How I Actually Write With AI
đź“ť The Journey So Far
Since 2017, I’ve been wrestling with the challenge of organizing my thoughts digitally—trying to capture the endless stream of ideas, insights, and observations that flow through my mind. By 2019, this evolved into what you see here: a digital garden that’s been through at least 100 iterations as I’ve searched for the perfect way to share what I’m learning and building.
đź’ˇ The Honest Truth
Here’s something I’ve come to accept about myself: without AI, the thoughts in my head would likely stay there forever. I’ve always been someone with plenty to say but struggled with the gap between having an idea and getting it onto the page in a way that actually makes sense to another human being.
“The first draft of anything is shit.” — Ernest Hemingway
⚙️ My Collaborative Thinking Process
What I’ve discovered is a dynamic partnership—AI isn’t just reviewing my work, it’s actively thinking alongside me. We brainstorm together, research together, and explore ideas in real-time conversation. It’s like having a thinking partner who’s always available for deep dives into any topic.
graph TD A[💠Raw Ideas] --> B[🧠Brainstorm with AI] B <--> C[🔍 Research & Explore] C <--> D[💬 Dialogue & Question] D --> E[📋 Structure Ideas] E <--> F[✍️ Collaborative Draft] F <--> G[🔄 Iterate & Refine] G --> H[🎯 Focus & Polish] H --> I[📝 Publish] B --> D C --> F E --> C F --> B G --> E H --> D
This isn’t a linear process—it’s a living conversation. I might start with a vague idea, then spend time with AI exploring what that really means, researching related concepts, questioning assumptions, and gradually building understanding together. The writing emerges from this collaborative thinking, not the other way around.
“Writing is thinking on paper.” — William Zinsser
đź©Ľ Embracing the Crutch
Do I use AI as a crutch? Absolutely, and I’m not ashamed of it. It’s an incredibly powerful one—the difference between thoughts trapped in my head and actually being able to share them with the world. Think of it like having a conversation partner who never gets tired, never judges your half-formed ideas, and always helps you find the words you’re looking for.
Every insight, every experience, every perspective is entirely mine. AI just helps me express them in ways that connect with readers instead of confusing them.
đź“ś A Historical Perspective
Here’s something that makes me chuckle: we’ve been here before. Way back in ancient Greece, Socrates had some strong opinions about a new technology that he thought would make people lazy and forgetful:
“For this invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom, for they will read many things without instruction and will therefore seem to know many things, when they are for the most part ignorant and hard to get along with, since they are not wise, but only appear wise.” — Socrates (via Plato’s Phaedrus)
The technology he was criticizing? Writing itself.
Turns out every generation worries that new tools will make us soft. First it was writing, then books, then computers, and now AI. Maybe the pattern here isn’t that the tools are dangerous—maybe it’s that humans have always been tool-users, and each new tool expands what we’re capable of.
🚀 The Unexpected Gift
What surprises me most about this process is how much it’s teaching me about writing itself. By watching how AI helps structure my thoughts and improve my expression, I’m slowly absorbing those skills myself. Maybe someday I won’t need the crutch at all—but honestly, I’m not in any hurry to find out.
“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” — Anaïs Nin
🤔 Framework? What Framework?
Here’s another honest confession: I don’t actually have a framework for how I structure any of this. It’s definitely on my ever-growing list of things to work on and create something more systematic for, but right now? I’m doing what I like to call “vibe-writing” (and yes, it rhymes with typewriting—I’m quite proud of that one).
Most of the time, I just follow where the conversation with AI takes me. An idea sparks, we explore it together, and whatever emerges is what gets published. Sometimes this leads to beautiful, organic pieces that surprise even me. Other times… well, let’s just say not every experiment makes it to the public eye.
And then there’s what I call “the giant rewrite”—those moments when I come back to an older piece and realize it needs to be completely rebuilt from the ground up. No gentle edits, no careful preservation of the original. Just a complete tear-down and rebuild, like renovating a house by starting with dynamite.
“I have rewritten—often several times—every word I have ever published. My pencils outlast their erasers.” — Vladimir Nabokov
Is this the most efficient way to write? Probably not. But it’s honest to how my brain actually works, and for now, that feels more important than having a perfectly optimized content creation system. The framework will come when it comes—probably through the same collaborative process that everything else emerges from.
✍️ Writing Style
One thing I’ve become increasingly fascinated with is the question of writing style control—how do you maintain consistency while still allowing for natural evolution? It’s like being a jazz musician who wants to improvise but still stay in key.
When working with AI, I’ve discovered that style isn’t just about word choice or sentence structure. It’s about voice, rhythm, the balance between formal and casual, how much personality to inject, when to be vulnerable versus when to be authoritative. All of these elements need to work together to create something that feels authentically me, even when I’m collaborating with artificial intelligence.
Here’s a little experiment I’ve been playing with—a tool for exploring different aspects of writing style:
The challenge isn’t just knowing what style you want—it’s being able to consistently apply it across different topics, moods, and contexts. Some days I want to be more technical and precise. Other days, I want to be conversational and meandering. The trick is making sure both versions still sound like they came from the same person.
“Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.” — Orson Welles
Here’s a practical example of how different prompting approaches can transform the same piece of text:
AI helps me write by suggesting improvements and catching errors. It makes the writing process faster and helps me express ideas more clearly.
Artificial intelligence serves as a collaborative tool in the writing process, providing editorial suggestions and identifying linguistic inconsistencies. This technological integration enhances both efficiency and communicative precision, enabling more effective knowledge transfer and ideation articulation.
You know what's wild? AI has basically become my writing buddy. It's like having someone looking over my shoulder saying "hey, maybe try this instead" or "you missed a comma there." Honestly, it's made writing way less of a slog and helped me figure out how to actually say what I mean instead of just... word-vomiting.
AI and I dance together in the realm of words—it leads when I stumble, I lead when it lacks soul. Like a master craftsman's apprentice, it holds the tools steady while I shape the clay of thought into something others can touch and understand. We're sculptors of meaning, each bringing our own gifts to the marble block of a blank page.
For now, I’m just grateful that we live in a time when technology exists that lets me share what I’m learning and building, even if I can’t do it perfectly on my own yet. ✨