I enjoy writing.
I write for many reasons — mostly for my blog, for my product, for myself — and the work of putting my thoughts and experiences and stories into words that take my reader with me on the often-rocky trail of my inner dialogue and back out with some sense of shared experience can be immensely satisfying. (When it comes together.)
We all have our own styles. How we think and structure and communicate our words is deeply and personally unique. We may differ on the "right" ways to write — whether we're rebelliously violating a golden rule of grammar or strictly abiding by it — but in the end the words are ours.
Mostly..
It's a different world these days.
Em dashes, one of my favorite — if perhaps overused — writing tools is seen by many as a clear sign of AI slop. Of a soulless machine-generated algorithmic ensemble of pointless words worth skipping.
Many gladly let AI do their tedious writing for them. Many wouldn't deign to entertain the thought. Many are somewhere in that middle. Views aside, readers won't always tell the difference, instead putting their faith in their assumptions.
Myself, I love the very act of writing — the art and creativity, the experimentation and rule-breaking, the crafting of words — and I'm not willing to let go of my favorite parts.
I know I'm not alone.
And it's not just about em dashes.
So let this be a signal, which anyone may drop into their own works:
Not written by AI.
— Em dashes mine. —