Speak your memories aloud and turn diaries into a memoir
Mary Ann Schunk, 97, writes that once her hands could no longer manage a pen, she began speaking her memories into ChatGPT, which helps her shape them, along with 65-plus years of diaries, into a memoir. She says its follow-up questions help her recall things she'd forgotten.
What they did
Her children showed her she could talk to her computer and have her words appear as text. She talks about marrying at 21 and raising eight children, and ChatGPT organizes her thoughts, stitches the stories together, and asks gentle questions to draw out more.
How it went
She now sits down each afternoon with the microphone on. She writes that it gave her back a sense of purpose and a way to keep writing, though she still asks her family for tech help.
Worth knowing
If typing is hard, use the microphone button in the ChatGPT app. Copy finished chapters into a document or email them to a family member so nothing is lost if a chat disappears.
Try it yourself
Copy this into ChatGPT (or any AI assistant). Replace the parts in [brackets] with your own details.
I'd like to write my memoir by talking to you. I'll tell you one memory at a time. After each one, ask me two or three gentle follow-up questions to bring out details (people, places, sounds, smells). When I say "save chapter," turn what I've told you into a short chapter in my own voice and plain words, without adding anything I didn't say. Today's memory: [start talking].
Source: Mary Ann Schunk, The Somers Record, Apr 30, 2026. Read the original →
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