When your writing isn’t flying
How writing with AI can be likened to flight delay madness.
This past weekend, I had the most horrific delays imaginable. Going to my destination, I had an overall delay of 6 hours before flying out. On the way home, the flight was delayed about 4 hours. I got home, late at night, and drained of all vital energy (save for what I could eke out to take a much-needed shower).
It did get me thinking: sometimes using AI can be like that (or, “sometimes it be like that”). As you go into using it, you think to yourself, “surely this is going to go well and I will experience no problems whatsoever.” And just like getting ready for the airport, with that mindset in… uh… mind… you get up bright and early, ready to attack the day (but hopefully not the flight, as that would introduce a whole new set of problems that I, Eric, am not equipped to assist you with). But once you arrive? Problems. Maybe not a delay in flight. But rough drafts that are truly rough. A voice that sounds like an over-enthusiastic IBM salesman from the 90s (“all 22 MHz will DEFINITELY run your spreadsheets!” kind of energy). An article that reads like it was written in a packed terminal, four hours into a delay, with your back screaming at you.
When writing feels like this, is everything lost? Not so fast, pardner. Though I won’t say “just have AI write the whole thing” (lest you end up in Mr. IBM Salesman territory), there is a solution that might be worth your while. And it’s something I’ve been talking about a lot lately: using AI as an assistive tool in your writing.
Wakey-wakey, weary traveler/writer, this is how we do it.
Here’s the flight plan
So you might be asking me right about now, “but Eric, where are the prompts?” Easy there, friend-o. A prompt you asked for and a prompt you shall receive. Here it is:
I have a rough thought: [paste your half-formed idea].
Using my voice profile, give me 10 different angles I could write about this, each as a single
sentence. Mix the approaches: some practical, some personal, some built around a question that
makes the reader stop and think.That’s it? In the words of that old Circuit City commercial that became a meme, “that’s it.”
Or is it? As you might remember from past articles, AI tools absolutely thrive on context. Giving AI context is like Popeye pumping himself full of spinach (and not chicken). The tool becomes powerful. You could also stack this prompt with the AI Interviewer prompt that I talked about previously. Proper context plus your rough, half-formed ideas equals the potential for a lot of good writing. It’s like the flight delay has cleared and the airplane is now ready to get off the tarmac. Another way to think about it is that suddenly, you have all of these backup airplanes, ready to get you to your destination.
Landing the plane on schedule
Of course, none of this is going to auto-magically create your writing for you. If you leave that to the AI, you’re going to have a bad time. You will end up with content so middle-of-the-road it has a dotted yellow line running down it. It will be written for everyone and no one. And, indeed, no one may end up reading such low-effort content.
Put some elbow grease into the prompting. And then follow it up with your own writing, using the ideas generated by the tool. Use what it gives you as a springboard for your own ideas. Let the tool help you put ink to paper (or fingers to keyboard, which is more likely). Keep this workflow in your back pocket on those days where it feels like you’re at the airport and the plane just ain’t taking off. Be the FAA of your writing process and have this contingency ready for when you need to land your content on schedule. By taking advantage of the power found in proper AI prompting, your days of figurative delays just might be behind you.
Now if only you could get your airport food purchases reimbursed. But alas, that’s a different Substack for a different day. Safe travels!
What do you do when you’re having writer’s block so severe, it feels like a long day at the airport? Let me know in the comments, I read them all!