Write from Source

Write from Source 💚 Uncover the wisdom you hold in your unstoried stories 💚 It's time to challenge your self-limiting beliefs 💚 Workshops & writing resources.

You don't need to be a writer - you just need to have lived a life... welcome to the page 💚 Welcome to Write from Source©

Every life contains unseen wisdom. Story is how we uncover it. Write from Source© is about more than putting words on a page. It is an invitation to explore the experiences, patterns and questions that have shaped you and to discover the story beneath the story you have always

told. I call this the “unstoried story”. Writing can help us heal, but it can also help us understand, imagine, create and become. It can reconnect us with our voice, reveal meaning within what we have lived through, and open a doorway to the flow state, our intuition, Spirit, the Higher Self or Source. Sometimes, the blank page becomes the first safe place where we can hear ourselves clearly. I am a professional writer, published author, ghostwriter, trauma-informed transformational practitioner and founder of Write from Source©. I’m also a member of the Australian Society of Authors. My approach has evolved through more than three decades of writing, editing, therapeutic practice and creative mentorship alongside my own journey through trauma, grief, healing and transformation. Here, the spiritual and practical sit at the same table. We can trust intuition while learning structure. Honour the message while considering the reader. We can write from the soul or channel from Source and still edit the sentence. You do not need to call yourself a writer. You simply need to have lived. Here at Write from Source, we don’t shy away from discussing the ethics of AI in the creative process and how we can approach these tools with wisdom and integrity. This page offers guidance, conversations, workshops, mentorship and resources exploring writing, memoir, creativity, healing, channelling, editing and publishing. It also belongs to a larger journey. Gaia’s Light explores sacred connection and returning home to ourselves, while I Find Myself Under Tasman Skies is my personal exploration of place, loss, beauty and belonging. Welcome to a warm, safe space to find your voice, uncover your unstoried story and write from the truest place within you. You are more than the one story you keep telling yourself. It’s your time to overcome & become. Welcome to the page
Evie x

If you have commissioned a ghostwriter or artist to create on your behalf, this post is for you. Attribution is an impor...
22/08/2026

If you have commissioned a ghostwriter or artist to create on your behalf, this post is for you. Attribution is an important subject that is so often overlooked.

So imagine you have created a book that needs beautiful illustrations, or you want to design a deck of Tarot cards but need an artist who can create unique typography, or perhaps you need a ghostwriter to write your book

Once you've selected the creative you are going to work with, there will be many aspects of your working relationship you need to discuss and put in writing upfront.

Beyond showing they are an honest human being with integrity, the commissioner (as they will be known from this point onwards) needs to understand that proper attribution helps protect both sides from Copyright theft or legal trouble down the track.

The bottom line to remember in your dealings with creative professionals is that the originator of any works deserves credit, and their works are protected by Law (even if it's your 'idea' in the first place). The creatives you choose to work with are helping to bring your vision to life with their expertise.

When you enter into a Ghostwriting /Creative Agreement, you MUST discuss and sign off on the subject of ‘Attribution’ before the work begins.

So - what the hell is ‘Attribution’? I hear you cry. Well, if we look to the dictionary for a definition as it relates to writing, we can see:

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Attribution (noun)
The action of regarding something as being caused by a person or thing. A relevant example of that would be: My book included an attribution to all those who edited the manuscript.
The action of ascribing a work or remark to a particular author, artist, or person:

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In the case of a Ghostwriter Agreement, the ‘commissioner’ (that would be the person who wishes to hire the services of a creative) and the ghostwriter/designer or illustrator (from this point referred to as the creative)need to agree on the level of Attribution for authorship on the cover and title page of the works.

I’ll explain why this is important in a moment, but first consider Attribution as a sliding scale of credit (and associated cost/reimbursement).

