About the Blog

My name is Matt Marks, and this is my blog. If I had to sum myself up, I suppose I would have to consider the ways I spend my time outside of work. I watch Star Wars, read Tolkien, and play hobby board games like Carcassonne, Legendary, and Pathfinder. I try to live out the Gospel by going to Mass, helping out with the RCIA program at my parish, and learning more about my faith. And, of course, I do my best to be a good husband to my wife, and a good father to my son, Timothy. So I guess I would say I am a Geeky Catholic Dad (thus the title of this blog).

My son and I dressed up for Halloween

There are two reasons I am writing this blog - a long-term reason and an immediate one. For a long time, I have felt a desire to put my ideas out there. I had started listening to podcasts, and I thought it would be cool to produce a podcast of my own. But I don’t really know much about audio production. And I can’t always organize my ideas well when I’m speaking. Some of my favorite podcasters were very good about reading the emails they received and discussing them on their shows, so I started writing in to those shows. At the time, it didn’t really occur to me that writing was my preferred style of communication, or that I would enjoy having a blog.

Then, over the course of the past year, tragedy struck my family. My wife and I lost two children, Lucy and Elliot, to miscarriage. Lucy died at about 11 weeks in September of last year, and Elliot died at almost 17 weeks in February. In the wake of these horrible events, I did what I could to support my wife as she grieved our children. I had heard that in situations like ours, often the father’s grief would come in later, after the mother had recovered somewhat. I had been able to go back to work, and move on with life, but I hadn’t really processed my grief. I tried reading some books about loss, but there didn’t seem to be anything aimed at fathers who had been through miscarriage.

This past summer, my wife and I attended a retreat for couples who had experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss. At one point, we split up into two groups - fathers and mothers. I sat among a group of six or seven men, and we were each given the opportunity to share our stories. When it was my turn, I ended up talking for 40 minutes (over half the allotted time for the whole session), and I still felt like there was a ton I had left out. That’s when I realized that I needed to write a book. I needed to share my story, the thoughts and emotions that I had struggled with, the questions that I had asked and the answers that I had found.

So I started writing. And even though the book isn’t anywhere close to being finished, I started looking into how I would get the book out into the world. One author I asked for advice told me that in order for a publisher to even consider my book, I would have to have some kind of presence online. How could I expect to sell a book if no one knows who I am?

I ignored the advice at first. I didn’t really have anything to write besides the story I was telling in my book. But over time, I realized that I’ve been writing about things I love for years. I’ve written countless blog-post-sized emails to podcasts. The hosts seem to think my ideas are worth sharing and discussing. Either that, or they’re all just very polite.

So here I am, writing a blog. Some of my posts will be about the geeky things I’m into. Some will be about my faith, and some will be about being a dad. Often, these categories will blend together like a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey...stuff. Because, after all, I’m a geeky Catholic dad.

Throughout this process, I welcome interaction and conversation. So feel free to leave comments, or send me an email at geekycatholicdad@gmail.com. You can also Like, Follow, or otherwise interact with me on the GCD Facebook page, here. Or find me on Twitter here.

Navigating the Site
At the top of the site, there is a navigation bar. You've obviously figured out how to get to the "About the Blog" page, but here's some information about the other pages on the site.

With most of my posts, I include a GCD Pick - some form of media or product that I've enjoyed. If you click GCD Picks in the navigation bar, you can see a complete list of these picks.

Occasionally I will review a movie, game, or book. Not everyone will want to read these reviews at first (to avoid spoilers), or people might miss a review I've written a while ago. So if you click Reviews in the navigation bar, I've included links to all the reviews I've written.

One of my goals for this site is to reach out to other people who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant death. To see a list of the posts I have written on this topic, click Miscarriage Posts in the navigation bar. You can also find further opportunities for support and healing on the Miscarriage Resources page.

Amazon Links
I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This means my reviews, GCD Picks, and some other posts include links to Amazon in case you want to buy the product after reading my review. If you do make a purchase via my affiliate link, I'll get a few cents.

So if you would like to send a few pennies my way (which I use to pay for hosting the site), you can use my Amazon links to purchase any of the items I have recommended, or anything at all from Amazon. Alternatively, you can click the Amazon link here, and then proceed with your Amazon shopping.