Kelly Yang: I'm Kelly Yang.

Kate: Okay. ⁓ I'm Camillo.

Kelly Yang: And we are so excited that you are listening to Story Kind. Hey, Kate, how are you doing?

Kate: Kelly, it's so good to see you. And it doesn't it feel like it's been forever?

Kelly Yang: It's so good to see you! ⁓ It does feel like it's been forever. I want to hear all about what you've been up to.

Kate: Yeah. Well, I want to hear what you've been up to too, but let's see. I started on a rewrite ⁓ and I don't know about you, but ⁓ I ⁓ kind of coax myself through step by step. So I had figured out many I was going to be rewriting. because of what the manuscript is. And then I assigned myself a number of pages to do each day. Yeah. And, and I'm, ⁓ I dealing with a smaller font than I thought. And so, yes. So that's, that's where my rewriting started was with, ⁓ no, this is not actually one page. This is, this is two pages plus some.

Kelly Yang: Okay. You You ⁓ my god.

Kate: from the way it was set up. So that's me. What about you?

Kelly Yang: That's like when past you creates a problem for future you. I always think about that. I'm like, I could fix this now because future me is going to thank me. ⁓ I bet. I bet that's so funny. So I have been working on a revision.

Kate: That's right! Yeah, no, Future Me was very upset with Past Me. Yeah. Yeah.

Kelly Yang: And it's just been so hard to get it done. But every day I think about some of the things that we talk about on the podcast, you know, cause this revision has taken a lot of work. And I always think back to what you were saying about how you ask yourself, are you scared because you're lazy or because you are,

Kate: afraid? The answer is always yes there. ⁓ And ⁓ are you lazy? answer, you and I both like to get things done, but there is, ⁓ there's always this thing of like, I'd prefer not to. ⁓

Kelly Yang: No. Yes. And you know, in order to do this rewrite, I had to let go of a huge chunk of the manuscript. And I'm really proud of myself because it was the right decision. It is so much better. I am so proud of it. But in that moment, it is sort of the grief of, but I wrote this whole thread and it's now going to go. And that was, that was hard. But yeah, that's what I've been up to. But I'm really proud that I got through it.

Kate: ⁓ Yeah, no, congratulations. Yeah.

Kelly Yang: Okay, so our writing question today is a question that I have gotten while I was giving a talk at the Thousand Oaks Library, which is, should I use AI to write? Yeah. Yeah, have a lot of... Yes, I have a lot of thoughts.

Kate: ⁓ wow. ⁓ Do you want to go first? I wonder how you answered in person.

Kelly Yang: on this and it's I feel so passionately about it that I've now incorporated into most of my presentations, ⁓ is I believe that you should not use AI to write and I'll tell you why not just from a ⁓ ethical perspective, which is really important, ⁓ also from a personal standpoint as a writer. ⁓ believe that the only way you can get better at writing ⁓ ⁓ practicing writing. And if you let a machine do it for you, then in a sense, you are outsourcing that whole exercise, that whole muscle to a machine, right? So if you think of it as running, right? What would happen if our athletes got a machine to do the running for them? They would not become better runners. And it is, it's the same thing, right? It's the same thing with writing. It's, is a muscle as you've heard me and Kate talk about. It takes discipline. takes work. takes

Kate: Right, no, yeah, no. ⁓

Kelly Yang: keeping at it, even when it's hard. ⁓ if we take that whole discomfort of powering through and we give it away, ⁓ surrendering our ability to really ever power through. And I think that is really, really dangerous and sad. And I don't want to see that happen. So ⁓ personally am very against using AI to write.

Kate: Well, I'm happy to agree with you and to come at it from a slightly different angle, which is, know how when typing in your email now and it will suggest things to you? ⁓ I think, I don't want to say that. That sounds like anybody could say that. ⁓ saying it like me. So to me, it is a surrender of self. The ⁓ reason that I do the work.

Kelly Yang: Yeah, I hate that. ⁓ my god. You Hmm

Kate: is to understand myself and to understand the world better. And that's what writing is for me. And so it would be utterly pointless to have a computer do it for me. What's the point? I'm not getting anything out of it. My heart's not in it then. This is all about heart for me, you know? So.

Kelly Yang: Mmm. Yes! Yeah, and don't you think that when it suggests things, it usually reduces it to something very generic, right?

Kate: Right. doesn't, and it doesn't sound like me all. if I'm going to with somebody, if I'm going to communicate with them, I'm going to communicate as myself, which is the same way that, you know, I a story. ⁓ yeah.

Kelly Yang: Absolutely. And I think it goes back to what we've been saying all along is you have to be comfortable being yourself and you have to love being yourself. There's no other you in the universe, right? We've talked about this over and over and over again and resist the temptation that you're going to try to be a generic random version of yourself that isn't you and isn't real. But people can't resist that temptation. Why do think people turn to AI?

