It’s an interesting saying, ‘living the dream.’ Sometimes, I feel it gets bandied around with the reckless abandon of a teenager in 2010 saying ‘YOLO’ … for absolutely everything. There’s a lovely bloke at work who says it whenever I ask how he’s doing. ‘Living the dream,’ he reckons. I admire his optimism, but we’re heading off to double year 9 then playground duty with no chance for a piss or something to eat. I’m not sure what dream he’s talking about. But I am, of course, being facetious, and that’s because, in many ways, living the dream isn’t too far from the truth. For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a writer… and I am one.
I am literally writing these words with my feet up next to a roaring fire, a dog at my feet, four baby chickens playing in a large cage next to me, my kids laughing in the other room, my wife heading home from work (probably via the bottlo)… and it’s Taco Tuesday!
So, this is a post of gratitude.
I am beyond grateful to be able to do this. I have stories rattling around my head like – to misquote Sir Terry – ‘a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide’, and people have read them! If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve read one or two of them yourself (or you’re my mum… hi mum!) so, thank you!
In two years, two books have been released through my lovely publisher, I’ve had a book launch (I would’ve had two if I wasn’t such a fanny), there are two more books on the horizon in the same series, there’s a self-published children’s book, and two Christmas novellas, not to mention a smattering of short stories and other bits and bobs. I’ve had my stuff read out on my favourite podcast (The Failing Writers Podcast), and my publisher recently sent my two novels to one of my favourite social media people (news still to come). There have been newspaper interviews, book reviews (a huge thank you to everyone who has reviewed anything I’ve written! It really means a lot), and ‘guest speaker’ appearances. Just last week I was contact by a school in the city to see if I’d like to do an author talk, and two days ago I walked into a bookshop and got to see my books in the wild… and sign them! If that isn’t living the dream, I don’t know what it is.
But the best bit… the absolute cherry on top of the cake covered in frosting that is my sticky and somewhat belaboured metaphor for gratitude… is when people talk to me about my stories. That is utter magic. That is added sprinkles and caramel sauce.
Okay, I’ll stop now.
But thanks! I am, in fact, living the dream, and I have many more stories to tell (those monkeys are a rascally bunch!) In fact, I have something up my sleeve for the very near future… and I can’t wait to share it with you.
Halloween fast approaches! Watch this space.
Thanks for reading