This is where I keep track of how AI has actually helped (and occasionally not helped) with the research — real prompts, real brick walls, real results.

I started using AI for this the same way I fall into everything else here — half by accident, one Trove rabbit hole at a time. Turns out it’s genuinely useful for untangling timelines, working out what to search for next, building research logs, and just having something to think out loud with when I’ve hit a wall for the fortieth time.

Consider this the working notes version — what worked, what didn’t, and what I’d tell past-me before she wasted another weekend.