Ghost, writing

The past week’s assignment: an op-ed meant for the Des Moines Register to promote a public roundtable and the progressive agenda in contrast to the Republican presidential candidates’. Then we’ll adapt it for New Hampshire newspapers. The excitement of research kept me up until midnight the first night.

I guess my first brush with ghostwriting was at the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues, where we interns did research and a bit of drafting for “dear colleague” letters about legislation. I’ve also written press releases for various nonprofits, which of course didn’t carry a byline.

The first official ghostwriting came when I joined the Independent Community Bankers of America, where part of my job as deputy editor of Independent Banker was to write the monthly column by the organization’s chairman. The three chairmen I wrote for had very different personalities and modes of working. In fact, those modes would vary month to month: One time Mike wrote the whole column himself (he was on a roll, apparently; I just copyedited); a month later, he barely had time to offer a sentence of an idea by phone, and I was on my own. That’s where colleagues came in. I asked senior staff members to fill out the theme, then studied white papers to understand it and ran the draft by a few insiders before sending it to Mike for his approval. He approved.

Like many writers, I’ve always been protective of my byline and careful of the copy that appears under it. So it was a surprise to find I didn’t mind ghostwriting and even enjoyed it. Maybe because everyone in Washington knows that CEOs don’t write their own stuff? Maybe because it was an interesting new challenge to ghost From the Top? Maybe because I was good at it?

Not sure, but word got around, and soon the senior vice president of regulatory policy asked me to take a crack at her column, too. I always felt adrift on those at first, not knowing the issues in depth. (“You have consumer and association magazine experience,” Karen said when she hired me. “We can teach you banking.”) But you ask a question; you get the answer. Pretty soon, whether the issue was debit cards, direct deposit, or various payments technologies, I learned enough to pull a competent column together. Better than that, Viveca often said, “You captured my voice!”

Primo. But a ghost can’t get too cocky; the lack of byline ensures it. Consider that poor fellow at the heart of The Ghost Writer, last spring’s cool Polanski movie starring Ewan MacGregor and Pierce Brosnan as the former prime minister he types for. MacGregor’s character doesn’t even have a name. His predecessor washed up dead on a beach. And things start going not so well for MacGregor, too.

It’s a good lesson: Keep your head down. Do your homework. Cash the check. Revel in the reflected glory. And live to see another assignment (we hope!).

Copyright 2011 Ellen M. Ryan. All rights reserved.

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Tags: association magazine, byline, Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues, copyedited, dear colleague, Ewan MacGregor, From the Top, ghostwriting, Independent Community Bankers of America, op-ed, Pierce Brosnan, Polanski, press releases, reflected glory, regulatory policy, The Ghost Writer, Washington, white papers

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