Writing

Creative Writing

Matthew has always considered himself a writer and story-teller. He started by telling stories around the campfire and chronicling his family history (with some slight embellishment).

His writing is influenced by Ernest Hemingway, Edgar Allen Poe, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, D.H. Lawrence (see favorite excerpts from Women in Love) and William Faulkner.

Also, he is fan of science fiction and fantasy, including authors Isaac Asimov, Gene Roddenberry and J. R. R. Tolkien. He often ask others the question posed by Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: "What book would you commit to memory to save it from being forgotten?"

Matthew spent the summer of 1987 writing and took a creative writing class with Lee K. Abbott at CWRU, who also helped shape his style. He has also hosted an annual Evening of Poetry since 2005. His favorite poets include E. E. Cummings, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Charles Bukowski.