12+ Episode 98 (1 September 2024): The local dog club, where I volunteered as a trainer for twenty years, ran season-ending Fun Days with events like Fancy Dress, Agility Slalom, Waggliest Tail, and other novelty races that changed from year to year. One of my favourites was the Sack Race, where my dear old dog and I always placed third.
Listen now on Acast
I wrote For the Sake of a Story in December 2018, comparing the lengths I'd "hop" to for third place in the annual sack race at my local dog club and in "killing my darlings" when writing, both for the sake of a good story.
Dear old Harry crossed the "rainbow bridge" in October 2011. He was such a big part of my life for a dozen years that I also wrote a blog post dedicated to him approaching the seventh anniversary of his death in September 2018, My Good Dog and Muse, Episode 72 of Tall And True Short Reads.
In the post, I recount a favourite quote by Agnes Sligh Turnbull, "Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really." I also observed how Harry had brought so much joy into my life that it seemed wrong to feel sad about him. But as other dog lovers know, that's not how grief works.
Background Scratching
If you can hear heavy breathing or scratching in the background of this episode, it's my current dear old dog, my almost 13-year-old black lab, Jet, who brings joy to my life as dear old Harry did — and likes his treats, too!
PS. I held off releasing this episode on Tall And True Short Reads until the 1st of September, 2024, to mark Jet's 13th birthday.
Links to Posts
There are links to all these posts on Tall And True in the podcast's Show Notes — For the Sake of a Story includes a lovely photo of Harry and me in the Balance-a-Frisbee-on-Your-Head-and-Squeeze-a Ball-Between-Your-Legs Race … before he notices the ball!
And there's a link to a post with Jet sleeping on his mat in the home office podcast studio.
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Spread the Word
I hope you enjoy this tail-wagging episode on the Acast player (above), the podcast website, and all popular podcasting apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. You can read For the Sake of a Story and all my posts, selected short stories and other writings on Tall And True.
You can also buy my short story and microfiction 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, search your feed or the podcast website, TallAndTrueShortReads.com, for earlier episodes from all four seasons. And please follow or subscribe to the podcast and rate and review it via your favourite podcasting app — doing so helps other listeners find my storytelling.
Finally, please share this blog post and podcast episode with family and friends and spread the word about Tall And True Short Reads and the Tall And True writers' website.
© 2024 Robert Fairhead
N.B. You might also like this post introducing Tall And True Short Reads - Season Four.
Robert is a writer and editor at Tall And True and blogs on his eponymous website, RobertFairhead.com. He also writes and narrates episodes for the Tall And True Short Reads storytelling podcast, featuring his short stories, blog posts and other writing from Tall And True.
Robert's book reviews and other writing have appeared in print and online media. In 2020, he published his début collection of short stories, Both Sides of the Story. In 2021, Robert published his first twelve short stories for the Furious Fiction writing competition, Twelve Furious Months, and in 2022, his second collection of Furious Fictions, Twelve More Furious Months. And in 2023, he published an anthology of his microfiction, Tall And True Microfiction.
Besides writing, Robert's favourite pastimes include reading, watching Aussie Rules football with his son and walking his dog.
He has also enjoyed a one-night stand as a stand-up comic.
