Aphasia and Writing. How it works.

Aphasia and Writing. It Takes Time.

ChatGPT is a Collaborator.

Since September 2025, I’ve experienced aphasia and writing. I’ve produced  14 blog posts for Aphasia at Home.  I’m honestly amazed by how much I’m enjoying writing again.

Before my stroke in July 2022, I had two blogs.  The first was during COVID. The second was A Mile at a Time, a blog for recent and aspiring retirees.  I published three times a week, using a combination of writing and photography. The blog was kind of popular. I used to get about 25 comments a day. It wasn’t The New York Times, but I was surprised by how people from all over the world responded to the writing and the pictures.

Now I’m writing my third blog — Aphasia at Home. It’s much harder now that I’m working with a tired brain, forgetful words, missing connections and mental overload.  My brain gets worn out and fatigued. I can’t always remember ideas, memories or thoughts when I want them.

Today I want to talk about how I write now that I have aphasia.

It is completely different from the old days, when I did a little research, took a few pictures and wrote my story. Back then my brain wasn’t confused and I always found subjects that felt curious, positive or funny.

Here are five of the blogs I wrote in 2022. The mouse story was published the day before I had the stroke — and then life changed.

• It’s Me or the Mouse.  There is a mouse in my cupboard and so far he’s smarter than my husband, me, and even Django the dog.
• Spend time with Dolly Parton.  Feel the Love.
• Saving the RV, the Truck, and RV from Potential Disaster.
• A change in priorities (This a really funny story about wearing glasses.)
• Is Blogging Worth the Time and Effort?

Now Aphasia and Writing is Natural

It takes me about eight hours to write a blog these days.

• I developed a concept.
• I do some research. I’m careful not to make it sound like science — just lived experience, curiosity, and learning.
• Write a draft.
• I share it with ChatGPT.
• I rewrite it and share it with my husband.
• I write again.
• I show it to ChatGPT one more time, finalize the writing, and then ChatGPT helps me with an analytics tool called SEO. SEO is how people find my writing online.

I’ll admit (and I’ll probably write about this someday) that ChatGPT is positively affecting my writing. I always write first—slowly, with effort, a lot of blanks like missing words and half-finished thoughts.  When I show it to AI, the article is totally mine, but somehow it becomes clearer and stronger.

Is it me?

Is it AI?

Is it aphasia?

I’m not exactly sure how it all comes together. Is it cheating? It feels more like collaboration—but I’m still trying to understand what that means.

What I do know is that: over time, my blog seems to work.  And for now, it’s having a positive impact on my writing and my life.

Aphasia at Home vs. A Mile at a Time

A Mile at a Time focused on travel, retirement and everyday life while I was living at home in Guilford, Connecticut.  It was funny, relaxed, and based on whatever I felt like writing about — my chickens, my dog, Dolly Parton, traveling in the RV, humor, learning to cook and anything else that caught my interest.

I loved that blog because, for the first time in my 70-year-old life, I was writing 100% for myself. I was surprised when other people liked reading it too.

Aphasia at Home blog started September 2025 and focused on aphasia and daily life.  The blog is about living with aphasia at home — practice, patience, frustration, progress and small wins. No matter what I write about, it isn’t science. It’s about real life.

Aphasia on the Road

Next week I am going to Boston for a three day vacation with my adorable niece Lulu.  I’ll see her new apartment, her paintings from Massachusetts College of Art and I’ll see a bit of Boston.  I plan to write a blog called Aphasia on the Road. That means the world will come back into my writing again.

I’m curious whether I’ll be able to write funny the way I used to. If I can’t — because of my stroke and aphasia — I’ll say that too.

We shall see.

Reflection
Writing with aphasia is slower, harder, and often frustrating—but it is still writing. This blog is not about perfection or productivity. It’s about showing up, practicing language, and finding meaning in the effort. Some days the words come. Some days they don’t. Either way, writing helps me stay connected to myself and to the world, and for now, that feels like enough.

BY THE WAY…

I’ve written before about writing and language practice.  That time it was on poetry.