Borders Event

by Linda Watson-Brown - 15:26 on 31 May 2009

 

THE EVENT MENTIONED IN THIS ENTRY HAS NOW BEEN CANCELLED - MIX UP BY BORDERS - BUT WILL BE RESCHEDULED FOR LATER IN THE YEAR.
 
Most of the emails I get start in one of two ways – either, ‘I don’t know if you’d be interested in this,’ or, ‘Sorry, I don’t want to bother you but . . .’ For the record, EVERYTHING potentially interests me, and it’s my JOB to be bothered. (I don’t want you thinking I’m abnormal – I get Viagra and porn and cheap electrical equipment offered as well. I’m only human.)
Can I therefore encourage nice people with lots of easy questions to come along to Borders at the Gallagher Retail Park in Dundee on Thursday 16 July 2009 at 6.30pm? I’ll ramble on for a bit, then anyone can ask anything. 
Here are the answers to the usual ones to save you a bit of time: no, I don’t write for Katie Price; no, I don’t want to employ you; no, I don’t know Zac Efron. If there’s anyone left after that succinct summary, I would be very glad to meet you.
I’ll be talking about all types of ghost writing – fiction, non fiction, historical and everything in between – as well as my own non-ghost writing, which has involved crime novels in the past and will do in the future. Depending on how I feel, I might also talk about how it seems nigh on impossible to write my own memoir despite being able to do anyone else’s with my eyes closed.
I think that a lot of people may believe that ghost writing is ‘cheating’ in some way – I know that’s an attitude which lingers even amongst certain members of the literary community. When I began this job, I came across it a lot, but I had absolutely no idea just how common a practice ghost writing itself was, or even how much non-celebrity material gets a helping hand. So, do I help people tell lies? You’ll have to come along to the talk to find out, but I do believe that there is a snobbery attached to considering ghost writing a creditable aspect of the literary world which hasn’t been helped by some people perpetuating the myth that they do it all themselves when they can barely string two words together. Other ghost writers have told me of ‘subjects’ who don’t even bother to read their own books, but are happy to go on daytime TV bemoaning the hours of hard work at a laptop which finally produced their tome. 
For me, ghost writing is the perfect way to write lots but still be almost invisible. I have no desire for fame or recognition, so the next step is quite difficult as I prepare to write my own stories under my own name. For a lot of people, the opposite is the case – they have the book written, or the idea in their head, or the story to tell, and they’d be happy to get out there and punt it to the world, but they’re just not quite sure how to go about it. The market is changing quickly, and I’ve seen a lot of that even in the few years since I’ve been in the business, but if you want some insider information, advice and tales from the coalface, then I’d be delighted to meet you on July 16th at 6.30pm.
 
 

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Contact Linda at l.wb@stampless.co.uk