I’m a really serious guy. Actually, I’ll repeat that, with a slightly more Aussie touch. I’m a really serious bloke.

No, what? You don’t believe me? But it’s true, and I’ll tell you why.

I write books. Real books. You can pick one up and skim through the pages. That’s a pretty serious endeavour in my eyes. Some of those books are quite long. One is even 200 pages. Ok, so we’re not talking epic Game of Thrones style long, but that’s pretty long for me. And I reckon anyone who can write a book as long as that has to be pretty serious about this whole writing thing.

All right, so maybe what is actually in my books isn’t exactly serious. There are more than a few jokes in there. Some of them are even quite good jokes. Some of them are good in a “so bad it’s good” sort of way. Often they’re the ones I like the best. But even if there are non-serious bits in my books, that doesn’t make my being able to write them any less serious. Hey, I’d even say that the level of seriousness required to fill a long (or at least 200 page long) book with “so bad they’re good” jokes is actually pretty high.

All right, I’m glad we got that sorted. I think I’ve provided adequate proof that I’m a serious sort of bloke. Having said that, I think there’s another important distinction I need to make. Even though I am a serious bloke, that doesn’t mean I actually take myself seriously.

In fact, most of the time the opposite holds true. If anyone is going to make fun of me (or take the piss as we Aussies like to say) the chances are it’s going to be me before anyone else. I know I’m only a little person in a big world. I know I generally have very little idea about what is happening around me. I know that what I’m producing could hardly be described as great art. When all of that is considered, it makes no sense to take anything that I say or do too seriously.

So there is the disconnect. I’m a serious guy who doesn’t take himself too seriously. And that’s the way I’d like the rest of the world to look at me as well. I’d like to think that all of you people out there can make at least a little effort to take me seriously, even if I don’t.

Is that too much to ask for?

In the meantime, have a good (and not too serious) week.