Sera Maddox Drake

@SeraDrake None—I do not disqualify based on ongoing contests. It was only for past Wattpad contests. I am a judge for all the Wattpad contests (Ambys, ONC, Shortys, etc.), so I knew the favorites for a while now and would have informed you if there were any issues in advance! If anyone is selected for the upcoming ONC, that also will not impact your standing in my contests. So only contests that were not ongoing/upcoming at the time of your form!
            
            The end of this chapter in the WHO Awards has more details!: https://www.wattpad.com/1465838453-who-mini-awards-open-judging-interlude-judging

@Ravendipity - how many of your contests are my existing entries now disqualified from now that I am apparently a Top Pick, Poetry for the 2024 Amby awards? This was a development I had not seen coming. I'm sorry.

It's still only my poetry, not the writing I actually take seriously, but it's something.

@SeraDrake congrats.

@SeraDrake Understand.

To reiterate: I'm not editing the poetry itself. That stuff stands. It's the art I'm furiously editing.

@SeraDrake Schools need to identify and describe levels of AI use and be very clear about identifying which level of AI use is permissible for assignments. Before that, they need to break down and be sure students understand the levels. Students also need to be able to and be ready to provide all steps of their process. And of course, there should be consequences if students violate the expectations. It should be part of the academic honesty policies...
            
            (My K-12 school has developed something, though it is in flux. I don't think my son's college has though...)

@JonLeePeto - My former colleagues who are languishing in adjunct faculty hell are telling me that AI-assisted plagiarism is getting more common. And I'm seeing people using AI on Wattpad not just to write or polish "their own" books, but also to write or polish reviews, critiques, etc. There seems to be a genuine lack of understanding that beyond spell-checking and certain basic functions of grammar-checking (correction of inconsistencies in verb tense, for instance, or corrections of punctuation errors) the AI assistance is not just checking and correcting. It's re-writing. Polishing is re-writing. Your writing is no longer your own, and you can no longer take full credit for what you have put forth. 
            
            If a person makes use of a human editor it is both standard and polite to credit the editor. Editing borders on collaboration. You're helping someone create a work of art. You're midwifing it. Sometimes it's a difficult birth and you do a lot of work to help your author get that work out; sometimes it's easy and you do little more than stand by, look at the draft, and pronounce it healthy. Either way, you're involved. 
            
            Which is why authors thank their editors in forewords or afterwords in their published books, and screenplays list editors along with scriptwriters, not that many people bother to watch all the credits. 
            
            AI is no different. It's not human, so it's not really working when it rewrites your material for you, but your words are still no longer your own by the time it is done "polishing." It's insane that so many people below a certain age don't seem to grasp that. Those of us who did not get introduced to AI in our teens and do not take it for granted as part of our worlds have a different perspective on AI from those who don't know what the world looked like without it.

@SeraDrake Using it for work related nonsense writing is okay, I think, though ya gotta check it of course...
            
            But using AI to "write" fiction or creative non-fiction... I think people should be very clear in that case about how they used AI, because people have a right to read fiction and creative non-fiction that has a heart, meaning human communication. I don't want to take seriously writing spit out by a machine. I would be very angry if I was "analyzing" writing that didn't have a communicating human behind it.
            
            Actually, I've been thinking about experimenting with AI to write fiction, but I will be very clear about my process if I do, and my process would focus on AI being a tool to communicate my message.
            
            For example, if someone prompts AI to write, say, their chapter, using a 2-3 sentence prompt, no. I would not want to read it and I would want a warning upfront, so I wouldn't waste my time reading or analyzing that AI drivel.

@SeraDrake Sometimes our insecurities get in the way of our ambition. I have had the best writing year ever last year, went viral for the first time, was nominated for two Amby awards, published on Amazon. My insecurity has been even worse with success and I forced myself to stop. Not everyone will give me a good review.  Maybe I am not the best writer, but I am having fun. 
            But I have seen writers who never want to improve.

@JankyFluffy - Well, a lot of that is also burning ambition... Is there any ambition that isn't rooted in insecurity, I wonder? Probably not. Ambition is about trying to prove oneself.

