My ghostwriting experience wasn't all too bad, but that doesn't mean that I condone the idea of it! I still think it's a horrible practice that shouldn't be done (in certain circumstances) in today's society. I GUESS the president of the United States is allowed to have a ghostwriter, as long as it is a collaborative effort!
The person I ghostwrote for was extremely pleased with the outcome. She congratulated me on my ability to "emulate" her style (however, she had no idea what her style was). She pointed out to me that i did a good job listing things in three's (which she does in her writing quite frequently) and the subject matter was good too.
I wrote about the making of the baptismal water (Amrit) in Sikhism. The paper is heavily cited, and very formal (more formal than I usually write), but it was not a bad experience. I think the fact that it was heavily cited, and I used the book as a constant reference for quotes/paraphrasing (as my writer does, so she doesn't plagiarize), made the paper easier to write. The writer was pleased, and I was too.
However the feeling of writing something for someone else, but they get the credit for it is very unsettling. There's just something that bothers me about the whole ownership of it. Maybe for the name/essay, it can be like (written by Sukhmani for So-and-So). That way people know it was me.
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I also have trouble with the idea of writing something for someone else and not getting recognized for the hard work I put into it. I did not have ethical concerns during this ghostwriting project because I knew my friend was not going to be turning in the paper or using it for anything. This made the assignment easier for me to complete.
As I've mentioned in class, I think these kind of feeling are extremely relevant, making visible some of the assumptions we hold about writing as both an activity and an artifact. The fact that ghostwriting is unsettling seems to be one indication that writing holds personal, not just economic, value for you.
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