LEVELS OF ATTRIBUTION FOR GHOSTWRITERS SPECIFICALLY

On the front cover of the book and the interior title page:

PROMINENT - LEVEL 1 - FULL ATTRIBUTION (equal) on cover and inside

Commissioner's name alongside Ghostwriter’s name
Josephine Blogs WITH Evie McRae

Commissioner's name alongside Ghostwriter’s name
Josephine Blogs AND Evie McRae

Commissioner's name. A memoir as told to Ghostwriter’s name – Josephine Blogs. A memoir AS TOLD TO Evie McRae - or

Commissioner's name. A memoir WRITTEN BY Ghostwriter’s name – Josephine Blogs. A memoir WRITTEN BY Evie McRae

This shows both parties credited equally on the front cover and the title page of the book.

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DISCREET - LEVEL 2 PARTIAL ATTRIBUTION (partial)

Commissioner's name on front cover
Ghostwriter’s name inside on Title Page

The ghostwriter received acknowledgement and Attribution on the interior, front right page. Still highly visible but not as an equal creator of the works.

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NO PUBLIC ATTRIBUTION - LEVEL 3 NO ATTRIBUTION (none)
The Commissioner assumes full credit, as if they wrote the book themselves.

The ghostwriter is paid to be anonymous and to not receive any Attribution in the book.

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Even if you don't remember the different levels of Attribution, just keep in mind that the LESS visible the attribution, the more professional value the ghostwriter relinquishes. This is why Level 3 (complete anonymity) can legitimately attract a higher fee.

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Fees vary between ghostwriters, and each ghostwriter will view attribution differently. If your ghostwriter is a well-known, award-winning writer or someone with decades of experience, and the commissioner has no writing credentials at all, you would expect the commissioner to pay a higher rate commensurate with the skills being attributed to them.

In actual fact, the commissioner would probably earn more sales by allowing the well-known ghostwriter’s name to appear alongside theirs in that scenario, but that is a matter for the two parties involved.

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Generally speaking, the attribution fee works out as a percentage on top of the cost to write the book:

Level 2 Attribution - approx 10% fee
Level 3 Attribution - approx 15%-25% fee

For complete anonymity (Level 3), I would expect the fee to reflect that the original writer is potentially giving up three kinds of value: credit, future professional leverage, and continuing financial participation. These should each be negotiated individually and specifically - rather than bundled together under one “ghostwriting fee.”

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What happens if Attribution is not agreed up front?

In Australia, the original writer has an automatic moral right to attribution. Identification must ordinarily be clear and reasonably prominent.

AUSTRALIAN MORAL RIGHTS CAN'T BE TRANSFERRED OR SOLD. They remain with the original human creator even if/after copyright changes hands. This isn't just about the written content; it means the original work can't be edited, shortened, or rearranged in any way (without a consultation/signed off agreement process that includes the original writer).

https://www.artslaw.com.au/information-sheet/moral-rights
https://www.legislation.gov.au/C1968A00063/latest/text

Without an Attribution agreement, the parties may later disagree about whether:
- the writer should appear on the cover or inside the book
- complete anonymity was included in the original fee
- the commissioner may claim sole authorship
- the ghostwriter may openly state they wrote the book/use it in
promotions of their own work
- updates or revisions harm the writer’s reputation
- the publisher has a clean “chain of title”
- publication should be delayed until the dispute is resolved.

For the commissioner, the immediate commercial danger is a threatened injunction, delayed publication, additional legal costs or a last-minute demand for attribution or further payment.

OK - so if you are reading this and thinking WOW, I had no idea asking someone to create illustrations, music or a book for me was so complex, don't be scared off. It's just a matter of having this discussion early in the process and ensuring you both sign off on it. Forewarned is forearmed.

There's a common, yet mistaken, belief that if you pay someone to create something, you own it - because you paid for it, right? It doesn't work that way - and here's why. First of all, you are not paying the writer or illustrator for anything more than their time, the use of their skills and expertise, and the completion of a project.

