Technology
David Brewster
My book ghostwriting tools in 2021

Every now and then I’m asked about the various resources I use when I’m working on ghostwriting a book. These things change occasionally, so I thought it would be a good idea to share what I am using as my main book writing tools in 2021. So here they are: from recording interviews to organising to drafting to (almost) collaborating.

My book ghostwriting tools in 2021
Work Life
David Brewster
When to avoid showing your vulnerable side

Being willing to reveal a bit of yourself, especially through a bit of self-effacing humour, will lighten your text and give your readers something to connect to.

But this blog post is not about that sort of vulnerability.

No, this time I want to remind you of two of the less inspiring but just-as-important vulnerabilities every writer faces. Those vulnerabilities are backup and data security.

I was reminded recently about this by a rare computer crash that led to me losing a small amount of work. It wasn’t important and was easily recovered, but it could have been so much worse. Imagine losing a whole book to a hard drive crash!

When to avoid showing your vulnerable side
Write a book
David Brewster
No time, money or skill? You can still get your ...

If there’s one thing you learn from spending a chunk of your career in the world of books and writing, it’s that there are a lot of great stories out there. Personal stories of remarkable success against the odds. Business stories of risk taking and growth. Political stories of intrigue and persistence.

It would be great if all these stories could be told. As Spanish philosopher George Santayana famously wrote, ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’. Ideally, the stories would be recorded in books because books last. They go onto shelves and into libraries. They won’t disappear or become unreadable with new technologies.

Unfortunately, many terrific stories are never written down. Sometimes that’s because their owners don’t want to share them. Often

No time, money or skill? You can still get your book written
Reviews
David Brewster
The ghostwriter's nightmare scenario

Ghostwriter characters don't make it into fiction very often, but when they do they always seem to find themselves in jeopardy. 

In the 2010 Roman Polanski film The Ghost Writer, Ewan McGregor plays a ghostwriter working for a former British prime minister. In the end he knows too much and ... it doesn't end well. 

In the Netflix series House of Cards, Paul Sparks plays ghostwriter Thomas Yates who, after struggling to extract a decent memoir out of the president, fails to keep his professional distance, you might say. It takes a while – three seasons in fact – but it doesn't end well for him either.

And now we have Australian writer Richard Flanagan's latest novel, First Person, in which the narrator is a ghostwriter hired to author the memoir of a notorious conman. The story was inspired by Flanagan's own experience, very early in his career, of ghostwriting the autobiography of fraudster John Friedrich in 1991.

The ghostwriter's nightmare scenario
Writing
David Brewster
The joy of a good yarn

I love that my work as a ghostwriter gives me the opportunity to help people get their stories told. What I love even more is the fact that working on other people's stories gives me a front-row seat to those yarns.

Take Around the Grounds, for instance – a book that will be released by Finch Publishing on August 1. 

For this book I've been working with former ABC radio broadcaster Peter Newlinds. Peter's story is a celebration of sport, but from the spectator's side of the fence. This perspective gives the story a level of accessibility that most sporting memoirs, written as they are by former players, can't have. Few of us have the ability to play elite sport, but all of us are more than capable of joining in from the relative safety of the stands.

Of course we don't all have access to the commentary box as Peter did…

The joy of a good yarn

Color or colour? Are you writing your English right?

Color or colour? Are you writing your English right?

Ever noticed that your computer and phone speak a different dialect of English from yours? How they think 'colour', 'analyse' and 'centre' are spelling mistakes when you know for a fact that they are spelled correctly? For the most part, those of us who write the Queen's English have become so used to being erroneously corrected by our computers that we don't even notice it any more.

It's time to do something about it.

Very broadly, there are two main English 'dialects' when it comes to spelling. The main differences are in word endings...

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5 ways to read more on your iPad or tablet

When a friend asked me recently for advice on buying an e-reader, it got me thinking about just how much I rely on my iPad for reading these days. Books, newspapers, magazines – nearly all my reading is done on this device.

