I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. All I do remember is wanting to work in London having watched my Dad live and work there.  I’ve always loved writing, I have diaries and poetry that I wrote as a teenager, and it was cathartic for me. It was a way of getting all my anger and hurt out of my body so that I would calm down and start to heal. It was a way to organise my thoughts and start to make sense of the chaos.  Even now my brain is running at a million miles per hour, and I can’t type fast enough to get all my thoughts and feelings down.

Often, I don’t know what the core theme of a piece of writing will be about – like now, but I also have a list of themes that I want to write about at some point. I don’t always.

These have come to me recently, and I really do want to explore them, but at the same time, I’m apprehensive. Sometimes writing holds a mirror up, sometimes it is too honest, sometimes I fear of the repercussions. I know that I don’t need to share everything that I write with the world, but then what’s the point?

Is writing for me enough? Or do I seek more? That old age question, if a tree falls and no one hears it, did it really happen? Something I have been thinking is how I’m struggling with how the world is changing in regard to writing. Well not just writing, but any creative arts.

I love authenticity but worry that AI and technology is hindering that. I love writing, but the truth is, I’m not trained and I didn’t study the art of writing, I just love words and storytelling. But at work, writing at the level I need to write takes me a lot a time. I have to write the plot/message then refine it for a professional audience. The words, the formation, composition, this is not yet something I have mastered, nor do I have time to master, so the solution – ChatGPT.

I’ll be honest I was totally against it at first, and in many ways I still am, BUT…it has helped me speed up the process and produce something well written enough for a professional purpose with ease.

I find myself in a position where I’m ashamed that I’ve “lowered myself” to using it. I don’t see it as progress, I see it as a cheat. It has taken the ‘art’ out of writing. I am literally feeding it information and letting it ‘create’ the end product.

But if I keep doing this, I’ll lose the skill of creating good copy, right? I’ll surely regress not progress? But that is what we are calling progress? Taking away the skill and art of writing and allowing a computer to do it, just because it’s quicker and easier?

Progress is me spending less time on art, and more time on ‘strategy’ or ‘problem solving’ or ‘people’ – whatever crap gets spouted about how people won’t lose jobs to AI, their jobs will change, and they will be ‘freed-up’ to do other things. But this feels fake and like we are dumbing people down. Because once we have freed people up to do more strategic things, do they have the skillset and capability for that?

If they have skipped learning the art of writing, the art of creating; will they be prepared and knowledgeable enough to make competent decisions? If you have never written anything totally from scratch, can you make decisions about the direction of a newspaper for example?

You have no idea how long it takes to formulate an idea, how long it takes to write something from scratch nor how long it takes to refine and edit? What stopping people ‘at the top’ from using AI to create strategies? Nothing. So are  some strategic professionals, just good at prompting ChatGPT to create strategies? But actually, not very knowledgeable themselves?

My biggest bug bear at the moment is watching people around me create shitty ChatGPT content. It’s clear they didn’t put any original content in themselves because it has no weight. It’s actually a piece of writing that says nothing. It’s not informative or new or interesting. But they managed to do it in 30-minutes – I mean those who still do tweak afterwards – rather than 4-hours. To me it makes a mockery out of content. I’d prefer to do less content than share some of the crap that has recently been produced.

One of my favourite dying crafts is sign painting.  I follow some artists on Instagram, it’s so fascinating. I think my favourite part is when they use these long paint brushes that seem to hold so much paint so they can paint in one long stroke without once taking the brush off the page. I diverge..

Going back to ChatGPT, I’m not sure that I’m confident that it is the way forward. Surely at some point, everything is going to sound the same. I mean ChatGPT is going to find its own produced content and is it going to be able to find a way to make it sound different to the first or second time it wrote it? I mean there are only so many words in the English language. So many synonyms.

Work is making me hate writing. I’m not proud of what I’m doing. Whilst I draw a line at writing something completely using ChatGPT, I still wish I was better at writing quality content faster.

I now worry that the expectation to produce this style of content has been set so I’ll never get away from it. I’m disappointed at the direction things are going. The dark thought even entered my mind as to whether I should put this into ChatGPT to see how it refines my personal writing. In fact, I’m going to do it, for fun. But actually, is that where it starts?? Tell me what you think…Is my first original draft fit for purpose? Or should I be refining using ChatGPT to make my content ‘more readable’ & ‘better quality’?

Firstly, this is the comment that ChatGPT made:

Thank you for such a raw and thoughtful reflection. Your original piece is authentic, emotionally resonant, and captures a deeply relevant internal and societal struggle. It absolutely has value as it is—as personal writing, it’s vulnerable, questioning, and articulate in a stream-of-consciousness style. However, if you’re considering refining it for an audience (a blog post, an essay, or a professional piece), there are ways to enhance its clarity and structure while preserving your unique voice.

