Ghostwriting A Book In Paradise

As a ghostwriter for celebrity clients, you go TO the job—it doesn’t come to you.

And you never know where your mission will take you, so your passport better be updated and ready.

I’ll never forget an invitation to join one of my clients on 6-week writing trip to the Gold Coast of Australia, known as Surfer’s Paradise. There, along the Pacific Ocean, we spent weeks writing and refining the first chapters of an inspirational book intended to cultivate emotional fitness and inner strength.

After a 21-hour flight in first class on Quantas, complete with a comfy bed compartment, 3 movies, and dinner, we were soon landing in the middle of March, trading the winter of New York for 80-degree days and endless sunshine.

My home away from home? One of the best hotels I’ve ever stayed in—The Star Grand at The Star Gold Coast, Broadbeach, a 5-star property with 10-star hospitality.

Living Room, aka Writing Central

I was given one of the penthouse suites, a 1500-square foot apartment with a luxurious bedroom, the biggest sunken tub I’d ever seen, and a large living room with 180-degree views of the Gold Coast skyline with wraparound floor-to-ceiling glass.

The suite also included a bar, a powder room and a huge dining room table which became WRITING CENTRAL for the project.

Not to mention State-of-the-art room automation system, which senses and manages your preferred lighting levels, room temperature, window drapery controls and service requirements.

If you want to stay in shape, the gym offers personal training, yoga, boxing, spin, Pilates, Zumba and body pump classes!

The hotel complex also includes a 2000-seat theatre which hosts the biggest shows on the Gold Coast, such as tribute bands, musicals, international comedians and entertainers, and show movies three times a week.

But beyond the facilities, one of the tests of any hotel—(or any cruise line, such as the one a recent client raved about in a suite in The Haven of Norwegian Cruise Line)—is the kind of meticulous attention to detail, whether it’s room service, maid service or beyond. And this hotel delivered on all fronts.

There’s so substitute for human warmth—and that’s what you get here. On top of that, let’s not forget the 6 yummy restaurants—fresh sashimi from Kiyomi, lobster at Nineteen at The Star, mouth-watering pizza at Cucina Vivo, and more informal dining at the Garden Kitchen & Bar and Harvest Buffet.