When choosing a book, I always follow the same approach: I read the first ten pages, a few pages in the middle, and one toward the end. If they leave a positive impression, I buy the book—regardless of the topic.
Applying this strategy, no book has impacted me as deeply as Les Enfants Endormis by French author Anthony Passeron. The evening I discovered it in the library, I had an appointment with my girlfriend. It was hard to explain why I hadn’t heard my phone—why I missed her messages and calls while she wandered around the library looking for me.
The book has an original structure: one chapter focuses on a global topic—the rise of the HIV/AIDS crisis—while the next centers on the author’s family, who suffered multiple losses due to the epidemic. These two storylines alternate chapter by chapter, each unfolding along the same timeline.
I loved how thoroughly researched the chapters on HIV were. Passeron presents complex medical and historical information in a concise, objective, and accessible way. The chapters about his family, by contrast, are intimate, emotional, and beautifully written.
I believe simplicity in writing is a form of mastery. Passeron manages to combine emotional depth, knowledge, and elegance with clear, unpretentious prose. That, to me, is the pinnacle of writing.
The book is about two hundred pages long, and when I finished it, I felt that every word had been carefully chosen. Nothing was superfluous, and nothing was lacking. It was just enough.
This week, I tried to write a post several times, failing miserably at each attempt.
Initially, I wanted to write about my holiday in Portugal. I managed a few paragraphs and even came up with a title I really liked. It felt simple, catchy, and fitting for the overall topic I had in mind: “The importance of taking a break.” But by the time I reached paragraph five, I had already lost the plot. I was writing about anything but the importance of taking a break.
Instead, I found myself rambling about the thoughts that had accompanied me during my vacation in Portugal—things like “I’m grateful for this…”, “I found that so annoying…”, “That person was a creep”, “That other person was so nice”, and so on.
I read the whole thing out loud again, and it irritated me. I didn’t want to put anybody else through that unexciting, boring collection of random thoughts. So, I deleted it and started all over again.
My next idea was to talk about a project that I’ve had in mind for a while now: reading extracts from books that taught me valuable lessons. This time, however, the title I came up with was disastrous: “A reading project.” Just for the record, I think it’s important to come up with the title at some point during the writing process. It gives me clear direction—an answer to the quintessential writer’s question: “What do I want to write about?” But no, “A reading project” didn’t strike a chord. It was too broad, and somehow I ended up talking about childhood dreams I had long forgotten.
Today, three hours of my precious time went by between unexciting meal prepping, interrupted second-season episodes of Fleabag, chips, large cups of coffee, and random words written on WordPress. All this while the sun was shining brightly outside. And there I was, thinking, Well then, when it’s raining you can’t really complain about it.
At that point, I was ready to give up. I was starting to feel like a fraud, questioning my skills, creativity, attention span, life—while also feeling deep guilt for wasting a sunny day. WTF?!
Then I realized something—or better, I found something to blame for my lack of ideas: society, once again. Of course! In these times of uncertainty (I think this is one of my most used words lately), insecurity (this is my second), and lack of collective purpose—other than worrying about war, having a stable job, and how crazy we’re all becoming, ignorant, and trapped in a vicious cycle of extreme events (which, in my case, feels like the beginning of a new Middle Age).
But again, no. That has nothing to do with my writing skills, creative process, and so on. I’m just in my own process. I’m realizing, once again, that I don’t have to figure out what I want to write about. Instead, I just need to go with what’s true to me in a specific moment—which, in itself, is a challenging endeavor.
So, in the end, I would conclude by saying that there is no magic formula. For me, every post is a new, very different experience. The only thing I can do is try to look into myself honestly and figure out what’s true to me in the moment.
What we want to write about sometimes comes by excluding what we don’t want to write about. Hence, letting go of what doesn’t resonate with us in a given moment and leaving space for what does.
«Da qualche giorno torno a farti visita mentre dormi. Ti sveglio precisamente alle tre di notte, dopo una serie di incubi ricorrenti che ti danno da pensare durante tutto il giorno successivo. Non è il contenuto degli incubi a tenere la tua mente occupata – quello, se non lo scrivi subito dopo esserti svegliato, finisci per dimenticarlo – ma pensieri apparentemente casuali e disconnessi tra loro.
L’intensità di questi pensieri ti spaventa: sono talmente forti da provocarti seri sbalzi d’umore, mal di testa, o addirittura da indebolirti fisicamente. Questo succede perché non affronti ciò che realmente ti tormenta, qualcosa che si nasconde ancora nel tuo subconscio… oppure, semplicemente, ti manca il coraggio di guardare in faccia la verità.
