Tall And True Short Reads

A Good Story

Episode 90 (1 April 2024)

My first “published” writing was an Enid Blyton-Famous Five-style adventure story, Sand Island, in 1972. I wrote the story and illustrated it with coloured Texta markers. My aunt, the only one in our family with a typewriter, typed up the manuscript. And my father helped bind and cover the book. I was ten.

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A Good Story

Show Notes

Season Four: Episode 90 (1 April 2024)

A Good Story is a blog post from the Tall And True writers’ website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.

Read the post and see my illustrations on Tall And True: https://www.tallandtrue.com.au/blog/a-good-story-sand-island

Podcast website: https://www.tallandtrueshortreads.com

Episode 88, Finding Inspiration (also mentions Sand Island): https://www.tallandtrueshortreads.com/finding-inspiration/

Support the podcast: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads

Buy Robert’s short story collections online:

Story Insight

I wrote this blog post, shared as A Good Story – Sand Island on Tall And True, in February 2021, one year before the 50th anniversary of “publishing” Sand Island as a ten-year-old in 1972.

As I revealed in the post, the story was inspired by my love of Enid Blyton’s adventure stories, my ten-year-old imagination, and my love of writing. It also helped that I didn’t have the modern-day distractions of computers, gadgets, and 24-hour TV.

I quoted paragraphs and dialogue from Sand Island in the blog post, which is why the writing and narration might sound “a little bit” immature. I also shared photos of my Texta-coloured illustrations in the post, including the four children in the boat rowing to Sand Island while singing, “Row, row, row your boat”.

I’ve included links to the Tall And True blog post in the Show Notes so you can read it and look at the illustrations. Between you and me, it’s just as well I stuck to writing and didn’t pursue a career as an artist!

I also mentioned Sand Island in Episode 88 of Tall And True Short Reads, Finding Inspiration.

I hope you enjoyed A Good Story. You can read all my blog posts, selected short stories, and other writings at TallAndTrue.com. You can also buy the Tall And True Microfiction anthology and my short story collections from the Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Kobo online bookstores.

The next episode of Tall And True Short Reads will be released shortly. In the meantime, please check your feed or the podcast website for earlier episodes from all four seasons, and follow or subscribe to the podcast, and rate and review it via your favourite app—doing so helps share my storytelling.

You can support the podcast financially by making a small one-off or regular donation via the Acast Supporter Page.

Finally, please share this episode with family and friends and tell them about Tall And True Short Reads and the Tall And True writers’ website.

Podcast Theme and Sound Effects

Royalty-free music from Pixabay.com: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 ‘Pastorale’ – IV. Rondo. Allegro ma non-Troppo, performed by Karine Gilanyan.

Sound effects licensed under Creative Commons 0 from FreeSound.org:

Production Notes

Tall And True Short Reads is produced using Audacity. Podcast episodes are recorded in Sydney, Australia, on the traditional lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation.

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Support this show: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads.

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