Article complexity: Beginner-friendly, with a practical exercise.
An email can be clear and grammatically correct and still sound like someone else wrote it. When you use AI to draft a message, getting the information onto the page is only part of the work. You also need the right tone for the recipient, a structure that makes the next step clear, and wording you would actually use.
Hey there, are you in San Francisco or the Bay Area?
Join me on October 8 for a free, hands-on AI workshop. RSVP for You, the Frontier Professional on Partiful. Details are at the bottom of this article.
Your own emails are a useful starting point. They contain evidence of how you explain a decision, ask for help, acknowledge someone, or bring a conversation to a close. The challenge is turning those examples into instructions that help with the next message.
That is the focus of my latest Practical AI at Work webinar replay, Create a “Write Emails Like Me” Skill. The session took place on September 24, 2026, and the recording is now available below. You can watch the walkthrough, pause to work on your own guidance, and return when you are ready to test another draft.
Watch the webinar replay
Watch Practical AI at Work: Create a “Write Emails Like Me” Skill
The replay runs approximately 56 minutes and includes the live demonstration and audience questions. I begin by showing two emails and asking which one looks AI-written. The audience points to the one on the right. Both were written by AI. The difference is how the message is structured, how directly it gets to the point, and whether it carries formatting and language I would use.
The six exercises below take you through the same process: let AI read your emails, create a writing style guide, test it, improve it, and turn it into a reusable skill. Keep the final email approval with you.
You can also open the participant exercises in Google Drive. These are the prompts from that worksheet, with explanations to help you work through them. Replace my name, course URL, and signature with your own details. App mentions such as @Gmail and @skill-creator may need to be retyped or adapted for your setup.
Before you begin
Install the latest ChatGPT desktop app or Claude desktop app. In the recording, I use a desktop app with a dedicated project and a connected Gmail account.
I recommend having AI read your connected email and identify useful writing samples. You do not need to collect those emails yourself. If you prefer not to connect email, the worksheet offers an alternative: export or print a few representative emails to PDF, attach them, and adjust the prompt to read those files.
Exercise 1: Create a project
Create a project called Write Emails Like Me in your desktop app.
Create a folder in Documents, on your desktop, or somewhere you will remember, for files you create during the exercise.
Start a new prompt in the project and select a model. The worksheet lists the models tested for this session as ChatGPT-6 Sol Medium and Claude Sonnet 5 Medium.
The project gives you a place to develop the guide and test drafts. Use separate chats so you can distinguish changes to the writing rules from the emails you use to test them.
Exercise 2: Collect and review writing samples
Let AI review your recent sent emails and replies. The aim is to identify patterns in your own writing, including how you start a message, explain a decision, ask for something, and respond to another person.
Open a new chat in your Write Emails Like Me project.
Use your email connection and send the following prompt. Retype or remove @Gmail if your app handles connections differently.
## Knowledge:
Read my @Gmail emails for the last two weeks.
## Request:
Identify the emails you believe are emblematic of my best writing, then create a writing style guide.
## Instructions:
You must strictly follow these rules:
* Redact any personally identifiable information other than Bill Raymond, even when you are running the prompt. I do not want to see people or company names from you or in the style guide.
* Review how I create new emails and responses to generate a unified style guide.The three headings give the AI different jobs. Knowledge identifies the source to read. Request describes the result you want. Instructions set boundaries for the review and output.
Read the resulting guide and check whether it describes your writing. In the demonstration, the AI reports separating my text from quoted threads and other people's writing. Check for that distinction in your result too. A reply may contain a long thread, but those other messages should not become evidence of your voice.
Use emails you are allowed to use. The redaction instruction controls what the AI shows in its output. It does not change which messages your connection allows it to read. If you choose the optional PDF route, remove sensitive information before attaching the files.
Exercise 3: Draft an email
You have a starter style guide by now. Test it before creating a skill.
Start a new chat in the same project. Keep the guide-editing chat available, but draft your test email in this separate chat.
Send the prompt below, substituting a real task and source URL that fit your work.
Use my writing style guide. Write an email in my voice to say hello to my new training cohort. Include some details about the course from this URL: https://www.cambermast.com/events/ai-workshop-for-tech-writers-and-content-creators-winter-2026-w26cc1Review the result and decide what needs to change. Does it sound like something you would send? Is the important information easy to find? Are the facts supported by the source? In my demonstration, I want the important link and call to action earlier in the email.
Keeping the test in a separate chat helps you see whether the guide carries the writing preferences into a fresh draft. In the next exercise, you'll move between this chat and the guide-editing chat.
Exercise 4: Improve the style guide through conversation
Return to the chat where you created the guide. Describe the writing behavior you want to change, then ask the AI to update the guide. The worksheet provides four prompts you can use or adapt.
Formatting
When I write, I tend to avoid special formatting like bold or italics. I also tend to write using bullet points. Update the style guide.This turns a visual-presentation preference into a reusable instruction. Change it to match how you actually write, rather than accepting my preferences as yours.
References and links
Whenever I reference something like an upcoming meeting, something on my website, a file, or anything else with a URL, highlight it and make sure it is referenced early in the email.This asks for a change in the order of information. If a reader needs to register, open a file, or prepare for a meeting, the relevant link should appear where it helps them act.
