Ooh, I feel all invigorated gentle reader. Not physically of course; Lord no! Physically I feel like I’ve tried to stop a runaway train with my bare hands. Why only yesterday I came arse-clenchingly close to passing out and measuring my length on the floor of Trevor’s Discount Store in front of about ten people and had to go and stand outside and be supervised by a very helpful and concerned looking lady from Essex until I felt better whilst my wife made the purchases.

Now, that’s what I call embarrassing!

No, the invigoration I’m feeling is more of a sense of achievement and self esteem and, more importantly, an urge to get myself sat in front of the laptop more often and get some bloody writing done.

I mentioned on this ‘ere blog recently that I had signed up to Substack, I even left a link for you to check it out if you recall. I hope you did. Anyhoo, I’ve published my first short story on that particular platform and the feedback I have received from pretty much everyone who has read it has been 100% positive.

People have loved it.

So yes, I now feel like it’s given me something of a shot in the arm, or should that be kick in the arse? Either way I feel mightily inspired to get the next one written and to try and be as prolific with it as I can; especially once I start getting paid subscriptions – which is what Substack is all about at the end of the day – a way for writers to get paid for what they do as, contrary to popular belief, we don’t exist on fresh air and tap water.

The story is called Jessie. It’s about an old soldier who has his faithful old companion dog (the titular Jessie) cruelly taken from him and the retribution that he delivers to the perpetrator. I won’t go into too much detail other than to say you can read it HERE.

It’s not a comedy story by any stretch of the imagination and if you read it in the hope of getting some Joe Wilkie-esque style belly laughs from it then you are going to be crushingly disappointed my friend.

What it is is a 2500-word heart-wrenching tale with a bit of a shock at the end.

Why?

Well, I wanted to stretch my literary muscles a bit and try my hand at something else for a change. I don’t want to be stuck in a rut or pigeon holed. I mean, yes, of course, I want to be known as “that funny bugger who writes comedy novels” but in order to make a living in the cut and thrust world of independent publishing one has to branch out in other directions as well. And that’s what I’ve done with Jessie.

As I say, the response has been overwhelmingly positive and one comment in particular from the wonderful blogger, Shannon Landers of Pages, Wicks and Sips, stated that even though it was a departure in genre it was still unmistakeably my style and that she would have recognised it was my work without my name attached to it. That’s one of the nicest things I think anyone has ever said about my writing style.

So please do have a read of Jessie. It won’t take you long – maybe five or ten minutes and I think you’ll be rewarded for your time by a short yet powerful piece of literature. And, whilst you’re there, subscribe to my Substack as it’s still free to do so.

Incidentally, if you’re ever in Settle town centre then do visit Trevor’s. It’s a terrific little discount shop with some incredible bargains to be had. Just do me a favour and try not to faint while you’re in there.