
I'm so excited to share bethanythebuilder.com, a reimagined version of my writing on the internet.
Bethany the Builder draws on my archive of 500+ blog posts (over 1.5 million words written across seven years), with a twist. Each post is paired with a real-time AI “build idea,” a prompt that invites you to experiment with practical applications of my writing, and the entire library invites you to explore it in a “choose your own adventure” format.
My work centers on three core themes: how we learn, how we work, and how we connect. These themes reflect the mission that drives me and offer a more dynamic, personalized way to experience my content.
This is the first time I've been able to effectively create real-time feeds of the content in the way that I want people to experience it.

I've always thought that one day I might write a book. Last summer, I pulled together a dozen blog posts on fractional work and used AI tools to draft the remaining chapters and design an entire ebook. In just one week, I published a 100-page ebook. I took that book in print form to a literary agency downtown and asked, "Would this book be of interest to your agency?”
While they liked the topic, they did not think any publisher would agree to publish a book that was co-written with AI. To me was enough: I knew that I was going to need to find another place to channel my AI-native content.
So I went back to blogging…hard. Over the past year I wrote 250 posts on hardmodefirst.xyz. Some were about AI, some were written for AI, and some were even written by AI. In nearly every post, I experimented with form: visuals, new formats, or playful storytelling lenses. Eventually, I realized the existing publishing platforms felt too constrained. I needed to build my own.

The more comfortable I got with no-code tools, the more I recognized that I didn’t need to wait for an AI-native publishing platform to manifest into existence: I could build it myself.
This was a really hard project for me because I needed to build a full stack, realtime web application based on a lot of material that holds a lot of personal significance. To do it, I first had to learn how to reorganize and restructure all of my prior content and use an appropriate AI tool to parse that content. Then I had to organize that content into a vector store (which is a way that you let the AI semantically search for meaning across all your posts). Following that, I had to conceptualize and build a design framework for how I wanted the content to appear (which is hard to do without a design background). Finally, I built the fully functioning front-end website while running the back-end server API that constantly fed my content.
After gathering up the bits and pieces over several months, I decided to push myself to build it in a weekend, a “hackathon for one.” I video logged this entire experience in real time, part as motivation, but also to remind people that websites aren’t built by magic.

But to me, it represents something much bigger. It’s proof that I can express myself through software without writing a single line of code. It places me in the real-time conversation about how AI is reshaping who gets to call themselves a builder. And it empowers me to inspire others (especially those who felt left out of the first wave of software creation) to build something too.
This is only the beginning. But I hope it makes you think about the archives or content troves you might be sitting on, and how they could be experienced or remixed in entirely new ways. And if nothing else, I hope it motivates you to think outside the box a little bit more and call yourself a builder too.
Until then, I invite you to explore for yourself at bethanythebuilder.com.

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Bethany Crystal
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Hello! Here's the 48th edition of Paragraph Picks, sharing some of the best writing over the past couple weeks. Check them out & let us know which is your favorite!
@naomiii critiques the hollow performance of online authenticity, exploring how algorithm-driven conformity, personal branding, and external validation erode the infinite self. "What does it even mean to be real? To be authentic on these platforms? Are we not all playing a role on the big stage?" https://paragraph.com/@cryptonao/authentic
@papa explores how remixing channels the cultural DNA of hip-hop sampling and open source software to create a new, incentive-aligned system for collaborative writing, where attribution, shared rewards, and creative evolution are baked in. "When frameworks make it easy to build on others’ work while ensuring everyone benefits, history shows the result is more innovation, not less." https://paragraph.com/@papajams.eth/the-sample-the-fork-the-remix-how-culture-learns-to-build-on-itself
@bethanymarz introduces a personalized, AI-powered publishing platform that reimagines her 1.5 million-word archive as an interactive “choose your own adventure” experience. "It’s proof that I can express myself through software without writing a single line of code." https://hardmodefirst.xyz/meet-bethany-the-builder
Sharing a little bit more about my weekend build here: https://hardmodefirst.xyz/meet-bethany-the-builder I am super curious about the idea of how AI can help us remix existing content for new form factors and audiences. This is my first example of doing that with a 1.5M word content trove across 500+ blog posts What other content would you like to see remixed or reimagined in the AI age?
Check out the latest post by @bethanymarz! The blog reveals the innovative platform, Bethany the Builder, which transforms traditional blogging into a dynamic, interactive experience. Each of the 500+ blog posts includes an AI "build idea," prompting exploration and application of the content. The engaging themes of learning, working, and connecting come alive in a "choose your own adventure" format, encouraging readers to think creatively about content and self-expression. Dive into a new era of blogging today!