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What is the ghostwriter potentially surrendering with Level 3 (No public Attribution)? Quite a lot, as it turns out ...

ECONOMIC COPYRIGHT
Right to reproduce their own writing or illustrations, publish, distribute, adapt, translate, serialise, record and sublicense the manuscript in agreed formats, territories and media.

PROFESSIONAL/REPUTATIONAL AND FINANCIAL VALUE
The ghostwriter may relinquish the visible byline, discoverability, public proof of authorship, portfolio value and career leverage the book might otherwise generate.

If the Attribution Agreement provides only a flat fee (i.e. 15%), the ghostwriter or illustrator may also surrender the opportunity to share in royalties* or other income the book generates from business opportunities.

*Anonymity and royalties are legally separate: an uncredited ghostwriter can still negotiate royalties, profit participation, or performance-based payments. This is the commercial basis for an anonymity or non-attribution premium.

What the ghostwriter or illustrator does not hand over is the historical fact that they wrote the words or created the artwork. A contract can regulate disclosure and attribution, but it can't change history or rewrite the original writer's role in the finished works.

So there you go - everything you never knew you needed to know about Attribution.

Here we are, and another week has flown by. I'd like to kick off this weekend by asking what you created this week. Is t...
22/08/2026

Here we are, and another week has flown by. I'd like to kick off this weekend by asking what you created this week. Is there something in the world that didn't exist a week ago? Perhaps a drawing, a painting, the start of a new DIY project, a new look, the first few lines of an idea?

I personally managed to get into some writing (resources that are going to help you in SO many ways - more on that later), and I baked little pup-friendly cakes for Angus, who was 9 years old on the 17th August. I am not a baker at all, so Angus is the only one who gets to enjoy my efforts. You can't go wrong with banana and 'just peanuts': peanut butter (with no added salt, sugar, or Xylitol). These little flat cakes did exist, but now they don't. What remains is a photo and a memory - so that's special to me at least.😄

If life has just been too busy for creativity, then why not just carve out 10 minutes for yourself right now? Sit down with a pen or pencil and a piece of paper, and think about what you would like to create. It doesn't have to be anything huge or impressive.

Maybe just for fun, you'd like to think about what you would call your Memoir or book if you wrote one. Perhaps you could imagine the cover. Sketch it out. Don't even tell me you can't draw or write - because you can!

My rule for this 10 minutes of creative time is 'do not use ChatGPT or the Internet for inspiration or for creating'. We want to build YOUR creative muscles, no matter how rusty you think they are. Remember those neural pathways? Let's start strengthening them again.

I'm hoping to get back into my watercolour paintings this weekend, but I do have a ton of DIY projects to get into. I love it when my To Do List is filled with "projects", though Mr P does get the fear😁

For now, though, I want to share a few articles I wrote some time ago on Copyright. Though they are a couple of years old now, they are still relevant, and they will lay the groundwork for a later article on Copyright and the world of AI. Who owns what when Generative AI has been used? I will share all.

I'll paste these articles straight into FB. They will run a bit long, but if you are interested or need to know anything, the information is right there. I will, over time, create an ebook or a series of free resources you can access from the Media section here or my website - but for now, information incoming.

Have a fabulous weekend, everyone.

I'd like to follow up on something I started writing about the other day... Let's follow Alice down the rabbit hole ... ...
21/08/2026

I'd like to follow up on something I started writing about the other day...

Let's follow Alice down the rabbit hole ...
The other day, when I was listening to our Eucalypts being 'enjoyed' by the Yellow-tailed black cockatoos, it struck me how efficient they were at pruning the trees. Snip snip - their powerful beaks made clean cuts as they snipped off small branch tips and woody seed pods. It looked (and sounded) destructive, but it's an excellent way to get rid of the dead wood - quite literally.

