Everyone's a Winner! Best Australian Blog denouement

Things got kind of busy there for a while, (denoue)mental, you could say. In my frenzy of real-life activity (yes, I do exist away from this computer) I missed blogging the exciting announcement of the Best Australian Blog finalists, and then the winner.

The finalists, then, in the Words and Writing Category were (in no particular order):

·       ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

·       Just Add Story 

·       Killings: The Kill Your Darlings blog 

·       PublishEd Adelaide 

·       The Book Post 

My personal favourite among the finalists (if anyone’s interested) is Just Add Story:  spare, clean writing, plenty of cleverness, and more than a pinch of writerly mystique too (Uh oh. Too late to re-anonymise D:D).  I feel a kindred-spiritedness with this blog, which examines the writing process from the inside, albeit with a different slant to Destination: denouement.  So my (imaginary) money was on Just Add Story to win.

So it’s probably a good thing, then, that I’m a writer and not an illegal bookmaker**, because the winner was ANZ LitLovers LitBlog. This is a massive, longstanding blog, chock full of reviews and commentary about Australian literary fiction (mostly).  The best new blog was Judging your breakfast, and the People's Choice went to TV Tonight, which received 785 votes, in a field where 17,250 people voted for their favourites among 940 blogs. Congratulations to these, and all the other category and award winners.

And as for Destination: denouement?  It was always going to be a long shot, wasn’t it?

I am, however, happy to announce that I received a vote from at least one reader who was not a) genetically or b) contractually related to me (nor even a facebook friend).

That’s got to be some sort of achievement.

I did however treat the whole competition as a massive blog-stomp opportunity, and found some great – mostly new – blogs in a similar vein to my own.  So, in my book, everyone’s a winner!   Congratulations to all those brave blogging souls who stepped up to the challenge just by participating.

And now all the excitement has died down, I can get over blogging self-consciously and get back to writing, about actual writing. 

** More on illegal bookmaking HERE.  

On being judged

This blog about writing has, it seems, veered more into writing about blogging.  

This is the result of the juxtaposition of the blogging workshop I attended earlier this week, and the Best Australian Blogs Competition 2012, in which DD is a nominee in the words and writing category.  So let's just call April blogging month, and trust that when the excitement dies down, Destination: denouement will resume a more writerly tone. 

In the meantime, I’ve been glued to my site analytics, trying to divine whether our distinguished competition judge(s) have passed through, but I am no wiser.  So, if you are reading this and you’re a judge, welcome!  Take a seat, make yourself comfortable.  Please take a moment to enjoy the Denouement ambiance.  Would you like a cup of tea? 

Old woman pouring tea, unknown artist...
by Black Country Museums @ Flickr

It is a strange feeling to know that your personal work is being assessed, critiqued, scored.  But as writers, this is an essential part of our métier.  Eventually someone will be reading what we have written, and deciding if it’s good or not.  Feedback is an important tool to improve our writing, and there are a number of ways to get it. 

Probably the least useful is to launch your untested work directly at its intended publisher in the hope of an encouraging reply.  Asking your proud mum/spouse/infatuated friend may not be very helpful either, unless these people have a literary bent and an uncanny degree of objectivity.  Instead it is better to find someone with experience or a shared interest in writing.  A writers’ group or feedback circle can be one way to find such people, even if this is online.

Receiving feedback in a group situation can be challenging, especially when you have sweated over several revisions of a piece.  It’s good to remember that many people will have many different opinions, and they can’t all be right.  You’re not required to agree with all of them, but do consider their merit.  Be thoughtful.  But also be pragmatic.  Not everyone will be prepared to push themselves into the space where they can understand what it is you were trying to do, especially if it’s different to what they are used to.  Feedback is just a tool.  You can pick it up, and you can also put it down when it’s no longer useful to you. 

Most importantly, criticism is only ever about the work that you've done, and not about you. Take a deep breath and separate the two.  This can be hard when you're just getting started.  That is when feedback can be most fraught but also most beneficial.  So be bold, and invite the challenge.  Treat it like the learning experience that it’s meant to be.  I don’t know if I'll ever discover the truth of exactly how Destination: denoument has fared in the Best Australian Blogs Competition (oh yeah, unless it WINS), but the rigour of being judged has done me some good, regardless.

Shameless plea - Best Australian Blog

In my ongoing quest to not come last in the Sydney Writers' Centre Best Australian Blogs Competition 2012, I would like to advise that voting in the PEOPLE’S CHOICE round is officially open.

PEOPLE – this means YOU.

CHOICE – you have one. It’s obvious.  Pick Destination: denouement.

It’s easy. Click on the VOTE FOR ME NOW button which will take you to the Voting Page.  Put a tick in the box next to Destination: denouement about 4/5ths of the way down the first page.

You can select as many blogs as you like, but you can only submit the form ONCE – so make sure Destination: denouement is clicked if you want to include a vote for me.

You can also ask all your friends/family/random strangers to do the same, using the share buttons at the bottom of this post, or the Twitter hashtag #bestblogs2012.

