AGE IS JUST A NUMBER
Yesterday I had a call from an 88-year old gentleman. Born in Poland in 1925 he was 14-years old when Poland and Germany, then Britain and France became embroiled in another mutually destructive war.
Like another ghost-writing client, Dieter, born 1938 in Hamburg, there could be better places to spend one’s childhood than pre-war Poland. Imagine the story my latest caller has to tell.
What I do find remarkable is that at 88-years of age this Nerja resident was as bright as a soldier’s button. Returning to England for the summer, he promised he would have his book well under way by October when he returns.
The cynic might say that at that age you don’t buy green bananas. Try telling that to this gentleman… or this…
A year or so ago I was called by a gentleman who lives in Calpe. During our animated telephone conversation I discovered he was 86-years old. He told me that he keeps busy looking after a golf club and tending to neighbours gardens. Tongue in cheek I suggested that it was time he thought about retiring.
“Retire,” he laughed. “I can’t do that. I have a wife and 14-year old daughter to look after.”
The first ghost-writing assignment I ever took on was for an 82-year old lady. She wrote to get her life experiences off her chest. Yet occasionally I get a person half their age who say, ‘I have left it too late.’
If you know someone who has a story to tell why not put them in touch with me. There is no law that dictates a book’s length. Whilst most paperbacks are about 70,000 words in content, there are many novelettes, what I call ‘bus ride reads’ of 20k - 40k words.
Michael Walsh. Ghost-Writing, Book Editing. €20 per 1,000 words.
Telephone 966 786 932
Email keyboardcosmetics@gmail.com
Website www.michaelwalsh.es