As I stood under the trees trying to take a photo of these winged gardeners in action, I thought, this makes a great visual for Synaptic Pruning. I was thinking of this in a healing context, where our brain's natural processes make short work of dead wood by eliminating the neural connections it no longer activates regularly. Conversely, the processes we repeat will strengthen. This is how we know gratitude, practised over 21 days, literally begins to rewire the brain.

In the morning light, I found myself lulled into a hypnotic state - perhaps it was the snapping of each branch, and the sound the branches and seeds made as they hit the ground - but my mind began to wander ... I followed, like Alice down the rabbit hole.

Imagine if you were a writer and had a dream of writing and publishing your own book, but for whatever reason, you decided to hand it all over to AI. What would happen? Well, maybe you could write a few books and earn some money to start with; it would be so easy. I mean, why wouldn’t you?

Well, I can think of a million reasons why you wouldn’t, but just follow me down this rabbit hole for a second.

Sure, to begin with, you’re just asking AI a few things here and there. It seems alright. In fact, it sometimes comes out with things that make you seem even more intelligent than you actually are. You like feeling that way. It’s natural. No one wants to appear dumb. Sometimes it just saves you a whole lot of time on the boring stuff, like emails, maybe even paying your bills over time... who knows how quickly AI just slips into your everyday life.

Little by little, you're handing over whole aspects of your work and possibly your daily life to AI. You’ve kind of abdicated your life and handed all the thinking parts to AI.

By this stage, I hope this is reading like some kind of nightmare to you...

One day you think, “Ah, I used to quite enjoy dabbling with writing, or painting ...or music...” and you pick up your pen, or your paintbrush, and you look at the page ... and then ... nothing!
Not even a spark of inspiration ... just nothing.

Snip snip...

Now imagine a scenario worse than not being able to find that creative spark again. One day in a time not too far away, you think, “damn the world is running out of water. We need water for life...” And then, an even bigger nightmare: the lights go out, the power is off, and the internet connections are gone... Was it a solar flare? Something more nefarious? Who knows. Right now that doesn't really matter. What matters now is ... what?

So you realise you need to think of a solution fast ... to save yourself, your family, or maybe even the rest of the world... you turn to you AI assistant...its an automatic response ... But if course ...nothing.... you fire up the laptop to go to search the internet...nothing ...there's no connection... Finally you look at the page where you could empty ideas out, where you could plan a sequence of events or tasks... You,'re waiting for solutions to land... but nothing!

Snip snip...

Welcome not only to your living nightmare, but to the end times of humanity!

You see, creativity is more important than you think...

At its core, creativity is our primary evolutionary survival mechanism.

While other animals evolved sharp claws, thick fur, or extreme speed to survive, humans evolved an adaptable brain that allows us to INVENT our way out of trouble.

Creativity isn’t just about words, pictures, paints, and music; in evolutionary terms, it's in-the-moment, flexible problem-solving.

It's frightening how few people realise how important - no, crucial - creativity is to humans!

When the environment changes unexpectedly (or even as expected, cough cough), whether through ice ages, pandemics, or natural disasters, the species that can’t adapt become extinct.
It’s as simple as that.

Creativity is the ultimate adaptation tool because it lets us rewrite our behaviours in real time rather than waiting on genetic mutation. That said, I don't think we are doing great in that front at the moment. We have almost certainly reached a tipping point in climate change - and we knew about this when I was at primary school decades ago! So perhaps our brains are already fried.

We have outsmarted and survived all sorts of threats throughout existence. Our physical strength alone would not have been enough to hunt food or defend ourselves against predators. We used creative tools and strategies to level the playing field. Our creativity helped us survive because we could think, imagine, and play scenarios out in our mind’s eye; we could plot and scheme our way out of danger.

These days, with all the fires throughout Europe, we are seeing alarming news that there may be food shortages. Crops are burnt or won’t be able to grow. In other places, floods have created the same level of destruction. So, what will we do? In days gone by, when primary food, water, or crops failed, humans used their creativity to find solutions. Our creativity has helped us survive by overcoming resource scarcity.

