Lessons from Being a Full-time Ghostwriter, Editor & Creative
From Academic to Ghostwriter
As the end of another semester during the pandemic came into view, my department chair pulled me aside at a gallery opening we were both attending.
“So, you know, we can’t give you any classes next semester,” she said off-handedly.
I balked. “What?”
“Yeah,” she continued, her tone casual, like she wasn’t telling me I was out of a job for the next eight months. “Since you helped us out and took on the extra class this semester, you are at your limit for courses you can teach this year.”
I stared at her in shock. I had been forced to take on the extra class at the art school where I was an adjunct, and now my chair was cutting my classes for spring…because I had done the department a favor? I was barely getting by with the $800/month I made from teaching anyway.
Something in me snapped. Maybe it was my chair’s casual delivery of the news that I would not be getting any classes in the spring, but suddenly I could see just how desperate my situation really was. I was working at a failing art school in the middle of a pandemic with no healthcare or benefits, for a boss who clearly only cared about me when it benefitted her.
Things had to change.
Fast-forward to a few months later. I had gotten a portfolio of my writing together, set up a profile on Fiverr, and had pretty quickly figured out how to triple what I had been making teaching at the art school.
Gone were the long nights grading papers, the days spent mediating petty departmental fights, and the general chaos caused by poor leadership. Now, I was filling my days with walks to the local coffee shop where I would field multiple inquiries about my ghostwriting services while churning out chapters and book proposals for current clients. I set my own schedule and suddenly had time for the things I was really passionate about. Every day I was writing my way into working for myself full-time.
As winter began to fade, a text from my former department chair pinged into my phone: “Hey — we had a teacher fall through and we need you to pick up a class in the spring.”
I quickly tapped out my response: “No thanks! There are easier ways to make $800 a month.”
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Lessons from Year One
I am well into my third year of being a full-time writer, editor, coach, and creative. But I find that I always come back to these core lessons from my first year on this journey.
1. You can be a writer.
Finding sustainability as a working writer is easier now than it ever was. And this was news to me.
Substack, Fiverr, Upwork, Threads, Facebook, even TikTok: I have found work that sustained me and fulfilled me on all of these platforms. Back when I was in grad school — when I really began freelancing — I would scour Twitter for leads, pitching friends I had made on the platform or even cold pitching when I saw something that interested me.
I have found so much joy and community in working with my clients, all of whom are creative, passionate, and work hard to fulfill their vision. Whether I’m ghostwriting for them, editing, or coaching, the work I do no longer feels like anyone is being taken advantage of, which was something I often felt while I was in academia.
If you want to monetize your writing and the skill set that comes with it — or even if you just want to tell your story — there is an audience, a community of people out there waiting for you to do it.
2. Embrace your life as a creative.
The first six months I was freelancing full-time I was working nonstop. I felt like if I wasn’t at my desk exactly at 7 am every day then the day would get away from me and everything would just fall apart. I was treating freelancing just like I had treated every other challenge in my life: as something to be meticulously managed, something that I poured myself into without really taking any time for myself.
I didn’t realize that living that way meant I was headed for complete burn out.
One day the first summer I spent freelancing full-time, I broke down. I was crying on the floor of our bedroom, trying to figure out why I felt so exhausted. My boyfriend, (who is now my husband), looked at me and said, “You’re feeling this way because you’re not taking advantage of the life you have now.”
Being a writer was not the same as being an academic. I was in control of when I worked, where I worked, and how I worked. But I was still living like I had impossible deadlines to meet, commutes to multiple different campuses to teach, and department chairs to answer to.
My first year working for myself, I really had to learn how to live like a creative. It’s a life that a lot of us dream about — getting paid to do the thing we love from anywhere in the world. But as a chronic perfectionist and workaholic, I didn’t know the first thing about taking the time to rest and recharge.
That first summer, I decided that on Fridays, I would drive my boyfriend’s van out to a small little hippie town far outside the city, hitting the bike trails for hours until I found a spot to read. It was a small thing, taking a few hours off on a Friday afternoon, but I was learning that the time away from my work was just as important as the work itself.
3. Find the projects you’re passionate about.
My first year, I took any and every job that came my way. And I still do because, well, financial stability. But I also know now how to seek out the jobs that really spark my interest.
Just like embracing life as a creative, another way of “filling up your cup,” so to speak, is to go after the work you really want to do. Living life as a creative means figuring out what you really love to do and learning how to fit that in between the jobs you have to do and what clients are asking from you.
I started out ghostwriting book proposals for clients, and I quickly learned that I didn’t just want to be writing proposals. I loved the process of actually collaborating with clients on developing their books and writing their chapters, which is why I do way more writing coaching and book ghostwriting now than when I started.