Kate: think that of it is ease, right? You think, you know, ⁓ talk about what we were talking about in the beginning, and it's just like, ⁓ am I or ⁓ am I I think ⁓ some of is just laziness. And I think ⁓ a lot it is fear ⁓ because ⁓ tell story yourself means to into, you know, the ⁓ darker corners of

Kelly Yang: Mmm.

Kate: and it's just like, it's just easier to have everything be surface level. ⁓ so ⁓ it's a temptation and it's one that, I have no problem ⁓ resisting. It's like, it's so clear in my head about what, ⁓ what want to be in and how I want to be in the world. So. ⁓

Kelly Yang: How do we get kids though who are tempted? What do we say? Is there one thing we can say to help people get over that temptation? Because it is a very powerful one.

Kate: Yeah, be yourself. Don't be AI. You can only be I. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kelly Yang: rate. Yes, I love that. ⁓ my God, you have to be I. And that I don't think it should be called artificial intelligence because it's not actually that intelligent, right? I think it's just artificial sameness. It's the same. It's making us all the same. And we're amazing, unique people. That's it. We're amazing, unique people. And we got to get over our fear of discomfort, our,

Kate: Right, yeah, right.

Kelly Yang: ⁓ distaste inconvenience, anything that's inconvenient, it's really hard for people ⁓ because we put in that work and we power through that hard time of trying to figure out and puzzle through our thoughts, ⁓ it so worth it.

Kate: It totally worth it. ⁓

Kelly Yang: so fun question today is from Abigail to you, Kate. Why did Opal meet Winn-Dixie at the Winn-Dixie store?

Kate: ⁓ Because this is something that you and I have talked about quite a bit, that kid who always present when I'm writing stories. ⁓ when I was up, I grew up in a small town in Florida, ⁓ and our house is a few blocks from a Winn-Dixie grocery store. ⁓ So it's always kind of run up there and get this. It's just like, I... ⁓ I was always hoping that I could run up and get Cheetos. My mother never supported that. like, but to go up there and find a dog that would have been, you know, amazing. So it's that kid wish fulfillment kind of thing. You know? Yeah.

Kelly Yang: Yeah, I love that. And you know what I love? I'm a big fan of wish fulfillment in books. I think it's so great.

Kate: Yeah. Well, me see this ⁓ before we go on. Artificial intelligence ⁓ be able to imagine what I wanted I was a kid. ⁓ It's just that it is so uniquely personal. All of those memories, those layers and layers of sense memories and what I wanted and how I dreamed ⁓ and the wishes that I had. ⁓

Kelly Yang: Mmm.

Kate: AI can't do that. That's me, accessing all of those things ⁓ through story. Okay. All right.

Kelly Yang: Mm-hmm. Yes. I'm excited that we have some amazing teacher and librarian stories today. So Kate, do you want to do our amazing teacher and shout out? ⁓ Me too. ⁓

Kate: Yeah. I love this part so much. Actually, I love all of this, but I love it when we get to give a shout out to the teachers and the librarians. Okay. This is from Deb, talking about her teacher, Ms. Smart. And she had her for first, second and third grades. And we had third grade in the same room. She had a little book nook in our classroom that we could go into as long as we got our work done and didn't bother anyone. One of the first books I fell in love with was the Boxcar Children. And yeah, I know, me too. And I wanted to read them over and over. Ms. Smart said that I could read any book I wanted to read as many times as I wanted to read it. I love that. Deb, her maiden name was Good. And she always thought ⁓ that she was good, she could also be smart, just like Ms. Smart.

Kelly Yang: children too!

Kate: So, in that great, Ms. Smart started teaching a year before Deb was in first grade and she was able to go to her 40th teaching anniversary. And she heard parent after parent praise her because she loved to teach children to read. It's great.

Kelly Yang: That just brings tears. But also I want to highlight one thing to read a book as many times as you want, right? I think that is so great. I get people in my signing line and the parents sometimes will tell me, my kid has read front desk like 18 times. Should I be concerned?

Kate: Yep.

Kelly Yang: And you know what, I wanna say, don't worry about it. It is okay to read the book that you love over and over and over ⁓

Kate: Yeah, and it's also, is, it's you figuring out ⁓ how to become yourself in the world. And if a kid is returning to a book again and again and again, ⁓ a reason for it. So it's like, go off and read what you want to read. Yeah, absolutely.

Kelly Yang: Mm-hmm. 100%. Okay, and then I want to add that Aria would like to give a shout out to Ms. Junenfield, Ms. Schaetz, and Mr. Parks who all helped her learn this year. Hooray! Yeah.

Kate: ⁓ that's a lot of teachers. Yeah. Yeah.

Kelly Yang: Keep those nominations coming. We love them. We want to hear your questions, your fun questions, your serious questions, and of course, your teacher and librarian shout outs. Email those to me at KellyYangAuthor@gmail.com

Kate: Yeah, thank you, Kelly. This has been so great. Thank you. And we'll see all of y'all next week too. So stay tuned. Yeah.

Kelly Yang: Yes, stay well. Bye guys.