Molly Moynahan – Ghostwriter

As a penniless unpublished novelist in NYC of the late eighties I worked as an assistant to two mystery editors at Random House and then was head-hunted to be an assistant editor at Bantam, Doubleday, Dell. The publishing business at that time was buying enormous books from celebrities but I was given the freedom to read manuscripts from less famous authors, to find new voices and make offers. I loved discovering new talent and original voices. I had worked for Louis Wallace who agented Joan Didion and Don DeLillo so it was an easy transition to developing talent.

I wrote my first novel, which was bought by Harper& Row. obtained an MFA at Brooklyn College, wrote another novel published by Bantam-Transworld, taught creative writing at Rutgers, City Lit London, SMU, taught comp and creative writing at Columbia Chicago (I was married to a journalist). Tired of adjunct University positions I returned to school to get an ed degree, I was hired to teach English in a ganged-up Chicago Public School. I wrote my third novel while working full-time which was sold at auction to HarperCollins. I continued to teach part-time, go on book tour through Michigan and Wisconsin, morning TV in Delaware (oh, the glamour!) but finally quit to start my own company, work with students on personal essays and teach fiction to adults. Accomplished ghost writer.