Full disclosure!

 So I'm learning to play with ai art generators, Leonardo.ai in particular but I'm also using canva.com and the previewer on Mac to mess around with the resulting images.  I've updated a few of my book covers just for the fun of it, though the smashwords editions might not be approved as the metadata and the cover wording aren't exactly the same.  I haven't gotten around to adding a note in each book about the cover source (formerly my own photographs) but I will get there someday, until then, this post will have to suffice.  And as far as creative content goes, I would say it is as difficult to get a good ai book cover as it is to take a decent photograph, it requires patience, time, a learning curve, and a little innate skill, but that's just my opinion, maybe I'm just not proving to be a child prodigy but as far as I can tell, to get a good image takes a bit of work and time and luck and a good eye.

AI book covers?

 I finally got around to playing with an AI image generator.  I've long wanted to see what all the hype is about and if it will really put human artists out of business.  I don't think all you content creators out there have anything to worry about, rather you have yet another tool to incorporate into your craft.  If you insist on handwriting your manuscripts even after the advent of the typewriter, then yes, you will become obsolete, but for everybody else, it is a pretty neat tool, but still a tool: it needs human input and creativity and taste to make it meaningful.  It also requires time and talent and creativity, you can't just push a button and there it is.

I played with an image generator and read a couple articles, one an interview with an author who uses AI to help brainstorm and organize his books but found he had the same problems with print as I did with the images: they don't necessarily make a lot of sense!  The human touch was still needed to edit, refine, select, hone, and direct.  The computer can spit out a boundless array of images or text but to make it truly creative and artistic, someone needs to direct it.  I also found several articles on copyright law concerning computer generated stuff and it agrees that to be copyrightable, the computer's junk must be organized and edited and changed significantly by a human person.

It is a ton of fun if you like this sort of stuff but unless you are interested in editing the resulting images, I'm not sure it is a great option for indy ebook covers.  Here are a couple examples:

Robotic sci-fi unicorn on steroids in a post apocalyptic landscape?

Three legs and two moons?

Five legs and a donkey in the moon?

This is a decent image but took editing and learning what prompts to use, of 200+ images, about 3 were usable!

So there is definitely promise here, but like any other tool, technique, or creation it requires time, patience, and the human touch!

Recipe mayhem!

 If you are using the 'Haphazard GF Baking Guide,' there was a horrendous mistake, namely the raised donuts in the psyllium section needs 1/2 cup water to function.  I'll be updating it shortly along with a sugar cookie and molasses cookie recipe, drool in anticipation!

Update

 Just updated the Haphazard Guide to Gluten Free Baking with a psyllium husk section and two new recipes: naan and raised donuts.  Not sure if smashwords is going to pass the updated manuscript but the D2D and amazon version should be fine.  Navigation may be wonky in the smashwords version as well.

A Publishing Win?

 I have just released (and done a few minor updates on) the complete box sets of In Shadow, On Eagles Wings, the Tea Books, and the Greylands on draft2digital.  I've struggled for years with smashwords' 'meatgrinder' conversion system, especially with insanely large volumes like these box sets (saving tea perhaps).  I can't figure anything out on my end and d2d's system seems to be a bit less persnickety.  The weird part is the two companies are merging, smashwords isn't taking any new authors as of now and the two will conglomerate sometime this year.  I'm not going to bother updating anything on the smashwords system until that happens but thought I'd get some long overdue overhauls done on the boxed sets.  Namely I'm hoping the table of contents actually works!  I added a few extra short stories to eagles and the Greylands is now truly complete in one volume.  I hope this works!

Also, the amazon versions have been updated.

Team not going to the Super Bowl?

 Good news if your team isn't going to the super bowl, more time for reading! And just in time too, because I have totally revised and updated Book III of the Serpent and the Unicorn and am in process of revamping the last two as well, enjoy! 

Get ye to the classics!

 I recently delved into modern (clean and quasi-christian) romance novels, and my only advice is to stick with the classics, be it traditional Christmas music or literature.  Expand your horizons, invite adventure into your life and purpose and meaning into your heart by leaving this shallow and insipid modernity behind and embracing the wisdom and fun of ages past, or rather, 'troll the ancient Yuletide carol' as the old tune has it, and no it does not mean to post nasty comments online any more than the line, 'don we now our gay apparel' has anything to do with sexual orientation and its fashion dictates, it merely means bright, colorful, cheerful, fun.  This is precisely why you need a classic education, ugh!