Artificial intelligence has generated plenty of headlines and plenty of opinions.

Some professionals embrace it enthusiastically. Others remain skeptical. 

Regardless of where you stand, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: AI can be a valuable productivity tool when it’s used thoughtfully.

The goal isn’t to let AI do your job.

The goal is to spend less time on routine tasks so you can devote more time to the work that truly requires your expertise.

Here are five practical ways writers and editors can put AI to work today.

1. Break Through Writer’s Block

Starting is often the hardest part.

Instead of asking AI to write an entire article, ask it to help you think.

Try questions like:

• “Give me ten possible angles for this topic.”
• “What questions would readers likely ask?”
• “Suggest five possible headlines.”

You’ll still create the finished piece, but you’ll spend less time staring at a blank screen.

2. Organize Research

Research often produces pages of notes, articles, and interview transcripts.

AI can quickly summarize lengthy material, identify recurring themes, and organize information into logical categories.

That doesn’t eliminate the need to verify facts or review source material, but it can dramatically reduce the time required to organize your research before writing begins.

3. Improve Readability

After completing a first draft, AI can act as an additional set of eyes.

Ask it to identify:

• Sentences that are unnecessarily long.
• Repetitive wording.
• Areas that might confuse readers.
• Opportunities to improve transitions.

Because you remain the editor, you decide which suggestions strengthen the piece and which should be ignored.

4. Adapt Content for Different Audiences

Many professionals create valuable content once and then stop.

AI can help you extend its usefulness.

For example, a single article can become:

• A LinkedIn post.
• A client newsletter.
• Website copy.
• A presentation outline.
• Social media updates.
• Frequently asked questions.

Repurposing quality content allows you to reach more audiences without starting from scratch each time.

5. Automate Routine Business Tasks

AI isn’t only for writing.

It can also help draft client emails, organize meeting notes, summarize conversations, prepare interview questions, brainstorm marketing ideas, and outline project plans.

These administrative tasks consume far more time than most professionals realize.

Reducing that workload leaves more time for client work and business development.

One Important Reminder

AI should support your professional judgment; not replace it.

Always review facts.

Confirm quotations.

Check citations.

Evaluate tone.

Protect confidential information.

Ultimately, your clients are paying for your expertise, your experience, and your judgment.

AI simply helps you apply those strengths more efficiently.

The Best Tool Is the One You Use Wisely

Artificial intelligence isn’t a shortcut to excellence.

It’s a productivity tool.

Like a spell checker, a search engine, or editing software before it, AI is most valuable when it’s guided by an experienced professional.

The more effectively you combine technology with your own knowledge and judgment, the more valuable you’ll become to your clients, and the more time you’ll have to focus on the work that matters most.

Ask an independent writer or editor how business is going, and you’ll often hear the same response:

“I’ve been incredibly busy.”

Being busy can certainly be a good sign. It often means clients trust your work and deadlines are being met.

But being busy isn’t always the same as being productive.

In fact, one of the biggest risks for independent professionals is becoming so consumed with today’s assignments that tomorrow’s opportunities receive little or no attention.

Activity vs. Achievement

Many daily tasks feel productive because they keep us occupied.

Responding to emails.

Updating invoices.

Tweaking a proposal.

Organizing files.

Attending meetings.

Checking social media.

These tasks are necessary, but they rarely grow your business.

Achievement comes from work that creates lasting value:

• Completing client projects.
• Developing new skills.
• Marketing your services.
• Strengthening relationships.
• Reaching out to prospective clients.
• Creating content that demonstrates your expertise.

The challenge is making sure important work doesn’t get crowded out by merely urgent work.

Ask a Different Question

Instead of asking, “What should I work on next?”

Try asking,

“Which task will make the biggest difference six months from now?”

That question often leads to a different answer.

Writing an article that showcases your expertise.

Following up with a former client.

Refreshing your website.

Learning a new AI tool that improves your workflow.

These activities may not feel urgent today, but they often have the greatest long-term impact.

