Leonard Tompkins was a great mentor. I had a ton to learn when I worked for him, and he taught me well, even though he made it hard on me.
He’d give me an assignment. “Get permits for the oversize load we’ve got to move through six states.”
I would say, “What should I do? I’ve never done that before.”
“You’ll figure it out. Then, come back and tell me what you’re going to do.” He usually gave me a deadline.
I walked away clenching my fists and muttering nasty things under my breath.
Then I tried to figure it out. When I thought I had it, or when I was ready to slam into the deadline, I went back to Leonard.
That’s when Leonard turned teacher. He went through whatever I’d come up with, praising where I got it right and explaining why something else could be better.
I said that Leonard was a teacher, and he was. But most of the learning happened during the struggle. Usually Leonard added some fine points to what I learned. Sometimes when I wasn’t able to figure things out for myself, we talked about why and how I could change next time.
Part of the work of writing is thinking. When you wrestle with the message, the meaning, and the words to use, you grow stronger as a writer and produce better work.
It’s tempting to turn the first draft over to AI, figuring you’ll get something polished more quickly that way. You may, but you’ll pay for the convenience. You’ll miss the learning and growing you get from doing the hard work.
No struggle, no growth. When you use AI to write for you, you’re the one who loses.
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