Thinking At Half Speed

Category: AI Tips

  • Using AI to log your reading and get better recommendations

    I’ve been using AI to help me keep track of books I’ve read across multiple platforms — Audible, Kobo, and my local library’s BorrowBox service — and then use that record to make better reading recommendations. What surprised me was how straightforward it turned out to be once the right tools were in place. This…

  • AI Reference Tool — for advisers, carers, and anyone helping someone else

    April 2026 The two assessment tools in the previous post are designed for the person who wants to use AI. This one is different. It’s for the person helping them. If you are an adviser, a carer, a family member, a teacher, or anyone else supporting someone who wants to get more from technology —…

  • Wrestling with WordPress

    The honest account of what makes WordPress tricky for novices — setup order, navigation, templates, phone limitations — and what the mobile app can do once the hard work is done. Includes alternatives.

  • Your starter prompt to build a blog with Claude

    A copy-and-paste prompt to start building a blog with Claude, plus five things to decide before you begin and what you need set up beforehand. Built from real experience.

  • What Claude can and cannot do for your blog

    An honest account of what Claude can do directly for your blog — writing, publishing, creating pages, setting up categories — and what still needs you to do it yourself.

  • Glossary — plain English guide to the terms used in this blog

    Plain English definitions of the technical words and phrases used in this blog — AI, Claude, Craft, WordPress, categories, tags, and more. A reference guide for anyone new to these tools.

  • AI Tip — Know your platform limits

    15 April 2026 What Happened Mid-conversation, Craft stopped letting us create new documents. No warning, no explanation, just errors. We diagnosed it during the conversation — the free plan has a ten document limit and we had hit it building out the blog. Subscribed to Craft Plus on the spot. Back working within minutes. The…

  • Measuring Fatigue — Why It’s Harder Than It Sounds

    If you live with a chronic condition, someone has probably handed you a questionnaire about fatigue at some point. There are several recognised scales in clinical use, and they’re not all the same thing. Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) — nine statements, each scored 1 to 7. Developed in 1989 for MS and lupus research. Designed…

  • Troubleshooting AI — when to say simpler

    15 April 2026 When AI is going round in circles trying to fix something, say stop. Then say: simpler. AI will often try increasingly complex solutions when the simple one was available all along. Left to its own devices it can burn through your energy trying clever approaches when the straightforward answer was sitting there…

  • How to build your own AI tools plan

    April 2026 The previous post described my own two tool setup – Claude for thinking, Siri for hands-free control. But your situation may be different to mine, and what works for me may not be the right answer for you. This post is a practical guide to working out what your own setup should look…

  • How to keep it authentically your voice when writing with AI

    15 April 2026 The concern It is a fair one. AI-generated writing has a recognisable texture – smooth, competent, and somehow belonging to nobody. If you have read much of it you know it immediately. The worry is that using AI to help write means your voice gets smoothed away along with the effort. That…