One day, my father asked me what Ken's name was, and I told him. He laughed and replied,"His name is Ken the pen?"
"What do you mean," I asked him, I was a little irritated because I thought he was making fun of him.
"La Plume means pen," He explained.
I never called Ken by the moniker 'Ken the Pen' but it stuck in my brain even to this day, mostly because I thought it was a really cool name. I feel bad because I figured he was teased mercilessly by any French foreign exchange student he may have come across, but I thought of it as a cool almost mafia inspired name.
John La Plume does not really have the same alliteration even when changed to 'John the Pen', but I could definitely use it as my super hero name, but it describes my super power so perfectly.
I am a ghostwriter. No I am not a dead author, and I usually, I say usually, don't moan when I am writing.
I help other people write their books- they are the author and I am the pen. I become a useful tool to create a book that may otherwise never exist. I am called a ghost because I am transparent- no one knows I helped write a piece, unless the author wants to tell people.
If you were to look at my true resume, it will look as though the National Security Agency got a hold of it and redacted top secret information. I have to keep secrets like some kind of international spy, except the difference is that I take my martinis in the safety of my office tucked away in a old Victorian home overlooking the Mississippi river.
Maybe this Halloween I should come out to the world dressed as La Plume and have a device that squirts ink like a small oil well out of the pen nib shaped from aluminum foil strapped to my head. Or maybe I shouldn't.
This blog is dedicated to my old drummer friend.
Vive La Plume!
John Peragine
www.osiris-papers.com