(If you haven’t watched my Dec 2025 NAIWE webinar, this would be a good time to do it – because I talk about using the Eisenhower/Covey technique to manage your day, and show how AI can make it more useful.)

Schedule Business Development

Many freelancers wait until work slows down before they begin marketing themselves.

Unfortunately, that’s often too late.

The best time to develop new business is while you’re still busy.

Even setting aside one hour each week for business development can help maintain a steady flow of future opportunities.

That hour might include:

• Contacting past clients.
• Updating your portfolio.
• Posting an article on LinkedIn.
• Attending a networking event.
• Reaching out to someone you’ve been meaning to meet.

Consistency usually outperforms occasional bursts of activity.

Protect Your Most Valuable Hours

Not every hour of the day is equally productive.

Pay attention to when you do your best thinking.

If your writing is strongest in the morning, reserve that time for creative work.

Administrative tasks, email, and scheduling can often wait until later in the day.

Matching your most important work to your highest-energy hours is one of the simplest ways to improve both productivity and quality.

Success Is Measured by Results

At the end of each week, try asking yourself two questions:

What did I accomplish?

What did I do to improve next month’s business?

If you can answer both, you’re not simply staying busy.

You’re building a stronger, more sustainable career.

For independent professionals, that’s the difference that matters.

Over the past couple years, my team and I have been working on a very special project – one that would hopefully create magic for anybody who networks in-person.  And since most authors need to get the word out about their works, being able to network effectively face-to-face is an important and effective tool.

The problem, we found, is that business relationships don’t die – they usually fade away from lack of attention and follow up.  That’s right; given the right attention, your business relationships, corporate deals, speaking arrangements and other similar relationships could be so much better for you than they are today – if only you nurtured them better.

So we put our heads together to develop a way to make sure that people who network face-to-face can turn those encounters into a fully functional business relationship.  At first, we went down the path of creating an electronic business card concept; but like so many introductory manuscripts that can’t be fleshed out into a book, we decided that we needed to do something better… that we needed to leapfrog the whole concept by creating something new.

We ended up creating what we call Confirmed Meet-&-Greet™, which allows in-person meetings to become more by removing the friction from the additional steps.

We start by letting the individual click a button on his phone to read a name badge that the other person typically wears at these types of events.  The name badge doesn’t need to be pre-printed; it can be handwritten with a Sharpie.  And it doesn’t need a QR code.  Just a name.

Our system finds the person wearing the badge from a database of attendees and allows the person with the phone to invite them (typically by SMS text) to exchange info. Upon acceptance (which is a single click), both people have full info about the other – from LinkedIn profile to scheduler (any brand) to contact info.  Then they can take notes about the conversation and if they have a CRM (customer relationship management, such as Salesforce, HubSpot or Pipedrive) system, sync it all into the CRM.

Already, the responses have ranged from “I really need that” to “It’s magic”.  We’re so excited and have already been seeing growth in the number of users and how often it is used.

As both author and software developer, it occurred to me that creating a software product like that one is a lot like writing a book.  Not only do you need to come up with a concept; but it’s got to be sellable.  Then you need to make sure that it holds water from start to finish.  In the case of an author, it needs to be a compelling read; for a software designer/developer, it needs to be easy to use and accomplish a task.  In both, going from A to B to C needs to be comprehendible.

Our magic in our new product was that we combined new technology (AI) with traditional technology (OCR) in a unique way, much the way a good fiction or non-fiction piece is unique, although it may have many elements that are not entirely different.

Depending on when you read this, you might not find a single word about Confirmed Meet-&-Greet on our website; so If you’re interested in getting your hands on it, contact my assistant, Raquel.  She can give you more detail and put you in a position to even get a discount (as my NAIWE colleague).  And if you are part of a larger networking group, she can help you put it at the disposal of all your members or event attendees.

If you take us up on using Confirmed, I’d love to hear back from you as to whether we succeeded in being true to the main plotline: helping you get from intro to exchange to remember to follow up to success.