# I'd Rather Be Writing > A technical writing blog and course site by Tom Johnson, a technical writer in the Seattle area (currently at Google, previously Amazon). Running since 2006, the site covers technical communication, API documentation, AI-assisted documentation workflows, and the practice and profession of tech comm. It combines a long-running blog (2606 posts) with several free, book-length courses. The site has two kinds of content: - **Courses** — structured, sequential, book-length material that is revised over time. The API documentation course and the AI courses are the main ones. These are the most substantive and most frequently updated parts of the site. - **Blog posts** — dated essays and observations going back to 2006. Older posts reflect the tools and assumptions of their moment; check the date before treating a post as current guidance. Content is authored in Markdown and published with Jekyll. Everything is free to read. Full text of every page is available at its URL; there is no paywall or login. > **Markdown Endpoints**: Every post and topic has a clean Markdown mirror available by appending `.md` to its URL (for example, `https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/new-books-tech-comm-2026.md`). ## Start here - [Home / latest blog posts](https://idratherbewriting.com/): Reverse-chronological list of recent posts - [About Tom Johnson](https://idratherbewriting.com/aboutme/): Background, career, and what this blog covers - [Documenting APIs course](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/): A 17-chapter course on writing API documentation, with hands-on activities - [AI courses hub](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/index.html): Three self-contained courses on AI and technical communication - [Series index](https://idratherbewriting.com/series/): Multi-part post series grouped by topic ## Documenting APIs course A free, book-length course on API documentation for technical writers and engineers. Covers REST API concepts, using an API like a developer, documenting endpoints, the OpenAPI specification, testing docs, conceptual topics, code tutorials, publishing, and career topics. Includes hands-on activities against real APIs. The chapters are listed below, and every individual topic is listed in the courses-and-pages index under Full archive indexes. - [Course overview](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/docapis_overview.html): This section provides a high-level overview of the API documentation course. I introduce the goals of the course, explain why I developed it, tell you a bit about myself, provide some recordings, slides, and more. - [Chapter 1: Introduction to REST APIs](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/docapis_introtoapis.html): What REST APIs are, how they differ from SOAP, and why documentation matters so much here. - [Chapter 2: Using an API like a developer](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/likeadeveloper.html): Get API keys, make requests with curl and Postman, and work with the JSON that comes back. - [Chapter 3: Documenting API endpoints](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/docendpoints.html): The five sections of reference documentation, from resource descriptions to response schemas. - [Chapter 4: OpenAPI spec and generated reference docs](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/restapispecifications.html): Describe your API with OpenAPI, then publish it using Stoplight, Swagger UI, or Redocly. - [Chapter 5: Step-by-step OpenAPI code tutorial](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/openapi_tutorial.html): Hand-code an OpenAPI specification object by object, using the Swagger Editor. - [Chapter 6: Testing API docs](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/testingdocs.html): Test your documentation against the real API so the instructions actually work. - [Chapter 7: Conceptual topics in API docs](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/docconceptual.html): Overviews, getting-started guides, authentication, status codes, rate limits, and glossaries. - [Chapter 8: Code tutorials](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/docapiscode.html): Approaches for documenting code samples and tutorials — the hardest part for non-engineers. - [Chapter 9: The writing process](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/writing_process.html): Planning, interviewing engineers, drafting, reviewing, and shipping developer documentation. - [Chapter 10: Publishing API docs](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/publishingapis.html): Structure, templates, branding, and the conventions that make developers trust your docs. - [Chapter 11: Publishing tools](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/publishingtools.html): Docs-as-code workflows using Git, GitHub, Jekyll, and other publishing toolchains. - [Chapter 12: Thriving in the API doc space](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/jobapis.html): Getting hired: the coding familiarity, portfolio, and writing samples employers look for. - [Chapter 13: Library-based APIs](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/nativelibraryapis.html): Documenting Java and C++ libraries that developers compile in rather than call over the web. - [Chapter 14: Processes and methodology](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/docapis_managing_doc_processes.html): Managing doc work with Scrum-like processes, bug tracking, and review workflows. - [Chapter 15: Metrics and measurement](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/docapis_metrics_and_measurement.html): Measuring documentation quality and tracking improvement in ways management believes. - [Chapter 16: Glossary](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/glossary_overview.html): More than 130 