Scott Dixon: Indie Author

Guest Post: The Catalyst Which Sparked Scott’s Writing Career & Indie Author Adventures

I was asked by Michelle to write a guest blog, and I thought I would take a holistic view of how my writing evolved and where it began.

My writing began by chance from a fly/drive holiday to the Shetland Isles back in the summer of 2011. I was so enamoured by what I found that I wanted to convey that in a blog, which is what I did, and it took me little more than half an hour to write.

I sent it to the Shetland Islands Tourist Board and they not only published it to promote the Islands as a holiday destination, but it also facilitated a ticket to a Private Hall by invitation only for the Up Helly Aa torch-lit Viking celebrations that I flew up for in January 2013. This is an annual event that takes place on the last Tuesday of each January and is one for the bucket list.

I received good feedback from it, and those who read it said that I should have been a travel writer as I seemed to have a natural flair for it.

You can read it for yourself here; http://www.shetland.org/60n/blogs/posts/a-note-on-shetland

Little did I realise that I not only had a latent talent for writing, but it was the beginning of a journey that would see me develop my writing into a passion, craft and interest that has spun in to various directions.

I wrote and published my first book in September 2016 titled, How to Effectively Resolve Consumer Complaints and Motoring Dispute”, which covered a lifetime’s worth of bad experiences and victories I have dealt with. I wrote 40,000 words in about 3 months.

Michelle was recommended to me by one of her clients and was able to get it out on Kindle and paperback for me, and the buzz from having your first book published with the kudos that comes with it inspired me to develop my writing in to a passion, vocation and craft.

I built my own website www.thegrumpygit.com via WordPress, which wasn’t easy, although it has proved rewarding in its own way and attracts plenty of global traffic. I have published over 50 blogs spanning various aspects of consumer and motoring matters as well as Data Protection issues. I am also prolific on TripAdvisor and I style my reviews as a professional critic, which has given me other ideas to explore with my writing.

I began working on a second book in June 2016 and reached about 33,000 words by the end of December 2017, but it was nowhere near complete. It’s such a big project, which I truly believe will be pivotal and lucrative, that I decided to leave my last job to solely focus on this from the beginning of 2018. At the time of writing this, I have now passed 60,000 words and have written over 26,500 words on weekdays only, with the aim of having the first draft complete by the end of January 2018. To put that into perspective, it has taken me 12 days to write over 26,500 words.

I had a choice. I could either wither away miserable in a job that wasn’t nourishing my soul and was affecting my health and mental wellbeing, or I could sit at home and devote my time to writing and investing in my own future and success. It was a no-brainer and whilst my writing is not paying any bills yet, I truly believe in my own ability to successfully carve my niche as a writer, blogger and author.

I could easily litter this blog with buzz words and clichés, although a couple of phrases that stick with me are, “The best project you will ever work on is you” and “Do it with passion or not at all”. Instead, I’ll say this.

The more you write, the better you get and your passion will show if you enjoy what you do. Your first book is never your last and you will find yourself coming up with various plans, ideas and inspiration to turn a passion into something that develops a life of its own.