Writer · Adjunct Professor · Louisville, KY

EricShay Howard

I write personal essays and teach writing, composition, business, and IT at universities around Louisville. I also build software with AI, and I document those projects here.

This fall, I'm writing for journals,my website, first.

Read the essays See the projectsFollow on X
Eric Shay Howard smiling outdoors in a dark blazer and light blue shirt, trees glowing behind him.
semester load: full

Personal essays

Recent writing

All essays →
  1. Let the Record Build: Revision, Reflection, and AI

    Writing or creating in public usually means letting people see the process along with the product: the drafts, the missteps, the number of times you’ve changed your mind.

    Oct 4, 2026 · 4 min read · 4 rounds of revision #teaching #writing #ai
  2. The New Spiritual Literacy Practices of A Now Only Somewhat Atheist Adjunct Professor After An Alien Appeared by His Bed

    I woke up in the middle of the night in the summer of 2026 to a gray alien standing by my bed.

    Oct 2, 2026 · updated Oct 3, 2026 · 17 min read · 3 rounds of revision #teaching #writing #spirituality #hermit-crab
  3. How I Use AI, and Why I'm Publishing Here

    What I wrote, what Claude wrote, and who made the decisions. How each essay on this site is made, and why I'm stepping back from journals for now.

    Sep 28, 2026 · updated Oct 2, 2026 · 3 min read · 5 rounds of revision #thoughts #ai

How each essay is made

Every essay says how it was made

How I use AI →
01

Directed drafting 

I talk it through. Claude drafts, and I direct the revisions until it says what I mean.
Sentences: mostly Claude's
1 essay
  1. How I Use AI, and Why I'm Publishing HereUpdated 5 rounds of revision
02

Draft-first 

I write the draft. Over several rounds, Claude gives substantial feedback and I revise.
Sentences: mostly mine

No essays yet

03

Co-writing 

We trade passages. I write a section, Claude drafts the next, and we revise each other's.
Sentences: a blend
1 essay
  1. Let the Record Build: Revision, Reflection, and AIUpdated 4 rounds of revision
04

Solo 

I write and revise it myself. None of my own words on the page come from AI.
Sentences: all mine
1 essay
  1. The New Spiritual Literacy Practices of A Now Only Somewhat Atheist Adjunct Professor After An Alien Appeared by His BedUpdated 3 rounds of revision

Projects

Things I'm making

All projects →
Webactive

This website

I moved off Squarespace and rebuilt my site with Claude Code, partly to finally learn how programming and GitHub actually work.

Read more →Softwareactive

WPA Desk

A strategy game and training simulator for writing program administration. You get three years at the desk of a fictional first-year writing program.

Read more →

On X

Follow along

Short thoughts, new essays, and whatever I'm thinking about this week.

@ericshayhoward

On YouTube

Watch along

Videos on writing and teaching. On pause while I rethink the channel.

@weirdericshayhoward

About

An MFA in Creative Writing, an MBA, and four years in IT at a law firm. Now I build and teach courses across three university systems and write here.

More about me →