Adrian Scott
I have been writing stories since the age of nine, and quickly became addicted to the feel of words flowing onto the page, the taste of them, the wasy they can alter our perceptions of things. i regard writing as painting with words just as a painter uses oil colours to depict a tree, or a lake, or a bird in flight.
Whilst the rest of the class was deeply involved in math lessons, I'd have the centre-pages torn from my exercise book and be furiously working on a new tale to tell. Our teacher, Mr Campbell, would stroll down the aisles of desks, checking on each student's work; when he reached me, he would peer over my shoulder, read a par or two, and move on without saying a word. I guess he knew I would never make a mathematician, and left me to my obsession.
I credit Mr Campbell with doing more to encourage my writing than anyone else I have ever known.
Since then, I have written, and had published, numerous short stories and, as of June 2012, am working on my 67th novel in just over four years.As was once said about medicine in an old movie: "It's an obsession. But a Magnificent Obsession". And so it is with writing.
I've taught creative writing, journalism, and public relations at TAFE and in high schools around the Bundaberg area, and also taught non-profit organisations the basics of writing good press releases, and how the game of P.R works.
So now, after spending the last 28 years studying part-time at university, and finally achieving a Masters in Professional Writing, I figure it's about time I put away the textbooks and enjoyed life a little: time for imaginative writing and oil-painting, and taking things easier than in the past.
As of now (June 2012) I have twenty-six novels published as e-books and paperbacks, and am writing my 66th novel at present.
I'm retired and living in Caboolture, Queensland, near to two of my daughters, the third remaining in Bundaberg. Time for the Obsession to take hold once more, or my Muse, whichever you may believe in.
i earnestly encourage all those who have and obsession for writing to write, write, and then write wome more. Don't stop until the final curtain rings down on your life or sanity, and never be satisfied with the nearest word for the job. You'll find, if you're serious about writing, that there is only ever one word that will fill whatever task you create for it. Search for that word, hunt it down and paste it where it belongs. If you're as fastidious as that, you'll find it pays off. Maybe you'll never be a Stephen King or an Ernest Hemingway; maybe you'll never take the Nobel Prize for literature. But those are just the gravy on the chicken,, so to speak. The real meat is to be found in completing the job to the very best of your ability, and knowing you could not have improved on it no matter how many edits you completed.
Very Sincerely,
Adrian Scott, June 2012
September 16, 2011: It is with a heavy heart that I report the passing of my wife Penny, of 31 years, from pancreatic cancer on March 17 last. She suffered from various illnesses most of our married life, yet fought on through it all. Rest in peace, my love. Through the long months since I lost her, it has been writing that has kept me going. Without my trade, I doubt I could have lasted. But without her support and encouragement, I doubt there would have been an Adrian Scott, now with 31 books published.
2 October, 2012: Society of Vampires volume I 'A Vampire's Tale' was released in the US today, the first in a series of 16 novels all on the same theme. The novel is also going to the Hollywood studios of Francis Ford Coppola, so who knows where it could lead?