Yearly I (attempt to) do a GIFTS FOR WRITERS submit, which is to say, a submit talking to not the writers per se however to these lucky (or unlucky) souls which have writers of their lives. Writers want a specific sort of love! We’ve too many notebooks already! We in all probability don’t have sufficient chocolate! We require peculiar care and feeding! I wish to enable you to assist them.

(I feel the final correct one I did was 2023, however even there, I largely scrubbed off the “for writers” half, although it’s nonetheless in there, thematically.)

I don’t actually have a listing this 12 months! The writers in your life in all probability don’t want a cool new pen or a shiny new analog phrase processor and as an alternative want like, well being care, or a e book deal, or FOR THE WORLD TO CALM DOWN JUST A TINY FUCKING BIT. You already know, issues you possibly can’t actually provide.

That stated, you possibly can provide one factor:

You possibly can assist the author in your life by pounding a stake into the center of the digital vampire plaguing us all: Generative AI.

This implies —

Don’t submit AI slop.

Don’t repost images or information tales that don’t cross the scent check or that don’t have respected hyperlinks to assist them.

Don’t actively use AI in any manner — no Sora ick, no Nano Banana bullshit, don’t even take a look at ChatGPT.

Don’t assist it, don’t argue in its favor, don’t play Satan’s Advocate with it.

Simply get on board the FUCK AI practice. Inform them and the remainder of the world together with your entire chest that you realize AI sucks, and extra to the purpose, it actually sucks by siphoning up all our artistic work, our effort, our info atmosphere, our precise atmosphere, our goddamn every part, after which it information down the serial numbers on our artwork and our identities and places it again into the world with out our soul in it — and extra to the purpose, with no manner for it to ever assist us pay for lease or well being care or meals. It’s an artbarf machine — simply puking up low-value slurry into the maws of the open-mouthed baby-brains who wish to cosplay as writers and artists and musicians however with out doing any of that pesky work. It pukes into their mouths, they puke it onto the ground, and so they clap their shitty poopy palms and say, “I made this! I made artwork!” It’s horrible. Why would you want this? It’s the idolization of concept paired with the demonization of each creator and creation. It ruins us.

So you have to put up that flag. Loud and proud HATER-OF-AI, ye should be.

When you love us, that’s what you’ll do.

You gained’t struggle.

You’ll simply belief.

And okay wonderful when you actually need a present —

This DESTROY AI shirt at Aftermath by artist Kim Hu is bad-ass.

Although not AI, there’s additionally Authors Towards Ebook Bans shirts.

So, there you go.

Greatest present for a author is to respect their work and their humanity and provides the most important center finger you may give to generative AI and LLMs, please and thanks.

Hear, okay, wonderful, I’m an imperfect one who has to typically hawk his crass wares, so I did write a writing recommendation e book geared towards, um, these troubled occasions considerably, known as Mild Writing Recommendation. You may get it at Bookshop.org, or my very own native retailer can get you a replica — hey, they’ll even get you one signed and customized and despatched proper to you. I even have merch! MERCH. Who doesn’t love merch!? Okay bye.