Hey friends! For years on this blog, we did “WIP Wednesday.”
I would share a snippet of what I was working on. In the comments section, others would do the same. We didn’t critique each other’s work—a lot of times, it was too new and raw for critiquing! But often, we’d cheer one another on.
I got to know a lot of my readers and their writing in this way. On especially busy months, it sometimes motivated me to get more done. It was a beautiful thing!
And then, generative AI happened.
I became alarmed at the rise of Chat GPT, Sudowrite, and other generative AI tools—which should really be called “appropriation machines,” because they just steal and remix others’ work. Some of these programs have been built with hundreds of thousands of copyrighted and pirated books, as well as with stolen online writing, also protected by copyright, from thousands or millions of writers. In addition my concern over these tools, I didn’t know whether WordPress was feeding creative work into an AI tool.
Sadly, I discontinued WIP Wednesday.
But I really, really missed WIP Wednesday!
I think about it every month!
I loved seeing everyone’s work. For me, it made this writing journey a little less lonely. I felt like we were all in this together.
I talked to WordPress about my concerns, and they told me: “WordPress.org isn’t submitting your content to be scraped.” They shared some kind of code that I can add to my website to tell AI bots not to scrape it. I am dubious of this, to say the least, but I could try it.
While it’s true that anything we share could get scraped by these appropriation machines, I’m well aware that this is the case with all my blog posts. I’ve started thinking that if we keep our excerpts short—say, 200 words or less—it’ll still be fun, but there won’t be enough material for machines to learn much or to meaningfully infringe upon our original work.
For those of you who participated in WIP Wednesday, how do you feel about it?
Do you miss it? Do you think I should bring it back, but with shorter excerpts for everyone? Or would you rather not put anything at all out there, even if it’s short?
I’d love to hear your opinions in the comments! I’m not an expert on anything having to do with technology, and as a writer, I am trying to negotiate changes the best that I can.
You can be honest. You won’t hurt my feelings. I’ll just be happy to hear what you think! I hope everything is going well with you!
Bring it back, Bryn. But 200-word excerpts will be challenging. 🙂
All right, Madeline! I’m going to do it! 200 words is a challenge, but it’s better than one line on Twitter, which I’ve seen people do!
I, personally, always enjoyed reading everyone’s snippets and it helped motivate me to “pick up my pen” even when I was excelling at my procrastination. However, I get why anyone would be hesitant nowadays to put their work out on the ‘net. No vote either way from me, I suppose. I support the concensus.
Makes sense! Most people are into it, so I’m going to do it. 🙂 Join us if you ever feel like it, Laci!
I’ve missed WIP Wednesday! It would be awesome to have it back again. I’m okay with the smaller word limit.
I’ve missed your writing, too! Okay, let’s do it!
I am so very much looking forward to it!
I loved WIP Wednesdays! Would be happy to start up again.
Yay! I’m going to do it!
I do miss it!! 💕 I would absolutely participate even at 200 words. Count me in!
P.S. This post just made me so happy. lol
Aww, it does me, too! I have really missed it so much!
I’ve never been a part of WIP Wednesday, but I would love to. That sounds like a lot of fun, and a great way to get feedback on your work.
Oh yay! We’d love to have you share, whenever you feel like it! I used to do it on the first Wednesday of every month, so I’ll do that again. That’ll be May 1st this month!
I had just discovered WIP Wednesday shortly before it disappeared. I enjoyed reading and was working up the courage to submit. I would love to see WIP Wednesday return.
Aww Donna, sorry it went away just before you shared! It’s really such a friendly space to share. If anyone was mean, I’d just delete their comment, but I’ve never had to do it! 🙂 We’re a supportive bunch!
Hi Bryn, To say the least, I’m pretty darn confused with the whole AI situation. It concerns me on many levels, including the social media sites. On the other hand, I sincerely enjoyed the WIP blog posts and reading other’s work and cheering them on. I would still like to be involved although I don’t always have a work in progress to add to it other than short story segments. I haven’t started a third book yet. I’d love to participate in WIP Wednesdays once again though. Do you think it would make any difference if each author placed a copyright symbol at the end of their excerpt? Either way, I’m in if you decide to bring it back. Have a wonderful day.
Hi Cheryl! Yeah, the whole AI situation is confusing, and it sucks. I don’t think adding a copyright symbol would help, since they ripped off copyrighted books. But I do think with the short snippets, it’ll be a lot safer!
