Patrick Matthews's Blog

“You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to” – Bilbo Baggins

Have you ever been on a trip and ended up somewhere completely unexpected?

It happens to me all the time. Last month, for example, my son and I explored a new hiking trail. On the way home, we discovered a Latin Festival. An hour later found us eating empanadas in a field, watching Spanish bagpipers. No, I don’t know why a Latin festival had Spanish bagpipers.

One of the most unexpected (and wonderful) attributes about being in critique groups is the extended network of fascinating people that I’ve met. Richard Lamb is a great example. Writer, editor, and designer, he’s not only ridiculously talented, he’s also a ton of fun to hang out with and a fascinating in-person storyteller with the sort of easygoing sense of humor that I envy. Also, he designed the cover for Emil, which is all kinds of awesome.

Let’s get to the questions!

In...

The number one question I’m asked about writing books isn’t about the mechanics of writing, or time management, or even generating ideas. Instead, my most asked question is how I keep myself focused for the months (or years) needed to finish a novel.

A short pithy answer would be to say that I embrace the journey, but without knowing my process, that’s kind of meaningless. So, let’s start with my process. Here are my four steps to writing a novel.

For Bradley’s ...

The garden is more peaceful than you expected, with gravel paths lined with brightly colored flowers. Hummingbirds and butterflies dance among the blossoms. A narrow creek burbles, passing in and out of dappled sunlight. Squirrels leap from tree to tree and chase each other around the statues.

You pause to watch, and when you return to the trail, she’s there, watching you. A doubt you never admit to feeling crawls across your spine, but it’s too late.

Her deep brown eyes gaze into yours, ...

Despite having shared stories for years, Stirling and I have never met face-to-face. Part of an extended writing group, we know each other primarily through our stories. Which, all things considered, is a pretty cool way to know someone. She’s an accomplished writer, poet, and painter, and I’m thrilled she agreed to answer my questions. You can learn more about Stirling on her site at https://stirlingdavenport.com/.

Onto the questions!

Poetry, science fiction, fantasy, childr...

Picture a middle-schooler slumping off the soccer field, soaked in sweat and splattered with mud, doing everything she can to not cry.

Soccer, when you’re in middle-school, is more than a game. It’s self-respect. It’s pride. It’s social standing. For many of the kids I used to coach, it was even more than that. Failing grades, broken families, gender confusion, bullying… The list of challenges those kids faced was broader and deeper than I could have imagined.

But on the soccer field, all...

Years ago, before any of my books had been published, I was invited into the kind of writing group that all unpublished authors dream about: five professional writers and me. It was an amazing experience that taught me a ton, and not just about writing. Margaret Reyes Dempsey was one of those writers, and she’s been a friend ever since. A former technical writer, she’s the author of the psychological thriller Mind Games and The Benefactor, as well as a fantastic Substack on practical spiritualit...

If you were to leave my house and drive north, you’d find yourself on a long flat bridge that’s low enough for you to see alligator eyes. They poke up out of the water like rocks, watch you for a few seconds, then submerge. Above the bridge is no less interesting. Its lamp posts tower above the road, so tall that osprey and bald eagles perch on them. If you pay attention, you might even see one dive off to catch a fish.

Crossing this bridge may sound fascinating, but once you’ve done it doze...

Have you ever wondered why one creative project catches fire and another doesn’t? Why some feel like work and others like play?

Me, too. All the time.

Lately, my mind’s been going back to a butterfly garden my sons and I built for my wife during covid. It involved loads of hard work and a ridiculous amount of failure.

How much failure, you ask? Well, for our first iteration, we focused on flowers that attracted butterflies. The strategy brought in a lot of butterflies, but the first cr...

One-two, three-four.

That’s my cadence. When I’m riding my bike and my body starts to fail, my world narrows to four simple numbers.

One-two, three-four.

“One” starts my right leg, pushing through pain to force the pedal down. When it reaches the bottom of its journey, “two” kicks my left foot into action. As my right foot rotates back to the top of the circle, there’s the briefest of pauses, so small I’m not even sure it’s real, and then “three” sends the right pedal forward. “Four” i...