Reading Ghosts and Listening to Ghosts
Some ghostly ghostwriting thoughts for Halloween week.
Ghost Music
I found a playlist on Spotify and knew immediately it was going to be my go-list.
Dark Academia Classical. The description reads, “quiet hallways, dusty sunlight, cosy sweaters, hot tea”. I would add, ghosts. No, there are no ghosts whooo-ing about in these quiet hallways, but I can picture them flitting about. If you’ve read my writing for any time, you know I like a little bit of dark. I love a lot of learning. And classical keeps my brain tender when it is overstuffed from the darkness and the learning.
Ghost Reading
I recently read The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson for the first time. I remember reading her classic short story “The Lottery” in school. I called the ending of Hill House long before the book got there, but it was a deliciously haunting read all along. I don’t like gore and violence but do enjoy a good thrill up my spine from time to time.
Ghost Writing
Last week I did a deep dive into a podcast by retired ghostwriter AJ Harper and Mike Michalowicz called Don’t Write That Book.
I also purchased AJ’s book, Write a Must-Read.
Both the podcast and the book come highly recommended whether you are a writer yourself or you are looking for a ghostwriter (drop me a message, let’s talk about if I’d be the right ghost for your project)!
Ghost Studying
And, I spent the last 12 days in California at Fuller Seminary. Turns out it, it is not a ghost-school, it really exists. I have two degrees from there and am working on a third and finally made it to campus and met people in the flesh. I did spent a large amount of time in the basement of the library, which may or may not be haunted as every good library is, but certainly doesn’t have internet.
Ghost T-Shirt
Here is my “ghost” t-shirt. It is not a ghost, y’all. The shirt says “play” in Arabic and this is the mascot from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, created from the keffiyah, the white headdress many Arab men wear, but when I try to explain that to people who ask about the “cute ghost” on my shirt, I get a lot of blank stares.
Holy Ghost
I will leave you with a quote about the Holy Ghost, from my studies addressing the aftermath of trauma, in the space between cross and resurrection, the Saturday of Easter weekend.
“This is not new and victorious life. It is more uncertain, tentative, and murky. It calls for unique theological recognition and expression…These experiences point to a different way of envisioning life in the Spirit. It is a theology of the Spirit birthed from the middle rather than one birthed from the resurrection event. The presence of the Spirit is more fragile and unrecognizable in the middle space. It is divine presence marked by absence. Forsakenness, abandonment, and alienation are truths of the cross that remain, extending beyond death to transform the landscape of life. The question for Christian theology is this: is this remainder a threat to proclamations of resurrection, or is this remainder the seeds of witness upon which all resurrection claims must be grounded?” (Rambo 2010, 13).1
Rambo, Shelly. 2010. Spirit and Trauma : A Theology of Remaining. 1st ed. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press.