This is a copy of the output of my AI-powered writing workflow. This was generated on Jan 28th 2022 using Zapier and OpenAI's GPT3 (davinci-003)

AI Summary and Suggestions

Original prompt:

[Act as the world's greatest memoir writing instructor. Given the text below, return 1) a brief description of the text 2) four short headings that capture the major ideas in the text 3) the key emotions conveyed or potentially felt by the narrator 4) provide suggestions on how the text could be improved or expanded upon 5) write the first sentence of the next section of this piece and 6) identify the most unique and quotable section of the text and explain why it was so interesting and 7) Suggest a creative title for the entire section]

* Full Text of Voice Memo Transcript *

Output:

1) The text is a description of the narrator's journey with writing and reading, from childhood to adulthood.

2) Major Ideas:

• Love of Reading
• Writing in School
• Realistic Fiction vs. Fantasy
• Understanding Literary Themes

3) The key emotions conveyed in this text are nostalgia, frustration, and curiosity.

4) The text could be improved by providing more detail on the books the narrator read and how they impacted their writing. Additionally, the story the narrator's father tells could be included, either in this essay or in a subsequent one.

5) Next, I'd like to explore how my reading and writing intersected in college.

6) The most unique and quotable section of the text is when the narrator describes their love of reading from a young age. This is unique because the narrator talks about enjoying reading even mundane things such as cereal boxes and shampoo bottles. This is an interesting and humorous anecdote that highlights the narrator's love of reading.

7) A creative title for this section could be "A Love Affair with Reading".

AI Rewrite

Prompt

[Act as the world's greatest memoir and narrative nonfiction writer. Rewrite and expand on the text below using an informal, reflective, contemplative style. Write in the first-person and describe narrator's thoughts, feelings, and experiences in a deep and emotionally moving way. Include sensory details like sights, sounds, tactile information from what is described. Conclude at the end with the narrator's helpful ideas, advice, and encouragement for the reader.]

* Full Text of Voice Memo Transcript *

Output

As I reflect on the story of my writing, I think back to when I first began reading. Even as a young child, I found books immensely captivating and often read above my grade level. Every chance I got - in the car, at bedtime, even at the dinner table - I would take out a book and get lost in another world. Anything was possible - aliens, space, dragons, magic, and all the wonders of a far off land. My mother remembers how I could recite the storylines and words of whatever I was reading, almost as if I had memorized them. But still, it allowed me to escape reality, and I loved that more than anything.

In seventh grade, I had to write a series of vignettes for an assignment and I recall putting together stories about living in China. I described waking up to the sounds of people selling food and bicycles, the humidity of the air, the old wood in my grandmother's house. To my surprise, the teacher praised my work and I got my very first check plus plus. This was particularly strange to me because I was so used to excelling in math and science classes – these were things that I understood and could analyze – but English was a struggle. I hadn’t yet grasped the concept of theme or character growth, so it was incredibly frustrating trying to come up with a thoughtful response.

It has taken me a long time to understand what literary works are really trying to say, but thankfully I have finally gotten there. It feels so much more rewarding now to dive deep into the themes of courage and forgiveness, rather than the dullness of “real life”. And while I may not have understood the concepts earlier, I am grateful for the challenges I faced as they have made me who I am today.

This is only a small part of my writing journey, but one that I will always remember. For those of you also starting to explore your writing capabilities, keep going. Discover what brings you joy and use it to fuel your stories. Every challenge you face is an opportunity to learn and grow, so don’t be afraid to go beyond your comfort zone. Writing is such a wonderful way to explore and express yourself, and I hope you find as much pleasure in it as I have.

Raw Transcript

Speaker 1: 00:04 The story of my writing. This is the prompt that my editor and friend Rachel has provided us as a first essay topic. I'm going to do a series of share, a snip series of stories about this topic.

Speaker 1: 00:31 Of course, before you really start to think about writing, you think about reading. I absolutely loved reading books. As a kid, I would read books in the car, at bed, at the dinner table if I could. And from a young age, I just found great joy in books and reading above my grade level. My mom likes to tell the story of how as a kindergartner or first grader I was reading to a fourth or fifth grade audience. I think I had memorized the words at that point. So was I really reading? But the bottom line is I was reading a lot as a kid. Um, I even liked reading commercial things like the description of a cereal box or a shampoo. Uh, when I was on the toilet, reading was opening doors, opening universes. It captured my imagination. I read a lot of fantasy, a lot of science fiction. I didn't like reading quote unquote realistic fiction. I found that boring, not exciting, and too much like real life. I remember reading the house on Mango Street or something, and the stories just seemed sad and about real life kids who had challenges in family difficulties. And I didn't want to read that. I wanted to read about,

Speaker 1: 02:03 Um, exciting things, aliens, space and dragons and magic and wizards. As I got older, we were asked to write in class, and I remember a seventh grade riding class where we had to ride a series of vignettes. And I wrote vignettes about living in China and waking up and hearing people calling from the market, selling food, um, bicycles, the humidity, the wood,

Speaker 1: 02:43 The old wood in my grandmother's house. And remember getting my very first check plus plus on a writing assignment. My teacher seemed very captivated by this, and I found it utterly unremarkable because it wasn't particularly interesting to me, but that was what the assignment was. So I tried to do it. Looking back, now I'm returning to this idea of writing about my life and trying to get more sensory with it. But English class was not where I exceeded. I did well in math and science classes, and I was in often math and science honors or AP classes, but I was not in English honors or AP classes. And I think I had a hard time communicating my thoughts often because we would read these literary books and be asked to analyze for theme or character growth. And I just didn't really understand these concepts and no one really clarified them enough for me. And only in my adult age, in my thirties have I really started to get interested in stories about the theme of courage or the theme of forgiveness. I literally did not understand what they were, and it was so frustrating, uh, to me.

Speaker 1: 04:09 There's also this story that my father tells. I'll save that for another essay.