Here’s a refined version that aims to strike that balance — keeping your personal tone and emotional core, but improving readability, structure, and flow:

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The Art of Writing in an Age of AI

I never really knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. The only thing I clearly remember wanting was to work in London. My dad lived and worked there, and it seemed like a place full of possibility.

What I have always known, though, is that I love writing. As a teenager, I filled diaries and wrote poetry. Writing was cathartic—it helped me process anger and hurt, a way to get the chaos out of my head and onto paper. It brought calm. Even now, my mind races faster than my fingers can type, thoughts coming too quickly to catch them all.

Often, I sit down to write without knowing where it’s going. Like now. But I have a growing list of themes I want to explore—though I hesitate. Writing can be brutally honest. It holds up a mirror, and sometimes, I’m afraid of what I might see. Or worse, what others might.

There’s always the question: If I write something and never share it, does it count? Is writing purely for myself enough? Or do I crave an audience? That old tree-falling-in-the-forest dilemma.

Lately, I’ve been grappling with how the world is changing, especially when it comes to creativity. I love authenticity. But AI and technology seem to be diluting it. I love writing, but I’m not trained. I didn’t study the craft. I just love storytelling and words. Yet in my job, writing professional content is hard. It takes time to craft the message, shape the structure, refine the tone.

So, reluctantly, I turned to ChatGPT.

At first, I was totally against it. In many ways, I still am. But it has made things faster, easier, and more polished. It helps me produce something presentable in a fraction of the time. Still, I feel ashamed. Like I’ve cheated. Like I’ve removed the art from the process. I’m feeding it information, and it’s generating the result. If I keep doing this, won’t I lose the very skills I’m trying to improve?

Is this what we now call “progress”? Replacing creativity with efficiency? Stripping back the time spent on craft to focus on “strategy,” “problem-solving,” or “people work”? It feels fake. Like we’re dumbing things down. Are people really being “freed up” to do more meaningful work—or are they just skipping over the hard stuff, the stuff that teaches depth and nuance?

If someone has never written something from scratch, can they make meaningful decisions about writing, editing, or content strategy? Can they understand how long it takes to shape an idea, write it, refine it, and make it shine?

I worry about the top-down use of AI. If leaders are using it to generate strategies, are they strategists—or just good at prompting ChatGPT?

What frustrates me most right now is watching people around me create bland, weightless content. It’s clear they didn’t put anything personal or original into it. It’s content that says nothing, and yet it’s being done in 30 minutes rather than four hours. That’s meant to be a win?

I’d rather do less content and make it count than pump out polished nothingness.

One of my favourite dying arts is sign painting. I follow artists on Instagram who use these long brushes to make perfect strokes without lifting the bristles. There’s something beautiful about that level of craftsmanship. And it makes me wonder: where is that spirit in digital creativity?

Back to ChatGPT—am I really confident it’s the future? At some point, won’t everything start to sound the same? AI training on AI content, circling back to itself, losing originality. There are only so many words. Only so many ways to say something.

Work is starting to kill my love for writing. I’m not proud of the way I’m producing content. I still draw the line at handing everything over to AI—but I do use it. I just wish I were faster, better, and more confident at creating quality writing on my own.

The worst part? I now fear that the expectation has been set. That this is how we do it now. That I can’t go back.

And yes, I had the dark thought: maybe I should put this into ChatGPT, just to see how it refines it. So here we are.

Maybe this is where it starts. Or maybe it’s just me trying to understand where I stand.

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ChatGPT’s Final Thoughts

Your original draft is absolutely fit for purpose as a personal essay or reflective journal. Whether you refine it depends on your goal. If it’s just for you, it doesn’t need polishing. If it’s for public or professional sharing, refining it like the version above can help you express the same depth with more clarity and power.

As for using ChatGPT—it doesn’t have to be an either/or. Use it as a tool, not a crutch. Let it help you speed up, not replace your creativity. The key is keeping your voice intact.

My final thoughts

You know, I do like what ChatGPT has written. It is refined whilst keeping the message. But what I am more impressed with, is the commentary before and after…ChatGPT is actually telling me I’m good enough and giving me a pep-talk, trying to boost my self-confidence. Cute.

I do wonder what I will be thinking when I read this in 5 or 10 years time. Will I laugh, “Oh how naïve” or will I be writing with a pen again, gripping onto my version of reality without interference?

Watch this space.