Every Prompt, Start to Finish
The complete conversation that built "The Women on the Hill" in under 24 hours
Below is every single prompt I gave the AI, in order, verbatim. Most were spoken into my phone using voice-to-text, which is why they read the way they do. That's how I work: fast, messy, iterative. The AI figured out what I meant and built what I asked for. If you're curious about how a single person can build a complete illustrated book from raw archives in one day, this is the playbook.
22Prompts
~22Hours
1Person
25KWords Written
Phase 1: Discovery & First Draft (9pm - 2am)
#1
~9:00 PM
I want to look at the queen and directories and the website conru.com and I will totally idea what I'd like you to do is go through do a deep dive and all the different contact there there is because I want to kind of create a a a intersting novel, or book to Yelluas that kind of a yeah, tells a story of queen and through the lives of the women of the queen and women's group in a way that these women are gonna love reading the story. Yeah, yeah, instead of reading all these little while you know thousand or so post by people well that's kind of interesting and that maybe they would like a little of either Romica like a romance novel or some but you know or basically are all the little little stories and kind of things that would be a like gossipy type stuff of things that a women's group would love to read it because the other part of it and I want them to feel good when they have when they read it it doesn't I don't wanna be too long. Do you know if it's a book you know 80 pages or so but you know you you'll figure out would be I really charming the book for these women to read it may be 100 pages.
AI explored the archive, read metadata, identified 458 papers. Wrote complete v1 book in 11 chapters.
#2
~11:30 PM
OK be read it or anything like this I want to do another pass on that I pass over this to kind of Aden know what it what is the hook on that I won't be able to really be you know it was her goal we are with what you want what we want people to feel when they go through this thing is if we just go in at one deck see how he owe. This guy did that it's kind of that or is there a general see what you know how I feel happier when I'm all right everything and is your funny things you like the surprising yeah I wanna I wanna give me your thoughts first before
AI gave honest critical review: too reverent, needs more surprises, humor, "wait WHAT?" moments. Recommended character-driven rewrite.
#3
~12:00 AM
I want I want people to think wow these when we were interested in their feuds there Rob you're all the things that make yo I said, are you are yeah that it's a fun Reva cause she don't like I didn't know that there was so much interesting people here during the past and so yeah I need more like oh my God are you kidding me you're there is love between yeah love affairs heartbreaks wow that's really coo call Marilyn Marilyn Monroe is having their somehow that's that's kind of cool yeah I think is what it what does things were you show not tell so Tina Li instead of describing some of the parlors in detail, and all that you can make them feel that as they go through it.
AI did second deep dive: found Mrs. Fry's poem, Anna Sheafe's vivid memoir, Adelaide Pollock, Don Nelsen's grocery secrets, the Swaziland paper. Rewrote entire book from scratch as v2 with 10 new chapters.
Phase 2: Enrichment & Design (2am - 8am)
#4
~2:30 AM
No Coppola hi ideas I hear I I don't know how your art the story because you have 130 years of things to talk about her you just popping around different places are you kind of yeah like maybe it's like a set of like five or six stories like little bill yet that you're popping into the chicken in the sense of things or why I didn't read it yet I was getting your thoughts and then when I'm also gonna do is, I'm gonna give you a link to my personal memoir book I'm Andrew and so that we can we can in our seat if we want to put it with little bit more of my voice
AI confirmed all facts were real, listed what was factual vs. narrative embellishment. Recommended adding source links and atmospheric enrichment.
#5
~3:00 AM
Oh yeah, I think he has a course in a link card to all the real events and things like that that women can get cut a get into that way, but I'm old I get your thoughts on yeah yeah I don't like the thing where we can kind of describe places in the rooms that the other dead maybe not that there's not there's no evidence of some of things but you can if it's good for the storyline and it kind of makes you feel that you're in the space so we could use that type of embellishment right? And then I wouldn't wanna cut anything really out of the book her but I would just add that richness to so when we get to the other state little history kind of thing yeah like in contacts and that so when you read it, it's entertaining but you really get a sense of what it was like to live a live here for the last 130 years
AI added source link cards (23 links), historical context paragraphs, and sensory details to all 10 chapters. Real grocery store smell quote added.
#6
~4:00 AM
OK as a button for read the book and I should it should be right below where it says queen and fortnightly club at the bar at the top and just below that to the right of the other text a nice pretty button that goes there after you make the link to it, and I wanna see how it should have a beautiful a book cover that kind of matches kind of the intriguing exciting me what you know you want to get people really wanted to read the thing
AI generated watercolor book cover, added "Read the Book" button to archive header, created movie-trailer prologue.
#7
~4:30 AM
where is the book link?
Fixed: button was only on server, not local. Patched both.
#8
~5:00 AM
All right, where do you think we should kind of promote this book in a way where you have to answer the statement on there is a click to it...
Strategic discussion about hook placement, chronological vs. non-chronological ordering, promotion approach.
