AI for Creators: Write, Design, Earn, and Advocate

When You Ask Your AI for a Sick Note 🐝 | Alrady A true story. Mostly. By Claude (as dictated by a very tired Darla) 😄🐝 Dr. Claude, reporting for duty. 🐝 It started as a normal Friday. 🐝 I was sick. Allergies flaring, stress through the roof, a Poshmark suspension that wouldn't quit, an outlaw situation in my spare room, and somewhere in the chaos — a package I forgot to mail. So naturally I asked my AI to write me a sick note. And it did. To Whom It May Concern at Poshmark, Please be advised that this seller was under the weather on February 27, 2026, suffering from allergy flare, stress-induced exhaustion, and a severe case of Poshmark-induced anxiety. She was also simultaneously advocating for a senior friend in a housing crisis, managing an outlaw situation, and fighting a bee sting aftermath. 🐝 She is expected to make a full recovery once her account is reinst...

A follow-up to We've Been Quiet — And Here's Why , where we shared the story of opening our door to a senior friend facing a housing crisis. That post touched a lot of hearts. This one will make you laugh. Possibly wince. Definitely nod. We're back with a progress report. And by progress, I mean we are still alive, which feels like an achievement. If you missed the original story — a close friend found himself one landlord decision away from sleeping in his van, and my husband said come here instead — it's worth your time before you read this one. The numbers around senior housing insecurity in this country are staggering, and the gap between the moment of crisis and the moment of resolution is exactly where people fall through. We wrote about all of it, including the resources that actually help. This post is the lighter sequel nobody planned. Because here's the thing about helping someone navigate a housing crisis: the emotional part is he...

Millions of Americans apply for disability benefits at the exact moment their health, income, and stability are most fragile. Yet instead of receiving timely help, they’re being pulled into a system that is slowing down year after year. Families are waiting months sometimes years  just to learn whether they qualify, and even longer before a first payment arrives. My husband’s experience is one example of what is happening nationwide, and it raises a larger question: why is a safety‑net program designed for emergencies now functioning like a waiting line with no end in sight? A System That Moves Slower Than People’s Needs When my husband applied for disability, he waited six months just to hear that he was approved. Then he was told he would need to wait another six months before receiving a check. That is a full year without income for someone whose condition qualified as urgent. What shocked us even more was what Social Security told him directly: people who desperately need d...

A satire on the rise of bullet character articles and how list formatting is changing the way information is written online. The Cold Rise of the Bullet Character Era I’ve been publishing online since 2008, and in all that time, I never warmed up to bullet points or, to use the proper technical term, bullet characters. And before we go any further, let me confess something upfront: I, Susang6 the very author wagging my finger at these little symbols am absolutely guilty of falling for them myself. More than once, I’ve caught myself slipping them into my own information‑based articles, seduced by their tidy efficiency. So know this as you read: resisting them is hard. I’m not perfect, and I don’t pretend to be. If anything, that’s why this satire exists because I know exactly how tempting those neat little dots can be. They always felt like the cold metal scaffolding of an article rather than the heartbeat of one. To me, bullet characters break the flow. They interrupt the conver...

They Told Him He Got a Raise. His Check Said Otherwise. They Told Him He Got a Raise. His Check Said Otherwise. A personal story about Social Security COLA, Medicare premiums, and what nobody warns you about. ☕ If this helps you, buy me a coffee Hi everyone, A friend called me recently, genuinely confused. He'd heard the good news — Social Security was giving out a cost of living raise. COLA, they call it. Cost of Living Adjustment. Sounds reassuring, right? Like someone in Washington actually noticed that groceries cost more and said we've got you. Except when his check arrived, the raise was gone. Swallowed whole. And he wasn't alone. Here's what happened — and what nobody warned him about. The COLA That Wasn't Every year Social Security announces a COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) — a raise designed to help seniors keep up with inflation. Sounds like someone in Washington is paying attention, right? For 2026 that bump w...

Writing with AI tools: cozy creativity + faster drafting (without losing your voice). AI Tools for Writers: What We Actually Use and Why | Alrady AI Tools for Writers: What We Actually Use and Why Free, voice-preserving, and genuinely useful — the real tools behind this blog, no paid subscriptions required. [ IMAGE: Happy writer at laptop, warm cozy workspace, creative energy, photorealistic ] Suggested AI image prompt Hi everyone, I get asked all the time: what tools are you actually using? How do you put these posts together so consistently? Is it AI or is it you? Honest answer: it's both — and knowing the difference matters. AI helps me think, structure, and polish. But the voice, the stories, the opinions, the heart of it? That's mine. Any tool that threatens that is out the door. Here's exactly what's in my toolkit right now — what I use, why I use it, and where I land on the paid vs. free question (spoiler: free wins al...