Secret (Ghostwriting Part Four)

Note: This is the fourth and final (planned) post in our ghostwriting series. Sorry they've been so spread out. Be sure to check out the first three posts: Moral, Famous, and Voice. If you've got questions, enjoyed the series, or just want to say hi, feel free to leave it in the comments.

As soon as I hang up the phone accepting a new ghostwriting offer, I'm giddy. I run around the house like a crazy woman; I giggle uncontrollably. You'd have to try really hard to remove the smile from my face.

Like good family and friends, people who see me ask why I'm so excited.

Here's the thing about ghostwriting: I can't tell them. The job of a ghostwriter is to be invisible. That includes not telling people she wrote that book, article, letter, piece.

When my family/friends ask, sometimes I tell them I have a new ghostwriting opportunity. Sometimes I just smile and smile and smile. Sometimes I'm a bad secret-keeper and blurt out my new opportunity. I am so excited I just can't keep it inside of me. Like a small child who purchased a parent a Christmas present, that present will not remain a secret until Christmas no matter how hard the child tries.

In the original ending of the Gospel of Mark, the women leave the empty tomb and don't tell anyone what they saw.

What if the story ended there?
What if they kept the resurrection of Christ a secret?

Imagine how different life would be. For you. For me. Imagine how different history would be.

Yet don't we do that all of the time? If you call yourself a Christian, then inside of you is the secret of the ressurected Christ. That good news should evoke the same emotion in you that ghostwriting does for me (only moreso). Unceasing smiles, uncontrollable laughter, looking so silly that people ask you what's up.

Um, hello, your debt has been paid in blood and you get to call the Creator of the universe "Daddy."

And I get excited over writing in someone else's name.

Through Christ, we get to live in someone else's name. Forever.

If you're ghostwriting for the Lord, you've got to blurt your "secret."

Are you a child-like ghostwriter bursting to tell or are you leaving the tomb in fear?

<>< Katie

Voice (Ghostwriting Part Three)

Two weeks ago we began unpacking the idea of ghostwriting. Be sure to check out the first two posts: Moral and Famous.

One thing I have failed to mention is that I am a ghostwriter. Not just for the Lord. And not for my freelance coworker who's going to make me famous. (I resigned from that job when he said something snarky about Northerners).

As a ghostwriter, I have spent a significant amount of time with my authors trying to identify their voice. I listen to the way she speaks, the way he tells stories, and her patterns of speech. I have to replicate it.

It's a challenging (fun-challenging) job where I set myself aside and speak as someone else. When I write "I," I don't mean "Katie." When I say "we," I may or may not be part of that crowd. My favorite words disappear, and his quips appear.

It takes a lot of practice to sound like someone who isn't Katie. (Then it takes practice to sound like Katie again). It's the process of finding the author's tone or her voice to accurately represent her.

If we are all ghostwriters in that we are all to be invisible and God visible, then we too need to practice finding His voice.

The more time my author and I spend talking, the easier it is for me to pick up on his patterns of speech, word choice, and idiosyncrasies (we all have them).

The more time I spend with the Lord, the easier it is to pick up on His voice as well. Is what I think God is saying consistent with His word? When I open my mouth, am I speaking the voice of the Encourager, Comforter or am I speaking as sinner Katie?

Just like I don't always get voice right in my writing, I certainly don't always get it right in my life.

I tear down instead of building up. I cling to fear rather than trust. I hesitate rather than stepping in obedience.

But I haven't given up. I'm going to keep trying. The end prize will be worth it. Nothing will be for my glory but rather the One who deserves the glory. The God who put up with my blundering, who was willing to work through my failures, who took a chance in me.

<>< Katie

Famous (Ghostwriting Part Two)

Open mouth. Insert foot.

That's what I did a few days ago at one of my freelance jobs. One of my new colleagues was telling me about the tongue-in-cheek book he's going to write. I opened my big mouth and told him I'll ghostwrite it for him.

Big mistake.

For the rest of the day, I heard him going up and down the hall telling people he not only had a new friend (me), he also had a ghostwriter (me). Up and down the hall people shook their heads and told me to run.

"Katie, my book, it's going to make you famous," he said.

We laughed, and he went off to work on "his outline."

I went back to my work with two juxtaposed ideas rolling around in my head: ghostwriting and famous.

Those two words don't really go together. Ghostwriters don't ghostwrite to get famous. Most of the time they don't even get credit (or get very little credit).

When a book, article, letter is well done, the ghostwriter is invisible. The ghost strives to match the author’s tone, voice, pattern of speech, thoughts, ideas, etc. The ghostwriter is less so the author is more. The ghost's job is to make the author look good.

I have no problem with ghostwriting because I am a ghostwriter. Yes, pieces I have written have been published under names that are not mine. But even this blog post with my name signed at the bottom is not my own.

The goal of a ghostwriter is to become invisible. As a Christian, should that not be the goal of my entire life: to be invisible so that my Heavenly Father is visible? Should I not be less so that He is more? Should I not do everything I can to make Him look good?

The reality is, we are all ghostwriters.

If we label ourselves Christians, people of Christ, we are ghostwriters, ghost-teachers, ghost-preachers, ghost-truck-drivers, ghost-singers, ghost-firefighters, ghost-painters, ghost-nurses, ghost-accountants, ghost-whatever.

Our job, no matter our career, is to be invisible to make Christ visible.

Whether my name is on it or not, everything I write is ghostwritten because it’s not for my own glory but for the One who deserves it. Every blog post, every novel, every letter, every article, every press release… they are all pieces written for His glory.

I am but a broken pen in the hands of the Author of Life.

It is God who has given me a talent and passion for writing. It is God who has given me the amazing opportunities I’ve encountered. It is God who has give me life and breath.

How could I ever even think about writing for myself?

<>< Katie

Moral (Ghostwriting Part One)

There's a lot of drama surrounding the authorship of Isaiah. Did Isaiah himself write it or did someone else write it in his name? There are other books of the Bible that have questionable authorship, too. They’re called pseudipigraphal because they’re written in someone else’s tone, style.

To me, it sounds a whole lot like the idea of ghostwriting.

With permission, a ghostwriter takes the thoughts and ideas of an author, puts them on paper in the author’s tone, and signs the author’s name to the article, letter, book, whatever. The thoughts are the author’s; the words are the ghostwriter’s. Some authors have more of a hand in the writing of their work than others.

It’s perfectly legal.

But is it morally right?

Is it right for one person to do the work and someone else get the credit?

I’ve read arguments, Christian and secular, for and against ghostwriting. I have formed my opinion, but before I post it, I want to hear yours.

Let’s hash this out together:

How do you feel about the pseudipigraphal books of the Bible?

As a reader, do you feel cheated to learn the book you read wasn't actually written by the author?

As a ghostwriter, would you feel cheated to see someone else get the credit?

As a ghostwriter, do you want to help authors put into words their concepts, thoughts, ideas?

As a reader, do you want a well-written book or are you ok with less than stellar writing?

Be sure to come back later this week as we continue to unpack the idea of ghostwriting.

<>< Katie