defined terms spanning API concepts, tooling, and documentation practice. - [Chapter 17: Additional resources](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/resources.html): Supplementary material: GraphQL, RAML, API Blueprint, and topics beyond the core course. ## AI and technical communication Three self-contained courses. They don't build on each other. Written at different times, tracking the field's progression: use cases (2023), prompt engineering (2024), agent skills (2025-2026). - [AI courses hub](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/index.html): Overview of all three courses and how they fit together - [AI Book Club](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai-book-club/): Notes and discussion on books about AI - [All AI-related blog posts](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-ai/): Dated posts on AI and tech comm ### Course: Agent skills Building reusable instruction files that program an AI agent to handle repeatable documentation tasks. Includes a chapter on product skills — skills that route AI agents through your product's docs — and a chapter on turning AI chat logs into doc improvements. - [Overview](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/skills.html) - [Getting set up: editor, models, and environment](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/skills-setup.html) - [When to build a skill](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/skills-when-to-build.html) - [Skill structure and creation](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/skills-structure-creation.html) - [Where to store and invoke skills](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/skills-storage-invocation.html) - [Modularity of skills](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/skills-modularity.html) - [Design principles for skills](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/skills-design-principles.html) - [Forking and sharing skills](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/skills-forking-sharing.html) - [Testing a skill](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/skills-testing.html) - [Advanced patterns: subagents, loops, and reverse engineering](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/skills-advanced-patterns.html) - [Overview](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/product-skills.html) - [From developer experience to agent experience](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/product-skills-agent-experience.html) - [Anatomy and distribution of a product skill](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/product-skills-anatomy.html) - [What the research says about product skills](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/product-skills-research.html) - [Problems with product skills](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/product-skills-problems.html) - [The docs-first approach](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/product-skills-docs-first.html) - [Making docs accessible to agents](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/product-skills-agent-friendly-docs.html) - [Roles for tech writers with product skills](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/product-skills-tech-writer-roles.html) - [Mining users' AI chat sessions: gaps and forensics](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/product-skills-chat-analysis.html) - [Reimagining the documentation experience](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/product-skills-reimagining-docs.html) - [Overview](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/from-logs-to-improvements.html) - [Stage 1: Parse the logs](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/from-logs-to-improvements-parse.html) - [Stage 2: Triage the patterns](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/from-logs-to-improvements-triage.html) - [Stage 3: Weigh product priorities](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/from-logs-to-improvements-priorities.html) - [Stage 4: Scan the doc corpus](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/from-logs-to-improvements-docs-scan.html) - [Stage 5: Match user vocabulary](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/from-logs-to-improvements-vocabulary.html) - [Stage 6: Draft bugs proposing doc updates](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/from-logs-to-improvements-doc-updates.html) - [Stage 7: Test and close the loop](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/from-logs-to-improvements-evals.html) - [Stage 8: Reflect and improve the machine](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/from-logs-to-improvements-reflect.html) ### Course: Prompt engineering for tech comm scenarios Prompting techniques worked out against scenarios technical writers actually face: meeting notes, release notes, code samples, templates, and more. - [Overview](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/prompt-engineering.html) - [Task decomposition and complex tree diagrams](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/prompt-engineering-task-decomposition.html) - [Creating high-fidelity, thematically organized notes from engineering meetings using AI](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/prompt-engineering-summarizing-meeting-notes.html) - [Populating documentation templates using AI](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/prompt-engineering-populating-documentation-templates.html) - [Reverse engineering the recipe for excellent documentation](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/reverse-engineering-prompts.html) - [Gathering source material for context input](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/prompt-engineering-source-material-context.html) - [Error checking the AI