From Crappy Jobs to Viral Dad. The Journey of Matt Coyne. The Writing Community Chat Show.

About the authorBorn and raised in Sheffield, in the week before leaving school Matt was asked by his careers teacher, Mr. Marron, what he wanted to be when he left. When he replied that he wanted to be a writer, Mr Marron said "Well Coyne, I wanted to be Burt f*cking Reynolds". He then handed Matt an application form to become an apprentice fitter of gas cookers. Dreams suitably crushed, Matt became a poster-boy for staying in full-time education, by doing a succession of genuinely crappy jobs. Variously, he has been a toilet roll packer, turnstile-operator, cardboard box folder and a sorter of coat-hangers for Burton Menswear. Matt has been sacked a lot.After a couple of years, he returned to education to obtain an English degree from Manchester Metropolitan University. Completing his dissertation on French feminism in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. An academic piece of work that proved that Mr Marron was probably right all along.From University, Matt drifted into the graphic arts. As a graphic artist in Doncaster, he saw little of the glamorous side of design and his last task as a jobbing designer was to photoshop the weeds and cat-sh*t out of 24 pictures of block-paving. This was the job that, in 2007, led him to quit and set up his own print and design company. He has been serving the businesses of Sheffield with a consistently mediocre service ever since.In September 2015, Matt became a father for the first time, to Charlie. And woke up. After three months of dealing with the missile of chaos that is a newborn, he posted his thoughts online. And, in January 2016 these thoughts went viral. The original post was shared over a hundred thousand times and was featured in newspapers and on television across the world. (He even appeared on Australian breakfast TV, sandwiched between an item about a world record-breaking whip-cracker and a news story about a man who lost a toe on some dodgy patio furniture).Becoming a parent is the greatest, weirdest and most humbling thing that Matt, and his partner of twenty years Lyndsay, have ever experienced. And, if you read the above it's easy to see why. Not only has Charlie proved to be the love of their lives, he has also provided the inspiration for Matt to write about something that people want to read about.. and perhaps ultimately prove that Mr Marron was an idiot.In the months following the original post, Matt created a facebook blog page entitled Man vs Baby and has 150,000 followers who check in regularly to see his most recent parental discoveries and failures.Matt is also a singer/songwriter with the band 'Terry and Dead' and has appeared on compilation albums with Paul Heaton, Billy Bragg and Sleaford Mods. He also recently achieved online virulence with his letters to famous people and enjoys generally being a smartarse online.. where bigger boys can't hit you in the face.Matt lives in Sheffield with his son Charlie, his partner Lyndsay and a Jack Russell terrier with 'issues' called Eddie.Frank And Red is our March book club read. BUY FRANK AND RED HERE: https://amzn.to/3uCkyXVFacebook: /manversusbabyTwitter: @mattcoyneywww.manvsbaby.co.uk______________________________________Find out more: www.TheWritingCommunityChatShow.ComTHE WCCS – TOGETHER AS ONE WE GET IT DONE!If you would like to advertise your #book on the show, to enroll in a book launch interview, or to have a WCCS social media shout out, visit here: