I am a Ghostwriter.

About a year and a half ago we were at a family reunion in Oregon. I was hanging out with my parents and my dad throws a letter at me and tells me to read it.  It's a letter from Deseret Book asking him to contribute an essay to this book.  The book was going to be called Why I'm a Mormon.
And then he said, "Do you want to write it for me?"
And I was so flattered.
My dad thought enough of me and my "writing" that he would ask me to do this.  And then I read on and saw the part about if you didn't want to write the essay, they would be happy to send someone out to interview you and write the essay for you.  And then I understood.  At this point you have to realize a few things about my dad.  His life has evolved to a certain point that there are things he worries about and things he doesn't. And he has a pretty good handle on what he likes doing and what he does NOT like doing.  Let's take a second and break this down.
A few things he worries about:
-Taking care of my mom and Tay
-Taking care of his team
-Cleaning out the garage and fridge
-Making sure the BYU stools are where they're supposed to be during the media timeouts
A few things he does not worry about:
-Computers, especially Facebook and Twitter
-Telling Taylor "no" (love ya, Tay)
-Did I mention Computers?
A few things he does NOT like doing:
-Talking about himself
-Talking about himself to people he does not know
-Talking about himself to people he does not know about why he's a Mormon
It was either me or a stranger- and since he types with two fingers- he needed me.
So that's how I got the gig.
I asked him, "So why are you a Mormon?"  He said, "Because my parents are Mormon." And I said, "Hmmmm... I might need a little more than that."

So the next time I was in Provo, I grabbed my phone and a notebook and cornered him and my mom so that I could "interview" him. I started asking him some questions that I had thought of. And he was totally dragging his feet and not talking and being a baby- I had to remind him that this was not my idea. "You asked me to do this- if you don't want to answer these questions you can call one of those nice writers at Deseret Book to come chat with you." And I might have mentioned that I had 3 kids and we were leaving to go home soon and I didn't have time for this... or something like that. So he finally started telling me his story.
I then spent the next few weeks writing. It was tricky- I've never done anything like this. My biggest worry was that it would be terrible and that the editors would have to completely rewrite it. But my second biggest worry is that it would "sound" like me and not my dad. Because the whole point of being a ghostwriter is the ghost part. The writer can only be the writer- not part of the story. My friend in college who was a lot smarter than me would edit my history papers. She would always say how my voice was so strong in my writing- that she would know this was my writing even though it was about post-war Germany and supposed to be all academic. So I really agonized over making sure I wrote it how he said it, but that it would still flow as an essay. It was hard.
My mom helped me a ton. My dad read it a few times telling me to take stuff out- or that my timeline was wrong. And then I sent it to Lisa- my friend from college- and said please tell me this doesn't sound like me. She had a ton of great suggestions, but she comes from very talented, published parents who are the Sunday School Presidents of the World so this kind of stuff is in her blood.
And then I sent it off to my dad. He gave it the ok and sent it off to Deseret Book.
And then nothing for a long time, until a few months ago. I asked my dad if he had heard anything from them. He said that they had sent him the final copy to sign a million releases and things on. I asked him if they had changed much. He said he didn't know. He didn't read it.
"WHAT? You didn't read it? What if they changed the entire thing?"
"Oh, well I didn't think about that."
He said he didn't read it because if he did, he'd want to change it all. Pretty much take everything of personal nature out- which is the entire essay.
So the anticipation was killing me until a few days ago when my dad sent me two free copies of the book. I opened it up and read it. And it was awesome. Not my essay, but my dad's story. It really is powerful. I know that my dad hates to tell it for the reasons stated above, but it is a pretty powerful and inspiring story. I'm thankful he let me write it for him. Even if it was because I was the lesser of the two evils. :)

And so the last few days I've spent reading the other essays- this book is rad. (And I'm not saying that so you'll buy it because in no way do I get anything for any sales of this book- neither does my dad, but I did mention I got the two free copies- that's pretty rad, right?) The people in this book are amazing. Their stories are all powerful and inspiring. And if you don't recognize their name, they probably have a PhD from Harvard and so many honorary degrees that they don't even mention listing them- just tell you that they have 10 of them.
As I was reading through some of them yesterday, I told Brock, "I can't believe that what I wrote is in the same book as these people." I mean Jon Huntsman, Sr. built the hospital that helped heal my Dad. Brother Covey wrote a book that was named one of the most influential business books of the CENTURY. A few of these dudes wrote essays that I don't even understand because they are that freakin' intelligent.
Brock said, "That's how we do things. We just sneak our way in."
And I said, "That is exactly it. I snuck myself in this book. I'm like you when you were eleven walking backwards into the exits to sneak into the BYU football games for free."
And then I wondered if I should worry that my writing isn't up to par- and so I read what I wrote again. But I decided not to even worry about it-
This doesn't have anything to do with me.
I'm just the ghostwriter.
But, come on, that sounds pretty awesome, right?
Ghostwriter.
Ha! Love it.

Thank you Dad. Even though this was hard for me and painful for you- I loved it. I am so proud that I am your daughter. I am so proud of you and your awesome life. Thanks for believing in me like I believe in you.

Love, your very own Ghostwriter

(I will stop saying that now. Even if it kind of sounds like Night Rider- and there's nothing cooler than Night Rider- except maybe a Ghostwriter driving a Night Rider- Alright, I'm really done now.)