diff --git a/src/main/java/software/amazon/cloudwatchlogs/emf/sinks/TCPClient.java b/src/main/java/software/amazon/cloudwatchlogs/emf/sinks/TCPClient.java
index 3ae7f43a..1805f551 100644
--- a/src/main/java/software/amazon/cloudwatchlogs/emf/sinks/TCPClient.java
+++ b/src/main/java/software/amazon/cloudwatchlogs/emf/sinks/TCPClient.java
@@ -51,9 +51,7 @@ protected Socket createSocket() {
 
     @Override
     public synchronized void sendMessage(String message) {
-        if (socket == null || socket.isClosed() || shouldConnect) {
-            connect();
-        }
+        checkConnection();
 
         OutputStream os;
         try {
@@ -65,13 +63,22 @@ public synchronized void sendMessage(String message) {
         }
 
         try {
+            // Write a space to the socket to verify connection before sending event
+            os.write(32);
+
             os.write(message.getBytes());
-        } catch (Exception e) {
+        } catch (IOException e) {
             shouldConnect = true;
             throw new RuntimeException("Failed to write message to the socket.", e);
         }
     }
 
+    private void checkConnection() {
+        if (socket == null || socket.isClosed() || shouldConnect) {
+            connect();
+        }
+    }
+
     @Override
     public void close() throws IOException {
         if (socket != null) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/software/amazon/cloudwatchlogs/emf/sinks/TCPClientTest.java b/src/test/java/software/amazon/cloudwatchlogs/emf/sinks/TCPClientTest.java
index ccbf4a44..e22048cc 100644
--- a/src/test/java/software/amazon/cloudwatchlogs/emf/sinks/TCPClientTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/software/amazon/cloudwatchlogs/emf/sinks/TCPClientTest.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.ServerSocket;
 import java.net.Socket;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
@@ -45,7 +46,24 @@ protected Socket createSocket() {
 
         String message = "Test message";
         client.sendMessage(message);
+        client.close();
 
-        assertEquals(bos.toString(), message);
+        assertEquals(message, bos.toString().trim());
+    }
+
+    @Test(timeout = 5000)
+    public void testSendMessageWithSocketServer() throws IOException {
+        TCPClient client = new TCPClient(new Endpoint("0.0.0.0", 9999, Protocol.TCP));
+        ServerSocket server = new ServerSocket(9999);
+        client.sendMessage("Test message");
+        Socket socket = server.accept();
+
+        byte[] bytes = new byte[1024];
+        int read = socket.getInputStream().read(bytes);
+        String message = new String(bytes, 0, read);
+        socket.close();
+        server.close();
+
+        assertEquals("Test message", message.trim());
     }
 }