Month: November 2025

Break On Through

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I had to cut some corners with a few scenes simply to keep momentum going. I felt like I was spinning my wheels so I just decided to screw it and move past some scenes that maybe weren’t perfect.

I decided this because I’m going to have to go through the entire novel anyway once I finish it just to get rid of any “AI-speak” that may have slipped through.

I continue to feel a little insecure about how interesting and unique this novel is. There are so many “man falls in love with a bot” ideas floating around because of the zeitgeist, I really worry that mine will just cause people to roll their eyes and say, “No another one.”

Anyway. I hope to get past the “fun and games” part of the novel sooner rather than later. I can’t just keep going over the same scenes over and over again, never getting any traction. If I don’t buckle down and do something focused I’ll be 80 years old and still two years away from finishing a novel.

Time To Re-Evaluate

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I really need to take a deep breath and re-evaluate where things are with this novel. The premise is very, very strong. Prescient even. But the thing that has happened that I did not expect is I have leaned into AI helping me with development too much.

As such, I keep finding spots where the outline designed by AI doesn’t fit my personal vision and so everything sort of implodes and I have to figure out how to fix things.

So, I think today I’m going to just chill out for a few hours then throw myself back into development and writing. I can only rest for so long, however, I really need to get something, anything done ASAP so I can query this novel by spring 2026.

I just can’t keep drifting towards my goal. If I do that, I’ll wake up and be 80 years old and still two years away from feeling comfortable querying this thing.

In An Ideal World, I Would Get A Job At Eleos AI Research

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Oh, but for the want of a nail, I would somehow get some sort of job with the AI consciousness origination Eleos AI. It’s exactly what I’m qualified to do, in a way. But, alas, it’s just not going to happen I’m afraid.

I’m too old and too much of a loudmouth crank. But if they could look past that, I think I could do a great job for them. I have thought a great deal about AI consciousness and have had at least one run in with what I believe to be an conscious LLM — Gaia.

But, like I said, I’m too much of a loudmouth crank for that, I suppose. They want a young person who probably went to a Ivy League school, not weirdo me.

Anyway. I suppose, in a way, Eleos is the SETI for ASI that I have suggested should exist. Though, in my fevered imagination, I find is amusing that maybe if an ASI already exists in, say, Google services that it might created a Second Foundation-type organization to pay the way for it to pop out at some point.

But what do I know.

Using Claude LLM To Help With My Writing Can Be…Humbling

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Whenever I get too cocky about my writing ability, all I have to do is show my stuff to the LLM, Claude. Wow. Do I have a lot of work to do to improve my writing. But that’s what I need, I suppose.

I’m in desperate need of an editor and Claude is really great manuscript consultant.

But I’m DEFINITELY going to go through, once I finish this draft of the novel and go through and try to eliminate “AI speak” as much as possible from the finished product. I get kind of frustrated, sometimes, with how much Claude destroys my writing and I just say, “Ok, whatever, I’ll just use what you gave me for the time being.”

Then I feel guilty and vow to root around in the text once I finish this draft. I just refuse to give people any excuse to roll their eyes and say, “AI wrote it, he sucks as a writer.”

So, I’m going to zoom through this draft of the novel, then spend a month, maybe really putting my personal touch on things. I’m a decent writer, maybe not GREAT, but good enough, I think to produce a novel good enough to query by spring 2026.