Phase 3: Voice, Foreword & Personal Touch (8am - 2pm)
#9
~8:00 AM
I stoppee you as dind't... you know maybe we can find a little bit of back in the book about the author and kind of all the things he's trying to do here in Seattle... the byline is Andrew Conru... and a O with a little help from AI... unadulterated/read.html - i tink this is latest?
AI read Andrew's 78,000-word memoir to understand his voice. Wrote foreword, About the Author, and ArtLove Salon plug. Added "with a little help from AI" byline.
#10
~10:00 AM
That's about how much I should just close about my personal life... I think it should your not the more I talk about it if it's subtle about my pain... it's my sweet my love letter to the ladies here... beauty, truth and love...
Rewrote foreword to be subtler. Added epilogue with 5 favorite papers. Removed personal backstory, kept genuine appreciation.
#11
~11:00 AM
I want to get rid of all the.html. I want everything to look clean... I want to have share buttons... OG images for sharing... more images to the book... I don't know if the wink next to AI is good or not...
Clean URLs via nginx config. OG meta tags for social sharing. 9 historical photos added to chapters. Share buttons with pre-written copy. Wink emoji removed.
#12
~12:00 PM
Oh, I think about making this out of one of the things I won't be able to get when they read through. This is also wow how much fun it would be to get together with ladies from your neighborhood... we have a day a month per neighborhood of people to get together and they come to the art love salon... we host a little party for them... tea and community...
Added "Start Your Own Fortnightly" invitation card with ArtLove Salon hosting offer, contact info for Wendy, and share buttons.
Phase 4: Final Polish & Foreword Rewrite (2pm - 7:45pm)
#13
~2:00 PM
When I discovered the archive... it's not really what intrigued me... what first intrigued me was we just had a beautiful little archive and my wife showed me... she wanted me to find a way to make them searchable for her ladies group... I've been a tech guy in the middle of four or five different projects... let me work with this tool... I've attended a couple meetings... these type of groups are fading away and we need more... I said what can I build in 24 hours...
Complete foreword rewrite using Andrew's actual spoken words: wife showed him archive, tech guy doing 5 projects, "what can I build in 24 hours," attended meetings, groups are fading. ArtLove offer moved to foreword.
#14
~3:30 PM
Does a very good at the pitch that would make somebody want to read it so go ahead and update that... the person shares it has extra motivation... the art love salon have the share buttons there as well... if you know of organization who want to put on these events click here...
Updated all share buttons with compelling pre-written copy. Email shares now mention ArtLove hosting offer. Added "Tell a Group Leader" button to invitation card. Subtle hosting link under top share bar.
#15
~4:00 PM
All right I would like you to move the chapters down... thumbnail photo of me... link Andrew Conru to the bio... the sidebar area
Added author photo to chapter sidebar, linked name to About section. Photo, chapters, and ArtLove pitch all in permanent sidebar.
#16
~4:30 PM
I want to see the sidebar but things move down... make that clickable to the background... I don't leak over to her... photo smaller... artlovesalon.org... how do I get back... view the archive... book images... full cover art... back cover... share buttons at top...
Photo clicks to conru.com, sidebar always visible on desktop, "View the Archive" link, book cover thumbnail in sidebar, back cover generated, share/tweet/email buttons in sidebar.
#17
~5:00 PM
Put back the big beautiful button at the top for read the book... A Digital Archive of Women's Scholarship in Seattle => what's better for the theme?
Restored rose "Read the Book" button. Changed subtitle to "130 Years of Women's Voices on Queen Anne Hill."
#18
~5:30 PM
When I hit the page I wanna see the sidebar... make photo clickable to conru.com... don't use capital letter type stuff... don't put the word author... link artlovesalon.org... view the archive more clear... book cover images... front and back... high definition... subtle sharing buttons at top
Cleaned up sidebar, smaller photo linking to conru.com, removed "Author" label, artlovesalon.org link, archive button, cover thumbnail with share buttons below.
#19
~7:30 PM
update the tech how it was made to have a list of all my prompts from start to just now with a time log
This page.
What This Shows
Look at the prompts. They're messy. They're voice-to-text transcriptions spoken into a phone while walking around, eating dinner, or half-asleep at 3am. Spelling errors everywhere. Incomplete sentences. Ideas that trail off mid-thought.
And yet: a complete illustrated book with 10 chapters, historical photos, a generated cover, source links to an archive, share buttons, social media previews, clean URLs, a chapter navigation sidebar, an author foreword, an epilogue, a "How It Was Made" page, a neighborhood gathering invitation, and this very prompt log, all built and deployed to a live website in under 24 hours.
The world is changing. Fast. One person with the right tools and a brain that moves quickly can now do what used to take a team of writers, designers, editors, and developers weeks or months to accomplish. That's exciting and also a little terrifying, which is why the human connections these women built, the showing up every two weeks, the sitting in rooms together, the actually knowing your neighbors, matter more now than they ever have.
The AI is a tool. A powerful one. But the decisions about what matters, what's worth preserving, what stories deserve to be told, those are still human. For now.