I have ended up writing a story every day because I managed to earn myself a bonus year of life.

Somewhere between October 13, 2016, and October 13, 2017, I convinced myself that I was 37, and not 36, years old. During a trivia game with some friends, I was asked my age.

Having never been one to shy away from repeating the figure, I confidently replied that I was 37, to which my astutely mathematical friend responded that, since I was born in 1981, this was incorrect. In line with modern customs, I promptly asked my smartphone assistant to tell me my age. “You are 36 years old, Gregg,” the assistant responded in a slightly unsettling, motherly tone.

OK. So, I was never going to be a late-blooming mathematician, but, I did score a bonus year and that was pretty neat. It was August 2017, so I had up until October to figure out how to spend the additional 365 days that had been gifted to me. Although I jog and ride my bike regularly, I’m not an adrenaline junkie by any measure, so all the usual suspects such as bungee jumping or skydiving were out. I do love to hike, though, so maybe I could tick a few overseas hiking trails off the wish list; Iceland, the U.S.A, Japan? Although an enticing idea, hiking didn’t fit with the whole ‘bonus year’ theme, since it was an activity I might only commit to for a month or so. Also, working full time as a teacher of students with disabilities meant taking time off work, which I wasn’t willing to organise at that stage, either. Then came the camping trip.

My step-daughter, Ruby, usually sends herself to sleep with frightening ease following a story reading each night, so, while camping near our house in Tropical North Queensland
one night, she asked me to read to her before going to bed. We’d neglected to pack any of her picture books and it was therefore left to me to tell her a story. The plotline my mind
conjured up was about a young girl who, “Lived in the most beautiful castle in the world. Her name was Princess Ruby and her castle was so large that, one morning, she woke up
and didn’t know where she was!” This story would later become The Tale of Princess Ruby
and would be the first tale uploaded to my website.

Following the impromptu development on the plotline to Princess Ruby that night (I’m not ashamed to admit that I introduced a talking mouse to try and speed the events along…), I thought it would be great to type the story out just to have on hand. Then the idea struck me: Many of the artists and creators I have been influenced by have spoken of the virtues of creating something every day, so, what if I could tell Ruby a story each night and then upload it for others to share?

Whether the idea was good or bad, it stuck, and I couldn’t shake it. I had made some mock websites in a past life for a band I was in and for a photography business I pretended was going to be successful ‘at some point’, so, I paid for the rights to own http://www.greggsavage.net and went about setting up a blogging account. I typed out The Tale of Princess Ruby and posted it online. It was cool getting the two other stepchildren to punch my website into their tablets and read the story, so I already had an audience. Now, if I was going to do this for 365 days, I had to see if I could invent and type out another story the following night and The Tale of The Tall Man was born. Two stories down, I was pretty chuffed with myself.

Time to break for a few days until I ACTUALLY start the project. Then, my amazing mathematical talents kicked in again and I thought, well, if I keep going now, at least I’ll be finished earlier than if I started the project later.

The single biggest change that has occurred over the past 3 months has come from working alongside the very talented artist, Alisha Towers. Alisha has drawn the perfect accompaniment for many of the stories with the ambitious goal of completing an image for each of the tales in due course. Alisha understands the fictitious world I have created where characters sometimes explore humorous and philosophical ideas and, at other times, experience potentially meaningful events only to discover that their efforts have been all but futile. There are also several recurring characters appearing throughout the tales, though I make sure each tale can stand on its own.

Thankfully, through sickness and health, I have written every day for the past 106 days and I am now fortunate enough to be receiving views and messages from around the world every day. So, here’s to the next 259 stories! Provided I have my maths right this time, of course.

Thank you for reading.

Gregg Savage

About the author

Gregg Savage lives in Townsville, Australia. At night, when his day job is done, the kids are in bed and the house is quiet, he writesand publishes a tale for everyone to enjoy.

They are finished only minutes before being shared with you. There are no ‘backup’ stories, with the stories being inspired by something he has thought about or experienced that day. Each story combines humour, philosophy and imagination and are designed to entertain while encouraging acceptance and providing a fresh perspective to children on their daily experiences.

Gregg currently has a FREE  PDF of 101 Daily Tales available HERE

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