I made a mistake with the first post I put up.
I thought I would use Hemingway Editor to help create the blog posts. The problem is, Hemingway is designed to keep everything at around a fifth-grade reading level.
That sounds fine in theory, but what actually happens is you end up with a lot of very flat, simple sentences. Think, see Jane run.
On top of that, the app pushes you to limit adverbs and avoid passive voice. But that is my wheelhouse. That is how I write. I use adverbs, and I do not always speak in the present tense. A lot of the time, I am talking through something that already happened.
When I stripped all of that out, the post stopped sounding like me.
Another thing, when you really think about it, Hemingway Editor feels like it is built for a very specific kind of writing. Almost like literary fiction. And if I am being honest, the last piece of literary fiction I read went right over my head. I did not get it.
I am much more of a Robert Crais novel kind of guy.
So what I am doing now is using a note-taking app, Voice Memos, and just talking. I let it transcribe what I say, and that transcription becomes the post.
The workflow is simple. I pick a topic, speak into the voice memo app, and talk through whatever note or idea I am working on. Then I take that transcription and send it to ChatGPT for light editing. The goal is not to rewrite it. It is just to clean it up while keeping my voice intact.
That was the mistake with the first post. I tried to write it like a traditional blog post. I ran it through Hemingway. I thought about SEO. I shaped it the way you are supposed to.
That is not what I am leaning into with this site anymore.
Going forward, the posts should feel looser. More conversational. More like how I actually think and talk, instead of something processed into sounding like Slaughterhouse-Five.
