Cyndi Lauper appeared on Howard Stern and revealed that she’s co-writing a book. I would like to give Cyndi major props for foregoing the “ghost writer” route. Celebrities often pen memoirs with co-writers, and the co-writer goes unmentioned in an effort to portray the celebrity as an actual writer. I’ve made it clear time and time again that I am majorly against doing so. “Ghost-writing” is just a fancy form of plagiarism, and it’s also incredibly selfish not to credit someone that helped your success. A great example of this is Neil Strauss, who became extremely well-known after writing Motley Crue’s story, ‘The Dirt.’ Why not afford other writers that same opportunity? I imagine Strauss would not have stood for the ghost-writing suggestion, but if he was given the same opportunity in the current climate of writing – who knows. I think writers these days are just happy to have a paycheck, so they don’t mind having their name left off the byline. It’s time to bring an end to this though. And I’m happy to report that Cindy Lauper agrees.