Me, My Writing, AI and You

I won't use AI for writing anymore

I started this Substack before the AI madness and I used to write freely what I wanted to write (probably with a lot of mistakes 😅). Then AI exploded and, suddenly, I felt like I had to use it.

And I did. And you can see it in some of my posts.

I never used it to write for me but for ‘polishing’ (fucking AI wording) and give it flow and, at the beginning, I could not see anything wrong with it.

Until now.

Everyone and their mother sounds the same. Every email wanting you to sign up for something, every note here on Substack (well, 90% of them?), every caption, every clickbait…

It is everywhere.

Some try to disguise it but others don’t even bother.

My excuse?

English not being my first language, it’s obvious that my writing is not going to be at Shakespeare level (I think I just proved that) but what happened was that, since this Substack madness and the emergence of 1.001,025 writing circles, groups, magazines, Substack coaches… I started feeling like I am not good enough and “who the F am I to write in English when is not even my language”?

Imposter syndrome at its finest and my mind going: “I can’t be good at writing in English if I am Spanish, right?” I need Claude or GPT or Gemini or any of those bitches.

The Confession

I have been using them like this:

I write a raw piece and then I ask the robot to correct any grammatical errors (that’s kind of cool) and give me feedback about the writing itself as if it was my editor.

Well, not a single time IT says: “It is a good article, well done, only a couple of grammar errors, A and B, whatever”.

No, first it tells you what’s good (great, thanks) and then it lists a series of ‘suggestions’ that, essentially, change what you just wrote 🥴

Now… why?

Although I was having mixed feelings about the results most of the time, I was agreeing to those suggestions assuming that an AI knows better than I do.

Big mistake.

And big lesson.

I am Spanish and I write in English because I fucking want to and I do it my way. It’s up to you to read me or not. And that is going to be the rule in here from now on.

I just thought to tell you since you’re subscribed.

I don’t reject AI, rather the opposite, I think it has amazing applications and it is a huge help for many things… writing isn’t one.

Even if you create “your voice profile” and ask it to use it. It won’t.

I won’t bitch - well, just a little - or trash anyone but I can’t stand reading stuff that has been CLEARLY written with AI because it is off putting.

But I only realize that now after the ‘experience’ of it, if that makes sense.

And it may be that the writer is doing similar to what I was doing and the original writing comes from the ‘human’ (or perhaps doesn’t) but, if that is the case, the fact that it reads AI, to me, makes me scroll past and unfollow.

AI is here to stay and we know it, but, after flirting with it for the last few months, I don’t see a way back for me in the writing.

I am here to write from my soul and I want you to be here (if you choose to) to read what I have to say, my ideas and worldview and not to win the Pulitzer.

Machines don’t have a soul.

Love,

Eva:)