The Decaying Mind and These Eyes of Mine (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781978025073)

T.B Rathwell is a pen name I have chosen to write under as I do not wish to have my life as a writer blur into my daily life as a seemingly happy and functional person. Some of the issues I write about are things that I hold deep inside myself and I would hate to have people in my personal life to know these things about me. I am a normal person who goes on with my daily life, like most others, pretending like everything is fine and wearing a smile. I wouldn't want my friends or family knowing that I am holding these feelings of grief and sorrow inside. I do not enjoy attention, nor do I want people worrying about me, so I keep all this bottled inside which I am sure is very healthy. These stories are a collection of writings, a mix of fact and fiction inspired by real events that I have been composing between the ages of 13 and 30 years old. It started off as a personal project, as a way for me to get my thoughts out and help cope with the struggles and tragedies I have endured in my life. I have always kept my writings very secretive and hidden away, and never in my life thought I would ever publish any of this. As I have always turned to poems and music during my times and suffering, I know what an impact words can have on my life and how simple words on paper have helped me through some hard times, so that is why I decided to publish. I have no intention of getting rich from this, I am simply writing it in hopes that if even just one person picks this up someday, and it helps them through a hard time in their life, that would be more than I could ask for. If my words can touch someone as profoundly as I have been moved by pieces of literature, that would be very fulfilling as I just want to live in a world where nobody hurts and I want to do anything I can to help someone through hard times. From a young age I had developed a deep depression, anxiety, and bouts of severe insomnia, these traits have mixed not so well with situations and tragedies that have played out in my life, and this cocktail has fuelled the writing in this series of stories and poems.