August 26th, 2010 - Matt Fitzpatrick
It was only a few months away from the big “40”. Funny, at the time I thought that I was on the verge of the Armageddon, but ultimately managed to muddle through.
It was challenging on a few levels.
First as a licensed captain and avid boater, Labor Day always signals that time when you’re in the eighth inning of the season. Pretty soon, your baby who currently sits so stately at the dock will be up on blocks and suffocating under shrink wrap.
Professionally, I was on top of the world, in the material sense anyway. I was still married, my daughters were 8 and 9, which are such great ages as they’re not babies by any stretch, but they’re still your little girls. Had the big house, the gorgeous wife, the boat, the BMW, trips to St. John. An alien looking down would say that I had it all.
However, like a lot of situations (as we’ve all learned from Facebook), things are not always as they appear.
My wife and I were quickly drifting apart (I initiated a formal separation two years later), and it was around Labor Day 2010 that as they days slowly grew shorter, my confidence in holding my marriage together, was suffering the same fate.
I knew that my storybook existence as I knew it was starting to unravel, and what should have been the time of my life, ending up as an evolving period of melancholy.
I hadn’t started writing my first novel (Crosshairs) just yet, but I knew since I was twelve years old that I wanted to be a novelist. My life in 2010 was not conducive to forging to be a writer, as one’s whole world in that time period consists of ballgames, Christenings and barbecues.
A writer’s life can be a lonely one, and unfortunately one where a certain level of selfishness is mandated. Thus, there can be casualties.
On August 26, 2010, to look ahead ten years, I would have not at all envisioned where my life may have turned.
Since then, some wondering things have happened. I jettisoned the horrible stress of the corporate world, settled to a more-laid back lifestyle on Cape Cod, enjoyed playing a role in a start-up solar/green energy company, and most importantly, am on the eve of releasing my second novel, Matriarch Game.
However, like most of life’s many gifts, there come attached price tags. I find myself divorced, and the pains of that I feel every day. Financially, I’m nowhere near where I was. But, by far, the worst price was the connection to my daughters. I love them both dearly, but with divorce, that connection and emotional intertwining is always compromised to some degree. In my case, it was at a high level.
Thus, I think that much that has happened to me which ended up shaping my first novel. The most shocking part of the first book is that I wrote it as a work of fiction. In reality, subconsciously, I penned an autobiography.
After walking away from a twenty-five career in corporate finance, Matt pursued his lifelong dream of becoming a novelist. He grew up in a politically connected Boston family, and much of his unique upbringing is reflected in his gritty, nasty and twisted, humorous writing. Matt’s other interests include boating, scuba diving, tennis and is a lifelong rock music fanatic.He is the proud daughter of two college-age daughters. Matt lives on Cape Cod.
Matt wants you to check out the Gary Sinise Foundation. Visit www.garysinisefoundation.org.