Dan Decker's Blog, page 12
May 12, 2023
Prepare for a Chill: The New Jason Maxfield Thriller COLD REVENGE is Coming Soon!
I have some thrilling news to share! I’m delighted to announce my electrifying new thriller, “Cold Revenge,” is coming soon!
Jason Maxfield is still a fugitive on the run. But this is not your typical cat-and-mouse chase. Our hero is not just fleeing the authorities, he’s also trying to outrun his own past—a past that haunts him with relentless persistence. Every corner he turns, every shadow he hides in, the echoes of his former life are in pursuit.
The plot takes unexpected turns as you constantly guess where our fugitive will go next, who he can trust, and how he will reconcile with the demons that stalk his every step.
Mark your calendars now, as “Cold Revenge” is set to hit the shelves soon. I can’t wait for you to unravel the mysteries hidden within its pages! Prepare for a chilling ride that will have you questioning everything until the end.
The countdown has begun, and I promise you COLD REVENGE will leave you frozen in suspense!
Stay tuned for more updates.
May 10, 2023
Writing Update: COLD REVENGE getting close & ONLY THE GUILTY is moving forward!
ONLY THE GUILTY is chugging along and is already at 30% on draft 2 as of last Friday!
The edits and prepublication work on COLD REVENGE are almost done.
Getting very close!
The word count for last week was approximately 8,000 words.
(Note: I write on a lot of different projects all at once. My weekly word count is for most projects, even though I don’t always include all of them in the weekly update breakdown below.)
Here is the status of current projects as of last Friday:
Jason Maxfield #3 – Done with the third editor. Onto the fourth!
Jake Ramsey #4 – DONE!
New Legal Thriller – Draft 2 – 30%
NEW UNTITLED NOVEL – Draft 1 – 15% to 20%.
The photo above reminds me of a scene in the upcoming Jason Maxfield novel COLD REVENGE!
May 3, 2023
Writing Update: COLD REVENGE and New Legal Thriller is off to a good start!
My next (non-Mitch Turner) legal thriller ONLY THE GUILTY is off to a great start! I made considerable progress on draft 2 last week.
Jason Maxfield #3 was sent off to the next editor.
I can now officially reveal the title of Jason Maxfield #3:
COLD REVENGE
A lot is going on.
The word count for last week was approximately 12,500 words.
(Note: I write on a lot of different projects all at once. My weekly word count is for most projects, even though I don’t always include all of them in the weekly update breakdown below.)
Here is the status of current projects as of last Friday:
Jason Maxfield #3 – In editing with the third editor.
Jake Ramsey #4 – DONE!
New Legal Thriller – Draft 2 – 15%
The photo above makes me think of a scene in the upcoming Jason Maxfield novel COLD REVENGE!
April 27, 2023
April 19, 2023
April 12, 2023
No writing update this week! I was out of the office.
But here’s a photo from a scene of the upcoming Jake Ramsey novel.
April 5, 2023
The Presumption Audiobook is now out!
Here is a preview:
March 31, 2023
For Writers: Iterate. Reiterate. Repeat. | The AI resistance! | The death of lawyers?
I maintain I substack devoted to writing. You can find it here.
Here are some recent posts:
Iterate. Reiterate. Repeat.
I rarely get something complete on the first pass. It takes multiple times through. I add. I take away. I reconfigure. This is crucial to my creative process.
This helps me remember how vital it is:
Iterate. Reiterate. Repeat.
Or:
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
The death of lawyers?Hardly.
Photo by Possessed Photography on UnsplashOpenAI said the updated technology passed a simulated law school bar exam with a score around the top 10% of test takers; by contrast, the prior version, GPT-3.5, scored around the bottom 10%. GPT-4 can also read, analyze or generate up to 25,000 words of text, and write code in all major programming languages, according to the company.
Can it shake your hand? Can it be programmed for empathy, understanding, the ability to read the room?
And countless others?
The AI resistance!You are the key.
Photo by Andrea De Santis on UnsplashFrom The Washington Post:
Can anything stop the digital destruction? I think so. At bottom, ChatGPT is no more than a vast recycling machine. It can search our collective digital brain for pre-cooked ideas and pre-assembled facts and then churn them out as columns. It can imitate whatever style you tell it to imitate. But it can’t provide the human element — vivid observations or fresh ideas or leaps of imagination. The best way for columnists to survive in the world of artificial intelligence is to write more human columns. This general rule — avoid destruction by upping the human element in what you do — applies to most other knowledge-intensive jobs.
Here are some ideas for avoiding the coming column-aggedon:
Live an interesting life.
Generate new knowledge.
Avoid predictability.
One of the most powerful arguments in favor of automation is that it forces producers to be more productive by focusing on their comparative advantage. This will surely be the case with columnists. ChatGPT can do all the predictable things — producing anti- (or pro-) Trump rants or summarizing the causes of the war in Ukraine. But can it change your mind? Can it produce “color” that encapsulates an historical moment? Can it persuade a politician to spill the beans? Can it generate a new way of looking at the world? And can it make you laugh? Not yet — and, in some cases, not ever.
What can you do that ChatGPT cannot?