As my attention is drawn back to these efficient beaks in trees, it makes me shudder to think what could be lost if our own natural processes began to prune the dead wood in everyone’s brains ... the more we hand over to AI, the more we have to lose.

At least when the yellow-tailed black cockatoos start pruning, they will often stimulate fresh new growth.

This little story is pure invention - for now. Hopefully, it's not a premonition. But we have to take AI adoption seriously. We have to find the RIGHT way to work with it so it stimulates our brains for growth. We have to still do the thinking - we use it or lose it!...

At the moment, the choice is yours ...

Time to wake up, Alice.
Alice, wake up ...

Oh well - no more writing today then 😆
19/08/2026

Oh well - no more writing today then 😆

Hello, heart-centred healers and creatives.After putting myself through a few foundational yet intensive AI courses taug...
14/08/2026

Hello, heart-centred healers and creatives.

After putting myself through a few foundational yet intensive AI courses taught by human experts, I feel I’ve arrived at a place I was instinctively drawn to, even if I didn’t fully understand why at first.

In the world I inhabit, where I weave Write from Source with Gaia’s Light, and where integrity, intuition, creativity, energy, and connection form the bedrock of everything I do, AI initially felt like the antithesis of my work. It felt, quite simply, soulless.

There is a sound reason for that reaction, and I don't say this to dismiss the technology. Generative AI is quite literally without a soul. It possesses no consciousness, no awareness, and no personal understanding of the words or images it produces beyond statistical language patterns. It cannot offer genuine human warmth, spirit, courage, deep contemplation, or empathy.

Coming to terms with that reality brought a sense of clarity: Generative AI was never designed to replace human connection, nor can it. It was not built to replicate heart-centred communication, original insight, or true creative expression.

I realised my core hesitation wasn't about the existence of the technology itself, but rather how it is being applied. Many people use AI without fully grasping its intended purpose or its limitations. Some treat it as a glorified search engine or design tool, without recognising where its true strengths and boundaries lie.

I admit I’ve felt a sense of quiet sadness watching people, including a few of my own clients, turn to AI to generate deeply personal commercial works, from scripts and blog posts to full-length books. Watching soul-aligned intentions translated into generic algorithm outputs can be disheartening. While ethical questions naturally arise, what concerns me most deeply is the growing use of AI for direct client communication.

To be clear: if you use AI for fun, creative experimentation, or as a lightweight partner for brainstorming, that can be a joyful and helpful process. My reflection is focused on intent, integrity, quality, ownership, and transparency when serving others.

Writing requires a depth of contemplation and presence that AI simply cannot replicate. When AI is used in spaces that demand emotional truth, the energetic mismatch becomes obvious.

AI has remarkable applications across fields like medical research, data analysis, and scientific discovery. However, it was never designed to substitute for human connection or artistic vision.

For those running spiritual businesses or writing message-driven works, I gently encourage you to keep your client communications authentically your own. Your clients choose to work with you because they seek your unique human perspective. When we read something heartfelt, we naturally form a mental and emotional connection with the person behind the words.

I recall receiving an AI-generated reply from a client after sharing detailed consultancy notes with them. Receiving an automated, templated response in a professional relationship felt disengaging, as though the personal element had vanished. Unintentional as it may be, using AI in sensitive personal or client communications can leave people feeling undervalued, as if they weren't worth the time it takes to write a genuine response. Imagine if an entire client base felt that way.

When we rely on AI to craft our core touchpoints, we risk withholding the very qualities clients seek: connection, trust, empathy, validation, reassurance, and sacred space.

We see this playing out across the publishing landscape, where platforms are increasingly flooded with mass-produced, AI-generated books that often lack depth and warmth. Beyond the loss of authentic expression, selling purely AI-generated text raises important questions around intellectual property and transparency.

