Keep the Dash Alive

Julie Bonner

Researching your family history is an exciting journey into the past. However, leaving a trail for future generations is just as important! Learn how to write and publish a family history book, learn how to use technology for future generations, learn how DNA analysis works with your family tree, and more! Be sure to visit our website at www.coeurbridge.com.

  1. May 16

    How to Use AI for a Family Memoir

    548 letters is a huge archive. So, yes, it took me 8 years to figure out how to turn all these letters into a book. With the advent of AI tools, I felt I had a way to help me manage them and make them into an interesting book. In this episode I share the actual prompt I pasted at the start of every working session, the batch size that worked best, the approval pattern that kept me in control, the moment I caught a 150-letter mistake, the corrections I had to issue more than once, the line I drew on not marketing the book as AI-generated, and what I disclosed on the KDP publishing form when Amazon asked. If you are thinking about using AI on your own family archive — and I think more people are than will admit it — this is the inside view I wish someone had given me before I started.  📖 Loose Pearls: A Marriage in Letters, 1945–1946 — available on Kindle and audiobook. Paperback and hardcover coming soon. AI PROMPT: "I am working on a book of letters between my grandparents during World War Two. I am going to upload the master log and a batch of transcribed letters. Please read each letter and propose a row for the log. The columns are letter number, date, author, written from, written to, key quotes, emotional tone, historical details, family details, recommendation of either BOOK or ANCESTRY, notes, source file, and war timeline context. State the BOOK or ANCESTRY recommendation in chat with the full source filename before writing anything to the spreadsheet. Wait for my explicit approval before appending. Make honest BOOK or ANCESTRY calls. Do not oversell weak letters. I need the exact filename of every letter recorded in the source file column. Please remember this for every batch going forward. I cannot match book or ancestry decisions back to specific files without it."

    17 min

About

Researching your family history is an exciting journey into the past. However, leaving a trail for future generations is just as important! Learn how to write and publish a family history book, learn how to use technology for future generations, learn how DNA analysis works with your family tree, and more! Be sure to visit our website at www.coeurbridge.com.