Everyone has a story. Mine started with a diagnosis.
In 2016, four months after I got married, I was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. That diagnosis forced a hard look at my priorities, and it eventually became the book We Don’t Get to Ring the Bell: My CML Story. I have since sold more than 500 copies and given away dozens more to patients and caregivers who needed to know they were not alone.
Here’s the thing: writing that book taught me what I now bring to every ghostwriting client. I have sat on both sides of this process, as the person whose story was on the page and as the writer helping someone else tell theirs.
Key Takeaways
- I learn your voice through conversation, not guesswork. Interviews, existing writing, and steady feedback shape how I capture the way you actually sound.
- I use one framework for every memoir, called STORIES. Spark, Tidying, Outlining, Running with It, Immersing, Evaluating, and Sharing give your book real structure.
- I protect what is yours. That includes your files, your privacy, and your final say on what stays on the page.
How I Learn to Write in Your Voice
I start with conversations, not a questionnaire. We talk through your story the way you would tell it to a friend, and I listen for the phrases, rhythms, and details that are distinctly yours. That is where voice actually lives, in the small choices, not the big ones.
Existing material helps too. Blog posts, old speeches, client testimonials, and even text messages can show me how you naturally write and speak. If you have already been putting pieces of your story into the world, whether you started as a memoir writer blogging your way toward a book or you have journals no one has seen, we are not starting from zero.
Voice work also means knowing what to leave out. A memoir is not a transcript of everything that happened. It is a careful selection of what matters, told in a way that still feels honest. That selection process is where a ghostwriter earns your trust.
Once your voice is captured, the next question is how we turn it into an actual book.
The STORIES Framework Applied to Memoir
Every book I work on, memoir included, moves through the same seven stages. I call it the STORIES Framework: Spark, Tidying, Outlining, Running with It, Immersing, Evaluating, and Sharing.
Spark is where we identify the core of your story and who needs to read it. Tidying is where we gather what already exists, journals, old writing, family records, and organize it into something usable. Outlining is where the shape of the book takes form, chapter by chapter.
Running with It is the drafting stage, where raw material becomes chapters in your voice. Immersing means living inside the manuscript long enough to catch what is missing. Evaluating is honest revision, and Sharing is the handoff toward editing and publication.
I have used this same process across my own work and my clients’ books for years. Giving it a name, the STORIES Framework, just made it easier to explain. I am using it right now on my own second book, a memoir called Charlotte and the Existential Crisis.
That structure keeps a memoir from becoming a pile of memories with no clear order, which brings up the next question most clients ask.
What You Own, What I Protect, and What Happens After the Draft
You own your story, and you should own the files that come from it. That means the manuscript, the interview recordings, and the notes belong to you once the project is complete. I always operate as if we have a non-disclosure agreement in place.
Fact-checking matters more in memoir than almost any other genre. Memory is not always precise, and I will flag dates, names, or details that need verification as we go. If your story touches on family conflict or other sensitive ground, I will tell you honestly when legal review is worth considering.
My role ends at a finished rough draft. From there, I refer clients to a trusted collaborator for editing, formatting, and publishing support, so you are never left wondering what comes next.
Everyone has a story. Yours just needs to be told, and it needs someone who understands what it costs to put a real one on the page.
Don’t be rigid about how this process should look before we talk. Give yourself grace, and let’s figure out together whether ghostwriting, book coaching, or something in between fits where you are right now.
Schedule a Book Talk to get started.
Related Links
- Introducing the STORIES Framework: A New Way to Write Your Book
- Book Coaching Services
- Book Ghostwriting Services
- Book Coach vs. Ghostwriter: How Experts Can Finally Finish Their Book
- We Don’t Get to Ring the Bell: My CML Story
Frequently Asked Questions
How does a ghostwriter learn to sound like me? Through conversation more than any questionnaire. I use interviews, existing writing, and your own speech patterns to capture the phrases and rhythms that are distinctly yours, then check in regularly to confirm the draft still sounds right.
What is the STORIES Framework? It is the seven-stage framework I developed and use on every book, memoir, or nonfiction: Spark, Tidying, Outlining, Running with It, Immersing, Evaluating, and Sharing. It keeps raw material from becoming a pile of memories with no shape.
Do you help with editing and publishing after the draft is done? My role covers the writing through a finished rough draft. After that, I refer clients to a trusted collaborator for editing, formatting, and publishing support, so the transition is not a dead end.
How do you decide what personal details belong in the book? That decision is always yours. I will ask questions that help you think it through, but I have also written my own memoir, so I understand what it costs to decide what stays private and what goes on the page.