output](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/prompt-engineering-error-checking.html) - [Creating scripts to automate doc build processes](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/prompt-engineering-doc-build-scripts.html) - [Using file diffs for better release notes in reference docs](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/prompt-engineering-release-notes-reference-docs.html) - [Automate links in your release notes using AI](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/automating-linking.html) - [Using long-token contexts to quality check an entire API doc set](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/prompt-engineering-entire-doc-set-prompts.html) - [Using AI to jump-start code samples](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/prompt-engineering-code-samples.html) - [From engineer interviews to written draft, with chain of thought reasoning](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/prompt-engineering-iterative-chain-of-thought.html) - [Using AI to design landing pages](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/prompt-engineering-landing-pages.html) - [Using AI to mine log messages from reference doc builds](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/prompt-engineering-mine-log-messages.html) - [Using AI with issue tracking systems](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/prompt-engineering-issue-tracking-systems.html) - [API quick reference guides](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/prompt-eng-api-qrgs.html) ### Course: Use cases for AI A survey of where AI genuinely helps with documentation work — summarizing, comparing, explaining code — and where it still falls short. - [Overview](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/use-cases.html) - [Using AI in APIs: What works, what doesn't](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/docapis_ai_what_works_and_doesnt.html) - [Use cases for AI: Develop build and publishing scripts](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/ai-tools-build-publish-api-docs.html) - [Use cases for AI: Understand the meaning of code](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/docapis_ai_learn_coding.html) - [Use cases for AI: Distill needed updates from bug threads](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/docapis_ai_fix_bugs.html) - [Use cases for AI: Summarize long content](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/docapis_ai_summaries.html) - [Use cases for AI: Synthesize insights from granular data](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/docapis_thematic_analysis.html) - [Use cases for AI: Seek advice on grammar and style](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/docapis_ai_language_advice.html) - [Use cases for AI: Arrange content into information type patterns](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/docapis_pattern_prompts.html) - [Use cases for AI: Compare API responses to identify discrepancies](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/docapis_ai_comparison_tasks.html) - [Use cases for AI: Draft glossary definitions](https://idratherbewriting.com/ai/docapis_ai_glossary_definitions.html) ## Post series Multi-part series written over the years. Each varies in length. - [Reflections on Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance](https://idratherbewriting.com/zamm/why-reread-zen-and-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance.html) - [Sitting, standing, and walking](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/sitting-standing-walking-introduction/) - [Trends to follow or forget](https://idratherbewriting.com/trends/trends-to-follow-or-forget-intro.html) - [Journey away from smartphones](https://idratherbewriting.com/smartphones/index.html) - [A hypothesis about influence on the web and the workplace](https://idratherbewriting.com/web-and-workplace-influence/part1-introduction-to-influencers.html) - [Mobility](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/bike-commuting-from-renton-to-seattle/) - [Reflecting seven years later about why we were laid off](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/reflecting-seven-years-later-about-layoff-intro/) - [Simplifying complexity](https://idratherbewriting.com/simplifying-complexity/index.html) - [Value arguments for docs and tech comm](https://idratherbewriting.com/2017/12/28/value-of-tech-comm-in-company-part1/) - [Visual communication](https://idratherbewriting.com/2016/03/12/new-series-on-visual-communication/) - [Basketball](https://idratherbewriting.com/2018/04/19/why-watching-nba-can-make-you-a-worse-pickup-ball-player) - [Biking](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/biking-the-santa-clara-loop/) - [Testing documentation](https://idratherbewriting.com/2015/07/07/testing-your-instructions/) - [Voiceover techniques](https://idratherbewriting.com/2008/11/14/finding-a-conversational-voice-in-video-tutorials/) - [Seven deadly sins of blogging](https://idratherbewriting.com/2009/09/15/seven-deadly-sins-of-blogging-1-being-fake/) - [API documentation survey](https://idratherbewriting.com/2014/12/12/i-need-your-responses-to-my-api-documentation-survey/) - [Author in DITA and Publish with WordPress](https://idratherbewriting.com/2013/01/21/how-to-import-webhelp-from-a-help-authoring-tool-into-wordpress/) - [DITA journey](https://idratherbewriting.com/2014/04/16/my-dita-journey-begins/) - [Dallas STC Summit videocasts](https://idratherbewriting.com/2010/05/11/a-few-ways-to-make-the-next-stc-summit-better/) - [Get a Job in Technical Writing](https://idratherbewriting.com/2009/09/22/how-to-get-a-job-in-technical-writing-a-7-step-guide-for-students/) - [Innovation in tech comm](https://idratherbewriting.com/2015/02/10/sustaining-and-disruptive-innovations/) - [Jekyll versus DITA](https://idratherbewriting.com/2015/03/23/new-series-jekyll-versus-dita/) - [Quick