@SeraDrake I used to think that way and it's unhealthy. Most indie authors aren't going to win a Pulitzer, but you can submit your books. I think it costs 80 bucks per book. Even if you become a literary star you will still be insecure. Fame will make it worse.  
            I am insecure and hate when I get bad reviews it happens and it's life. My books are not for every reader. 
            I work on improving my writing and force my imposter syndrome to work for me instead of against me.
            I know the majority of my work is not commercial and that is fine and the fact I give most of my books for free is fine too.
            I hope this doesn't help you, but a friend helped me with my massive insecurities. I am disabled, but after she helped me I went on to try the  Artist Way program. It mentions God a lot because it's inspired by Alcoholics Anonymous. You can replace God with any word you like.  Putting your work down all the time can keep your work from reaching the right people.

@WendyyWolfe - Both Pasternak (who in Russia is more famous for his poetry, but in the West is mostly known for his novel, _Doctor Zhivago_) and Pushkin are AMAZING.

@katiegoesmew and @WendyyWolfe - If you're curious about what Russian poetry sounds like at its most beautiful, and you want to associate it with something other than a Cheers episode, try listening to the song "Apres Mois" by Regina Spektor. In the middle of the song, she sets Boris Pasternak's song about February to the song's tune, and it is beautiful.
            
            Февраль. Достать чернил и плакать
            Писать о феврале навзрыд
            Пока грохочущая слякоть
            Весною черною горит
            Февраль. Достать чернил и плакать
            Писать о феврале навзрыд
            Пока грохочущая слякоть
            Весною черною горит
            
            One English translation for those of us who love how it sounds but don't know enopugh Russian to understand it in the original:
            
            February.  Get out the ink and weep!
            Sob in February, sob and sing
            While the wet snow rumbles in the street
            And burns with the black spring.
            
            Take a cab. For a coin
            Be carried through church bells, the chirp of tyres
            To a place where the torrential rain
            Is louder still than ink or tears
            
            Where, like charred pears
            A thousand rooks break from the bough
            Fall to puddles, cast their parched cares
            Into eyes of melted snow.
            
            There gaps open black in the snow’s expanse
            And the crow-pocked wind throbs
            And the surest poems come by chance
            Wrought from sobs.
            
            https://andotherpoems.com/2014/02/04/sasha-dugdale/

@SeraDrake That's so cool! I...unfortunately thought of the episode of Cheers where Diane's friend who specializes in Russian poetry sets her sights on Sam, and that didn't exactly put Russian poetry in good light...but this is really unique compliment. :)

For more thoughts about purple prose and how it works (or doesn't work) see:
            
            https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Quotes/PurpleProse

@SeraDrake  @SeraDrake You are good enough. Hundreds of talented writers and poets were rejected so it can't be that mediocre, and you were placed with some top award winners and nominees.  Maybe your poetry is better than you think.  And the Amby awards do not judge on the cover or art just the writing. 
            This is the only major poetry award on Wattpad so there are a lot of entries. 
            I saw the announcement before Christmas, and like you, I feel I won't win.
             I have been nominated and lost so many poetry awards for years that I lost count. I have won one, in which hundreds of women entered from a group of churches. 
            My novel is really for people who love fantasy and comedy and if I win I would be shocked, to say the least, and thrilled. 
            To be nominated means something. So don't put yourself down.
            Could I make my books even better, yes, there are style issues I wish to improve on and I have impostor syndrome sometimes like why do I belong with such great authors and poets?  The fact we were both nominated with such talented people means something.  Maybe we won't win, like only 70 out of 300 will win, but we placed and that is amazing.
            And yes, there are things I  want to improve but it's so cool to be a finalist.  And your poetry book has 2k reads and lots of awards. You deserve to be there. 
            Being a finalist is a win it's self.

@SeraDrake I do hope at least one of us wins. If I lose poetry I hope you at least win. But ya the poetry awards were done earlier last year too.

@JankyFluffy - The poetry results have already been decided. I saw an announcement sometime after Christmas. 
            
            I already know I won't win anything (I am honestly surprised that my mediocre poetry made it as far as the Amby shortlist) so I might as well clean up my art. I find my early cack-handed attempts at making art to be an embarrassment.

@SeraDrake, they are leeches! When I switched my account to pro on IG, so many comes to me to review and promote my book although I explained to them I have no money and the book is only on Wattpad at the moment. They were still insisting.

@SeraDrake I agree.

@SeraDrake Thanks for the heads up! Definitely have to be careful when it comes to those things.