Just as a quick aside regarding Copyright & Ownership: Current legal frameworks around the world stipulate that copyright protection applies ONLY to works created by human authors. AI-generated content generally cannot be copyrighted in its raw form, which introduces significant legal and ownership considerations for commercial products. I'll come back to this in greater detail some time next week.

I once had a client mention that AI was guiding them on the publishing industry. They began using terminology that felt disconnected from their natural communication style, delivering lengthy, circular text that obscured their core message. Beyond the confusion, it highlighted a broader concern: the risk of delegating our critical thinking and learning processes to an automated tool.

As a ghostwriter, my craft involves deeply attuning to and honouring another person’s unique voice. When AI pattern structures, repetitive phrasing, or unnatural vocabulary choices are introduced, it creates a subtle dissonance. On an intuitive level, people sense when communication lacks authenticity, which can gradually erode trust.

AI holds genuine potential to support us when used thoughtfully. From a writer’s perspective, it can assist in organising data or summarising research. However, it requires clear direction, well-crafted prompts, and careful human oversight. Output should always be critically evaluated rather than accepted at face value.

I see a clear place for AI in the creative landscape, not as the lead author, but as a supporting instrument. The human being must always remain at the centre.

Using these tools responsibly requires us to check in with our internal compass, anchoring our choices in transparency, responsibility, and fairness. You and I must lead the way by setting intention, framing thoughtful prompts, and editing with care.

We shouldn't surrender our voice or critical thought to technology because:

- It isn't built to replace human depth.
- It risks diluting the quality of the work we put into the world.
- Over time, over-relying on it can weaken our own creative
confidence (not to mention our actual brain power).
- Clients will ultimately seek out genuine human connection
elsewhere.

Sometimes, the urge to rely on AI stems from self-doubt or the belief that an algorithm can express an idea better than we can. That belief deserves compassion, but it also deserves to be challenged. Computer systems are human creations; they do not hold inherent superiority over our innate capacity to feel, reflect, and create.

The goal is balance. AI excels at repetitive tasks, organising data, and serving as a sounding board for early ideas. But the initial spark, the emotional core, and the final refinement must come from you.

When used as an administrative aid rather than a substitute for thought, technology can free up time, allowing us to focus on critical thinking, creative exploration, and living the rich human experiences that inform our best work.

Always remember: You are the creator of your reality.

I have to smile knowing I now hold certificates in AI studies. I chose to step into this learning space to better understand the landscape, allowing me to set grounded, confident boundaries around my writing, creative practice, and energetic work. I went there for you guys ... lol

AI is only something to fear if we forfeit the qualities that make us uniquely human. If we harness technology thoughtfully, using it to handle routine tasks so we have more space to connect, heal, and create from the heart, we can build a balanced, meaningful path forward.

I hope you all have a fabulously creative weekend. See you next week.

Humans need creativity for our long-term survival. This is no exaggeration. It's a fact. Creativity drives adaptive prob...
13/08/2026

Humans need creativity for our long-term survival. This is no exaggeration. It's a fact. Creativity drives adaptive problem-solving, mental flexibility and social cohesion. It allows individuals and communities to invent new tools, overcome threats, lower stress, and helps us maintain cognitive health throughout our lives.

In the 60s, researcher Mel Rhodes identified the five Ps of creativity - it has since been expanded to include a couple more.

Person (the creator)
Process (the steps of creation)
Product (the final result)
Place (the environment)
Press (the social and environmental PRESSures).
Persuasion: (ability to influence others)
Potential: (baseline capacity for growth)

While different generations may view creativity through a different lens, it's clear we must retain our ability to problem solve, to adapt and overcome threats and to have the brain power to actually free ourselves from clinging to the old ways of doing things so we can apply critical thinking, change course if we need to, perhaps to pause - and then create something new.

