Hi All!

Whenever I play, I always seem to be on the defensive when I feel like I should be attacking. I try to attack, but still feel like I'm up against the wall almost the whole game. 

 Any suggestions on an effective way to balance defense/offense?  If not, then can someone recommend a good "attack" book for beginners I can read? 

 Any help would be appreciated! Thanks! :)

I can give you some tips from my experience.

1.  If you seem to be on the defensive all the time, it could be you aren't challenging in the centre in the opening (I had this problem)

2.  Its no point attacking with no reason.  A quick way of checking if you might be able to attack is like this.  Count the number of squares you control in your opponents half of the board (control not occupy).  And vice versa. If you are, say +6, attack. If it is roughly equal, continue to build up first.

3.  if you are attacking without knowing standard attacking motifs you may be simply missing standard checkmates and material winning combinations.  Read a good book on tactics.  E.g. Winning Chess by Reinfeld and Chernev.

yeah, pawn structure is crucial.  I recently played a friend OTB who was technically ahead in material, but he had TRIPLED pawns, and I was able to easily pick them off one by one, then advance my own pawn and queen it.

Hehe, yeah that tripled pawn thing happens a lot in the Scothc for me. Pawns are the soul of chess... Whenever my opponent has a backwards or asolated pawn, I do everything I can to target it.