First, “Goetsch” rhymes with “sketch.” It didn’t originally, of course, since it’s German, but we don’t have the “oe” sound in English, and somewhere long before I was born one of my ancestors changed it.
For the first 41 years of my life, I was blonde. I’m telling you this so that when you do your due-diligence Google search on my name, you can be confident that you’ve found the right person. (You have. There is only one of me on the Net—the blessing of an unusual name.)
I have two other business personas: the FileSlinger, author of one of the few independent blogs dedicated to backing up your computer, and co-founder of the Podcast Asylum. (If podcasting is driving you crazy, we can help.)
What I Love About My Work
The best thing about being a writer is getting to know my fascinating clients and learning about their businesses. It gives me an ongoing education in subjects I would never otherwise have known about.
It’s also a privilege to help people express themselves, and there’s an enormous satisfaction in finding just the right words.
Experience
I began writing in 1971, at the age of four; I started helping other people to write when I was nine. My first ghostwriting client was the Roman poet Plautus, in 1994.
Since that time, I’ve honed my talent for writing in someone else’s voice on non-fiction books about such topics as eco-spirituality, personal productivity, small business accounting, and unleashing your inner Bond Girl.
Approach
I believe close collaboration with my clients is essential, not only for ensuring that the voice and tone are unmistakably those of the author, but in order to ensure accuracy. That makes rapport critical to the success of any ghostwriting project.
I apply the analytical and research skills inherited from my previous career in academia to identifying the elements that will make my client’s book outstanding. I use mind-mapping to structure the flow of the manuscript before beginning to write, then work through multiple drafts with the client’s input.
Specialties
My areas of personal expertise are small business, technology, social media, and classical antiquity. I’ve been explaining technical subjects to general audiences for decades. While extremely Internet-savvy (I’ve been online since 1985), I work equally well with technophobes and geeks.
Although I prefer non-fiction ghostwriting projects, I read science fiction and fantasy compulsively for fun and wrote (but never published) several novels in college and graduate school.
Background
I hold a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a master’s from the University of Michigan, both in Classics. Before establishing my ghostwriting business in the San Francisco Bay Area, I taught Greek and Roman drama at the University of Warwick in England.
I read ancient Greek, Latin, Modern Greek, Italian, French, and German, but prefer to write in English.
Résumé
Though I’ve rarely needed such a document since starting my own business, prospects occasionally ask for one. Since I had it anyway, I figured I might as well post it here.