I started to enjoy writing again when I stopped using AI to help me write
(And my writing got better)
AI tools promised quadruple output, fame and infamy!
I still use ChatGPT and Claude a good amount. I love those tools.
But, after a brief phase of experimenting with AI to help me write the bulk of some of my pieces, I returned to writing my own pieces from scratch.
Then, a weird thing happened.
I realised how much I enjoyed writing again.
I actually finished pieces faster, too.
Many of us forget that writing isn’t only about:
Brand building.
Making more impact.
Attracting more attention.
Making oodles of cash.
…It’s about who we become when we sit down to write.
It’s about the joy of the craft, the pursuit of one’s curiosity and the expansion of the mind too.
AI support has a habit of extracting the magical components of writing from one’s own hand into thin air.
The parts of you that your writing needs most begin to atrophy.
Why think when you have AI to think for you?
Sure, use AI for help, ideas, structuring, editing, etc.
But you may just find, like I have, that you can be more productive and more energised by writing most, if not all of of it yourself.
When you do, not only does it feel better, but the reader feels it too.
And by making the reader feel something, you’ll set yourself apart in the coming deluge of AI writing.
If you’d like further support, where I show you the 16 secrets I learned over 15 years of online writing to take your writing to even higher levels, you’ll want my Online Writing Alchemy course.
The course shows you everything you need to know to write powerfully without AI so you grow an online tribe of fans and buyers.
If you’d like access to hundreds of locked articles like this one, you’ll want to become a paying subscriber here on Substack for less than the price of a couple of coffees each month:
I touch AI very little amd question all of it - discernment is key. As long as it stays the servant and not the master, we will be OK, but the kicker is the fact that not everyone thinks that way.
I like this part - “…It’s about who we become when we sit down to write.”
I re-found my love of this in the past week or so, too, mate (and in similar circumstances)! Great essay.