I didn't see this coming.
I turned on my Twitter feed a few days ago to some incredible news.
In Search of a Life Less Ordinary had been selected as a finalist in the personal/lifestyle category of the Best Australian Blogs 2012 competition organised by the Sydney Writers' Centre.
As one of only eight finalists in this category and chosen from 1,100 submitted blogs, it was the kind of news that made me stare at the screen of my laptop, mouth agape and eyes agog.
I'd completed the online application with no serious aspirations of any kind. This was a national competition that attracts vast numbers of highly talented bloggers from across Australia's blogosphere and my little website about my small journey was a far cry from the power bloggers attracting hundreds of comments and gazillions of page hits on any given day.
When the finalists were announced and my name was included, I sat and stared, maybe even dribbled slightly. The realisation kicked in that I was now a finalist in a major blogging competition run by writers and focused almost entirely on writing.
This therefore makes me good at writing what I write... right?
Photo credit: Steven Depolo (Creative Commons)
There are great writers out there
I'd like to believe I'm a strong writer but there's a lot of competition out there. A vast group of talented writers producing fantastic content on a regular basis.
Some make unbelievable noise, generate massive followings, receive comments by the bucket load, and gain enough page hits to make you gaze at their sites in awe.
Others won't ever be discovered. There are hugely exciting blogs down under that will never make it beyond their own small communities and many great writers that may never make it out from amongst the ever-increasing Internet chatter.
My own writing is just one small voice amongst this blogging cacophony and, judging by the calibre of the writing in this popular competition, I am up against some pretty competent scribes.
So how can I ever really know if what I write on this page is worthy of my readers' loyalty?
Feedback is king
As bloggers and writers, the most pressing dilemma is whether we write the kinds of things our readers want to hear about and whether we write this well.
The solution and veritable golden nugget is constructive feedback.
We can search for this through our blog post comments, but comments are generally positive in nature and I'll only occasionally receive a useful critique of my work or a positive suggestion to take a different direction. In all likelihood, my readers are less likely to be negative if there's a chance it could impact upon their perceived image and standing across the wider blogging community.
I get that, I do.
We can gauge our writing quality by page views and hits, but does this honestly tell us what we're doing right and where our strengths can be found? If I avoid posting for a week or two, I'll watch the page views rise. If I post 3 or 4 times in a week, I'll see the numbers drop.
I recently wrote about blogging frequency and, judging by the reaction, most of you agree that blogging more often doesn't make for better reading.
Maybe at the heart of good writing and blogging is reliable gut instinct and a knack for knowing what works well with a commitment to writing the very best you can.
Writing recognition rules
The truth is that it's impossible to ever fully know whether what we write is... well... right.
In a few day's time, the esteemed judges of the Best Australian Blogs 2012 will decide whether my writing stacks up and if In Search of a Life Less Ordinary should be more than a finalist.
Whatever the outcome, it's reward enough to know that a major city's writing center running a national blogging competition with a 70% focus on writing ability has chosen my work to be in its select list of finalists. It confirms that I'm on the right track and gives me growing confidence in my craft.
I'm forever grateful for this blog and the platform it's provided. I'm entirely appreciative of my loyal audience - expats, travellers, nomads, wanderlusts, the plain curious, and of course Sydneysiders and Australians alike - and the opportunity I've been given to share my search for the less ordinary, this life lived abroad.
My aim has always been to write well and seek a positive reaction to that writing. Becoming a finalist in the #BestBlogs2012 proves that I must be doing something right... right?
