Interview With Author Scott MacWherter
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Well I was born and raised in a small beach town in Florida’s Tampa bay area. Three days after I graduated from high school I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.
My time overseas only embedded the travel bug deeper so I worked on cruise ships for a number of years. I have been to over 45 countries. I even met my wife on a ship. She is Australian. She moved Tampa with me and we lived there for 17 years. I had promised her one day I would bring her home. So that day came. We sold our house in Tampa while we had an active serial killer stalking the neighborhood. Along with our then 7 year old daughter we then drove across America in rented RV. When we got to California we flew to Melbourne, Australia where we now live.
This is the first book I have written.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Make It a Life of Adventure: Live without fear! Discover where your adventures will take you!
It is a personal development book containing elements of a memoir. My own story is what inspired it. I have always been very adventurous. Then a gunpoint robbery left me with crippling PTSD and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. I immersed myself in therapy and intensive training in fear and anxiety management. My recovery included an outdoor wilderness adventure course that taught me the transformative power of adventure – as a tool for personal growth and healing. That is when I realized what the book would be about.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I am probably the last person any of my teachers or anyone who knew me when I was younger would think would be able to write a 95,000 word book. I am dyslexic and have ADHD. With ADHD being in the correct mindset when I sit down to write is very important. Otherwise, I am bouncing off the walls and not getting anything accomplished.
We live on the edge of the suburbs at the mouth of a beautiful valley. It’s wine country and there are a whole lot of wineries. Surrounding the valley are two mountain ranges. Before I sit down to write I like to go off into the mountains and hike. The further into the wilderness I get the better my writing seems to be afterwards. If I don’t have the time I will just walk in the park at the end of my block, but it seems that the deeper and more immersed in the bush I get the more productive I am afterwards.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I would say Henry David Thoreau, Richard Luv and Tim Ferriss are the authors that spring to mind. There are probably a lot more influences that I don’t think of consciously that have had an impact.
What are you working on now?
Now I am going to be focused more on the marketing aspect of this. There is just so much to learn. I have other book ideas that I work on as time allows but they are not my focus.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am still working that one out. I have some exciting ideas but have not had the chance to implement or test them yet. Let me get back to you.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep going. Whenever you feel like you have hit a brick wall just keep going.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
That would be a piece of advice from a skydive instructor after I failed my Accelerated Freefall test. I didn’t fail that bad I suppose, or I wouldn’t be here. I had to do a series of arial maneuvers and got nervous and choked. The advice he gave me was “Breathe deeply, relax and have fun with it.” After that I passed the test easily. Although he was talking about skydiving, I have found that little piece of advice useful in every aspect of life.
What are you reading now?
I am one of those people that usually has three or four books going at the same time. Right now, I am reading Tawny Frogmouth by Gisela Kaplan. I am also reading Comfort Crisis by Micheal Easter, Spiders of Australia by Volker W. Framenau and Melissa L. Thomas. Oh, and Ninja; Unmasking the Myth by Stephen Turnbull. You can’t say my interests aren’t varied.
What’s next for you as a writer?
For a while I just want to concentrate on getting the word out on this one. I think my message about learning how to face your fears and ultimately doing things you love is an important one.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
1. Thrive: Long-Term Wilderness Survival Guide by Juan Pablo Quiñonez for obvious reasons
2. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. I read a little bit of it now and again. It is one of those books I feel I should read: it’s just such a beast of a book. Maybe If I am stranded on a deserted island I will have the time and inclination.
3. The Lord of the Rings trilogy as one big book. Just for the escapism. It’s also one of the few fiction works I can read over and over. Plus, a book that heavy would be good for opening coconuts.
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