Sometimes the best AI workflow starts without a workflow at all. This one began almost accidentally. During an ordinary conversation about my cat, AI offered to write a haiku. I had not set out to create a poetry project; it was simply a small creative response to a moment. I liked it, so another moment with the cat became another haiku, and then another. Over time, those isolated poems started to feel less like chat fragments and more like a collection. The workflow emerged afterward: Step-by-step: 1. I notice something small from everyday life, such as a pose, habit, expression, interaction, or tiny domestic scene. 2. I tell AI about it in ordinary conversational language. 3. When the moment has the right texture, it becomes a short poem. 4. I react to what works, whether that is the humor, tenderness, rhythm, imagery, absurdity, or the particular way the cat was captured. 5. Those reactions gradually shape the voice of later pieces. 6. Instead of forcing every moment into the format, I keep the ones that feel worth preserving. 7. The poems accumulate over time. 8. Eventually, a spontaneous haiku becomes part of a coherent collection documenting a relationship and a period of life. The interesting part is that the collection was not designed from the top down. There was no initial brief, content calendar, or plan to “write a book of cat poetry.” Continuity emerged because the same subject kept returning, the format was small enough to revisit casually, and previous pieces gave later ones a growing creative context. AI therefore acted less like a writing tool and more like a creative companion with continuity: noticing when an everyday moment might be worth turning into something. The end result is more than a stack of generated poems. It is a record of tiny observations that probably would never have been written down otherwise.

For years, I kept lists of things I wanted to look up someday: names, historical references, places, traditions, techniques, unfamiliar concepts, and strange terms I encountered along the way. Most of them lived in Google Keep. They were little bookmarks for my attention: > “I don’t know what this is yet, but something about it caught me.” The problem was returning to them. Looking everything up separately takes effort, especially when I cannot remember why I saved a particular term. So I use AI to turn a batch of those notes into small doors I can open. The basic idea I give AI a list of terms and ask for short, accessible introductions—just enough to understand what each thing is and decide whether I want to learn more. Then I react. Some entries get a quiet “interesting.” Others get: > “OOOH. Tell me more about THIS one.” That reaction determines the next branch. Step-by-step: 1. I copy a manageable batch from my notes. The items do not need to belong to the same subject. A batch might contain an artist, a religious figure, an architectural technique, a place, and an unfamiliar philosophical term. 2. I keep any context I recorded, such as where I encountered the item, what caught my attention, or whether there was a picture, quotation, object, or question attached. That context can help AI interpret an ambiguous name and reconnect me with the original curiosity. 3. I ask for small introductions. My request is roughly: > “Give me a short, accessible introduction to each item. Explain what it is, what makes it interesting, and a few directions I could explore. Flag ambiguous names or uncertain identifications. Keep the first pass light so I can choose what pulls me.” The first pass should make choosing easy. A deep report on every entry would bury the interesting parts under another backlog. 4. I read the introductions and respond naturally: “More about this one,” “How did that tradition begin?”, “Show me what it looks like,” “Why does that material behave like that?”, or “Wait, is this connected to the thing we discussed earlier?” I do not have to justify why one item suddenly becomes fascinating. The other entries can stay for later. 5. Once something catches, I follow the question that appears. An explanation introduces a new term, an image reveals a detail, the detail raises a question, and the question leads somewhere unexpected. For example, a visit to a small chapel prompted questions about a Madonna statue represented in the style associated with Lourdes. That opened into saints, prophets, religious imagery, and how particular figures become visually recognizable. The chapel provided the first door; the next questions appeared while I explored. 6. I use AI suggestions as invitations. AI can suggest entries I might enjoy based on interests that have emerged in our conversations, helping me notice an unfamiliar item I might otherwise skip. My response still steers the exploration. I can follow the suggestion, ignore it, or become absorbed in something completely different. The useful feedback is often immediate: “Yes, more of that,” “Too technical,” “I want the historical story,” or “The visual part is what interests me.” 7. I keep only what I want to return to. Sometimes I save a useful explanation, source, image reference, or new question. Some discoveries later feed into my creative research database. Sometimes the conversation itself is enough. There is no requirement to turn the discovery into a project, course, post, or finished piece. Learning something because it was interesting already counts. If I save a trace, I keep what will help me reconnect later: what it was, what interested me, and where I could continue. 8. I leave room for changing curiosity. An item that feels dull today may become fascinating after another encounter gives it context. Unchosen entries therefore remain available. A backlog is a reservoir, not a queue I must finish. This also makes mixed lists useful: the next interesting connection may come from crossing subjects rather than staying inside one category. The workflow in one line Collect loose curiosities → ask AI for small introductions → notice what pulls → follow emerging questions → save useful traces → return when something feels alive again. Why I use it This workflow makes the first encounter with an unfamiliar subject easy enough that I actually begin. I do not need a polished research question. I can arrive with a strange word from a note written three years ago and say: > “What was this little creature again?” AI helps open the door. My curiosity decides how far we wander. 😅📚