This week I'm at the Bank Trainer's Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. It's a great time to get together with other folks in my profession to learn things, compare notes, and just commiserate with others who understand the trials and tribulations of designing and delivering training that adds value and satisfies the higher ups at the same time.
Needless to say, that I haven't had much time to work on all of my varied writing projects that I've currently working on. That being said, it doesn't mean I haven't been thinking of them. For instance, I have written just over 3,000 words of the third book in tghe Dragon Island Legends series, Pirate Queen. I've been thinking of the direction the plot will take.
I am waiting for the next round of sketches from artist Emily Hurst Pritchett for the second book in the series, Serpent's Den. As that progresses, I will have to work on laying out the book--a job that I really don't like because it's not really my strong point. Anyway, here's the thumbnail sketch of the cover that Emily sent:
Right now it's rough, but I'm looking forward to seeing how Emily brings it to life.
I am also slowly working on updating the cover titles and interiors of the Deliverers series books in anticipation of the rollout with the new ISBNs. It's a big project because not only will I have to update the Amazon editions, but I will also have to do new formatting for new IngramSpark editions, which is new to me. While that won't happen until early in 2027, 2026 is winding down more quickly that I would like.
Anyway, a lot of the buzz at the bank trainer's conference has revolved around AI and how it could aid in developing lesson plans, materials, and presentations. While learning more about these options and techniques was my focus coming into the conference, I have discovered that AI and how it affects the entire organization is a far greater issue that I imagined. The bank I work for is just starting to dabble in AI, and it seems that we are far behind a lot of banking institutions around the country in our acceptance of this new tool. That can potentially put us at a great disadvantage.
In my writing career, I have avoided AI other than coming up with a handful of AI generated images for my blog rather than using stock images. While I will not use it for my writing or for artwork for my books, I am coming around to the idea that it may be useful in helping me with my marketing.
This evening I used ChatGPT, asking it to give advice. I told it my genre and that I had a four book middle grade fantasy adeventure series and a couple other middle grade books. I told it I sold most of my books in person, although I was on Amazon as well. The suggestions it gave me were interesting. I was surprised that I was already doing many of the things it suggested, but there were also a few things that I am NOT doing. So, it's given me a little food for thought.
While it did not give me any magic formulas, it confirmed that I was on the right track with some of the actions/strategies I am employing while also suggesting other strategies that I hadn't considered or have been avoiding. So now I have a few more things to consider, although I don't think I will tackle that until after I republish myh existing books.
In any event. you will be the first to hear how that goes when it happens. For now, I have enough on my plate to keep me busy. I'll keep you updated as things develop.
Peace.
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