Tag Archives: AI Writing Tools

Software and platforms that assist in creating, editing, and improving written content efficiently using artificial intelligence.

#53 posts later: from job hunt to creative journey

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I started this blog a year ago, mainly as a way to rediscover a sense of purpose during a period of unemployment. I also wanted to build a writing portfolio to share with recruiters during interview processes and increase my chances of being hired in my field of interest: anything related to writing, researching, translating, content strategy, project management, and so on.

However, it soon became something more—not just a tool for job searching, but a personal space where I wanted to invest more time, experiment, and perhaps pursue long-held dreams, like publishing short stories and novels on my own platform. Since publishing a physical book still feels out of reach.

This blog didn’t start out the way it is now. In fact, it used to be a messy personal website with too many pages, scattered content, and little structure. So I slowly shaped it into what you can see today, which I hope comes acroos as a simple collection of blog posts.

I decided to invest a little in a Personal WordPress subscription. I would have gone for the Premium plan, but it’s literally twice the price, and there is no free trial to see if it’s actually worth it for the purpose of my website. That’s why I opened a donation page on Ko-fi, even though that is not really necessary at this stage. And if I ever build a larfer audience in the future, I would gladly invest my own money to bring better content—although I don’t know what “better content” would look like yet.

I don’t know if this makes sense, but I think I know what I am doing, while at the same time having no idea of what I’m doing.

At times, this whole blog thing feels like an extension of a personal diary—not because of the content itself, but because I’m writing primarly for myself, and maybe that’s the case. But what I actually mean is that building an audience is truly hard. Sure, I could have emailed every single person I know and told them, “Hey, I have this cool new blog, wanna take a look?”—but that idea terrifies me. I would rather let this blog exist among millions, probably billions of pages published every day and connect with those with which my content resonates. It feels more purposeful, less of an obligation to my friends, family, acquaintances, and so on.
Maybe that’s just the lone wolf. But anyway, this is a bigger topic, one I may (or may not) come back to in the future.

Recently, following the example of some blogs I found out there, I decided to reorganize my posts into the categories: reflections, experiences, short stories, novels (still to come), and explorations. Then, in an attempt to broaden my audience, I also created new tags, long tags, and so on and so forth.
I have to admit, I have zero patience for this SEO stuff. I would love to develop my marketing skills in a professional setting, but in my personal time, I just want to write. So, I ChatGPT the shit out of this SEO stuff!

Since I squeeze my free time to write consistently (combining long commutes, work, reading, training, relationship, and so on), I don’t overthink what I publish, and I don’t spend too much time editing.
As I mentioned in previous posts, I use AI tools only to correct typos and grammatical mistakes—not to alter my style or rephrase things I’ve written. I have a personal prompt that keeps this as ethical and minimal as possible, since, as far as I understand, using AI too heavily could raise questions about ownership or originality under some copyright interpretations.

Concluding without a real conclusion, I am still very excited about this project—especially because I have endless ideas that I want to execute. But I am not in a rush, and I accept now more than before that sometimes it can take longer to write better content, especially when it comes to fiction, which is my favorite—but also the most demanding stuff.

#17 Using AI prompts to edit my blog posts

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Before I share the tricks that help me polish my posts without distorting what I originally wrote, let me confess that I’ve cut a few corners in the past using AI prompts.

The most questionable trick I’ve used was asking ChatGPT to draft a conclusion by feeding it only two-thirds of a written post. There’s no excuse—I feel bad even admitting it—but at the time, I was overwhelmed with life and couldn’t come up with conclusions. Later, I realized that not every post needs one. Sometimes, the post is complete when you’ve run out of meaningful things to say, and it reads perfectly fine without moral lessons, unsolicited advice, or redundant perspectives.

The reason I felt guilty—if it’s not obvious—is the deep respect I have for the craft of writing and for writers of all kinds, those who carefully consider every word they use. It felt like a betrayal of my principles and my own creative process, and it’s not something I ever want to repeat.

That said, I won’t entirely dismiss the power of AI-driven tools to help proofread and refine my writing or to catch inconsistencies and inaccuracies that my own eyes might miss—especially given how little time I can dedicate to this time-consuming activity.

Here are a few helpful, ethically sound (by my standards) and simple prompts I’ve developed over time:

Proofreading

Writers know that no piece of writing—regardless of its audience or purpose—should go public without at least a second pair of eyes reviewing it. Proofreading styles vary greatly: some people practically rewrite your work, while others stick to spotting typos and fixing orthographic issues.

But here’s the thing—those “second eyes” require time, experience, and they’re rarely free (unless you know a benevolent soul whose sole priority is helping you improve). This is where ChatGPT can be incredibly handy. My prompt for this is:

  • Correct any grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors.
  • Ensure clarity and consistency without altering the intended tone or writing style.
  • Preserve the structure and flow of the text unless minor adjustments are necessary for readability or coherence.
  • Highlight unclear sections or sentences that could benefit from rephrasing, while suggesting minimal, non-intrusive edits.