Quest’ultimo caso è come un limbo per te: finché non affronterai la verità, sarai condannato a un eterno patimento.
Non puoi parlarne in dettaglio con nessuno: si tratta di temi troppo personali e sensibili. Quello che potresti dire è che, tempo fa, c’era qualcosa che ti dava dipendenza. Qualcosa che ti offriva la convalida che cercavi ogni volta che non la ricevevi dalla fonte da cui te l’aspettavi.
Col tempo, e grazie a un lungo lavoro su te stesso, sei riuscito a superare quella dipendenza. Tuttavia, nei momenti di debolezza, insicurezza o incertezza, la tentazione di abbandonarti a essa ritorna. Ha ancora il potere di stravolgere la tua vita, come accadeva in passato, isolandoti nelle tue convinzioni.
Ma la chiave non è più un segreto nascosto dalla tua stessa mente. Devi affrontarmi. Io sono la tua più grande paura. Guardati nello specchio e scruta nel profondo, proprio dove non vuoi andare. Ammetti quello che non vuoi ammettere. Diventa chi non hai ancora trovato il coraggio di diventare.»
I started this blog on impulse. I’ve been experimenting with it for a few months now, but I still don’t have a clear idea of where I’m heading.
If I had a clear path for where to take this blog, I would narrow down the topic to something that really thrills me. But since that’s not the case, I decided to broaden it. I definitely want to keep writing about work, as I genuinely believe that in the society we live in, work defines our existence and who we are—whether we like it or not. Work propels everything around us; if we or our machines weren’t constantly working like little bees, our world would collapse. Yes, we should strive to improve work conditions and make them more sustainable, but we can’t stop working.
If you read any book, any short story, or watch any movie, work is always a pillar of the narrative. It defines characters, sets the scene, and shapes time and space—whether it’s in the background or at the forefront of the storytelling.
However, I don’t want to limit myself to writing only about what happens in my work life. I want to explore short stories, random reflections, and maybe even share one-paragraph posts inspired by things people tell me. And while I enjoy the topic of work, I won’t write solely about it.
I’m trying to step away from my usual control-freak tendencies, where I plan and define everything. Instead, I want to lose control and discover something unexpected and new.
With that in mind, I’ve decided to change the name of the blog from Work Thoughts to Beyond My CV. It aligns with my website name, fits the broader purpose, and creates a mini personal brand. Plus, someone else already has a blog called Work Thoughts, which annoyed me quite a bit.
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.
I had forgotten how, at the end of each day, work can deplete us of the energy to create anything beyond what we are expected to do at the office. This is not a complaint—it’s just an acknowledgment of reality. As I write these words, I’m squeezing my neurons to produce something meaningful, even though I know it might be a failed attempt.
I usually write my posts well in advance, which allows me to reflect on what I wrote and polish it if necessary. I focus on a specific topic that I’ve had in mind for a while, or sometimes on something that comes up spontaneously. Regardless, I usually schedule the post to be published on Fridays. Today, however, I’m writing a very spontaneous post on no particular topic, which I will publish immediately.
I’m not sure why I feel this need to justify myself—to whom? What I write is barely read by anyone. Even my girlfriend and a really good friend—whom I forced myself to send links to a couple of posts—aren’t particularly interested in my “work thoughts,” and honestly, I don’t blame them. This can be an exhausting topic and difficult to follow purely on a personal impulse, as I tend to ping-pong here and there without a precise plan, guided only by my love for writing. But I love it the way it is. I don’t seek much visibility; I really enjoy my “wannabe” blog/personal website that never quite takes off, with its occasional visitor who drops by briefly—and the rare reader who shows appreciation with a like.
I guess I’m not justifying myself but rather reflecting on this nonsensical train of thought on a very long and tiring Thursday.
There are a lot of topics I want to discuss in my future posts, including the following draft titles that I have in mind:
A good manager and a good team are the most important things in a job
Understanding that I can overcome any struggle helps with challenges (I think I will repeat this topic over and over, as it’s some sort of “resilience-building mantra” for me)
Perspective and free writing
How I use AI in my blog posts
Reflections on the end of the year: a tough one
So, for my courageous (or imaginary) readers, stay tuned, as 2025 is going to be filled with boring, probably badly written, and unexciting topics.
