UK Blog Awards

The UK Blog Awards… how did that happen???

I never started my writing career for fame and glory. Some people take photos, others can speak for hours about their travels. Me? It was always easier for me to absorb the events and then reproduce them on paper.

It started almost 20 years ago as a letter to my brother, penned from a miserable German train station with kebab juice dripping down onto my pants.

That scared (and slightly intoxicated) young boy had no idea that almost 2 decades later he’d be sat at a very fancy event hall in The Grange Hotel, St Pauls, London.

I just wrote funny stories about the stupid situations I inevitably found myself in along the road.

I was altogether unprepared to be nominated a top 10 finalist in the very first UK Blog Awards.

Maturity came late for me, and so I was equally unprepared to become a top 10 finalist for the second year in a row in 2015.

If the gods of writing were trying to give me a sign, I’d had a little too much bubbly and I missed it.

Those kinds of opportunities don’t come around every day. They certainly don’t come knocking two years in a row.

Did I miss an opportunity? Could I have networked more? Could I have capitalised on the exposure and propelled myself to great heights?

Yes.

Did I learn anything from the experience? Absolutely.

Not all lessons are meant to be understood at the time.

I look back on my writing and yes, my stories may have been entertaining, but I wasn’t providing exceptional value to the Travel community. The other nominees were light years ahead of me in terms of budget, audience and content.

My writing has progressed a hundredfold since that time. I can genuinely credit the UK Blog Awards for that push.

Will I return? The field includes 6-figure blogs now and, although it may take a while, I’m confident in my abilities.