I wake up in eye makeup.
You do too. I'm sure of it.
I wake up in eye makeup.
It’s a mask, really. Not who I really am.
I wake up in I make up.
Every day I decide who to be.
It’s all made up. I’m sure you know. Who are you and who is me.
Wake up
A friend questioned me on my decision to call myself a ghostwriter recently.
I never know what title I’m supposed to have. Ghostwriter made sense.
But my friend thought the position was beneath me. They thought I might be viewed as a commodity.
Not a good position to claim.
“No one needs a ghostwriter,” they said.
“Everyone’s a writer on the Internet these days.”
No.
No. They’re not.
I make my living doing the hard work of putting people’s ideas out into the world in a way that’s interesting, informative, and helpful.
I’ve been doing it for twenty years, since 2004, for many different people in many different industries.
If ‘everyone’ were a writer, they’d do it themselves, but they don’t because it’s hard work, and it doesn’t often pay well because people think anyone can do it, and they’re wrong about that.
They are very wrong about that.
Do it
Publish every day.
Put thoughts into words and string them together in a way that makes sense to you and whomever you’re speaking to.
Even if you’re only talking things out with yourself.
Write.
And then publish your work for the world to see.
It’s exhilarating when you do.
If you do it often enough.
It gives me such a thrill. Each and every time I publish. I’m alive.
It doesn’t matter if I publish for myself or for someone else. It doesn’t matter if I write about tech, teaching, coaching, writing…
Did you know that the gerund is a verb form that functions as a noun in a sentence?
Gerunds are words that end in -ing like those words above 👆 (teaching, coaching, writing…).
Gerunds, like "publishing," are verbs in disguise, acting as nouns.
For instance, in the sentence, "Publishing is exhilarating," "publishing" is a gerund acting as the subject and functions as a noun, not as a verb. “Is” is the verb.
Interesting, right?
Thinking is the same.
Thinking is hard work. True enough.
But thinking is also pretending to be a noun. 😉
I wake up in eye makeup
Some ghostwriting gigs last for years. Others are very short-lived.
You’d think that a ghostwriter could write anything for anyone.
This one can’t.
If our values don’t align, we’re not a good fit.
I can’t be believable if I don’t believe in you, your message, and your mission.
On the other hand, if I do believe in you, there is no one better to have on your team.
No one.
I wake up in I make up
I’ve held many titles, but my core competencies are pretty basic:
I read widely.
I think deeply.
I write daily.
And that’s enough.
Have you read “Siddhartha” by Herman Hesse?
Less than 100 pages and total brilliance.
Robbed, beaten, and left homeless on the street, Siddhartha presents himself to a shopkeeper and begs for work.
The shopkeeper snarls and barks at him.
“What can you do?” he wants to know.
“I can think. I can wait. I can fast,” Siddhartha replies.
I wake up in eye makeup
If I called myself a Promoter, would that be more accurate?
Promotion is certainly a driving force in much of my work, but not all of it.
I’m a damn good educator, too.
So, Promoter, then?
Or would I be confused with boxing or Dana White from the UFC?
I wake up in I make up
Hi, I’m Paul.
And I wrote this for you…and for me.
Because this is who I want to be.
Thanks for being there.
Thanks for listening.
I love you guys. ❤️
—Paul ☺️