Meet Sydney Scott

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sydney Scott a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sydney, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?

Consuming other people’s work keeps me alive. Books, short stories, poetry, flash fiction, photography, artwork of any kind, music. If you name anything that required someone else’s imagination and creativity, I will take it in, appreciate it for what it is, and use it to help fuel my own desire to create.

Any time I feel as though I am stuck, creatively or otherwise, I will grab any piece of art, sit down in my favorite chair, and partake. Disappearing into another world or seeing the real one through someone else’s eyes can really help get you moving again.

I also write my own short passages and poems to help keep my creative juices flowing when I’m not able to sit down and write something longer. Even composing something as short as a haiku fulfills me and i can keep going. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, you you have to find little ways to sustain yourself as you go.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I’ve always loved writing. Whether it was poetry, a short story, or my daily journal, the written word has been something that always spoke to me in so many ways. Over the years that love got pushed aside in favor of more practical matters, but during the COVID pandemic, when the world was forced to pause, I read. I read so much and decided to one day write my own book, just to see if I could. That book turned into a series, and then another. and another until I pushed myself further to seek publication of my first novel. Getting that acceptance letter was a thrill, but nothing will ever top writing “The End” on that first novel. The sense of personal accomplishment and soul-deep fulfillment is almost indescribable. No matter if my career as a writer continues in the form it is now or changes in some way, I will never stop writing. To get writing back after losing it for so long has been one of the greatest gifts of my life.

My catalog of romance novels can be found on Amazon. I recently published my twelfth novel and have five more due out by the end of the year or early 2026.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The three areas I believe that were most impactful for me are perseverance, pride in what I do, and communication skills. In order to be a writer you must be able to both push through difficulties and be proud of what you accomplish. There is no guarantee that anyone other than you will see what you’ve done, so finish it for yourself and be proud of putting word to page. That in itself is a huge accomplishment.

Communication skills area also incredibly impactful. You must be able to convey your ideas in whatever it is you are writing, but you must also be able to communicate what your story is about to potential publishers, readers, booksellers. You also need to be able to market yourself as much as your story. What better way to do that then simply tell people who you are?

In order to improve your skills in this area, I would suggest giving yourself milestones to hit and then celebrating each one of them, no matter how small to foster that sense of pride in your work, in your ability to keep going. As for communication skills, reading and practice are the best ways to grow those. Talk to anyone you meet, making an attempt to learn about them and show them who you are, no matter how brief the interaction.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

A communication studies college professor of mine was incredibly impactful, probably more so that I can ever express to him or you. He set forth challenging assignments that required a great deal of thought and self-reflection. Having to delve deeper into myself, push through things and complete the assignment were hugely helpful in building up my ability to persevere.

He also taught me that my work didn’t need to be perfect, that there really was no such thing. That once I was happy with something, had given it my all, that was as close to perfect as I would get. He also showed me ways that I could be proud of my accomplishments, that the real success was in taking the journey, not reaching the destination. I will forever be grateful to him for all that he taught me.

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Image Credits

Wild Bliss Photography
Simply Defined Art

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