Fact-Checking

So far, I’ve written only a few posts that required this prompt. It’s for posts where I reference studies or attempt a journalistic analysis of societal issues. I aim to research thoroughly, check sources, and quote or paraphrase without inaccuracies.

This is something I’d like to focus on more, but it’s not a top priority right now. Here’s the prompt I use for fact-checking:

  • Offer concise feedback for maintaining journalistic integrity and readability.
  • Identify any claims, data points, or studies that require verification.
  • Suggest credible sources to verify the information or correct inaccuracies, if any.
  • Highlight sections where citations or additional clarity could improve reliability.
  • Ensure quotes are accurately represented and properly attributed.

SEO

I wish I could say I’m passionate about SEO, but that’s not the case—yet. Despite reading books, taking courses, and watching videos on the subject, it hasn’t fully clicked for me. Maybe one day!

For now, I use this prompt to tackle SEO-related tasks:

  • Propose broad categories that accurately reflect the main themes and context of the post, ensuring they fit a typical WordPress blog taxonomy.
  • Suggest relevant tags to help readers and search engines quickly identify key topics or concepts discussed in the post.
  • Write a max 100 characters, human-readable excerpt summarizing the core idea of the blog post in an engaging and SEO-friendly way. Aim to capture the reader’s interest while reflecting the content accurately.

There you have it—my secrets. I hope you find them helpful! Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any tricks to share, resources you recommend, or books and authors that have inspired you.

#1 My favorite AI prompt for a successful cover letter

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I’ve been unemployed for almost a year now, following the layoffs at my previous company. I was shocked and angry because I loved my job, my colleagues, and the products I was helping to shape.

I started working when I was thirteen, so from early on, my job became a significant part of my identity. I was very proud of the career I was building for myself: starting by serving tables at a wine shop and then helping companies shape products through content, research, and design. I have nothing against serving tables—I enjoyed it and found interacting with customers both fun and enriching. However, it no longer fit into the future I had envisioned for myself.

Like many others, being unemployed took a toll on my mental health. Yes, I finished my novel and reached out to an editor, who encouraged me to write another one. Yes, I improved my German from barely pronouncing complex words to having in-depth conversations with my German therapist, even though he doesn’t always understand what I’m saying. Yes, I completed a few online courses on AI prompting, digital marketing, despite the decreasing confidence I started to feel in my professional field. I’ve also considered pursuing another master’s degree, although I already have six years of academic education under my belt.

But what I really miss is working with a team of professionals to brainstorm and solve problems while creating amazing products. That was the stage of my life I was at, and I wanted to move forward, not backward. I kept reminding myself of what my friends, family, and therapist advised: focus on what you can control, get back on your feet, and use your skills to find a new job. They shared many other helpful tips, but this one was particularly effective in keeping me sane.

So, I started working on multiple fronts: revamping my website, updating my CVs, networking, writing cover letters—the usual things. I have to say, I’ve always enjoyed revamping websites and CVs, but drafting cover letters used to be, and still is, an absolute nightmare. I’m not sure recruiters even read them, but they still require them, which paradoxically just adds to the process’s effort on both sides. But I guess it shows one’s commitment to joining the company and enthusiasm before moving on to the first call, which is way more time-consuming than scanning a cover letter. I just think it would be nice to receive an acknowledgment like “Wow, your cover letter touched me, but we are moving on with other candidates because they studied some AI stuff at Oxford” or maybe a badge to add on LinkedIn: “Best cover letter, even though he didn’t get the job.” I’ve poured a lot of energy into writing what I thought were great cover letters, only to receive no callbacks. What a waste of neurons!

This frustration led me to explore AI tools—I know, I know, I can’t hear about this topic anymore either, but here we are—for drafting cover letters. The initial results were terrible, so I went back to writing them myself. However, I realized that prompts require attention and effort to be effective—I actually knew this, but I was too lazy to draft them properly. Now that I’ve gotten better at it, I find it quite exciting. Plus, I’ve started receiving more callbacks—though I still haven’t landed a job yet.

So, all this to say that I want to share the prompt I use for writing my cover letters. I tweak it slightly depending on the tone I assume the company uses in its communications. If this prompt doesn’t work for you and you have a great one that does, please share it in the comments. You’ll be saving not only my brainpower but potentially that of many others who might read this post.

Here’s the prompt:

Prompt: Please use the information below to draft a cover letter that is engaging, concise, and free of jargon, while directly addressing the key requirements outlined in the job description. Incorporate highlights from my CV to showcase relevant experience and emphasize what makes the company stand out to me. Ensure the letter is compelling and encourages the reader to learn more. Please bold the main keywords.
Job Description: [paste your job description]
My CV Highlights: [paste your CV]
What I like about the company: [write a short sentence]

This whole post goes without saying that once the machine has churned out our nice text, we should also re-read it, add our personal touch, and then use Grammarly, or some other tool, to quickly proofread it—even though I have to admit I don’t always do this…