I ran writing sprints all through 2023 and into 2024. AI existed then and I ignored it for family history writing.

Every time I asked ChatGPT to help with a story, I got one of two results: bland biographical text that read like a Wikipedia stub, or overly dramatic prose straight out of a Hallmark movie. “As the sun set over the Pennsylvania hills, young Wilhelm gazed toward his uncertain future...”

No. Just no.

I used it for genealogy “how-to” blog post writing only. For family history writing it wasn’t useful. Definitely wasn’t worth the frustration (except for generating Shakespearean sonnets or comical limericks on my ancestors - hilarious!).

That was then.

Welcome back to Chronicle Makers. I'm Denyse, and I help family historians research smarter, write their stories, and use AI to do both faster. Every post here is designed to move you forward on your family history journey.

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Fast forward to now, and family history writers have a new superpower available to them.

Anthropic’s Claude rolled out a feature in the fall called “Skills.” And while most haven’t noticed it yet, this single feature solves the problem that made AI useless for our work.

AI can now hold an assortment of pre-trained skill modules, customized to our way of working, that it calls on when we use it.

How does that differ from what most people are doing now with ChatGPT? Right now every conversation starts from zero. You explain your ancestor. Explain your research. Explain your writing style. Get a mediocre result. Notice it mixed up facts. Correct it. Realize 2 hours have passed. Close the chat. Start over the next day.

That’s not a helpful or “advanced intelligence”. That’s frustration on a computer screen.

Skills changes that.

A Skill is a saved set of instructions and examples that tells Claude how to do one task (for example, “draft my weekly newsletter,” “turn notes into a blog post,” or “edit in my house style”). • When you ask Claude to do something that matches a Skill, it can follow that recipe instead of you re-explaining the process every time. Plus you add in your research notes and transcriptions and you have everything you need to draft a story that is uniquely yours.

Writing begins from that foundation instead of from nothing.

Think of it like the difference between hiring a temp who needs training every morning versus having a research assistant who already knows your project, your preferences, your writing style, voice, and your ancestor’s timeline.

For family historians, this is transformational.

You can teach your AI that you write for family members who don’t know genealogy terminology. That you prefer narrative over bullet points. That your current project focuses on 19th-century Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (and give it 500 pages of notes on the history of that place). That you never want invented dialogue or emotional speculation. You can have one skill for blog posts and another skill for book chapters. The list goes on and on.

That’s what makes AI worth paying attention to now.

If you’ve been endlessly chatting with ChatGPT—asking one-off questions, getting wordy answers, never building anything—it’s time to grow your AI use. Skills lets you stop treating AI like a chatbot and start treating it like a collaborator.

And if you’re new to AI entirely? This is the perfect entry point. You’re not learning an outdated workflow you’ll have to unlearn later. You’re starting with the most reliable, most useful tool from day one.

Here’s where the January 21st Chronicle Sprint comes in.

This cohort is different from every sprint I’ve run before.

We’re not just writing a chronicle. We’re building your personal AI workflow that makes every future story faster.

Day 1, before you write a single word, you’ll have perfect transcriptions ready using the AI system inside Chronicle Makers. Days 2-4, you’ll assemble your timeline, historical context, and outline choice into a draft. Days 5-7, you select from different narrative voices and styles and get to see all the other writing made by your cohort. Days 8-10, you’ll set up your own custom AI Skill tailored to your ancestor, your research, and your voice. By February, you’ll have that assistant ready, a family history collaborator who knows what you’re working on and how you want it written. Creating stories becomes joy, not a burden.

You’ll finish the sprint with two things: a completed chronicle to share with your family, and an AI setup you’ll use for every writing project after.

Two paths forward in 2026

Stick with ChatGPT, and set up your own custom GPT right now. I made a step-by-step guide for creating a blog post writing assistant that remembers your voice and your ancestors. Find it here: Create a Blog Post Writing GPT.

If ChatGPT hasn’t impressed you or you want something better, join the January 21st Chronicle Sprint. You’ll learn Claude Skills, write your first complete story, and build an AI workflow that works the way family historians think. (Live in the AI future with us—it’s awesome here!)

The January 21st Sprint starts in 7 days.

28 spots remaining. Registration closes Monday, January 19th.

Join here: 10daychroniclesprint.com

Happy Chronicling!

—Denyse

P.S. Claude Skills is the easiest AI tool to implement and will show you the power of what AI can really do. If you’ve been waiting for AI to get useful, this is it.