It’s December 25 right now, and without responsibility for the Christmas feast, I was reading my emails. Came across this tip from Kim Komando and thought I’d test it out for you:
Use your Voice Memo app to interview the oldest person in the room. Ask them one question: “What was the one gift you wanted most when you were 10 years old?” The tech genius move: Once you’ve recorded the answer, use an AI tool like Otter.ai or ChatGPT (upload the audio) to transcribe it. Then, ask the AI: “Write a short, heartwarming story based on this memory in the style of a classic Christmas book.” The result: You can print the story out or email it to the whole family. You’ve turned a fleeting, three-minute conversation into a family heirloom that will be read for years.
So I used the voice memo app on my iPhone, told the story of what I wanted most at twelve. Then I transcribed it in that same app (3-dot menu in upper right), then copied it (an offered choice) and pasted it into ChatGPT (by pressing for a long time in the query box) and asked Chat what Kim, above, suggested. (I’m giving you more detailed steps, ’cause Kim sometimes thinks I know how to do something, that I don’t.)
Then I copied the AI-generated story and added it to a holiday template in PicMonkey (you can use Canva if you choose). Adjusted the template, pasted in the text, edited a bit, and played around with fonts and line spacing to have it fit nicely.
Result: a one-sheet graphic to save, send to family, or print out as a Christmas story.
Try this process if you write a New Year’s family letter sharing what happened this past year!
Here’s my story:
STUG 