The Good News and the Bad News

Good News

My post, Scared Silly by the Fairies, was a runner-up in Shelly Tucker’s contest over at This Eclectic Life.  Damien Riley did a fabulous job judging the entries, and then posted his own suitably scary story, which is well worth the read!  The overall winner of the contest was Robin, from Around the Island, with her post Treed, or rather staircased, and the other runner-up was  Cindee from CiNdEe’s GaRdEn with How I Scared My Daughter Silly.  Incidentally, you can read Damien’s interviews with both of them here and here.  I’ll be contributing my own interview just as soon as I get my act together!

The full list of entries for the contest is as follows:

• KatelynJane’s Notebook Scared Silly
• SusieJ entered Definitely something foul going on over there…from her archives.
• Crystal at Song Of My Soul entered from her archives “Hey, at least I can laugh at myself, right?”
• Marcia, at Tumbled Words entered “The mask, three prompts combined.”
• Jessica at Life As I See It entered a post from her archives, “It’s Here.”
• Penelope At Cafe at the End of the Universe wrote “The Bathtub Below.”
• Cyn at Rage Against The Cliche entered “The Tears of the Phoenix.”
• Robin at Around The Island posted “Treed, or rather staircased.”
• Amy Palko at Lives Less Ordinary added “Scared Silly By The Fairies.”
• Cindee at CiNdEe’s GaRdEn entered “How I Scared My Daughter Silly.”
• The Wandering Author wrote “Wake Up, Little Susie.”

Why not have a browse, be scared silly, and discover some great new blogs!

Bad News

The bad news is that my post, Only Connect: The Essence of Authority, did not win me the SOBCon/ChrisG prizes.  That honour went to the well-deserved post, Why you should win this contest – not me, by music industry blogger, Andrew Dubber.  I’m sure that everyone who attends SOBCon in Chicago this year will have a wonderful time, and I can’t wait to hear all about it!  As for me, I’m taking this as a sign that I need to concentrate on the completion of my phd.  You never know, maybe I’ll make it to SOBCon next year.

So congratulations to Andrew, and commiserations to the other bloggers who contributed some really thoughtful posts on what it means to blog with authority.  Why not go and pay them a visit and join in the conversation:

• Joanna Young at Confident Writing: Are You Inspired to Be An Authority
•  Bob Younce at The Writing Journey: Why I Am the Next Authority Blogger
• Scott Herrick at Cube Rules: The Cube Rules Secret Is Out
• Hartley B. Singer at 1800HART: This Is My Entry
• Jon Gatrell at Spatially Relevant: Authority Blogging? Surely Not I, YOU?
• David Rodgers at Confident1: Authority Blogging
• Easton Ellsworth at Visionary Blogging: Why The Visionary Blogger is the Next Authority Blogger
• Brennan Kingsland at Set Our Teachers Free: Why I’m the Best Candidate to Be the Next Authority Blogger

Also, an honorary mention must go to Roland Hesz at Fractured Bloughts, who didn’t enter the contest but contributed his thoughts on authority in his post Basis Of Authority: Be Authentic.  And also to Lorelle Van Fossen over at Blog Herald who posted  What Gives You The Right To Tell Me.

As with the other contest entries, do go and check the posts out and give your thoughts on what authority blogging means to you.

OK, now here’s your chance to share: What good news/bad news have you received recently? How will you celebrate the good news?  And how will you turn the bad news into something positive and good?