Working notes from a professional ghostwriter — on the craft of writing, the business of publishing, the psychology of authors, and the changing landscape of books in the AI era.
These articles come out of 113+ books authored and 54+ ghostwritten. They cover what's actually working in publishing right now, what isn't, how AI is changing the work for both writers and readers, what executives and founders get wrong when they try to write their own book, and what they get right when they bring in help.
No SEO listicles. No content-marketer fluff. Just observations from inside the work — written for people who care about books and the craft behind them.
Artificial IntelligenceI asked Brave's Leo about a movie and watched it insist, over and over, that the 2002 Time Machine starred C. Thomas Howell, correcting itself every time. Why AI models get stuck in loops, where the wrong name came from,…
MemoirsMemoirs from writers who aren't famous rarely sell to traditional publishers right now. Self-publishing gives you complete freedom and hands you every job in the process. Here's how to weigh it, hire help without getting scammed, and decide whether you…
Artificial IntelligenceWriting groups have stopped tasting the food and started inspecting the kitchen. A book should be judged on whether it's a good book. Here's what real AI misuse looks like, why a writer who does the thinking still owns the…
FictionElmore Leonard's 10 rules of writing all keep the writer out of sight so the reader stays in the story. I follow most of them and break a few on purpose, from short teaser prologues to long descriptions of places…
FictionA good prologue works like a TV cold open: a short scene that hands the reader a question and walks away. A bad one is a history lecture before the story starts. Here's how to tell them apart, with examples…
Artificial IntelligenceA member of a big creative writing group wrote that people who use AI deserve to be castrated. Nobody had been caught at anything, and nobody objected. The charge was using software. The sentence was mutilation.
GhostwritingJames Fox read Keith Richards's manuscript aloud so Richards could edit by ear. J.R. Moehringer turned down cover credit on Open. The best-known memoirs were written the same way: long interviews, real access and a draft the subject recognized as…
FictionHilary Layne of The Second Story argues that explicit sex is dragging fiction down. Part of the case holds up: sex is optional, motion-by-motion scenes rarely earn their length, and a market that sells on heat lets the story slide.
FictionMary Sue started as a one-page joke in a 1973 Star Trek fanzine. Here's the story behind the parody, how the name spread, what a Mary Sue really is, and when the label is fair.
Artificial IntelligenceThe survey of 1,481 working writers found two forecasts for the same weather. Heavy AI users report more work and income, nonusers report losses, and fiction authors split into camps that barely overlap.
SEOGoogle finally shared typical and worst-case times for crawling, indexing and recovery. Here is what each number means, why so many end in never, and how long to wait before you change something again.
FictionToo many beds. Lovers to enemies. A curse only your enemy's kiss can break. Reverse tropes flip one part of a familiar story pattern, and they run on six repeatable moves you can use on any trope, including the one…
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Professional ghostwriting for executives, founders, coaches, and authors who want to get the book done right. 113+ books authored. 54+ ghostwritten for clients.
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