For as long as I can remember, the only “job” I ever wanted to have was “writer.”
I started writing very early. Poems and letters for family members. Later a newsletter for the neighborhood (detailing the activity of the local cats). Then, essays and research papers, profiles for the yearbook, articles for the college newspaper. I even once wrote 100+ pages of a book inspired by the song What Would You Do by City High. It was accidentally deleted by my dad, back when family computers were a thing (maybe they still are?!).
I used to tell people I was going to be the editor-in-chief of Vogue, a magazine I bought and edited every single month. When I graduated into the great recession, I originally took an unpaid internship as a publishing assistant––until I got that magical offer for a $30K per year job working at a content farm.
I’ve done a good job at turning my life’s passion into a professional arc. I’ve done the thing I always dreamed of and found a way to make a good living by writing.
AI, in my opinion, is just another tool in a writer’s belt. And hopefully not one we reach for too often, and lose all the insight behind what makes good writing good. That insight is what enables us all to build AI workflows that produce half decent content.
Lately, in AI workflow building, me and my team have been truly deconstructing the mental processes and span of information needed to write something high-quality. Because I know for sure that I didn’t turn writing into a career only to produce things that are half decent. And it is truly remarkable how the brains of great writers and editors work.
I am in awe of the writing craft, and every single step within it. It is so nuanced. It is so open to interpretation. And, it’s really hard to build a workflow that mimics it effectively. At least for now.
Anyway, I imagine a lot of you found your way to content marketing by way of a love for writing, too. And even as the industry shifts, and new tools are introduced, and new ways of thinking are required––I remain incredibly grateful and proud that I found a way to turn this specific love into a career in which I live and breathe words on the page, storytelling, structure and narrative arcs.
What a gift!
