Podcast appearance
I joined Joshua Agbontaen on the JDS Podcast for a conversation about resilience, identity, and finding your voice in a distracted world. We talked about what resilience actually asks of us, where I draw a hard line on AI in my creative work, how I try to protect my attention from the algorithm, my steady morning writing habit, and why every art begins in community.
Listen to the episode: Resilience in a Distracted World: Identity, Technology & Finding Your Voice with Cody Sisco
Where resilience comes from
“It’s about acknowledging that things aren’t always going to be okay… resilience is about moving through those periods of difficulty — honoring them, giving yourself permission to feel when something is difficult, and also giving yourself some hope that things will not always be that difficult. It’s a little bit of hope for the future and permission to feel whatever you’re feeling, and to know that things change day by day.”
Where I draw the line on AI
“I have a few guidelines that I use myself. I will never use AI in my writing or in my editing. It’s a hard stop. I keep that walled away. Part of that is about honoring creativity and imagination as a core human value and skill that I want to build my career around. That said, I do use AI agents to run my schedule, to manage projects, to do website updates—technology things that AI is good at—so that I can focus more time on the things that I do want to do: my creative work, my work with other authors, and all the literary stuff.”
Attention, algorithms, and the hacker stance
“There’s always two sides to this coin. We could spend a lot of our time mindlessly scrolling, or we could use the technology tools that we have to connect more deeply with one another… My whole world is cyberpunk. I don’t like the tools we have, I don’t like the systems we have — maybe the world is screwed up — but I’m going to use what I have to get done what I want to and to connect with people. Even when I use platforms I don’t like, I try to think of it from a hacker’s perspective: how do I use this to my own ends and not be co-opted by the logic of the algorithm?”
The morning writing habit
“I dedicated mornings almost exclusively to writing, about four days a week, and I’d make progress every day — sometimes as much as 3,000 words at a time. In the afternoon I’d transition to my other work: editing, book coaching, planning literary events. For me it was about a steady, recurring habit — keeping the emphasis in the morning and keeping my calendar clear so I could focus. Sometimes life got in the way and I couldn’t write that day, but I always came back to it. Everyone’s got to find what works for them.”
Every art begins in community
“Do it. Get started. As solitary as writing can seem — sitting alone in a room with your computer — actually every art begins with an artist in community, either with fellow artists or with an audience. The more you can think about connecting with other people as you develop your craft, the more satisfying it is, and it’s a quicker path to success. Support and uplift other artists. The first step is becoming part of that community and helping lift it up together.”
The next book
“Book four, Toxic Medicine, comes out later this year, and it really is about how this group of friends navigates an overwhelming wave of technology that is changing the world — and they’re on different sides of that wave. Some of them are opting in, and some are part of the backlash. So that book really explores how those friends can stay connected, and how sometimes those connections rupture.”
Toxic Medicine, the fourth and final book in the Resonant Earth quartet, arrives October 14, 2026.
Listen + keep in touch
Thank you to Joshua Agbontaen and the JDS Podcast for a conversation about resilience, identity, and finding your voice in a distracted world. Listen to the full episode here.
New to the series? Start the Resonant Earth quartet with the free prequel novella Believe and Live at codysisco.com, and join the newsletter to hear first when Toxic Medicine arrives this October.