The reality is, AI could be the most incredible tool to solve the problems we face - or it could be a complete disaster! It's our responsibility to educate ourselves, and it's imperative we retain what connects us and makes us uniquely human! ✨🫶

Hello, wisdom keepers. How are you all? Since I have been immersed in this AI world, I have had to use an incredible amo...
12/08/2026

Hello, wisdom keepers. How are you all? Since I have been immersed in this AI world, I have had to use an incredible amount of discipline. It's important to me that I try to walk this middle path so I can present facts to you rather than my opinion.

However, if you will indulge me in this post, I must share a little of my opinion, or I'll burst.😄

It's hard for someone like me who has spent their whole life immersed in books, writing and the creative world. I've studied every form of writing you can imagine. I've sat up until 3am getting the words just right. I've turned to writing in times of grief and despair as well as moments of sublime joy. Why would anyone want to take shortcuts when there is such richness of experience to be found in the journey from that first spark to the meaningful piece on the page?

In my mind, if you don't want the challenge of working out the background stuff that holds a book together, or you don't want to challenge yourself with poetic cadence, then you can't really call yourself a writer or a creative. That's where the treasure is. You miss the gold nugget of wisdom if you bypass the tricky terrain. It's exactly the same on a healing journey. Sometimes the healing is in doing the work rather than the final destination.

All that said, I do believe if we work with true integrity and accountability, there can be a middle ground. If we are transparent about what we have created through years of hard work, study, and talent versus what AI generated in a moment, then at least there would be some authenticity.

AI is an incredibly exciting technology with groundbreaking and life-changing implications across medicine, diagnostics, scientific research, climate change, and the environment.
As you've discovered if you've read my previous post, there are many different types of AI, all designed for different tasks. It's just in the creative fields and the spiritual & healing worlds where AI feels incompatible and inauthentic in so many ways - probably because it is being used for tasks it was never really designed for.

AI can't invent anything new or truly create from scratch, which is why the world is being flooded with homogeneous mediocrity. If we can ensure the Human Being is front and centre, director of operations, every step of the way, then AI may have a future in these human-centric worlds, but the unfortunate thing is many people feel AI elevates their work. And that's dangerous! Because rather than learn how to create or write, rather than do the voluntary work alongside a great teacher, some will simply hand over everything to AI first (before even trying to create something themselves), trusting it to do a better job than they could.

The danger is people will stop thinking for themselves. They will stop trying to create words or images or music or audio recordings, because AI software will make them sound polished or AI software will make it seem they have enough lived experience or expertise to write a book.

Not only is this tricky ground in terms of authenticity or someone else's career, but it is also the slippery slope for the continued development of their brain! There will come a time when they just don't know how to get the creative spark back, and that is a far bigger threat to humanity than you might realise right now.

Let's be proactive in creating these guardrails together. Please never abdicate your own thinking or creativity to AI.

Hello creatives out there on the frontiers of this brave new world. I've been working on the next installment of Write f...
11/08/2026

Hello creatives out there on the frontiers of this brave new world. I've been working on the next installment of Write from Source in an Age of Artificial Intelligence. It's so easy to just write and write, but since there are some technicalities to understand, I have tried to limit the word count so you don't fall asleep halfway through. Hopefully by the end of this post, you’ll have picked up another little nugget to file for future use.

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What do we actually mean when we talk about AI? Apart from knowing AI stands for Artificial Intelligence, that it can create cool cartoons or images, perhaps text that makes you feel seen, or that “appears” to write better than you do, what else do you know about AI?

Well, for starters, there are many different kinds of AI, all designed to do different jobs. It's not just one thing,

But before we disappear down a technical rabbit hole (and believe me, there are so many rabbit holes it’s like Watership Down here), let's keep this simple.

For writers, photographers, and illustrators (let’s say creatives), Generative AI is probably the kind we'll be talking about most. Comparing it with Predictive AI will help us understand that “AI” isn't simply one thing and that there are many different types.
As we meander through the AI maze, there's one concept I'd like you to carry with you:

AI has no mental capacity and is not “intelligent”.
To “work”, AI needs humans at every single step of the journey.

