Congratulations on your first book and regaining your time and joy of writing! The guide you created here is very helpful but I just loved your story: from a successful career in high-tech to burnout, to recovery, to rediscovering the simple joy of a museum visit in the middle of the day, and to going back to your earlier love of writing. It resonated deeply, as I experienced the same arc, but in wealth management; once the burnout healed, my love for what I did came back in the form of Substack. Funny how things work when it comes to things we feel we were meant to do...
I wish you reach all the new goals you set and keep the love of writing, experimenting, and creating as fresh and happy as it comes out in this post. Visit every posh coffee shop in London and enjoy every moment!
This made my day and I certainly wish you the same! Here’s to you and a happy new year full of writing and recovery. From surviving to thriving in 2026!
Great observations. I agree with you that AI won't replace writers or editors - it just doesn't do a good enough job. It is getting better, but even better doesn't have the emotions or feelings that something created by a human does. That being said, for tech writing it is doing a bunch of replacing. When the procedures are straightforward and just need to be documented, AI can help you produce quality documents faster - but you still need a human to understand what is actually needed. In the end, I think it gets to the heart of what it means to be a writer. It's more than words on a page.
Tremendous! What you documented is going to help so many people. I’m doing similarly, pulling from my podcast, everything I’ve ever taught - all the Otter recordings, newsletters, and of course, LinkedIn posts to assemble a guide, and hit many of the same roadblocks you talk about here. But an unlock for me has been a brilliant young creative writer who actually has a Substack here on this platform who has dragged me along toward completion. No clue how to tag her! Thank you for this writeup and specific writing tools … I had all but given up on AI doing anything but trash my own writing. :)
I'm so glad it helped and am excited to read your guide! It's also validating to hear it's not just me. :-) Let's find you Substack creative writer. Always nice to have inspiration.
Congratulations on your ebook, Karen, and thank you for writing this post so others can follow in your footsteps. I totally agree that AI is a terrible editor, and I also love the fact that you went to the Fiverr community for help with typesetting. I find this to be a really great place as well. Thanks for sharing.
Karen, I loved this! Excited to start following your journey! I love that we have an almost identical tech stack although Notion is barely hanging on as I find I tend to gravitate to the simplicity of Papier as a simple digital notepad these days.
LOVE this my friend...well done! I have loved following your journey...(since 1997 😊)
Congratulations on your first book and regaining your time and joy of writing! The guide you created here is very helpful but I just loved your story: from a successful career in high-tech to burnout, to recovery, to rediscovering the simple joy of a museum visit in the middle of the day, and to going back to your earlier love of writing. It resonated deeply, as I experienced the same arc, but in wealth management; once the burnout healed, my love for what I did came back in the form of Substack. Funny how things work when it comes to things we feel we were meant to do...
I wish you reach all the new goals you set and keep the love of writing, experimenting, and creating as fresh and happy as it comes out in this post. Visit every posh coffee shop in London and enjoy every moment!
This made my day and I certainly wish you the same! Here’s to you and a happy new year full of writing and recovery. From surviving to thriving in 2026!
Thank you Karen.
The best is yet to come!
Congratulations on the book! 🎉 Agree that formatting tools like Gamma aren’t quite ready for many real-world use cases.
Great observations. I agree with you that AI won't replace writers or editors - it just doesn't do a good enough job. It is getting better, but even better doesn't have the emotions or feelings that something created by a human does. That being said, for tech writing it is doing a bunch of replacing. When the procedures are straightforward and just need to be documented, AI can help you produce quality documents faster - but you still need a human to understand what is actually needed. In the end, I think it gets to the heart of what it means to be a writer. It's more than words on a page.
Tremendous! What you documented is going to help so many people. I’m doing similarly, pulling from my podcast, everything I’ve ever taught - all the Otter recordings, newsletters, and of course, LinkedIn posts to assemble a guide, and hit many of the same roadblocks you talk about here. But an unlock for me has been a brilliant young creative writer who actually has a Substack here on this platform who has dragged me along toward completion. No clue how to tag her! Thank you for this writeup and specific writing tools … I had all but given up on AI doing anything but trash my own writing. :)
I'm so glad it helped and am excited to read your guide! It's also validating to hear it's not just me. :-) Let's find you Substack creative writer. Always nice to have inspiration.
Congratulations on your ebook, Karen, and thank you for writing this post so others can follow in your footsteps. I totally agree that AI is a terrible editor, and I also love the fact that you went to the Fiverr community for help with typesetting. I find this to be a really great place as well. Thanks for sharing.
Karen, I loved this! Excited to start following your journey! I love that we have an almost identical tech stack although Notion is barely hanging on as I find I tend to gravitate to the simplicity of Papier as a simple digital notepad these days.
I need to try Papier! Added to the list.
It's a cool extension that opens with every tab. So easy and so present!
Thanks for the tips and suggestions! I've downloaded your book I look forward to checking it out. You've given me a few things to think about.
Great tips here!!! Appreciate all of the details. I've had this idea, but then got too overwhelmed, but this article makes it feel possible.