"... and Moehringer occupied it for two years while he worked on the book. All the writer requested was a long table where he could lay out the scenes he’d piece together 'like a necklace,' Agassi recalled. They’d meet in the morning, fueled by breakfast burritos from Whole Foods. 'I’d spend a couple of hours with him over breakfast and a tape recorder,' Agassi said. 'Open' is widely considered a paragon of sports autobiographies — a raw and honest excavation of a well-known life. Agassi said he sought out Moehringer to write the book — 'romancing' him to do it, he said... Like any reliably employed ghostwriter, Moehringer is also known for his discretion. Prince Harry’s book is his third ghostwriting project. Maybe.... Agassi.... said he wanted to put Moehringer’s name on the cover.... But Moehringer declined such public credit, Agassi said. He preferred to disappear."
Writes Elizabeth A. Harris in "When the Writing Demands Talent and Discretion, Call the Ghostwriter/Ghostwriters write books in someone else’s voice — without leaving fingerprints. Doing it well requires great technical skill and a flexible ego" (NYT).
Moehringer is also the ghostwriter for Prince Harry's new book — "Spare" — and, again, his name is not on the cover.
I'm giving this post my "furniture" tag because what attracted me to the story was the line "All the writer requested was a long table where he could lay out the scenes he’d piece together 'like a necklace.'"
I'm very interested in the furniture used by writers. Note my expression of admiration — here — for the book "The Writer's Desk."
But also the appearance of the word "necklace" caught my eye — and not just because it's a snazzy simile. It was only yesterday that I was quoting from Prince Harry's book, "He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace...."
By the way, how rich do you need to be to have someone working for you to assemble fresh breakfast burritos? Do people with over $100 million really just do take out from Whole Foods — day after day?
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"By the way, how rich do you need to be to have someone working for you to assemble fresh breakfast burritos?"
Rich enough that you didn't earn every dollar yourself by the sweat off your own brow, I imagine.
By the way, how rich do you need to be to have someone working for you to assemble fresh breakfast burritos? Do people with over $100 million really just do take out from Whole Foods — day after day?
None of the family office clients have a live in chef on payroll that I'm aware. There's the kitchen chef at the office or a go to caterer. Mostly there's hefty restaurant and Starbucks bills.
Of course, most writers hate their own writing.... Many writers stop writing entirely.... Tonks... became allergic to all books, not only her own, refusing to read anything but the Bible...."
Ghostwriters become ghostwriters because they are scared of their own writing.
Does this guy write the Obamas' books too?
Ghostwriters!
If there's something strange
In your life story
Who you gonna call?
Ghostwriters!
If you're somewhat weird
And you don't look good
Who you gonna call?
Ghostwriters!
"None of the family office clients have a live in chef on payroll that I'm aware. There's the kitchen chef at the office or a go to caterer. Mostly there's hefty restaurant and Starbucks bills."
In the old days, people had wives to cook up fresh hot food. It was a simple arrangement but unfair, so now we have endless soggy burritos and milky sweet coffee drinks.
Buying a house so you can make a one-to-two-year project easier makes good economic sense. When the project is done, he can sell the house at a profit.
I've never met a ghostwriter, but, in my book, this guy is brilliant.
"In the old days, people had wives to cook up fresh hot food. It was a simple arrangement but unfair"
True, unfair to the men on average working longer hours in more dangerous jobs on the way to earlier deaths, in exchange for "fresh hot food."
It's a lesser-known fact that many authors write for pleasure, a compulsive act of creation. Not necessarily ego or money. Avocation: "for the love."
The hard part is coming up with a storyline to fit an audience. Moehringer was gifted both in the form of Agassi's biography. Not only that, the challenge of piecing together a well-traveled celebrity's life can be irresistible. It takes a big table.
The name on the cover matters little to the few.
m
His name may not be on the cover, but the money is certainly in the bank.
Priorities...
