and what I have learned so far…

Near the beginning of the year – it may have been in a conversation with my adult sons about jobs, earning money and all that malarkey – I came across the question, “If you could do anything and make a living from it, what would that be?” The question niggled at my subconscious until I realised I need to answer it for myself. You see, I have a year left of home educating my youngest son, and then – after fourteen years of this amazing Home Ed life – I will have no job! And I’ve been vaguely wondering what I might do next, while trying to stay focused on the necessary evil of GCSE studies first. But as I tried to satisfy the question that refused to lay down and be silent, I realised there was something I would love to do. If I could be paid for anything at all, the thing I would love most of all, would be to write. Particularly if that involved writing Bible Studies (I’m a bit of a Bible nerd). I mentioned it to God in passing and thought no more of it.

Sometimes praying requires lengthy periods of standing in faith, hope and trust while everything looks increasingly disastrous until the breakthrough finally happens. But on this occasion, God seemed to take my passing comment as something to act on immediately. For within that week I had two people contact me, offering to pay me for writing work!

*imagine me with my jaw on the floor*

I don’t know if this will develop into ongoing employment, but how lovely if it does! Meanwhile, I’m thoroughly enjoying myself…

The first job was a close structural edit of the very lovely memoir written by a fellow kingdom-writer. Next to Bible-studies, memoir is a passion of mine: I love helping people to share their testimonies. I believe every Christian has a story of God’s goodness, and I want to help people get them out into the world to encourage others. So I thoroughly enjoyed that work, and was brought to tears when the money landed in my account. It’s been over twenty years since I last earned any money. I’m grateful to God and hubby for the finances provided through hubby’s work, but it has been a challenge to my sense of worth at times, not to be able to financially contribute. Hence the tears – of gratitude.

And that brings me to the second job: ghost-writing (that is, writing on behalf of someone else, not writing about ghosts!) The book I have been asked to write is part-devotional, part-teaching, with a lot of Bible – yippee!
But of course, ghost-writing – even with the Holy Spirit’s help – is entirely out of my comfort zone. Again. So today as I reached the end of (the first draft of) another chapter today, I wanted to write down everything I have learned so far on this super steep learning curve (perhaps that should be a learning mountain?). It might help someone else, but more importantly I want to remember this if I do it again in future…

(Holy) Ghost-writing Lessons:

1/ Draw up a contract.
Even if it’s between friends, it’s important to establish boundaries and manage expectations from the beginning. Be clear about time frames, payment terms*, and rights. Thankfully this part was straightforward as I was happy to be flexible about most things** but we were both pretty like-minded on everything anyway.
*re: payment terms, Woodbridge Publishers give a helpful starting point for newbies like me. You just need to agree whether you will be paid per word, per hour, or per completed chapter/ project etc – and how much.
**the only non-negotiable for me was that I was not interested in the kind of ghost-writing that involves pretending to be someone else. I think it’s dishonest. So while I didn’t care about the royalties, I did feel it important that I was acknowledged for writing it – as I would insist on acknowledging anyone who wrote something on my behalf.

2/ Agree on a clear outline, word limit and target audience.
It’s a hard one for a self-confessed pantser, but without an agreed structure, you will find yourself writing a lot of vague and rambling words that end up being edited out. It’s just a waste of time.

3/ Schedule regular interviews (in person, or video call) AND RECORD THEM.
I haven’t found a better way yet of capturing the official author’s voice, tone, priorities etc. For small queries, voice notes work well if the author is willing, but for chapter direction, progression, content, style, interviews are invaluable. *Note to self: find a better transcription process next time!

4/ Schedule regular feedback.
This can be at the same time as the interviews, but it’s easy to spend too much time on the feedback, so be strict! And prepare specific questions about the kind of feedback you need, e.g. ‘Does this flow/ progression make sense to you?’, ‘Does it sound like you?’, ‘Is there anything I have missed that’s important to you to include?’ and so on. I guess ghost-writers of fiction would have questions more to do with plot, characterisation etc.

5/ Go for it! If over-thinking and lack of confidence can be crippling when writing for yourself, it can be even worse when writing for someone else. Just write, and make sure you are open to whatever the author comes back with – even if they change their minds about direction etc. It’s their book, not yours – and that is actually kind of liberating!

So that’s it for now. More lessons may follow – I’m not finished with the project yet. I just wanted to note these down while they were fresh (ish) in my mind. I’ve got to say though, I’m loving it! Feeling very blessed…