Ross James Quirie Owens

Author. Editor. Friendly Ghostwriter

You’ve got something meaningful to share, but you’re struggling to express it.

That’s why I’m here.

I have a passion for helping people take their great ideas and make them more exciting and accessible for a larger audience.

I have co-authored four books, ghostwritten another, and have written, edited, and ghostwritten thousands of articles on a dizzying array of subjects - everything from technology to test-taking, from baseball to brain science, from art to artificial intelligence. Thanks to a wealth of experience in book publishing, magazine publishing, and online publishing, I can readily provide the whole soup-to-nuts range of editorial expertise and assistance.

Clippings

Ghostwritten articles
Book excerpts
Bylined articles

Ghostwritten articles

The Secret DNA of Peak Performance

Why do some people find it easy to work at their peak, while others feel the goal is frustratingly elusive? The answer may lie in your DNA.

Fun, Fear, and Focus: How to Increase Your Productivity

Most of us recognize that heady feeling when we’re performing at our very best. Time becomes irrelevant, doubt and self-consciousness evaporate, and you find yourself completely immersed in the task at hand.

Get Your Flow On

This excerpt explores flow -- a powerful state that's hard to describe but easy to recognize when you're in it. Read on to learn how you can harness the power of flow, achieve it on demand, and make the most of it.

Finding Your Environmental Set Point

Right fielders and real estate agents both know the secret of success: location.

Book excerpts

Improve Your Attitude

A brief excerpt from Chapter 3, "Learn How to Handle Stress."

Build Stronger Connections

A brief excerpt from Chapter 3, "Sharpen Your Focus," from The Leading Brain, by Fabritius and Hagemann, ghostwritten by Ross J. Q. Owens

Devise a Plan

A brief excerpt from Chapter 1, "Know What You're Aiming For."

Answering the Author's Questions

A brief excerpt from Chapter 7, "Zeroing in on Information That's Valuable"

Bylined articles

Did the gods read to us?

A controversial theory about the evolution of the brain may have unexpected support from the way reading works.

Managing Your Mind's Machine

We spend the bulk of our waking lives on autopilot. Is that a problem? Not necessarily. In fact, it can even be be beneficial if you do it strategically.

Don't Take a Picture: It'll Last Longer

Although many of us take photographs to preserve the people, things, and experiences that are important to us, it appears at least in the short term that snapping pictures actually has a detrimental effect on our ability to remember.

I Never Forget a Face?

What is it that enables us to differentiate one person from another? Although the brain doesn’t have a region dedicated to reading books or watching movies, it does have an area that appears to be explicitly designed for recognizing faces.

Is there an Ides of July?

The short answer is yes. In fact, there's an Ides in every month, although it doesn't always fall on the 15th. But beyond that, it starts to get a little more complicated.

Tim Berners-Lee: XML

The Web's inventor talks to me about the future of XML and the Semantic Web.

Mapplethorpe: Views Beyond the Shadows

The name Mapplethorpe is well known, but often for the wrong reasons. That’s a shame because his photographs exhibit a delicate touch, a profound understanding of light and dark and a deeply rooted appreciation of beauty and its boundaries.

The Doctor and the Dictionary

Could you get by with just 50 words? That was the challenge that in 1960 legendary publisher Bennett Cerf gave to Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss.

Steinbeck's Classic Novel Shines on Silver Screen

Of Mice and Men, starring Gary Sinise and John Malkovich, is a tragic, heartfelt Depression-era fable about the strange but wonderful bond that exists between itinerant farmhand George Milton and his addle-brained companion Lennie Small.

Thin Java Coverage in a Fat Java Book

These days, Java and hyperbole have a habit of going hand in hand. That's especially the case with Java books, which must shout for your attention above the roar of dozens of rivals.

'The Vanishing': Please, make it go away!

Jeff Bridges hits a new low as an oddball academic with a predilection toward kidnapping in The Vanishing, a laughably bad American re-make of a Dutch psychological thriller.

Mayhew: Turning Scenery into a Colorful Sherbet

Local scenes seem to be constructed out of multi-colored scoops of sherbet in Essence of the Landscape, a vivid series of mixed-media watercolor and pastel creations from Santa Cruz artist Richard Mayhew, currently on exhibit at the Triton Museum of Art.