About Me — Scot Butwell

Just a guy who love to write

Hi and nice to meet you:

I am the guy in flip-flops and camouflage shorts.

Usually, a book in hand for a spare moment. I am your reader if you write creating nonfiction in memoir style. My other topics I like to write about include neurodiversity, recovery/sobriety, spirituality/Christianity, mental health, book, poetry, parenting, usually in a narrative style of writing.

My all-time most read stories so far: 1

1. How I Learned about PDA
2. A Portrait of Dysfunctional Family (not what you’d expect)
3. My Marriage is on the Rocks
4. The Beautiful Lie
5. Solutions to Autistic Burnout

Besides finding ideas for Medium articles in my garage, I am revising blog posts from a previous blog on adventures with my son on the autism spectrum into a memoir with a main storyline and subplot.

My favorite hangouts are a bookstore, a hiking trail or the park at night with my son and a stray cat who we’ve adopted that likes to follow us around.

Oh, here’s a story I wrote on how cats get my creative juices flowing

I always told my wife that I would write a book if I had the right subject, and after our son was diagnosed with autism, she encouraged me to start a blog about what I was learning as a dad and my relationship with my son.

I struggle to go deep with my feelings. That’s what a memoir does, right?

That’s what my wife tells me.

I love reading books on writing by authors.

Mary Karr.

George Saunders.

Steve Pressfield.

Anne Lammott

Shawn Coyne.

I recently started a YouTube channel with tips on writing to help other writers improve their writing, along with myself. My last video was on my journey as a writer and I shared how it’s important to heal from your ‘writing wounds.’

Here’s my favorite writers on Medium, “The Battered Bastards of Medium.”

Read this if you want to understand neurodiversity a lot better, “Thirteen Insights on Neurodiversity from Richard Powers’ Bewilderment.”

I few last things about myself …

I was the only student in my high school to write an article for the LA Times.

In college I was the only student to drive a cab and to write a book about all the weird, strange people I met. I crashed the cab on a rainy, foggy while I was on page 78 of my book.

I wasn’t ready to write a book at 21 years old.

I went from driving a cab to becoming a teacher and crisis hotline director. I trained volunteers to listen and reflect back what they hear … and I tried this out on my wife and it really works.

I was asked to teach at a recovery group I was attending when they found out I was a teacher. I noticed how much time I spend writing and editing my talks, so I quit the group after completing the 12 steps and I started writing.

I completed a school counselor degree with a cohort and each new teachers for our cohort would say, I want to share one of the best papers from the class.

And it would always be me and I knew that I should start writing again.

I am also the only person I know to write a magazine article for Elegant Bride on how to survive planning a wedding with their spouse and live to tell about.

My wife suggested the idea … and I let her proofread the article.

Enough about me.

I look forward to meeting you and reading your writing on Medium and to share our passion for writing and to encourage one another here in writing.