Scott Neil chose journalism as a career because he loves writing. He studied in England and Los Angeles, and began working for newspapers in 1990. He worked for a few months in Moscow, and joined The Royal Gazette in 2005, first as a senior news reporter, then as a business reporter, and now as a sub-editor.

"Over the past 19 years journalism has allowed me to write about some truly fascinating people and events," is how he sums up his career to date.

Beyond the news stories and features published in the line of duty, there were many other tales which Mr. Neil felt should also be shared, among them his personal travels, adventures and experiences, and of course the interesting people he met along the way.

With each passing year the list grew and grew, as did his intention to write a book.

Finally, in March this year he decided to get to work. He settled on a format of short chapters which could be read in no particular order, and set himself a deadline of November, 2008.

Now, eight months might seem an ambitious goal for a busy journalist with other interests to successfully commit almost two decades worth of material to paper in what little spare time he had, but Mr. Neil is a dedicated writer who, once he sets his mind on a particular goal, remains totally focussed until it is achieved.

"I knew if I just wrote one page a day I'd make it," he says. "Of course, some days I'd write far more, other days nothing at all.

"Being laid up with a foot injury since late June meant I could not indulge my favourite pastime – running – so all that extra time helped."

Of his chosen format, Mr. Neil says: "The idea was to create a book which is easy to pick up and put down, especially for travellers, when you just want to read a short chapter and then drift away and look out of the airplane window, or whatever. That's what I often do. The widely different subject matter and fairly short chapters are designed for that.

"There is no chronological order, or mandatory way of making your way through the book, except for the short novel, 'Dolphin Girl', in the third quarter of the book."

Yes, you read correctly. In addition to his wide-ranging collection of stories, 'Eating Clouds' also includes a novel. Talk about value for money!

" 'Dolphin Girl' is set in the hard-drinking culture of inner Scotland, a place where I grew up until the age of 10," the author says. "Despite some bad language used, it is a fun story, and one that I've been honing for a number of years, including writing the fiery character Suzy back into the story. A friend who read an early draft thought Suzy deserved to be a main character, and not one that was dropped after three chapters. She was right."

Overall, Mr. Neil sums up his book as "a hybrid".

"I don't think it's been done before – mixing interesting and off-beat journalism articles with autobiographical life stories; from hitch-hiking and working in Australia for a year, to stories I've gathered from more than 10 years of regular visits to Los Angeles, including that of an installation artist who made 5,000 angels and spread them around the streets of the city on the anniversary of the Rodney King riots in 1992. There is also a chapter on my sporting passion of road running."

Mr. Neil estimates that about one third of his 341-page book is "Bermuda oriented". The stories include a lengthy article on John Lennon's final summer holiday spent on the Island in 1980, and the author's own light-hearted impressions of life during his first year on the Island, "culled from regular despatches to friends around the world".

"I have an interview with Dr. Ewart Brown before he became Premier, another with environmentalist Robert Kennedy, Jr., and a chapter on former Bermuda TV news journalist Sangita Iyer, to whom I gave assistance as she made her EnviroShorts TV documentaries," he says.

The stunning colour photograph of John Smith's Bay by Lucy Hollis on the cover of the paperback gives instant visual appeal, while Mr. Crombie confirms that the author's style is arresting and the book a pleasure.

'Eating Clouds' is currently published through lulu.com, an on-demand publisher.

"You upload your content, and the lulu sells through the Internet and various booksellers, such as amazon.com," Mr. Neil advises. "The books are only printed when an order is made, even if it is just for a single copy. The beauty of that is that there is not some huge stack of books collecting dust in a warehouse. It's a pretty environmentally friendly operation, and it is the literary equivalent of the independent record labels of yesteryear which opened up opportunities to countless creative musicians, as YouTube is doing today for film makers. Lulu.com is even being used by Euro MPs, actors and others as the fastest and most immediate way of making their work available to the public."

The author admits he would like to see 'Eating Clouds' on sale at airport lounge bookstores because he sees them as "the natural setting", but says making the book available through lulu.com "is a good way to get feedback, and see how much potential the idea has". He is also pursuing a literary agency in New York "to see if there is some major publishing house interest".

Meanwhile, copies can be ordered online through www.eatingclouds.com. The Bermuda Bookstore will also have a limited supply, and the author can be contacted via The Royal Gazette (sneil@royalgazette.bm).