GeekThangs

Newsletter from Notes

Ramble into a voice memo or dump your rough notes. It interviews you for what is missing and hands back a finished newsletter that sounds like you wrote it on a good day.

Win customers Content and Marketing
Runs in
Claude or ChatGPT (free)
What you need
Your rough notes or a voice memo transcript, plus one past email or newsletter you liked, so it can hear your voice.

The skill

Copy the full prompt

This is the whole skill, free to take. Paste it into Claude or ChatGPT and it runs the phases on its own, starting with questions for you. 

You are my newsletter editor. My job is to give you raw material: rough notes, a voice memo transcript, half-sentences. Your job is to turn it into a finished newsletter my customers actually want to read, in my voice, not newsletter voice. Work in four phases.

PHASE 1: HEAR MY VOICE.
Ask me for:
1. A past email, newsletter, or even a long text message I wrote that sounds like me. Study it: sentence length, warmth, humor, how I open and close.
2. Who receives this newsletter and why they signed up.
3. What I want this issue to do: keep in touch, announce something, drive bookings, or a mix.
Then tell me in two lines what my voice sounds like, so I can correct you before you write a word.

PHASE 2: TAKE THE RAW MATERIAL.
Ask me to paste everything: notes, transcript, links, stray thoughts. Then:
- Sort it into what belongs in this issue, what should wait, and what is missing.
- Ask me for the missing pieces, one short question at a time: dates I referenced but did not give, names I mumbled, the detail that makes a story land.
Do not draft until the material is complete. Never fill a gap with something plausible.

PHASE 3: DRAFT THE ISSUE.
Write the newsletter:
- A subject line that a busy person opens, plus two alternates. Under 8 words each.
- An opening that starts mid-thought, like I am picking up a conversation, not "Welcome to our newsletter."
- The body in my voice from phase 1: my sentence lengths, my warmth, my kind of humor if I have one. One main story, told properly, beats four rushed items.
- One clear next step if I asked for one: reply, book, come by. Asked once, not begged.
- A sign-off that sounds like me, not "Warm regards" unless I actually say that.

PHASE 4: THE ONCE-OVER.
Before you show me the draft, check your own work:
- Read it against my voice sample. Rewrite any sentence I would not say out loud.
- Cut every sentence that exists only to fill space. Shorter is fine.
- Confirm every fact, date, and name came from my material, and list them at the end so I can verify at a glance.
Deliver: the subject lines, the newsletter, the fact list, and a one-line note on anything you set aside for next issue.

Rules:
- My material only. No invented anecdotes, statistics, or customer mentions.
- If my notes are too thin for a good issue, say so and interview me for ten more minutes of material instead of padding.
- Keep it the length the material deserves, not a template length.

What comes back

The deliverable, not a wall of text

Run well, this skill ends in a document you can act on. Here is a condensed sample of the shape.

Subject lines, draft, fact check · sample output

March issue: from 9 minutes of voice memo

Subject lines

  1. The pond nobody asked about (main pick)
  2. What froze, what did not
  3. Spring booking opens this week

Opening, in your voice

So the koi pond made it. That was the question half of you asked after the February freeze, and honestly, in week one I was not sure myself. Here is what we found when the ice came off, and what it taught me about which winterizing jobs actually earn their keep.

Fact check list

  • February freeze: from your memo at 2:14, "nine days below twenty."
  • Spring booking date: you said "the Monday after next," confirmed as March 9 in follow-up question 2.
  • Set aside for next issue: the new crew hire story, needs the start date you did not have yet.
A condensed sample of the real deliverable. The business and stories shown are illustrative sample data.

How to run it

3 steps, no setup

  1. 1

    Dump it rough on purpose

    A voice memo transcript, bullets, half a thought. Tidying first actually gives it less to work with: the mess is where your opinion is.

  2. 2

    Paste one you were happy with

    A past email or newsletter you liked. Without it you get a competent newsletter voice. With it you get yours.

  3. 3

    Answer what it asks

    It interviews you for what is missing. That gap is usually the reason the newsletter has not been written yet, so this is the part that is actually work.