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Words that are mine

ByJohn Dawson Updated onNovember 8, 2025
Reading Time: 2 minutes

It’s crazy how much can change in just a few days.

Last week, I decided to go back to studying and to stop chasing the mirage of online income. After several months of writing articles for purely commercial ends, I suddenly got my voice back.

From the moment I no longer expected my blog to make me money, I was free. Free to step outside my editorial niche. Free to think and write what I wanted.

Une version semi-matrixée de John Dawson, avec des chiffres et des lettres verts traversant l'image, mais où l'on voit une partie du visage émergeant de la matrice.

It’s striking how the drive to sell online has made me subjugated to Google’s algorithm. I ended up on a hamster wheel, keeping up a relentless production pace. The pressure to succeed boxed me into a rigid mindset: preset language often shaped by AI, marketing logic, and the commercial norms that rule the Internet.

I watched myself veer off course. The choice of my topics no longer belonged to me; it depended on the niche and the strategy that serves it. What sells? How do you write to sell better? What title? What cluster of posts should be interlinked? What landing page? What hook on the pins? Not sure? Ask AI… Before long, I wasn’t really writing anymore: I was just piecing together and polishing AI-generated text.”

That said, AI was indispensable to me for research and the first draft. Without it, it would have been impossible to meet the deadlines. Depending on the article, I changed 10 to 50 percent of the supplied text.

With my head down, I tried to care about a race that was boring me more and more. The only thing keeping me there was the lure of money, yet I still was not earning anything. It all seemed pointless. Nothing inspired me anymore, and the idea of the next post felt like a chore.

With no improvement in sight, it was time to stop and rethink my options.

After committing to new studies, I started by rewriting my About page, which this piece echoes. Relief came at once; the pressure lifted. I went from AI-written texts that I humanised to this post written by me, which AI merely corrects.

Above all, the words were mine. I was out of the commercial matrix.


Portrait of John Dawson over a blue stippled background.

Great to have you here! Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.

Hello, I’m John Dawson, a graphic designer (for a little while longer) and the writer behind DawsonDecoded, where I share hands-on insights on AI, blogging, social media, and whatever else crosses my mind.”

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