Finding the story

Yesterday I was stuck with the daily post. So I took a new approach. I asked my LLM to look at my last 10 posts and craft three wildly diverse questions to spark my next one. Not to write my next one, but to spark ideas.

It came up with three suggestions. Instead of suggesting topics or themes, it analyzed my writing patterns and asked questions that would make me think differently. Not “write about leadership” but “What invisible skill did you develop as a kid that still shapes how you solve problems as an adult?”

That question unlocked the first-grade prison game story. A moment I hadn’t thought about in years but that explains how I approach problems now.

Most AI writing tools try to replace the writer. This felt more like having a coach who asks good questions and gets you started. The process showed me something about creativity. Sometimes the block isn’t that you don’t have ideas. It’s that you don’t have the right question to unlock them.