There will be those that tell you AI is intelligent, but at this stage it's not making its own random decisions about anything. If you would like to understand this. further, refer to the previous post on the subject.

We will come back to this from time to time, but if you have this concept in your head, it's a good anchor point. OK, here’s a basic outline of a couple of AI models you will already be familiar with.

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Predictive AI
So predictive AI looks for patterns in existing data and uses those patterns to estimate what is likely to happen next. It can help predict things like customer behaviour, health risks, traffic (Google Maps) or demand. If you subscribe to Netflix (or similar), you are probably much more familiar with Predictive AI than you realise. You've watched Peaky Blinders (possibly ten billion episodes in my case 😂), and Netflix recommends something else you might enjoy. That’s an example of Predictive AI.
There’s not someone at Netflix who has noticed I might be obsessed with Thomas Shelby. Neither is there a rule in place that says, “Evie watched Peaky Blinders. Evie must now watch THIS.”

Instead, machine-learning models recognise patterns across viewing behaviour and use those patterns to make recommendations. Predictive AI is used to work out, ‘what’s the likely outcome?’

Netflix uses a combination of different AI models depending on the task. For example, it uses Machine Learning and Predictive AI to personalise recommendations for you.

So that's just one example of a task-oriented AI model.

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Generative AI
Generative AI works differently from traditional (predictive) AI. Instead of simply predicting outcomes for Netflix, analysing, classifying, or sorting existing data (like tagging a photo or filtering spam), it also uses patterns learned during training to generate new content. During training, an image-generating AI learns the complex mathematical relationships between visual features (such as shapes, lighting, textures) and language.

Simply put, computers only understand numbers. AI translates human words and visual elements into mathematical patterns (called vectors). When you ask it to create a picture, it doesn't search a database or copy and paste existing images. Instead, it calculates which arrangement of pixels best matches your prompt based on the “statistical relationships” it learned. Because there is no cognition, the AI has no idea what a "cat" or "sunset" actually feels like; it is simply calculating the most likely visual output for the numbers you provided.

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Example
Let’s work with an example right now. Let’s say I want to create a picture of a woman standing under moonlight (or the Milky Way); she’s beside the ocean. I want the image to use the style of watercolour, and I would like to include flowing shapes as a graphic element (since this is a water-inspired image).

As a creative, you might give ChatGPT or Canva (with AI) a prompt. Why not try this for yourself?

“Create a watercolour of a woman standing beside the ocean beneath the Milky Way.”

Try this prompt on a couple of different Generative AI apps. What do you notice about the images?

As I mentioned earlier, Generative AI doesn't simply search the internet, find that exact picture and hand it back to you. Nor does it work like a scrapbook, cutting pieces from existing photographs, sticking them together. It uses what it has learned about language and visual patterns to generate an output in response to the request.

I'll paste the image the Free version of ChatGPT generated for me. I'd love to see what yours look like using exactly the same prompt on Free ChatGPT. Let's try this experiment together and compare images. I think we may find some elements of the picture will look totally different (as a result of random 'seeds') or perhaps different versions of the AI model, and there will be some aspects of the image that are exactly the same.

Now, this is an area I really want to dive into in a dedicated post later on, focusing specifically on who owns that image we have just created, and whether this image is something we should use for our business or our creative work.

But for now, all I want us to do is focus on one concept at a time. For the purposes of this post, the main takeaway is there are lots of different types of AI, and they have been developed to do very different jobs. I showed you two. As a creative, you could potentially come into contact with Generative AI every day.

Generative AI (ChatGPT) "generates" an output response based on pre-learned pattern recognition.

Predictive AI (Netflix) predicts the likely next step/answer/ outcome or category based on pattern recognition and machine learning.

Now we are ready to dive into Generative AI, and how we as creatives should understand its limitations while keeping an open mind to its strengths.

Stay Curious.

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