I wonder how expensive a real life live-in chef would be. The problem is the good ones are probably rare and quite expensive. And why would they be willing to cook just for mythical billionaire me? Sounds like a bad career move. Better to be the head chef at a fancy restaurant with a book deal/TV show as the final goal.
Of course, you probably could get a good solid cook and they'd be better than Whole Foods cafetieria foods. it probably would be wasted on Agassi. Lots of peeps, even rich ones, don't care about food or they're perfectly happy with simple guy food. It isn't just poor people eating at MacDonalds and Whole Food's can be quite expensive.
Our local WF's has excellent in-house sushi and pizza. Their hotbar used to be good, but since the meat prices have soared out of sight, they're now charging the same per $Lbs for a lot of lasanga, pasta, chinese food (bad), and vegan stuff. Evidently, people won't pay more than $X per Lbs for the hot bar food, price inelastic, so lowering the quality is the only way to keep it.
BTW, I wasn't impressed with agassi's memoir or him. Of course, Tennis stars are much more shallow & duller then Golf stars. They achieve success at a much younger age and their careers end much sooner. Usually they spent their youths at endless "Tennis camps". And the game itself is so repetitious, there's no much to say. I had to laugh at williams getting penalized for someone "coaching" her from the sidelines. What can a coach tennis coach say? "Hit the ball harder" or "Run faster"?
Other pet peeve about the book? Too much profanity. Lazy writing. Filler. I don't pay someone to write "Fuck". Give me some substance.
I know a live-in chef. He makes about $80,000 per year, and he's a lot better than just a good solid cook. He also has luxury housing provided. It's much less stressful than working in a restaurant kitchen, but the on-call hours are pretty demanding.
Bill Ayres' name was not on the cover of Obama's "autobiography." Nor was his white girlfriend's name in it. He decided he needed an angry black wife to seem authentic.
Something tells me one could find a lot of people capable of preparing a breakfast burrito in one's kitchen in Las Vegas.
If a ghostwriter getting paid by the copy sold it pays to keep one's name off the cover.
My brain insists on rendering the necklace-ripping sentence as "He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my bodice..."
I would prefer autobiographies to admit to being written by a ghost writer or collaborator. The subject is a billionaire, celebrity or political powerhouse, and we are supposed to think, also talented writer. A regular Winston Churchill, you are.
Since the collaborative experience is part of the subject's life and usually interesting, an appendix describing it would be a peak behind the curtain.
Blogger Sebastian said...
"In the old days, people had wives to cook up fresh hot food. It was a simple arrangement but unfair"
True, unfair to the men on average working longer hours in more dangerous jobs on the way to earlier deaths, in exchange for "fresh hot food."
Yes, in the old days it was a partnership. No more.
I bet Steffi makes a mean PB&J.
so now we have endless soggy burritos
Back in the old days, there would indeed have been an expectation that the wife would cook, but there was no guarantee that she would have been good at it. A man who wanted a firm burrito might still have had to look outside the marriage for that pleasure.
In the real old days (think Downton Abbey), any respectable household would have employed a cook.
Well, good thing Moehringer had his own digs. Things didn't go well for this Ghost Writer.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1139328/
"By the way, how rich do you need to be to have someone working for you to assemble fresh breakfast burritos? Do people with over $100 million really just do take out from Whole Foods — day after day?"
Watch Curb Your Enthusiasm and get back to us. They eat out. A lot.
I do love the ungrateful title.
"SPARE."
I have another book idea for Harry: The Prince and the Pauper.
"Open" really is excellent. It's more of a child prodigy autobiography than a sports autobiography, and the recurrent theme is Agassi's conflicted feelings about tennis. He was a fantastic tennis player, but he was never really given the option to not be a tennis player, or not be fantastic.
It's really a shame that David Foster Wallace never got a chance to read it. One of his most famous essays is all about how unfulfilling he found Tracy Austin's tennis autobiography:
https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.psu.edu/dist/7/59784/files/2016/08/DFW-How-Tracy-Austin-Broke-My-Heart-1994-1lctx91.pdf
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