How I Write

 

🪨 How I Write Articles (According to Me, and Two Machines)

People sometimes ask how I write the essays on this blog. The short answer is: with a notebook, a stubborn idea, and a small panel of artificial judges who are not afraid to tell me my idea is unoriginal. The long answer is below.

🧠 Step 1: Pretend I Have an Original Idea

I start by convincing myself I’ve had a brilliant, never‑before‑seen insight. To maintain the illusion, I write a short description of the idea, followed by a bullet list of related topics, issues, and things I will probably forget to include later. I also write down counterarguments, because nothing says “healthy creative process” like arguing with yourself before you’ve written a single sentence.

🤖 Step 2: Summon the First LLM

Once I’ve built enough confidence to risk disappointment, I tell an LLM that I’m “thinking of writing a magazine article” about this topic. This is code for: please don’t embarrass me in front of myself.

I then ask the machine the most important question in my workflow:
“Is this an original idea?”

If the LLM says “no,” I immediately abandon the topic, as any reasonable adult would. If it says “maybe,” I take that as a resounding yes. I also ask it for more counterarguments and possible titles, because nothing sharpens a thesis like a robot telling you why you’re wrong.

📝 Step 3: Produce a Draft (Human Participation Optional)

After enough back‑and‑forth, a draft appears. I like to think I wrote it, but the LLM and I both know it was a joint custody situation.

📄 Step 4: The Second Opinion

I then export the draft to a Word document, convert it to a PDF—because nothing says “professional writer” like unnecessary file formats—and upload it to a different LLM. This second model has no idea what the first one said, which makes it perfect for unbiased criticism.

I ask it to review the argument, critique the writing, and once again answer the existential question:
“Is this an original idea?”

If both LLMs agree it’s original, I celebrate. If they disagree, I assume they’re fighting and publish the article anyway. So far, they have never disagreed.


🎨 How I Create the Images for Each Article

Every article on this blog comes with an illustration, and those illustrations follow a very strict artistic tradition: cave people interacting with modern concepts in completely absurd ways. If I can’t think of a prehistoric gag that fits the topic, I take it as a sign that the article may not actually belong on this blog. This is my version of peer review.

🪨 Step 1: Come Up With a Cave‑Person Scenario

Once I have the article’s theme, I try to imagine how a cave person would misunderstand it, misuse it, or accidentally invent it. If nothing comes to mind, I question the entire premise of the article and briefly consider switching careers.

🤖 Step 2: Ask an LLM to Help Write the Prompt

When I do have an idea, I ask an LLM to help me craft the image prompt. I make it very clear:
“Help me write the prompt. Do not create the image.”

Then I describe the constraints:

  • Flat white background
  • Black ink, clean lines
  • Minimalist, New‑Yorker‑ish style
  • Cave people doing something ridiculous with a modern concept

The LLM doesn’t generate the image—it just helps me refine the specification. Sometimes it suggests adding a detail I hadn’t considered. Sometimes it suggests removing a detail I definitely should have considered. After a few iterations, the prompt becomes oddly precise, like a police sketch description of a joke.

📝 Step 3: Ask for the Final Prompt

Once the specification feels right, I ask the LLM:
“Write the final prompt to create the image.”

This produces a clean, ready‑to‑use prompt that I can feed into whichever image model I’m using that day.

📁 Step 4: Save the Prompt for Future Mischief

I save the prompt alongside the article. This is partly for archival purposes and partly because I enjoy trying the same prompt on different models to see how each one interprets “cave person discovering blockchain.”

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