Some say it takes a while to get used to reading off a screen, but in my view the convenience factor outweighs any temporary discomfort. And there are ways to improve your reading experience. Here are five things you can do on an iPad. (My focus here is the iPad because that's what I use, however most Android-based tablets will have similar capabilities.)

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Write and publish your book in a year – Step 1: Collect

Writing a non-fiction book or ebook on a subject you know a lot about is a bit like tidying the house. There is a ton of stuff in there (the house, and your head) and the challenge is to spread it all out, sort the good from the bad, then neatly arrange the good in a logical and satisfying way.

Let's start with that first task – spreading it all out. From a writing perspective, that means collecting as much information as you can in one place. That way you can stand back and have a good look at what you've got.

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Write and publish your book in a year. Yes you can!

If I had a dollar for every time someone has told me, ‘I have a book I want to write’, I’d be talking to my financial planner a lot more often. Or my travel agent. So many people in business have something substantial they want to say or share, and most of them have every right to say it. They are, after all, experts in their fields. 

The problem is that most people never get around to getting their book done.

Why? There are three reasons I hear most often...

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Stay regular for good blog health

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This is definitely a case of do as I say, not as I do. Or have done until now (stand by for a  new year's resolution).

Writing a blog (or even a good old-fashioned email or print newsletter) is still a good way to keep in touch with your client base or followers. It helps remind them that you are still around and keep you 'front of mind', and it is the perfect way to reinforce the fact that you're an expert in your field – that you know what you're talking about.

But the benefits don't end there.  

Here are some hints for overcoming these and regularly posting to your blog.

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The news is dying ... long live the news

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If you, like me, still live in the dark ages in which your news is delivered via a rolled up newspaper thrown over the garden fence every morning, you have probably noticed that the thud associated with said throw has recently become not much more than a gentle pat. They say the traditional print newspaper will be around for a while yet, but its increasingly anorexic state would seem to suggest otherwise.

So, what to do if, also like me, you’re a news and opinion junkie?

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e-ssentials of e-readers and e-books

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In this year’s seriously silly shopping season, e-book reader (e-reader) is shaping up as the star. As a technology junkie and writer I try to stay on top of such things, so I thought it might be worthwhile giving you a quick rundown of what to look for, should you be in the market for one of these little gizmos. In case you don’t know, e-readers are electronic devices dedicated to the reading of downloadable books. You ‘turn’ the page by pressing a button or touching the screen, depending on the design.

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Understand audience

While on holiday in the Solomons I sent David a text saying that my English was broken, but that he shouldn’t tell the boss! This tired old jibe worked because I understood my audience. Imagine telling a paranoid, micro-managing, hovering boss that I seemed to have lost the skill for which he employs me … the humour might’ve fallen flat. In any writing task it’s important to understand audience. In the old days of letters on paper in envelopes with stamps (remember?), we wouldn’t have dared written the same news in the same way to our pen friend as to our grandparents.

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How broken English led to rhythm in writing

My English broke early in the Solomon Islands. I was surprised and slightly alarmed – I earn my living from knowing about these things. I realised I was in trouble when writing in my journal (lying in the hammock, a breeze keeping the heat at bay …) I wrote ‘siteseeing’ and could not work out if I should’ve written sightseeing. With many custom sites – significant ancestral places – in the Solomons, ‘site’ seemed like the right word to me. I turned to my husband – known for his skills as a firefighter not as a speller – to ask him about site and sight. He looked at me with great pity.

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What's your style? (Don't tell me you don't have one!)

Recently our family has been watching the new TV dramatisation of the 1979 novel Puberty Blues. The girls watch the girls and notice how little has changed; my wife and I watch the fashions and are very pleased that some things, namely shorts and hairstyles, have changed. The show reminds me of one of the nice ironies of school uniforms: that no matter how ‘uniform’ a school wants its pupils to look, the kids will always find a way to add a touch of their own style to their ‘look’.

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