Author: John Bredesen
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Silly AI Mistakes
We all love to hear about stupid AI mistakes. Whether it is bad output from some chatbot or someone using AI in a careless way. For example, a yearbook where someone had left some of the chatbot verbiage in place. Or images obviously created by AI that someone tried to pass off as a real…
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Franklin, I (truly) hardly knew you…
Franklin,I can’t really start this out “Dear Franklin” because I didn’t know you that well. I put you in the first scene of my next book (first in a series), but I didn’t know who you were. Sure, you were the main character’s boss and you got to deliver some good news, and you were…
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Now I have two
A funny thing happened in my angiogram–I got another stent. Ok, Joyce doesn’t think it is funny. Last week I had an annual heart test. In past years, it was an ultrasound of the heart to see how it was working. This year, because I mentioned I was occasionally short of breath (but who isn’t…
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Control Systems & Writing
Control System theory has a the concept of overshoot and undershoot. If you are control a system to a specific output, the actual output produced may be higher (overshoot) or lower (undershoot). When I say control systems, think the thermostat in your house or car. It turns on the furnace, the tenp goes up, perhaps…
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#PastaForBreakfast: SOS over Gemelli w/eggs
The SOS recipe if from my dad. S**t-on-a-shingle was army slang for chipped beef on toast, but he has modified it to use ground beef. Think of it as a ground-beef version of sausage gravy.
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Finishing is the hardest
Saying you are going to start something is the easiest. Actually starting is harder. Keeping the momentum through the tough times is really hard. But Finishing is the hardest.
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A casual conversation while bleeding
I went in for a blood draw for one of my meds today and was chatting with the person doing the draw. Those folks have an impressive sounding title but I can’t remember it. She was nice and it was painless. It was the middle of the day so she asked if I was heading…
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Flannel Sighting: Las Vegas
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AY3Qt5wra This is a funny one. Reader Nation is a place where authors can sell books to the public. Held in Vegas every year, there is lots of promotion. The Flannel makes an appearance at the very beginning of a promo video at the above link. Below is the screenshot of The Flannel.
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Flannel sighting: Vegas
I went to Author Nation in November 2024. They have a professional photographer there. The Flannel made an appearance on a promotional page for the 2025 conference. The group in the pic found each other over the last few years and we meet throughout the year. Kind of an author support group. Some were, unfortunately,…
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Saving lives is in their blood: Three generations donate | KVAL
Thirteen years ago, my daughter and I were visiting my dad in Eugene, OR. The three of us decided to donate blood. It was something that my daughter was new to, but my dad and I have done for years. So three generations stopped in at a blood drive and donated. Below is an article…
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An Unexpected Smile
One of the benefits of a writing career is that you hear from complete strangers that something you wrote made an impact. As I am relatively new to this career, this hasn’t happened much. One of the books I wrote is called Writing Into The Sunset. I mainly wrote it to help myself think about…
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Scrabbling
I play Scrabble with my 90+ yr old mom and her friends once a week. They like Scrabble for the brain exercise. Scrabble for words and Yahtzee for numbers. Seems to work pretty well for them. I’ve always loved Scrabble. Slightly better than average, I’m not going to win any competitions. Scoring points in two…
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Flannel Sighting: Superstars
In February of 2025, I attended my first Superstars writing conference. Excellent conference. Met lots of good people and learned a lot. The Flannel even made it into some of the after photos.
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Focus & Finish: Multi-Tasking is a Myth
I stared at the list of requests the team was working on. Seven people, ninety-three active requests. Over ten active requests for each person. The team was working hard, but it felt like we weren’t making progress. Requests were not getting completed, and it felt like we were the bottleneck. The IT department’s to-do list…
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Selling Books at In-Person Events
I’m not doing these yet, but I’m sure I will in the future. This is an interesting article, written by someone who consults for selling products at trade shows, that applies easily to selling books at a book fair or book convention. 5 Steps to Turn Cold Conversations into Sales Opportunities: https://kokoroinc.com/trade-show-staff-training/