure up a particular entity. In my own line of work, Advertising/Marketing, it’s almost a requirement. Example:

For one assignment, I had to write a website for a design consultant. She was brash, funny, blunt, highly knowledgeable and professional. I had such fun “channeling her character” and in the end, received the best compliment of all. She gleefully said it sounded as if she wrote it herself. 

Sorry if that came off like a brag. But nothing could have made me happier. And that’s just it. Writing, even if it’s just a Thank You note -- makes me happy. Fulfilled. Knowing that consciously or sub, I could somehow dig into the well of all my experiences, my stories, my inherited traits, my ability to reason, and above all, be imbued with that ineffable, mysterious thing we call “soul”... it will all mush together and come out on the written page in readable form. Hoping that in some way, it moves the reader. To laughter. To tears. To inspire. To donate. To buy something! 

Does AI do all that to get to a final draft? 

Most importantly, if you’ve ever had AI do the writing for you, how did it make you feel? Sure it saves time. And clients’ money. Maybe the result even adheres to the new standard of being “good enough.” But something is missing. And the ones who mourn it most...are writers.

This is not to be a tirade against AI. That would be stupid. Lord knows, its usage is, can and will be invaluable beyond our imaginations. As writers, it could be fantastic for research purposes, or to get the juices flowing. Or to spark an angle that otherwise wouldn’t have occurred. I’ve noticed, too, that many of the jobs being offered on various job sites are for “AI Writers.” Since they obviously require a knowledge of AI, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for us writers to learn how to use it. Certainly it would be another arrow we can add to our quiver of services. 

But please. Let that not stop us from using our own noggins. Let’s not worry. Let’s be happy. Let’s keep on writing. Even if it’s just a Thank You note.

-- Laura Stigler

P.S. Writing this article made me happy.