Tower of London

I was so excited this morning after reading an email telling me that my lens about the Tower of London had won the very first Barker’s Best award from the Carnival of the Squid.

I’ve never had a proper training in either writing or making web pages so I always have a bit of an inferiority complex about what I do. It doesn’t matter that I used to be commissioned regularly to write for UK antiques magazines or that I was also given a commission by a major UK publisher, who contacted me out of the blue, to write a book about the UK antiques trade. I stopped doing his because of ill health and a lack of confidence that I could always meet deadlines.

Getting commissioned to write and being paid to do so should have given me enormous confidence. It gave me a bit of confidence but not enough to assume I’m good at what I do.

This is why an award like this from a much-respected and experienced fellow lensmaster thrills me so much. When I read Susan’s comments about why she chose it, I was almost speechless. I made my partner read them too. Now I want to shout it from the rooftops which, as an English person, is definitely not ‘done’!  We are supposed to be modest and look embarrassed while saying we really don’t deserve it.

I hope other people will agree that the lens does deserve the Barker’s Best award. I can’t possibly comment!