Scott Adams
Scott Adams changed my life for the better, just because he could.
On May 22nd, 2007 (Eighteen years ago!) Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert (which I enjoyed religiously every day for years), wrote to tell me he liked Basic Instructions.
He and I exchanged emails. Reading back over them now, I’m embarrassed. I feel like mine reeked of desperation. Don’t get me wrong; my job at the time (being a bellhop and trainer at the Tower of Terror at Walt Disney World) was my favorite day job I ever had. But honestly, it involved wearing a polyester bellhop costume in the Florida heat and smiling while being talked down to by snotty teenagers for 8+ hours a day. The idea of my weird little web comic turning into a viable full-time or even part-time job was just a dream.
He decided to use his blog to see if we could turn Basic Instructions into something that a comics syndicate could sell to newspapers. The answer to that question was a resounding “no,” but the experiment was not a failure. He got a few weeks’ worth of content, and I got a site-breaking flood of traffic, attention, and a ton of new readers.
While I was struggling to keep my site up during the initial onslaught, he sent me an email asking, “How does this feel?”
It felt amazing, miraculous, and life changing.
I managed to keep the new readers, and gain more, which led to a book deal for a comic collection, a calendar deal, a paid subscription service, and enough of a following that I was able to write a successful novel. We fell out of contact, primarily because I felt like I had bothered him more than enough.
Eighteen years later, I’m sitting in my home in Portugal. My job is writing novels and producing a weekly comic. I hope I would have gotten here without his help, but I didn’t have to find out, because I did have his help.
I will always be grateful to Scott Adams.
