Interview With Author Matthew Brewster

 

 

1. What inspired you to write this book? I honestly never intended to be a writer at all, but my life had different plans for me. When I was 17, I had a massive brain bleed from which I was not expected to survive. When I did survive, I had fewer abilities than a newborn child. As a result, after five months in the hospital, I spent most of the next 8 years in on and off again therapy. Still today I am striving to re achieve some of those lost abilities. When I first started writing this book, it was more of a frustrated journal for me. I was just writing down what was going on while I tried and failed at many of these tasks that were previously so easy. After literal years of this, it became a book and I published it!  

2. What exactly is it about and who is it written for? When I published this book, I wanted to reach out to those who had experienced brain trauma of any sort. It did not take me long to realize that there are not many who have survived similar injuries and setbacks. After publication in August of 2022, I cannot count the number and variety of people who have reached out to me to share that they were aided by my book. The most recent person was someone who was suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's. They were inspired by the way that I relearned how to remember things and were trying to regain their own the same way!  

3. What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book? I hope that anyone who reads my story will realize that the impossibilities in their own lives are not actually impossible. In the introduction of my book, I do stress that some things are just impossible, like flying without external aids. But we can always strive to achieve things that are considered impossible, and I hope that any reader of my book will feel that way! 

4.  How did you decide on your book’s title and cover design? I decided on the title, Impossible? because that’s the sentiment that was expressed to me frequently throughout my recovery. If you read my book, you can definitely tell that many people felt that way about a variety of activities. The artwork, while amazing, is not actually my own. My dad found an artist to do it for me, and I approved it!  

5. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers – other than run!? For other writers I would just recommend not stopping. I have a full-time job, and this book while short still took me years to complete, but if I had just stopped, it would never have been finished.  

6. What trends in the book world do you see -- and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading? I see a trend towards more non-fiction books, in comparison to when I was younger everything seemed to be science fiction and fantasy. Granted, that could be because I was simply looking for those genres versus where I am looking now.  

7. Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when writing this book? The eight plus years of trying to achieve what many deemed impossible is why I wrote this book. Consistently being a contrarian and refusing to accept my own limitations is why I was able to write this book in the first place!  

8. How would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing similar to? My writing style initially just started out as an outlet, which developed into a diary, and finally with a lot more editing a book!   

9. What challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book? One challenge that very nearly stopped me from writing this book was the first edit, which was actually done by my mom. I don't have a degree in English and I've never really loved writing. As a result, the book was a bit rough. Even though I did spend what seemed like an enormous amount of time on the first draft. My mom pulled very few punches when she edited the first chapter, and I can remember feeling pretty awful after that first round.  

10. If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours? There are so many reasons to would buy my book, but I think the most concise reason is this is a book that will give you hope. And it's all real - pure honest sharing of my journey. There are chapters in there covering things I have not yet achieved, but each those have an upbeat tone. I believe that there is so much negativity and bad news in world today, and a story that shows that there is a reason to get up each day with hope might be just what we need!

Though Matthew Brewster never intended to be an author, his works are a great lesson for all of us. Reading through the pages of his books gives all of us a chance to think about who we are and who we want to be. See more information at: www.inspiration-everywhere.com

 

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter @theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.3 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. He has been featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald. For more information, please consult: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.