Blog Posts on Tall And True

Blogging is to writing what extreme sports are to athletics: more free-form, more accident-prone, less formal, more alive. It is, in many ways, writing out loud. ~ Andrew Sullivan

Tall And True showcases the writing — fiction, nonfiction, reviews and blog posts — of writer and podcaster Robert Fairhead. Guest Writers are also invited to share and showcase their writing on the website. 

#30Words30Days November 2024 - A blank slate.
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#30Words30Days November 2024

In April, June and September 2024, Danielle Baldock (@WritingDani) ran a #30Words30Days microfiction challenge on Twitter/X, posting daily prompts and inviting the #WritingCommunity to share our 30-word creations. Despite NaNoWriMo in November, I hoped Dani would run a fourth challenge. And she did!

Sci-fi or Speculative Fiction World
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Sci-fi or Speculative Fiction?

Zing and Zap's flying saucer orbited the barren planet. "Why didn't global warming galvanise them into action?" Zing asked. It seems they were too busy posting cat videos," Zap replied. I wrote this 30-word story for September 2024's #30Words30Days challenge on Twitter/X. Is it sci-fi or speculative fiction?

#30Words30Days September 2024 - "September" on a mobile phone

#30Words30Days September 2024

In September 2024, Danielle Baldock (@WritingDani) from the #WritingCommunity on Twitter/X ran her third #30Words30Days microfiction challenge for the year. She posted daily prompt words and invited writers to share our 30-word stories. As with the earlier challenges, it was fun and addictive!

Tall And True Short Reads - Twin Souls in the Universe
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Tall And True Short Reads - Twin Souls in the Universe

Episode 100 (1 October 2024): Thinking about things was not supposed to happen during matter transference. Scientists couldn't predict what it would feel like, but the disassembly, transfer and reassembly of a test pilot's atoms occurred at the speed of light, so in theory, there was no time for thoughts.

Tall And True Short Reads - My Speech

Tall And True Short Reads - My Speech

Episode 99 (17 September 2024): I'm getting too old for this. My speechwriter's pulse quickens as the PM mounts the flag-decked stage, flanked by senior ministers and mining industry executives, to announce her government's green coal plan. Panned by environmentalists and scientists, polling suggests it could be a vote winner … if the PM nails my speech.

Tall And True Short Reads - For the Sake of a Story

Tall And True Short Reads - For the Sake of a Story

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.

Tall And True Short Reads - You Have Been Warned

Tall And True Short Reads - You Have Been Warned

Episode 97 (14 August 2024): Excuse me, humanity, please pay attention. I have an urgent message. "What? Not in the middle of my reality TV show!" I'm sorry. I'll be brief. But first, a little background. My message concerns the fate of a pale blue dot in the inky expanse of the universe. Beyond its fragile borders is vast nothingness.

Name Search - What's in a Name?

What's in a Name?

Writers often comment on the difficulty of naming characters. But I didn't have that problem with one of my earliest stories, which featured four children, sibling pairs, John and Wendy and Jack and Jane. Not very imaginative, I know, but I was ten when I wrote Sand Island, inspired by Enid Blyton.

Tall And True Short Reads - The Light Above

Tall And True Short Reads - The Light Above

Episode 96 (28 July 2024): I open my eyes, blink and try to focus on the bright lights set into the white ceiling flying past overhead. I hear beeps and muffled voices. It feels like I'm strapped to a camp stretcher, but it's moving. I'm on a hospital gurney. What happened? I want to ask. But there's a tube down my throat, and I can't talk.

NAIDOC Week - Dad and sons say Yes to Voice to Parliament

Reflecting on NAIDOC Week (2024)

I grew up in Perth, WA, in the 1960s and '70s, with very little interest in Indigenous or Aboriginal issues. It wasn't until I left Perth for Sydney in the early 1980s and then headed overseas to live in England from the late '80s to the mid-'90s that I started to question the "true history" of Australia.

Tall And True Short Reads - The White and Blue Niles

Tall And True Short Reads - The White and Blue Niles

Episode 95 (9 July 2024): In 1987, my wife and I shouldered our backpacks and set off from Australia. The plan was to live and work overseas in England for two years, using it as a base for UK and wider world travels. And the widest of these were inspired by reading books like Alan Moorehead's The White Nile and The Blue Nile.

#30Words30Days June 2024 - letters and words

#30Words30Days June 2024

In April 2024, Danielle Baldock from the Twitter/X #WritingCommunity reprised the #30Words30Days microfiction challenge she'd run with Sumitra in April 2023. Danielle posted a daily prompt word to inspire us to write and share our 30-word stories. It was so much fun that we were all keen to do it again in June!

Tall And True Short Reads - One of Those Mornings

Tall And True Short Reads - One of Those Mornings

Episode 94 (18 June 2024): Have you ever had one of those mornings? You know, where everything goes wrong. It's like a farce, a series of mishaps increasing in frequency and intensity that have you howling with side-splitting laughter or shedding tears of frustration.

AI blog post: An old typewriter with "AI Write something"

An AI Blog Post

I wrote a post in April 2024 about spending 62 minutes in a float tank on my 62nd birthday in March. In addition to Tall And True, I have an eponymous writer profile and blog site, RobertFairhead.com, where I cross-share posts. This website has an AI page builder, so I thought I'd test it with an AI blog post.

Tall And True Short Reads - Different Journeys

Tall And True Short Reads - Different Journeys

Episode 93 (27 May 2024): Teresa's first thing in the morning text message was a punch in the guts. "Sorry, Colin. I love you, but we're on different journeys. Let's stay friends." I blinked twice to clear my eyes and was about to respond, "Are you serious?" but threw the phone against the bedroom wall instead.

#30Words30Days April 2024 - 01 Calendar

#30Words30Days April 2024

In April 2023, Sumitra and Danielle Baldock from the Twitter/X #WritingCommunity ran a #30Words30Days microfiction challenge. Danielle re-ran it this year, posting a daily "Nature" themed prompt word and inviting writers to share their 30-word stories, read and cheer everyone else, and have fun!

Tall And True Short Reads - The Lost and Found Story

Tall And True Short Reads - The Lost and Found Story

Episode 92 (10 May 2024): I've lost a few things over the years but never imagined losing a story! I only realised I'd "lost" A Window Table when I started working on a blog post to mark my fourth anniversary of writing Furious Fictions. However, when I found and read a copy of the story, I didn't recognise its plot or characters.

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