Recent Projects
My ghostwriting projects are 100% confidential, but I love talking about the books I’ve edited (and recommending them to everyone I know!)
Scroll down to read some recent case studies.
Witness to Water
“After decades of storytelling through photographs, films, talks, and articles, I was sitting on a mountain of material. Hilary helped me organize [it] into a memoir that feels true to who I am and what I’ve learned. Hilary is ray of light and a delight to work with.” -Pete McBride
Pete McBride had a big challenge on his plate: how do you take two decades of photography, films, National Geographic articles, and one of the most physically demanding river journeys ever attempted, and find the throughline that turns all of it into a coherent memoir?
A book that was just "Pete McBride's greatest hits" would have been easy. A book that makes a statement was the harder ask.
Before starting work on this book, I watched every film Pete had ever made. I read every magazine article and essay I could find. I traced his work from the Colorado headwaters down through the desert, looking for the patterns and obsessions that ran through all of it.
Then we sat down for a series of long, recorded interviews. From those conversations, I developed a structural throughline—and we built the book around that spine.
Mentality Wins
“Although we knew we had all the elements of a strong psychology book, we needed Hilary to help us pull it all together. She helped us to reimagine the structure, provide a much needed flow, and bring our personal voices to the forefront. Without Hilary, our book would not have the same quality and impact that we know it will.” -Dr. Kim O’Brien
Between them, Dr. Jonathan Jenkins and Dr. Kim O’Brien had decades of clinical practice with elite athletes — but their manuscript wasn't yet translating that expertise into a self-help book a reader could actually use. The structure was unsettled, the voice between the two co-authors hadn't fully merged, and the chapters weren't reliably converting clinical insight into clear, actionable routines.
I read the draft carefully, looking for where the real book was hiding inside it. The strongest chapters told me what the book wanted to be. The weakest told me what was getting in the way.
From there, I worked with Jonathan and Kim to restructure the book and weave in their personal stories as lifelong athletes along with case studies from their work with elite performers.
“Hilary’s writing advice is the reason I was able to sell my self-help book to my dream publisher. Working with her as a book coach was the best professional investment I ever made.” -Carrie Schmitt
Awakening Creativity
Carrie Schmitt is a visual artist with a massive online following. Through her paintings, workshops, and retreats, she has inspired thousands of people to reconnect with the spirit of creativity.
Together, we clarified the book's core message and transformed years of live teaching into a compelling reader journey. Throughout the process, I helped Carrie balance practical guidance with storytelling, ensuring that readers would feel both supported and inspired.
The result was Awakening Creativity, a guide that has become the foundation of Carrie's broader teaching work. Today, she leads year-long programs based on the book, helping participants put its principles into practice and invite creativity to be their daily companion.
Love, Service, Wisdom
Jorge Luis Delgado is a master of his tradition — but English is his second language, and Inka spiritual teaching is fundamentally an oral, relational, and embodied practice.
The challenge was to translate that into a spirituality book for English-speaking readers without flattening the depth, the metaphor, or the sacredness of the source.
I started by reading everything Jorge had previously published to understand the shape of his thinking and the threads he'd already laid down. Then we began an extensive series of interviews to develop the chapters together.
We enjoyed working together so much that in November of 2025, I traveled to Peru to interview Jorge for his next book, The Way of Illumination.
Healing the Five Wounds of the Heart
“Working with Hilary during the writing and editing of my book was one of the great gifts of my publishing journey. She is so much more than an editor. She is a word whisperer, a masterful wordsmith, and a deeply intuitive guide for the creative process.” -Dr. Marie Mbouni, MD
Dr. Marie Mbouni, MD came to me with the hardest kind of starting point: piles of material and no organizing principle. She had years of talks, podcast appearances, and videos, but the book she wanted to write didn't yet have a center.
I listened to hours of Marie's talks and podcasts to find what she was already saying that she might not have recognized as the spine of a book.
One day I was listening, and I heard her use a phrase in passing: the five wounds of the heart. I knew, the moment I heard it, that I'd found the organizing principle for her self-help book.
Healing the Five Wounds of the Heart went on to be translated into Italian, Spanish, and several other languages, and published around the world. Marie is now at work on her second book.
