While on my way to interview a client in Ireland, I proofread a manuscript throughout the long flight across the Atlantic. I noticed the gentleman next to me observing me from time to time. Eventually, he asked, “What do you do?”

 

“I am a ghostwriter,” I told him.

 

“A ghostwriter,” he said. “Isn’t that someone who writes for someone else without receiving any credit? What possible satisfaction could there be in that?” His questions were thought-provoking. Generally, I am asked how I became a ghostwriter.

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I majored in psychology at DePauw University, but my hope had been to make a living as a writer. In the course of my studies, I particularly enjoyed the work of Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology. We students were presented with his autobiography published in 1961, Memories, Dreams, Reflections. The back cover of the book noted that Jung agreed to undertake his memoir project with the assistance of a trusted associate. The front cover of the book included a notation: "Recorded and edited by..." Upon reading that notation, I knew I had found my future.

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