How to Use AI to Stay Safe Online (Part 2): Fact-Check Images, Posts, and Online Claims

From Edie: Learn how to use AI to fact-check images, social media posts, and online claims while protecting your personal information and verifying trusted sources.

How to Use AI to Stay Safe Online (Part 2): Fact-Check Images, Posts, and Online Claims

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

Last time, we looked at using AI as a safety tool to help identify possible online scams.

But suspicious messages are only part of the problem.

Today we also need to deal with fake photographs, misleading social media posts, impersonation accounts, recycled stories, manipulated information, and posts that contain just enough truth to make the lie believable.

And I'll confess something. Sometimes I want the message to be true. Often the words confirm something I already believe. Maybe what I’ve written is a great story. Whatever emotion the message triggers, that reaction makes me more vulnerable.

How to Use AI to Stay Safe Online (Part 1): Detect Scams Before You Click

From Edie: Learn how to use AI to spot online scams, identify common red flags, analyze suspicious messages, and verify information before you click or respond.

How to Use AI to Stay Safe Online (Part 1): Detect Scams Before You Click

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

I’ve been online for a long time.

I remember when social media felt a lot like walking into a room filled with people we knew—or at least people who knew people we knew. Yes, there were problems, but most of us didn’t approach every friend request, email, direct message, or interesting post wondering whether someone was trying to steal our identity.

Those days are gone.

Scams have become more sophisticated, and artificial intelligence has made some of them even harder to recognize. Messages are better written. Images are more convincing. Fake accounts look more legitimate. And scammers have gotten very good at pushing the emotional buttons that make us react before we stop and think.

But there’s another side to AI.

Social Media Burnout for Writers: 8 Ways to Stay Visible Without Getting Exhausted.

From Edie: Feeling exhausted by social media? Discover 8 practical ways writers can avoid burnout, stay visible online, connect with readers, and protect their creativity.

Social Media Burnout for Writers: 8 Ways to Stay Visible Without Getting Exhausted

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

I know, I’m supposed to be the cheerleader of all things social media. But let’s get real here. Some days—some weeks—it just makes me tired.

And social media feels more exhausting now than it used to.

There are new platforms, new features, new algorithms, and new experts telling us what we absolutely MUST be doing if we want anyone to discover our books. We’re supposed to post consistently, make videos, engage with our followers, grow our email lists, learn the latest trends, understand what the algorithms want, and somehow still find time to actually write.

Why Handwritten Cards Still Matter—and Why Writers Should Send Them

From Edie: Discover why handwritten cards still matter and how writers can use their words to comfort, encourage, celebrate, and make a lasting difference.

Why Handwritten Cards Still Matter—and Why Writers Should Send Them

by Lori Hatcher

Just this week, a dear friend shared that she’d lost a life-long friend to cancer. Another said goodbye to her beloved pet. 

My heart ached for them. I texted when I first heard of their loss. Later I called to express my condolences, but the weight of their sorrow lingered in my heart. I picked up a pen, rifled through my writing closet to find an almost-buried stack of greeting cards, and chose two.

“Lord,” I prayed, “help me write something that will comfort them and remind them that they don’t have to bear their sorrow alone.”

When Writing Hurts: How to Keep Writing Through Pain and Struggle

From Edie: Henry McLaughlin shares how to keep writing when painful memories and emotional struggles surface, with practical, faith-filled ways to move forward and find healing.

When Writing Hurts: How to Keep Writing Through Pain and Struggle

by Henry McLaughlin @RiverBendSagas

There are times when writing is hard or at least seems harder than it should be. Ideas don’t come. Or the ideas do come, but the words to flesh them into coherency flutter away like a butterfly in a swift breeze. You reach for the words, and they’re gone.

Then an idea comes, and the words start to flow. And we freeze because the words trigger memories and the memories trigger pain. Pain we thought was healed or resolved or forgotten.

Is It Too Late to Become a Writer? Why Now Is the Time to Begin Writing

From Edie: DiAnn Mills has an answer for writers who are wondering if it’s too late to become a writer. Discover why age, fear, and self-doubt don’t have to stop you—and why now is the time to begin writing.

Is It Too Late to Become a Writer? Why Now Is the Time to Begin Writing

by DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills

“There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they'll take you.” Beatrix Potter

Many of us feel the nudging to write, but excuses hold us back. I fell into that category until someone challenged me to begin.

8 Writing Lessons Every Writer Can Learn from The Wizard of Oz

From Edie: Discover 8 writing lessons from The Wizard of Oz that can help writers overcome fear, grow their craft, find community, and navigate the writing journey.

8 Writing Lessons Every Writer Can Learn from The Wizard of Oz

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

I’ve grew up watching The Wizard of Oz on TV. It was always a huge event and we'd make an evening of watching it. So I have a lot of memories tied up in that movie. There’s just something about that yellow brick road, a pair of sparkly shoes, and a group of unlikely friends headed toward a destination they’re convinced will solve all their problems.

And if you think about it, that scenario sounds a lot like the writing life.