About DaddyTales
What is DaddyTales?
Daddytales is the collection of stories that I am accumulating about being a dad. At its heart, it's simply all those tales that every new dad would love to spend every day telling to his friends. My life seems to be filled with these sorts of stories.
I've been sharing these stories online - and in print - for some time now. What started out as a hobby has turned into something much more fulfilling. But you're not here to read me trumpet about them. Go read the tales. If you're a new parent, they may help you avoid some of the mistakes I've made. If you're an old parent, I think you may get a chuckle or two out of seeing me stumble through what you've already mastered. If you're not a parent, well just sit back and enjoy.
What isn't DaddyTales?
Daddytales is not a traditional blog. You'll find no rants, no political commentary, no "I had eggs for breakfast today", none of that. I have nothing against those things. They're just not what I do.
Shouldn't they be called Daddy Tales?
Probably, but I liked the idea of creating a new word, so I call them DaddyTales. Daddy tales, daddytales, tales about a dad, stories about life with kids... I don't think it really matters what I call them. Do you?
How often do you write them?
I post a new DaddyTale (or daddy tale, if you prefer) every Monday and Friday by 9am. I'm happy to report that while I sometimes miss the 9am deadline, I've had very few unannounced outages since I started writing these. In fact, I'm averaging about one missed tale a year.
What's with the names?
When I started, I was paranoid about posting all that personal information on the web. Now that I've been doing it a little while, I'm glad that I used letters instead of names. It gives it a certain style that I've come to like. If you'd like to see the tales with names, send me an e-mail, and I'll make sure to notify you when the book comes out.
Are all the tales true?
Yes, all the tales are true. It's just the way things are around here.
How do you come up with them?
In the evenings, I ponder the day's events. If anything seems to be workable into a DaddyTale, I jot down notes about it. When I get a spare moment, I sit down at my keyboard and simply write the tale the way I would tell it to a live person. It gets stored on my hard drive, and then, after a little polishing later on, gets posted here.
For the Seminole Chronicle, the tales are written with more seriousness. I pay attention to (and make notes about) little details regarding everywhere we go, just in case a tale crops up.
There sure are a lot!
Yes, there are. I used to post them once a day, then three times a week. Now I post twice a week.
Why doesn't your wife feature more prominently?
She's asked me this question herself a couple times, and I don't really have a good answer. All I can say is that they're "daddy" tales, not "husband" tales. If I ever start up a husband tales site, she'll be the star.
Who is the author of DaddyTales?
That would be me, Patrick Matthews. I live in the Orlando area with my family (one wife, two kids, two dogs). Like all working parents, I juggle my time between enjoying my family and providing for it. You may have gleaned from the tales that I have two jobs. That's true.
I'm the president of Live Oak Games, a game company I started a few years back. We produce award-winning games that the whole family can enjoy (well, anyone 7 and up). You may have heard of SiegeStones™, Ice Lake™, Calaboose®, or StoryTellers. If not, you really should check them out. They're great games.
If you're a teacher or parent, you should also check out the Games for Educators web site. It's loaded with great ideas and resources to help you take advantage of the educational opportunities offered by all the amazing games out there.
For a couple decades, I was also the Director of Software Development for Brentmark Software. For those financial planners out there, yes, among other things I'm the guy that wrote the Pension & Roth IRA Analyzer and also the same guy that writes articles about RMDs and 72(t)s and all that fun stuff. You may have even used the RMD calculator I wrote for www.newrmd.com or the Roth Conversion Calculator I wrote for Forbes Magazine. In June of 2007, however, I left Brentmark to focus on Live Oak Games and my writing.
But really, none of that is relevant to the tales. What's relevant is that I'm a working dad with a great family, including two rambunctious children.