Ghost Writer Hired for Posthumous Memoir Confused About Job Title

Freelance writer Sandra Specter has reported 'an existential crisis of professional identity' after accepting a commission to ghostwrite the posthumous memoir of a deceased real estate developer, a job that she says 'makes the term ghost writer uncomfortably literal.' 'I've ghostwritten fourteen books,' Specter told colleagues at a writers' group meeting. 'CEOs, athletes, influencers — all living. This is the first time the person whose voice I'm supposed to channel is actually, technically, a ghost. The irony has not been lost on me. It has, in fact, settled into my bones.' The memoir, commissioned by the estate of developer Richard Vault, is intended to chronicle his career in commercial real estate. Specter was provided with 400 hours of recorded interviews conducted before Vault's death, along with a note from the executor reading: 'Richard wanted his story told in his own words. Since he can no longer provide them, we trust you to do so.' 'The recordings are helpful,' Specter said. 'But there are gaps. Large gaps. How am I supposed to know what he thought about the 1997 zoning dispute? I can't ask him. He's the subject of the book and also the one person who can't be reached for comment. The phrase unavailable for comment has never been more literal.' Specter's contract includes a clause requiring the memoir to be written 'in the first person, as though the author were alive,' a stipulation she describes as 'grammatically straightforward but philosophically distressing.' The working title is 'Built to Last,' which the estate selected and Specter calls 'optimistic.' Publication is scheduled for fall, at which point Specter plans to 'take a very long break from ghost writing and possibly from writing altogether.'