How I Use AI to Write Blog Posts (My Real Workflow)

I use AI to help me write this blog. I want to be upfront about that.

Not because I’m required to disclose it — there’s no rule that says I have to — but because this blog is supposed to be honest, and pretending AI isn’t part of my process when it clearly is would undermine the whole point.

So here’s exactly how I use it, what I use it for, and where I draw the line.

Why I Use AI at All

The short answer: time.

I have maybe 5-7 hours a week for this blog. In that time, I need to research, outline, write, edit, format, and publish. Without some kind of assistance, the pace I’m trying to maintain simply isn’t sustainable alongside a full-time job and two kids.

AI — specifically Claude and ChatGPT — helps me move faster without sacrificing the quality of what I’m producing. That’s the honest reason.

What I Actually Use AI For

Brainstorming and outlining. When I have a topic in mind, I’ll sometimes talk it through with an AI tool first. Not to get the ideas — the ideas come from my own experience — but to organize them. “Here’s what I want to cover in this post about X. What structure makes sense? What am I missing?”

Getting unstuck. Every writer hits moments where the words won’t come. Sometimes I’ll describe what I’m trying to say and ask for help articulating it. The AI gives me options, I pick the one that sounds like me, and I move on.

Editing and tightening. I’ll write a rough draft and then ask for feedback. “Is this clear? Is anything redundant? Does the structure make sense?” It’s like having an editor available at midnight when I’m the only one still awake.

Formatting and SEO basics. Checking that headings are logical, that the post has a clear structure, that I haven’t forgotten to include basic on-page SEO elements.

What I Don’t Use AI For

Here’s the line I try to hold.

The actual experiences. AI doesn’t know what it felt like to delete 100 blog posts. It doesn’t know what my Saturday mornings look like, or what I was thinking when I first started researching side hustles at 11pm. Those details come from me, and they’re the reason this blog is different from every other blogging tips site on the internet.

The opinions. When I say dropshipping wasn’t right for my situation, or that I think consistency matters more than strategy, those are real conclusions I’ve reached. I’m not outsourcing my point of view.

The numbers. Every figure I cite — time spent, money made or lost, traffic numbers — is real. AI can’t make those up and neither do I.

The way I think about it: AI helps me with the craft of writing. The content — the experiences, the opinions, the specific details of this particular life — is mine.

My Actual Workflow

Here’s what writing a post typically looks like for me:

Step 1 — The idea. Something happens, or I realize there’s something worth documenting. I add it to a running notes document on my phone.

Step 2 — The brain dump. When I sit down to write, I start with a rough brain dump in Google Docs. Everything I want to say, in no particular order, without worrying about quality. This is purely mine — no AI at this stage.

Step 3 — Structure check. I look at what I’ve written and figure out the logical structure. Sometimes I’ll use AI here to help organize the sections in a way that flows.

Step 4 — Writing. I write the actual post. Sometimes I write entirely from scratch, sometimes I use my brain dump as raw material. If I get stuck on a section, I’ll describe what I’m trying to say and ask for help finding the words.

Step 5 — Edit. I read the whole thing out loud. If something sounds like it was written by a robot — overly formal, generic, no personality — I rewrite it. This is the most important step.

Step 6 — Publish. Format, check headings, add the category and slug, publish.

Does AI Make the Writing Worse?

This is the question I think about most.

The risk with AI-assisted writing is that it smooths everything out. It removes the rough edges, the personality, the voice. If you’re not careful, everything starts to sound the same — competent but generic.

I try to fight this by keeping my own voice front and center. The test I use: if I read a paragraph out loud, does it sound like something I would actually say? If the answer is no, I rewrite it.

Good AI-assisted writing shouldn’t be detectable as AI-assisted. If a reader can tell, the human didn’t do enough work.

What This Means for You

If you’re building a blog and wondering whether to use AI tools: I think the honest answer is yes, with guardrails.

Use AI to help you write faster and better. Don’t use it to replace the actual thinking, the actual experience, and the actual voice that makes your blog worth reading in the first place.

A blog written entirely by AI about things the AI has never experienced is just noise. There’s already plenty of that. The blogs that stand out are the ones where a real person is clearly present in the writing.

Be that person. Use the tools. Keep the voice.

Next up: what Google Search Console has actually told me after a month of this blog being live — the numbers, what they mean, and what I’m doing about them.