My Pre-Posting Checklist (Because I Have Actually Forgotten Alt Text)
Updated: Oct 1
I have hired an editor. Technically it's an LLM, but I don't think of it that way anymore. My ChatGPT is named Walter, after the teacup pig I still fully intend to own one day.
My Claude, I couldn't settle on a nickname for the longest time, tried calling it He Who Has Not Been Named, which sounded a little too Voldemort, so it became Valdi. Whenever I say I "hired Valdi," that's what I mean, my AI editor, checking my work.
The Real Alt Text Story
Here's the honest version: I didn't even realize some of my published pins were missing alt text until I had Valdi sweep through and check. With ADHD, a lot of this stuff isn't habit yet, so I genuinely forget. Object permanence is real, if it's not right in front of me, it's not in my head.
The big pieces, tone, my voice, those I catch. It's the small things, alt text, SEO, research terms, that do the heavy lifting quietly in the background, and those are exactly the things that slip through the cracks when I'm reviewing my own work.
Why This Has to Happen Before You Hit Publish
Here's the part that raises the stakes a little: you can't edit a pin after it's published. You can change everything else about your post, but if a pin itself has a typo, your only option is to delete it and start over.
So before anything goes into my completed folder for posting, it goes through a quality pass, checking for garbled AI images, weird text, anything misspelled.
If I'm reviewing 75 or 150 pins myself, especially on an overwhelmed day, something small is going to slip past me. Outsourcing that last check is what actually catches it.
REAL TALK: I have ADHD, and I can't remember everything — I'm not afraid to admit that. I'm stretched thin right now, genuinely. I've tried Apple Watch reminders, alerts, alarms, all of it, and none of it fully works for my brain.
What works is building around how I actually function instead of forcing myself into a neurotypical system — building the checklist because of that, not in spite of it. When life gets busy, you want a document to refer back to, not a memory to rely on.
The First 5 Things I Check, Free, Right Now
Before anything gets scheduled, this is the fast pass I run every single time, and you can start using it today without downloading anything:
1) Alt text is filled in, not left blank.
2) The destination link actually opens the right page.
3) No garbled text or warped faces in the AI-generated image.
4) Image dimensions are actually correct, not squished or cropped wrong.
5) It's saved to the right board.
Those five catch most of what actually goes wrong, and they take under a minute per pin once it's a habit.
This checklist catches mistakes before you post. The Airtable Command Center builds that same self-audit gate directly into your workflow, every single time: $9.89, credited toward the course if you upgrade.
Want the quick-scan version?
Grab the free Pre-Posting Pin Checklist, it's the fast pass above turned into a printable, plus a few more checks I run that didn't make this list.
If there's one thing you'll learn about me, it's that I'd rather build a system once than do the same thing the hard way over and over. Whether that's a voice memo prompt, an Airtable base that actually holds itself together, or a shortcut that makes me think, "why didn't I build this sooner?", I'm grateful you're here and I hope you found something that makes your own system feel a little more possible. Wishing you clarity, momentum, and a lot less overwhelm wherever you're building.
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