Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott Freeman.
Hi Scott, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Honestly, it didn’t start with the world or the science. It didn’t even start with Lanell the way she is now.
It started way back when my wife and I were first dating. We used to lie outside under the stars and tell each other stories. One of us would start, the other would pick it up, and we’d just keep building it together.
One night, I started telling a story. And there was a ferret in it.
That was it. No grand plan. No big worldbuilding. Just a story in the dark with her.
But that idea stuck with me. Over time, it grew. The character got deeper. The world formed around her. The story got heavier, more complex, more real.
It didn’t start as a book. It started as a moment.
From there, it turned into something I couldn’t ignore. I spent the next eight years building it. Not just writing the story, but figuring out how everything worked. The world, the rules, the history behind it. At the same time, I was learning the entire process from the ground up. Writing, editing, publishing, marketing. All of it.
There were plenty of times it would have been easier to walk away. Life doesn’t slow down just because you’re trying to build something. I was working full time, balancing everything that comes with that, and still coming back to this project night after night. There wasn’t a roadmap. No guarantees. Just the decision to keep going.
What started as something personal became something bigger. Not just a single story, but a world I wanted to keep expanding. Something that could grow over time and actually mean something to people who step into it.
That’s how Ferret Run: Secrets of Arcadia came to life. It’s the first piece of a much larger story, one that deals with consequences, identity, and what happens when progress moves faster than understanding.
Today, I’m continuing to build that world, expand the story, and connect with readers who are looking for something with a little more weight behind it. This isn’t a one-off project. It’s something I plan to keep growing for a long time.
If I’m going to build a world people step into, I want it to be worth staying in.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, it hasn’t been a smooth road. Not even close.
This wasn’t something I could just sit down and finish in a few months. It took years to figure out what the story actually was, and even longer to figure out how to bring it to life the right way. I wasn’t just writing a book. I was learning an entire process from scratch.
And honestly, one of the biggest struggles wasn’t the technical side. It was me.
For a long time, I didn’t believe I had a voice at all. Not just a lack of confidence. I genuinely didn’t think I was someone who could do this. Writing a book felt like something other people did. People with talent, training, or some kind of natural ability I didn’t think I had.
There were stretches where I’d sit down, look at what I was working on, and think, “Who am I kidding?” That feeling of being out of my depth, trying to build something I had no business building, was hard to shake.
At the same time, there’s no instruction manual for any of this. You’re making decisions constantly with no way of knowing if they’re the right ones until much later. Writing, editing, publishing, marketing. All of it comes with its own learning curve, and you’re usually learning it while already in the middle of doing it.
On top of that, life doesn’t stop. I was working full time, handling everything that comes with that, and still putting time into this whenever I could. Most of the work happened at night, after everything else was done. It wasn’t glamorous. It was just showing up and doing the work over and over again.
There were definitely moments where it would have been easier to walk away. Times where progress felt slow or nonexistent, and you start questioning whether it’s worth continuing.
But over time, something shifted. Not all at once, and not in some big moment. It came from putting in the work, again and again, even when I didn’t fully believe in myself. Little by little, that voice I didn’t think I had started to form. And eventually, I stopped trying to sound like what I thought a writer should be, and just started writing the way I naturally do.
That’s where the confidence came from.
If anything, the challenges forced me to grow into it. They made me take it seriously and earn it. And looking back now, all of that was necessary. It’s the reason the story is what it is today.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Professionally, I’ve spent over 20 years in IT supporting thousands of users and solving problems every day. For me, it’s never just been about fixing the issue. It’s about the person behind it. When someone reaches out, they’re usually frustrated or stuck, and I take pride in being the one who can step in, communicate clearly, and get them back on track. I listen, I stay focused, and I follow through until it’s resolved. That’s the part of the job I care about most: making sure people feel supported, not just serviced.
That same mindset shows up in my work outside of IT. I’ve been building a long-term writing project called Ferret Run, a full story world I’ve been creating piece by piece. It’s a character-driven fiction universe that I’ve developed from a single idea into a published book, all while maintaining a full career. It requires the same persistence, problem-solving, and commitment to finishing what I start that I bring to everything else.
What I’m most proud of is seeing that through. Taking something from nothing to a real, finished thing is harder than most people realize.
What sets me apart is how I approach my work. I’m present, I take ownership, and I focus on doing things the right way, not the fastest way. My goal is simple: solve problems and leave people better off than when they came to me.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
If I could give any advice to someone just starting out, it would be this:
Don’t wait until you feel ready, because that moment may never come.
For a long time, I thought there would be a point where I’d feel confident enough to take things seriously. The confidence came from doing the work, not before it.
You’re going to question yourself. You’re going to look at what you’re building and think it’s not good enough. You’ll wonder if you’re the right person to be doing it. That doesn’t mean you should stop. It usually means you’re working on something that matters.
This takes longer than you think. Not weeks. Not months. Years.
And here’s the part that took me the longest to understand.
No one is coming to validate you.
No one is going to tell you that you’re ready. You have to decide that for yourself. You have to keep showing up and doing the work before anyone else sees it, before anyone else cares.
If something isn’t clicking, step away for a bit. Then come back and keep going.
Most people don’t fail because they aren’t capable. They fail because they stop.
So don’t stop.
Keep building. Keep learning. Keep showing up.
If you stay with it long enough, you won’t just improve. You’ll have something real to show for it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.authorgsfreeman.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorgsfreeman/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorGSFreeman
- Twitter: https://x.com/BizloksRetro
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BizloksRetroHour
- Other: https://www.patreon.com/c/BizloksRetroHour
Image Credits
my awesome illustrator David Leblanc