reference guides](https://idratherbewriting.com/2008/07/06/quick-reference-guides-the-poetry-of-technical-writing/) - [Search engine optimization](https://idratherbewriting.com/2013/09/22/how-to-search-engine-optimize-your-help-content-or-documentation/) - [User-centered documentation](https://idratherbewriting.com/2008/05/30/podcast-how-to-create-user-centered-documentation-interview-with-joe-sokohl/) - [User-centered documentation principles](https://idratherbewriting.com/ucd-introduction/) - [My journey to and from wikis](https://idratherbewriting.com/2012/06/11/essay-my-journey-to-and-from-wikis-why-i-adopted-wikis-why-i-veered-away-from-them-and-a-new-model-for-collaboration/) - [Findability / organizing content](https://idratherbewriting.com/2010/05/17/new-series-organizing-content-organizing-content-1/) - [From overlooked to center stage](https://idratherbewriting.com/2010/04/11/if-youre-in-atlanta-next-week-be-sure-to-check-out-currents/) - [Java notes](https://idratherbewriting.com/java-introduction/) - [JavaScript notes](https://idratherbewriting.com/javascript/) - [DITA notes](https://idratherbewriting.com/ditaqrg/) ## Recent blog posts - [AI Book Club recording of Project Maven: A Marine Colonel, His Team, and the Dawn of AI Warfare, by Katrina Manson](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/project-maven-katrina-manson-ai-book-club) (2026-10-21): This is a recording of our AI Book Club discussion of Project Maven: A Marine Colonel, His Team, and the Dawn of AI Warfare by Katrina Manson, held October 18, 2026. Ratings ranged from two stars t... - [Why docs still need an owner — podcast with CT Smith about WTFM](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/wtfm-book-ct-smith-podcast) (2026-10-19): In this podcast, co-host Fabrizio Ferri-Benedetti and I chat with CT Smith about her new book, WTFM: A Practical Guide for Standing Up Docs at a Startup. We discuss why docs need a human owner even... - [How I turn my API doc course into a PDF and sell it on Buy Me a Coffee](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/turning-web-content-into-pdf-to-sell) (2026-10-18): My API documentation course is free on the web, but I also sell a PDF version of it through Buy Me a Coffee. This post walks through each step of how I turn about 170 web pages into a 975-page PDF ... - [Building machines that work with other machines](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/building-machines-skills-for-tech-comm-workflows) (2026-10-12): In the past couple of months, my focus as a tech writer has shifted from writing to building machines, which in reality are elaborate skills that do things. One skill triages incoming bugs and webs... - [Building out my agent skills course and rethinking product skills](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/building-out-agent-skills-course) (2026-10-08): I've been adding to my agent skills course, including a reworked section on product skills that now takes a docs-first stance after I started seeing log data. I've also been leaning on AI more heav... - [AI Book Club recording: I Am Not a Robot by Joanna Stern](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/book-club-stern-i-am-not-a-robot) (2026-09-20): This is a recording of our AI Book Club discussion of I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything by Joanna Stern, held September 20, 2026. The group gave the book its lowest ratin... - [Six new books in tech comm: a roundup](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/new-books-tech-comm-2026) (2026-09-07): Six new books have recently been published in tech comm, and I wanted to round them up in case you missed some of them in your news feeds. The books include WTFM by CT Smith, Documentation at Scale... - [Buying a car in the age of AI](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/buying-a-car-in-age-of-ai) (2026-09-07): One thing I'm not great at is buying cars. I'm incredibly indecisive, in part because historically I have regretted some of the cars I've purchased. Hence, I'm afraid of buying the wrong car, and s... - [Why biking to work fails when commuting from Renton to Seattle](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/biking-renton-to-seattle-work-commute-fails) (2026-09-05): In an attempt to get to work without a car, I tried three bike + transit routes from the Fairwood area of Renton to South Lake Union in Seattle. Each one took too long (~ 2 hours) and involved too ... - [Writing for an audience of agents — podcast with Ethan Palm from Mintlify](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/podcast-ethan-palm-agent-traffic) (2026-09-02): In this podcast, co-host Fabrizio Ferri-Benedetti and I chat with Ethan Palm, a technical writer and knowledge engineer at Mintlify, about what happens when nearly half your documentation traffic c... - [Review of The MANIAC, by Benjamin Labatut -- thoughts on logic and the end of play](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/review-maniac-labatut-rationality-end-of-play) (2026-08-20): We recently read The MANIAC, by Benjamin Labatut in my AI Book Club. This was our first work of fiction, though much of the text is imagined biography, so not really traditional fiction. It reads m... - [AI Book Club recording of The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/the-maniac-labatut-ai-book-club) (2026-08-16): This is a recording of our AI Book Club discussion of The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut, held August 16, 2026. This was the club's first work of fiction, and much of the discussion is about what that ... - [Reflections on Ai4 conference - some absences from a tech writer's POV](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/ai4-conference-reflections-tw) (2026-08-09): This week I attended Ai4, promoted as the largest AI