Congratulations to KathyLee Rix for Winning the June 2026 Barefoot Writing Challenge! (Your $100 prize is on its way!)
The challenge was to write an essay that answered this prompt:
What’s one belief about writing you had to unlearn?
KathyLee shared a relatable story about the preconceived notions we all carry when it comes to certain writing projects and how much it benefited her to overturn that. Enjoy her winning submission:
To Ghostwrite or Not to Ghostwrite
by KathyLee Rix
When you hear the word “ghostwriting,” what pops into your head? For many of us it will be something along the lines of “Writing a memoir or other book-length project for somebody who can’t write.”
That’s what it was for me.
For years.
No.
Forever.
My thought? If I’m going to spend months writing a book, it will be one of my own that I have occupying a list of writing projects.
But that is not the case.
Turns out there are a couple of holes in this knee-jerk response.
First, ghostwriting isn’t just a vehicle for people who can’t write to get their thoughts out into the world. Some people, especially executives, just don’t have the time or desire to write. But they feel they have an important message.
The other big hole is this: It’s not always a book, baby.
There are a plethora of other formats that executives need written (LinkedIn posts, blogs, short-form web content, and so on).
When my mentor suggested ghostwriting to me, my second thought was I don’t want to take another class to learn another skill before I start making money.*
However, it turns out that ghostwriting is not all that complicated. It’s simply producing text that renders the appropriate message while sounding like someone else wrote it — preferably your client.
As a high-level administrator for most of my career, I was called upon, more times than I can clearly remember, to “write a letter [or write a report] from me to these people that says this. Make sure it sounds like me” (whoever “me” happened to be at the time).
Color me surprised when I found out that all those letters and reports were really written by a “ghostwriter.” Me.
Who knew?
Often the thought of unlearning your beliefs is daunting. What a hassle!
In this case, however, I am happy to report this is good news. It means I don’t have to spend months on somebody else’s book, plus I already have the experience I need to do a good job.
So, bring it on, all y’all.
*I did end up taking AWAI’s Ghostwriting Intensive. Glad I did.