Not just yes, but f*ck yes! I was so sad when it ended! It motivated me to write at least a new page each month. 🙂
YAY! I’m excited to bring it back. I’ve missed it so much!
Let’s do it!
YESS! I’m excited about it now. May 1st!
I haven’t participated in a long time and understood why you ceased the work in progress Wednesdays but I do miss them. Howver, I will support your decision either way. If you bring it back and I’m able to participate, I have no problem with the 200 word limit.
Hi KC! It’s always great to see you! Most people seem into bringing WIP Wednesday back, so I’m going to do it. I really have missed it!
I loved it, but I’m still hesitant.
I totally get that! I don’t blame anyone if they don’t want to do it.
I am new to the site and would like to participate.
Okay, great! We’ll do it on May 1st! It’s so nice to have you here. 🙂
Dear Bryn – There were so many times when I checked in on WIP Wednesday just to see what you were writing. So if you are okay with it, them I’m on board, too! A two hundred word limit is a bit of a challenge – but as one of my English professors was fond of saying, “Limitations breed creativity.” Besides, I’ve seen what people can do with 280 characters…imagine what we can do with two hundred words. <3
Hi PJ! I love that quote of your professor’s—it’s so true! Yes, let’s do it!
WIP Wednesday gave me the courage to pursue getting my work published and it provided great motivation to purchase your books. (I own several of them.) I enjoyed your positive feedback and even kept some of your replies to read again when I needed a boost to my self confidence. I was so sad to see it vanish! For me it’s worth the risk. I think the lower word count would work for me. Thank you, Bryn, for your courage and caring about us enough to establish boundaries.
Oh, Jessie, I’m so glad it had such a positive effect on you! (And thank you for ordering the books!) I really liked how it helped me get to know you and your work. 🙂 Let’s do it! Thanks so much for the kind words. I hope everything is going well with you!
I did not participate in VIP Wednesdays, but now I’ve reached a stage where I could do with some friendly writing chat. I vote to give it a try.
That would be great, Anne. We’d love it! I’m bringing it back. 🙂
I loved WIP Wednesdays. It’s such a privilege to see the creative process of so many wonderful writers. I am all in. Shorter snippets are fine by me.
I agree—it really is wonderful to see others’ creative process! I’m going to do it again!
I’ve had a crazy life going on, so I didn’t even notice WIP Wednesday was missing. But now that you mention it, I miss it. I enjoyed reading your snippets and other writers words. I even joined in a few times.
Hi Debby! I hope things are going okay for you. I remember you joining in! I think bringing it back is the right move.
I loved WIP Wednesday, but AI has ruined it for me. I am concerned about bad actors and how they take words and feed it into their Ai to make it “their own.” Writers already say they use Ai for inspiration, to help them out of writer’s block…
With or without Ai, no matter the intent, it has made me wonder. I would always be suspicious of someone saying they came up with the idea all on their own. Did another person’s work lend them inspiration for a similar but different idea?
I would be very careful. On Ready Chapter 1, an online critique forum, they at least have it protected somewhat so that one cannot copy/paste even their own work.
As someone querying agent representation, I feel very protective of my work these days.
Hi Christina! Yeah, I get that. It’s a drag, for sure. I hope we get great news on the agent front soon. ❤️
Ever since I read about how all the AI companies are scraping everything and planning on buying publishing companies specifically to shove books into the mill, and so forth, I have been extremely hesitant to put any of my fiction on the Internet at all. We need some laws that cover this sort of thing. Copyright right now is not being honored, and until it is, there doesn’t seem to be any benefit and potentially a lot of harm to putting your fiction online. So, sadly, no. You can do it, but I really can’t risk it. I don’t have an established writing career yet, so I have to protect myself as much as possible.
Terra, I could not agree with you more about copyright not being honored! The law needs to catch up. Most people seem to want to do the WIP Wednesdays again, so I’m going to bring them back, but I totally get where you’re coming from, too!
I have been following your website for many years and am now actively writing again. I am interested in sharing.
Hi Cynde! It’s great to hear that you’re back into writing again. I’m going to bring WIP Wednesday back!
I would love to participate in WIP Wednesday! After a long hiatus I’m getting a fresh start and would love to see what other writers are working on, as well as share what I’ve been writing. How exciting!
I have missed WIP Wednesday. I would support returning with the 200 word limit.
The value to share outweighs the risk of scraping.