conference in North America. It was held at The Venetian in Las Vegas and lasted 3 days. The conference had more than 12,000 attendees (from 100... - [Orchestrating docs instead of writing them yourself — podcast with Sarah Deaton of Anthropic](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/podcast-deaton-anthropic-tw-automation) (2026-08-02): In this podcast, co-host Fabrizio Ferri-Benedetti and I chat with Sarah Deaton, a technical writer at Anthropic who works on the Claude Code docs, about what documentation work looks like when much... - [Building out a course on agent skills](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/course-on-skills) (2026-07-21): I'm trying to build out a course on agent skills. For a while I've been looking for something more substantial and stable to sink my teeth into (similar to what I did with API documentation), and I... - [The gap between academic and industry technical writing: What it is, why it exists, why it's important, and what we can do about it (Part II)](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/gap-between-industry-and-academia-tw-part2) (2026-07-12): This is Part II of a guest post from Jeremy Rosselot-Merritt, an assistant professor at James Madison University. In this post, Jeremy transitions from describing the reasons for the gap between ac... - [The gap between academic and industry technical writing: What it is, why it exists, why it's important, and what we can do about it (Part I)](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/gap-between-industry-and-academia-tw-part1) (2026-07-12): This is a guest post from Jeremy Rosselot-Merritt, an assistant professor in the School of Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication at James Madison University. In this post, Jeremy explains ... - [Tom's opinionated guide to skill building 101](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/all-about-skills-intro) (2026-06-30): The thing I'm most excited about with AI lately is SKILLs. (I have to capitalize the word at first so you know I'm talking about agent skills rather than just general capabilities; however, I'll su... - [AI Book Club discussion of The Infinity Machine by Sebastian Mallaby](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/book-club-infinity-machine-mallaby) (2026-06-28): This is a recording of the AI Book Club discussion of Sebastian Mallaby's The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for Superintelligence. In the discussion, we talk about the c... - [Judging beautiful docs, AI fatigue, and tool slop -- podcast with Fabrizio](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/judging-beautiful-docs-ai-fatigue-podcast) (2026-05-31): In this podcast, I chat with Fabrizio Ferri-Benedetti about a variety of topics related to AI and docs, such as applying Italo Calvino's literary principles of lightness and quickness to evaluate d... - [Review of Max Tegmark's 'Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence'](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/book-review-tegmark-life-3-0-ai) (2026-05-17): This post is my review of Max Tegmark's Life 3.0, a book we read in the AI Book Club. Tegmark, an MIT physicist and founder of the Future of Life Institute, says Life 1.0 relies entirely on biologi... - [AI Book Club discussion recording of 'Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence', by Max Tegmark](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/book-club-tegmark-life-3-0) (2026-05-17): This is a recording of the AI Book Club discussion of Max Tegmark's Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Our discussion explores Tegmark's visions of superintelligence, the ... - [Developing internal skills for recurring documentation processes like release notes](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/internal-skills-release-docs) (2026-05-04): My hypothesis this year around AI was that if I develop some agent skills to speed up repeatable processes, it might clear up my bandwidth and free up time for me to work on non-repeatable doc task... - [Looking back at the AI Book Club one year in](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/looking-at-book-club-one-year-in) (2026-04-28) - [On pace and value -- why is moving slow boring?](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/pace-value-moving-slow-boredom) (2026-04-27) - [Frenetic thinking](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/frenetic-thinking-vs-careful-measured-analysis) (2026-04-26) - [Work expands to fill the space allotted](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/work-expands-to-fill-the-allotted-space) (2026-04-26) - [Too much coffee?](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/too-much-coffee) (2026-04-24) - [AI Book Club discussion recording of 'Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future', by Dan Wang](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/book-club-breakneck-china-wang) (2026-04-23): This is a recording of the AI Book Club discussion of Dan Wang's Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future. Our discussion tries to tie some of the book's themes to AI (to align with the book... - [Some thoughts after using AI to help with taxes](https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/taxes-thoughts-using-ai) (2026-04-20): After receiving a letter from the IRS stating that I owed more taxes on a previous year, I used AI to identify the issue -- a missing cost basis on stock sales. I then successfully disputed the not... ## About and contact - [About me](https://idratherbewriting.com/aboutme/): Bio and background - [Contact](https://idratherbewriting.com/contact/): How to reach Tom - [Newsletter](https://idratherbewriting.com/newsletter/): Email newsletter signup - [Presentations](https://idratherbewriting.com/presentations/): Talks and workshop