Punctuation
Create an auditable rule for the following:
* Never use em dashes or semicolons. Separate thoughts with a period or a comma.An auditable rule is one you can check in the draft. You can look for an em dash or semicolon and see whether the rule was followed. In the replay, I also explain that I usually expand contractions in written emails. Describe your own preference clearly.
A separate signature file
Keep the signature in a file you can find and update. The prompt below includes my demonstration signature from the worksheet. Replace it with your own signature before using it.
Create a unique signature path for emails that we can update as needed.
* I want the signature in a stand-alone file, so it is easy for me to find and update.
* Always add my signature to new emails and replies unless I say otherwise.
* Read the signature file every time to make sure you have the latest.
-Bill
Bill Raymond (he/him)
Owner, Cambermast LLC
https://cambermast.com
[email]
[phone]
Bill Talks AI newsletter: https://www.billtalksai.comReading the file each time is intended to keep the signature current. Check that the app actually creates the file and that the guide points to it, rather than merely repeating your request.
After updating the guide, return to the chat where you drafted the test email and send:
Write it again using my updated writing style.Compare the new draft against the changes you requested. If it still drifts, return to the guide chat and refine the instruction. In the recording, I ask the AI to follow the instructions more tightly. Focus on the editing behavior you want, such as moving the call to action earlier, rather than giving it a rewritten email to copy.
Exercise 5: Create and respond to a synthetic email
A guide should work for replies and new messages. This exercise creates a fictitious customer email so you can test responding without using a real customer conversation.
Start another new chat in the writing style project.
Send this prompt, or adapt the scenario to your work:
Look at this training event and imagine a fictitious corporate customer with two questions: https://www.cambermast.com/events/ai-workshop-for-tech-writers-and-content-creators-winter-2026-w26cc1. Pretend you are that customer. Write in the customer's own voice, with a fictitious name and signature. Do not use my writing style. Do not use a real customer's identity or private facts.The customer should use a different voice from yours. That gives you an incoming message to respond to, with two questions and no real customer identity or private facts.
Read both questions, decide what you want to say, and respond in the same chat. The worksheet uses these example decisions:
Please use my writing style to respond with a "Yes" to question 1 and a "I would need to talk to you further about this" for question 2.Replace those answers with your own decisions after reading the questions. The style guide controls how you express the answer. It should not decide what you promise a customer.
Review the reply for your voice, completeness, and accuracy.
If it needs changes, return to the guide-editing chat and update the rules.
Return to the reply chat and send:
Re-write the response using my updated writing style.Repeat the guide update and reply test until you are satisfied. Look for a response that answers both questions, keeps any qualifications clear, and uses the right signature.
Exercise 6: Create a skill
Once you are happy with the writing style, package it as a skill you can reuse throughout the desktop app.
Start a new prompt in the project where you created the guide.
Send the following prompt. You may need to remove or retype @skill-creator depending on your app:
Use your skill creator (@skill-creator) to generate a new skill from my writing style. Store it in this project, but also make sure I can use it anywhere in the app. Name it "my-email-writing.” If you have any questions about what I am trying to accomplish, ask now.In the demonstration, I then open a chat outside the project and call the new skill to draft a hello-world email. Try that final check yourself. It should use your writing guidance and signature beyond the conversation where you developed them. How you select and install a skill depends on the app you use.
Important things to remember
The worksheet recommends starting fresh chats after 8–16 chats when updating or testing your style. Keep the guide available as you start again.
Be concise about the change you want. Avoid overstating it or adding many examples for the AI to imitate. Focus on the editing process.
Describe inclusive language as a writing behavior. The worksheet replaces a longer instruction about guessing pronouns from gender with the clearer rule: “Use inclusive language and avoid making presumptive pronoun choices.”
Keep recipient lists and email-specific details separate from the reusable writing skill. You can still ask for a brief, informal reply when the situation calls for one.
Review the facts, recipient, tone, privacy, and signature before approving an email for sending. The useful result is a guide you have tested and can keep improving as you use it.
Join me in San Francisco and build something
A writing skill is a practical way to make AI use more repeatable. The next step is considering how that capability fits into the work around it, including the decisions you own and the points where you need to review a result.
If you live in San Francisco or elsewhere in the Bay Area, join me for You, the Frontier Professional during SF Tech Week, a week of events bringing the technology community together.
A Frontier Professional knows how to put a range of AI capabilities to work, connect them into useful workflows, and keep human judgment in the right places. The event allows you to practice that approach with real work you want to improve.
Bring an idea, your curiosity, and a laptop. I am hosting a day of practical learning, conversation, and hands-on building with Base44, an AI app-building platform. You can develop your idea, trade perspectives with people in the room, and present what you build for feedback and prizes. No coding experience is required.
The event is Thursday, October 8, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Pacific time, at 9Zero, 350 California Street, San Francisco. Admission is free, and the program includes lunch and community networking. Base44 and Cambermast sponsor the event, and guest speakers will share perspectives on the human side of AI and work.
RSVP for You, the Frontier Professional
Whether you start with an email writing skill or bring an idea to the workshop, choose a piece of work you understand and can review. That gives you a useful place to practice, test the result, and decide what to improve next.
What would you like to make more repeatable with AI, and where would you keep your own review in the process? Share your thoughts in the comments.