[Mathew Reuther]

Death. Despair. Ridicule.

 

[Mathew Reuther]

Details?

My writing was marginalized by my first two wives, who saw it as not a "real" job. During the lead up to my divorce from my second wife (after we separated) I made the decision to become an author. I started working on a book which highlighted the failures we can face in life, and the path we can follow to redemption. It was a story of a man and his son, who he was raising.

During the drafting of this novel my own child, our son, fell ill and died.

I didn't write much fiction for almost two years.

Then I took a contract to ghostwrite a novel. It hurt every day to work on a piece of literature. To be working the same muscles I had been at the time of his death.

But I finished it.

And that was when I decided that I was ready again. That I've come far enough to let myself create.

So It's been close to three and a half years since he died, but I'm on the path again. The path I chose to take in order to give both of us a better life.

I have two children with my third wife, and her endless support and enthusiasm for my writing. I write for them. I write for my departed son. And I write to give a hearty fzck you to everyone who doubted me, and told me I couldn't do it.

Because I can. I am. I will.

 

[Mathew Reuther]

Mathew - I'm sorry for your loss. I have a nine-year-old and simply can't imagine what you've gone through.

Thank you Lisa. I have one at 21 months and one at 5 months now, and though I miss their brother (who would be five and a half) daily, I don't have any choice but to continue on. That's how things have to be. We don't get to just give up.

 

[Mathew Reuther]

Okay, you know what? I was going to harp about the struggles I've had, broken by a few moments of triumph, such as my fiction sales and fan letters, and I was even going to complain about Amazon's recent removal of tags...then I saw this.

Nope. Nada. Not happening. Nothing I can offer remotely compares to that. I say that as a father of a lovely two year-old girl.

Very sorry, Matthew. It's a testament to your character that you're still at. I hope you stick with it.

Everything is relative.

Even a minor setback can seem difficult, and we only have our own experiences to draw from.

I have had pain in my life, but so have others.

What matters is that we get back up after our setbacks and press on. Which is all I am trying to do now.