recordings - [Podcast](https://idratherbewriting.com/podcasts/): Podcast episodes and interviews - [Advertising](https://idratherbewriting.com/advertising/): Sponsorship information - [Copyright and reuse](https://idratherbewriting.com/copyright/): Licensing terms for this content ## Full archive indexes This file lists the courses and recent posts. These secondary indexes list everything else, so together they cover every page on the site. Each one fits in a single fetch. - [Courses, series, and pages](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/pages.txt): Every course topic, series page, and standalone page, grouped by section - [Blog posts from 2026](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2026.txt) - [Blog posts from 2025](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2025.txt) - [Blog posts from 2024](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2024.txt) - [Blog posts from 2023](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2023.txt) - [Blog posts from 2022](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2022.txt) - [Blog posts from 2021](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2021.txt) - [Blog posts from 2020](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2020.txt) - [Blog posts from 2019](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2019.txt) - [Blog posts from 2018](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2018.txt) - [Blog posts from 2017](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2017.txt) - [Blog posts from 2016](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2016.txt) - [Blog posts from 2015](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2015.txt) - [Blog posts from 2014](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2014.txt) - [Blog posts from 2013](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2013.txt) - [Blog posts from 2012](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2012.txt) - [Blog posts from 2011](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2011.txt) - [Blog posts from 2010](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2010.txt) - [Blog posts from July to December 2009](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2009-2.txt) - [Blog posts from January to June 2009](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2009-1.txt) - [Blog posts from 2008](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2008.txt) - [Blog posts from July to December 2007](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2007-2.txt) - [Blog posts from January to June 2007](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2007-1.txt) - [Blog posts from 2006](https://idratherbewriting.com/llms/posts-2006.txt) ## Optional Bulk indexes and archives. Skip these if you need a shorter context. Machine-readable feeds are also available: the XML sitemap at `https://idratherbewriting.com/sitemap.xml`, the RSS feed at `https://idratherbewriting.com/feed.xml`, and the podcast feed at `https://idratherbewriting.com/itunes.rss`. - [Tags](https://idratherbewriting.com/tags/): Posts grouped by tag - [Journey away from smartphones](https://idratherbewriting.com/smartphones/index.html): Series on reducing smartphone dependence - [Rereading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance](https://idratherbewriting.com/zamm/why-reread-zen-and-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance.html): Chapter-by-chapter reflections ### Blog categories - [academics-and-practitioners](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-academics-and-practitioners/) - [ai](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-ai/) - [api-doc](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-api-doc/) - [api-doc-site-updates](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-api-doc-site-updates/) - [beginners](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-beginners/) - [biking](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-biking/) - [blogging](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-blogging/) - [book-reviews](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-book-reviews/) - [creativity](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-creativity/) - [dita](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-dita/) - [family](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-family/) - [findability](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-findability/) - [innovation](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-innovation/) - [jekyll](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-jekyll/) - [jobs](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-jobs/) - [news](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-news/) - [podcasting](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-podcasting/) - [podcast-guest](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-podcast-guest/) - [quick-reference-guides](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-quick-reference-guides/) - [screencasting](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-screencasting/) - [simplifying-complexity](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-simplifying-complexity/) - [user-centered-documentation](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-user-centered-documentation/) - [video](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-video/) - [visual-communication](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-visual-communication/) - [web-design](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-web-design/) - [wtd-podcasts](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-wtd-podcasts/) - [wikis](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-wikis/) - [wordpress](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-wordpress/) - [writing](https://idratherbewriting.com/category-writing/)