Brilliance in Blogging: Thank you for your consideration

This is the obligatory blog awards post inspired by the many other blog award posts on the topic.   Special mention goes to DIY Daddy for his post on whether awards are just a popularity contest.  His post and the comments in response to it helped make my mind up as to what I wanted to do about the awards.

Fresh Voice

I have nominated myself for the Fresh Voice category in the Brilliance in Blogging Award

If you have read my post on self-confidence you will know that self-promotion is something that doesn’t come easily to me.  Self-deprecation and sabotage maybe but not being openly proud of my achievements (or even accepting them as such).

Awards / nominations can do one of two things.  They can raise the profile of the blog so that it reaches a wider audience and they can serve as recognition of the quality or impact of the writing.

The good thing about blogs is that you get instant stats on how many people have read a post and through comments you can see what people make of your writing.  The people who leave comments do so not because they have to but because what they have read makes them respond.

When you take part in link ups sometimes the responses can be…slight.  I’ve found that most of the people who leave comments on my posts don’t do that.

Mackenzie Glanville from Reflections from Me wrote this beautiful, supportive comment:

I think what you are doing, sharing, teaching, inspiring others is wonderful, I am not sure if you realise the power of your voice, of your words? You are clearly highly intelligent and that mixed with your passion is a powerful tool. If I can help you spread the word in any way don’t hesitate to email me.

My blog started as a way of trying to deal with the mess of emotions around the stillbirth of my twin sons.  I wanted to share my story and encourage others to do the same.  In that I have had success with people leaving heartfelt messages based on shared experience and building mutual support.

Over time the blogs have covered issues around maternity care, silly and not so silly rants against the callous, foolish and lazy.  It’s also covered my experiences in counselling in dealing with the loss of my sons and some of the history underpinning my grief.

I’ve condensed lots of information and research into something personal and accessible to a wider audience and raised awareness attracting the attention of charities and MPs.

I’ve been approached for guest posts on parenting and grief and memory.

My blogs are not a comfortable fit with most parenting blogs and often make for a jarring addition to some of the blog link ups I join.  But it’s through these link ups I find that behind some of the cheery posts there is a real sadness and that my blog can be an outlet for others to talk about some of those experiences without judgement or fear of being out of character of their home blogs.

Although what I write about is by turns incredibly sad or incandescent with rage I have enjoyed writing as a means of getting the chaos out of my head and converting my sadness and anger into something meaningful.

I have done so with a mix of honesty, horror and humour as well as lots of music.

For all those reasons, I deserve a nomination for Fresh Voice

It’s not all about me

I’m not so arrogant as to nominate only me though.  Blogging is nothing without its community and nominations and awards help to recognise that.

Inspire category – For blogs with infectious enthusiasm that encourages everyone around them to live and think better

Step forward Admissions of a Working Mother!  I know that she would strongly deny being inspirational but her posts on returning to work after maternity leave are inspiring.  All the more so when they are entitled Relocating my Balls after Maternity Leave.

Where I am now, I am not being judged on the probability of my fertility but the quality of my work. My employer knows I’m a good egg, worth investing in and so I’m starting to remember that too. In fact since starting my current job I’ve realised that I’m actually a better employee than I was before I had a baby. I’m suddenly so much more organised, I can plan the shit out of anything. My ability to multi-task is seriously on point, I used to work very methodically, start a task complete it, move to the next one, complete it, move on to another. Now I’m able to jump from one to another and back again and juggle twenty things at once

All this with a distinctly non-fluffy approach to inspiration makes her my nominee.

Writer category – For blogs that feature writing that makes it hard to stop reading or laughing!

There are many funny bloggers but the one that gets me every time with her wit, insight and terrifyingly detailed knowledge of historical torture methods is  R is for Hoppit.  She takes what could be an inane set-up of ‘Kids say the darndest things’ and makes it her own.

Family category – These blogs celebrate, amuse, lend insight and reveal a no-holds-barred look at family life.

Dadblog got my vote for his coverage and campaigning around issues such as shared parental leave, honesty and awareness raising about social isolation and the challenges of parenting and dealing with the changing emotions of children.

Readers’ Choice – This is your chance to vote for your favourite blogger who defies categorization, just because you love them!

I nominated 5 Little Doves for this one.  She always leaves great comments on my blogs and has published some truly heart rending, hilarious and thought provoking reads.  The latter really troubled me as it set off a whole range of mixed emotions.  What impressed me was her openness to use that post as a way of exploring her own mixed feelings and welcome views from both sides on what was an intensely personal experience.

Over to you!

Much like my Liebster Award post I’ll leave it in your hands to either tell me your own nominees for the awards or why you think you should be nominated or if you too took the step to self-nominate and how you felt about it.