When AI Helps Me Write — and When I Close It

Lately there’s been a lot of discussion around AI as a writing assistant — especially tools that work directly inside your text instead of starting from a blank prompt.

I’ve been experimenting with that approach, and I’ve found it useful in a very specific way.

AI helps me most after I’ve started — not before.

If I already know what I want to say but a sentence feels tangled, highlighting it and asking for clarity can be helpful. The idea stays the same, but the words land better. It’s less about generating content and more about removing friction.

Where I’m careful is letting AI decide what to say next.

If I don’t know what I think yet, handing that moment over to a tool feels premature. That pause — the slightly uncomfortable space where you’re figuring out your own position — is often where the most honest writing comes from.

I’ve noticed a clear difference between:

• Using AI to refine a thought
• And using AI to avoid forming one

One sharpens the message.
The other quietly replaces it.

So my current approach is simple:
I make sure I know what I'm trying to say before anything else takes over

Nothing changes unless I choose it.
Nothing stays unless it sounds like me.

Used that way, AI feels less like a writer and more like a quiet editor sitting nearby — helpful when needed, invisible when not.

That balance has made writing feel lighter without feeling outsourced.