Ghostwriting - An Extreme Sport

Published in InPrint magazine

Once I did a skydive.  I can honestly say it was the most terrifyingly exhilarating experience of my life.  As I plunged through the sky at a horrific rate, I closed my eyes and prayed my parachute would open.  When it did, I no longer felt afraid, just strangely elated.  When I landed on safe ground – with an embarrassing scream – I thought I would never experience that sort of adrenalin again.  I was wrong.

They say you sometimes fall into certain professions.  Well, if that’s true, then I ‘freefalled’ a couple of thousand feet into mine.  From my vantage point as a copywriter and editor at a major investment bank; going freelance as a writer and ghostwriter appeared as a remote dot on the career horizon.  I had an English degree and some ghostwriting experience, but was secure in my little blue chip cocoon and unsure about taking such a giant step out of my comfort zone.  However, I stood at the precipice and jumped – diving headlong into the world of ghostwriting – and waited for the rush.

I was not disappointed.  Days filled with deadlines, interviews and research all whizzed passed me as I sought to carve out my new career.  My friends were envious.

‘I’d love to work from home’, they would say, no doubt conjuring up images of daytime television and blissful lie-ins. 

However, not one of them appeared to think there was an element of danger associated with my new job.  As far as they were concerned, not knowing where your next pay cheque was coming from was the most dangerous part.

One day, not long after I had taken that legendary career leap, I got a call from a man looking for some advice on a book he had just written.  I asked how he had heard about me, and he told me an author friend of his – whose book I had edited and helped to ghostwrite a few months previously – had recommended my services. 

Following a perfectly amicable conversation we ended the call with arrangements to meet up the following day.  Later on, I called up my author friend to get a bit more information on this potential new client.  What he told me was a little disturbing to say the least.  The man I had just chatted to was a convicted murderer. 

Apparently, he had been in and out of prison for most of his life and had written a book about his exploits.  However, not for one second did I consider cancelling the meeting.  Adrenalin replaced fear as I contemplated being in such close proximity to a serial murderer and a well-known member of the underworld.  Admittedly, I did ensure that those closest to me knew my whereabouts – just in case. 

So off I went to meet this killer with a notepad in my bag and business cards in my wallet.  It did occur to me that giving him my business card – with my home address and phone number cheerfully printed on the back – might not be the most sensible thing to do, but I brought them along anyway. 

I turned up at a busy London station and scanned the crowd wondering what a serial killer might look like.  Within seconds, I spotted a balding man in his sixties, wearing beige shorts and a blue polo shirt fiddling with his mobile phone.  When my phone rang, he caught my eye as I raised it to my ear.  I had a fleeting thought he now knew what I looked like too.

 Over some pasta and a bottle of Chardonnay, he related stories to me about his past: his life in prison, people he had killed – and how he had killed them – the guns he had stashed and the heists he had pioneered.  I imagine to the waiting staff, we simply looked like father and daughter out to lunch. 

At no time during our meeting did it occur to me that I might be in a bit of danger myself.  To be in the company of a man whose life was so completely different from my own transfixed and enthralled me. 

After three hours of surreal conversation, I agreed to take his manuscript home to read.  And I gave him my business card.

The buzz of that meeting stayed with me for the entire day and lasted well into the next.  I felt I had conquered mountains, whitewater rafted Niagara Falls and bungee jumped off the Burj Al Arab. 

The point is, in the world of ghostwriting, you can never be sure you are on safe ground.  You will never know when that parachute is going to open.  But when you do land safely, there is nothing like that rush. 

Surely that’s worth taking the odd risk.