  

Apparently there are 940 eager hopefuls in this round.  This means there is lots of fresh and fabulous blogging going on, so even if you don’t vote for me, take a look at the list because it’s a great way to discover some new blogs to love forever. 

Just what is blogging?

Further to my recent aspirations for Destination: denouement to become a Best Australian Blog, I am thrilled to hear there will be a FREE blogging workshop at the South Australian Writers' Centre in April.


"I CAN HAZ BLOG?!"
|indoor| by arquera @ Flickr

Just what is blogging?

The Media Resource Centre, the SA Writers Centre and the MHCSA are proud to present a workshop on blogging on the 17th of April 2012 (YAY!).  The event will be held in the atrium at the SA Writers Centre and feature key speakers Louise Pascale and Jane Howard from the Media Resource Centre (Interesting).

Editors and moderators from mindshare Sarah Reece and Steve Clark will also feature an introduction on getting started as a blogger on line.

In this new world of technology and the internet, ordinary individuals are allowed the space to speak up - online in cyberspace. With seemingly one of the hardest parts of being a blogger – capturing people’s interest and attention in the constantly busy world of the world wide web (That’s what I said!)

Is blogging something you would be interested in doing? (Yes) Does anyone actually read what you write (Maybe… not) or are you just sending things off into the electronic cyber sphere for your own amusement? (Actually, I do it for my virtual future imaginary fans) … As a writer should you bother to blog or not? (Yes.  Obviously).

The evening will cover topics such as 'What a blog is' and 'why some people blog'. You will get tips on how to develop a following and keep people interested as well as some basics on how to get started and work your way around a possibly confounding new electronic age.

Perfect.  In fact they could’ve called it “Blogging for the clueless newbie” and it wouldn’t be any more perfect for me.  (Ok, maybe I’m being a bit harsh on myself.  Destination: denouement is already FABULOUS.  Clearly.  But it would be even better with a readership).

I especially love that this is a community event, born out of a collaboration that aims to support mental health.  Writing is such a powerful tool, for self-expression, for creativity and for enhancing wellbeing.  I believe passionately in the healing power of telling our truths, and hearing those of other people.  Writing allows us to connect with each other energetically, regardless of whether we ever actually meet.  And blogging is an amazing platform for writing – its flexibility provides endless possibilities for unique expression. 

So, yes!  I will be there (with rings on my fingers and bells on my toes) for this very valuable (and I'll say it again, FREE) blogging workshop in Adelaide.  I suggest you get along to it, too.    

Best Australian Blog?

I’m thinking of entering this blog in a competition.  And not just any competition. The Sydney Writers’ Centre Best Australian Blogs Competition.

Destination: denouement – a Best Australian Blog?  How terribly vain.  But I’m heartened by an award category for blogs that are less than 6 months old.  Mostly because Destination: denouement’s newness is its overriding characteristic.  All those hardened blog veterans can’t wave a virtual candle at my level of inexperience and gauche disregard for the conventions of blogging.

The main convention I’ve been flouting* is the one that the competition refers to as engagement.  The popularity-club side of blogging.  I’ve seen it at work in the world of wildly successful mummy blogs, some of which are fabulous.  Others are entirely vacuous and equally popular.  I know it has a lot to do with linking and commenting on other blogs, pushing content across platforms, and riding the fickle wave of popular attention through its erratic three-second shifts.  I understand how soc-med platforms work, but I’m just not very good at it.  Yet.

I’m just as gangly and socially awkward in soc-med circles as I was when I was trying to unravel the mysteries of teenage popularity at school.  I don’t know which was worse – that I didn’t have a clue about popularity or that I didn’t really care.  Despite this insouciance, I shot to the dizzying heights of rock-stardom years later in a library studies course.  I had all the right accessories – ninja search engine skills, smoking hot Dewey Decimal reflexes, and a brown cardigan.  I was the library studies poster child, but this popularity was effortless, not derived from any conscious effort or strategy.  

Blog engagement, on the other hand, requires consistent effort and strategy.  And time.  Whereas I have a cake-eating elephant slowing me down.  The other competition criteria are the quality of writing, and presentation and usability. 



SWC Best Australian Blogs - judging criteria

I will be entering Destination: denouement in the “words and writing” category.  There is also a People’s Choice award, which I am also (hilariously) going to enter, mostly because the irony will have me cackling on the inside for weeks.  Because I’m pretty sure that entering this category at all diminishes my already tiny likelihood of success.  But if you happen upon this post, feel free to humour me with a vote.  Even if it’s only out of appreciation for my sheer contrariness.

All of which amounts to a not very good chance in the Best Australian Blogs competition.  But there are benefits to entering anyway.  Like the possibility that someone like you might actually wander along and stop by for a read.  So I’d better get the place looking tidy and make sure I’ve got the tea and biscuits ready when you do.

*ETA:  flouting ≠ flaunting, which is what I originally wrote.  Edit, people!