On All My Motions

 
Over the weekend I received an e-mail from the Rogue Poet Awards, advising me that “Jasmine Tears” had won their Best General Fic category. Everyone is invited to go check out (and congratulate) the other winners. For myself, it’s gratifying to see that someone who wrote his first Buffyfic in 1999 — and, at the first WriterCon in Las Vegas, was welcomed as a member of the ‘old guard’ — can still occasionally turn out something considered relevant.

I was also happy to note that the people at Rogue Poets produced a winner’s banner for me that was customized to my story; i.e., “Jasmine Tears” featured Faith, with Lorne in a secondary role, and the banner depicted both characters. This is a degree of thoughtfulness (and extra recognition for the author) that I hadn’t expected and deeply appreciate.

See?



The Fang Fetish Awards did the same thing with the banners for “Precious Cargo” and “Solitaire Till Dawn”, and doubtless for the other winners in their most recent round; I didn’t immediately note the personal attention, and so didn’t give them credit for it at the time, so I’m taking this opportunity to point it out and express my thanks.





As it happens, other stories of mine have been nominated at the Sunnydale Memorial Fanfiction Awards and the Running With Scissors Awards. In fact, I’ve gotten so many nominations, I suspect that rather than a group of appreciative readers (my first pleased belief), I may have a few VERY passionate fans waging a campaign on my behalf.

One way or another, I’m enjoying this. I just need to get back to finishing stories quickly enough to keep them in the ‘public’ eye.

 
When I got back from my time at the National Training Center (account starts here), I had weeks of stuff to work through. One of the things I discovered, with some pleasure, was that two of my stories had won categories in the Fang Fetish Awards. “Precious Cargo” won Best General Fic, and an older story, “Solitaire Till Dawn”, took Best Original Fic.

I don’t even know who nominated those stories, because Fang Fetish focuses mostly on areas that I would have thought my fiction didn’t really fit. Even so, it feels nice to be appreciated, and I recommend that other winners be checked out. I’ve only just started reading the list, but “April Come She Will” by speakr2customrs is fun and interesting, and surely there are others that would entertain. Give it a look.

 
It’s official now: I’ve been approved for the six-month tour for which I volunteered. I still don’t know much about it; I know where I’ll be, down to a fairly small geographical area, but not who I’ll be working with, what precisely I’ll be doing, what rules will apply and what privileges will accompany the duty. I don’t even know precisely when it will begin, nor do my unit administrators; sometime within the next month is as exact as we can get at this point.

But I’m going, the only member of my unit to do so. (Another new thing for me: I’ve always deployed with the rest of my unit in the past. The language training at Fort Bragg was my only ‘solo’ duty.) One of the men who was attached to us in Afghanistan is supposed to be there also, but that covers the extent of my information.

I have some sorting and organizing to do, putting my home (such as it is) into a condition that will accommodate its being left for six months. Not a problem; I did the same for the Afghanistan tour, though my family looked after my belongings while I was in Iraq. Mostly, right now, is the matter of dealing with the inevitable paperwork.

I’m going. I can hardly wait.

* * * * *

Other issues?

Well, let’s see. We did a 10-kilometer ruck march yesterday. As far as I know, everybody made the necessary time (I stayed ahead of one person who, operating under a temporary physical profile, wasn’t even carrying a ruck). It was a rough one, in that we traveled the first half ― largely downhill ― to a set turnaround point, then had to go uphill for almost the entirety of the return trip. I got in with time to spare, but I’m still aching today.

I had intended to return to center-state as soon as the drill was over, spend some extended time with my son and ex-wife … but I have an appointment at the VA hospital (general checkup) on Wednesday, so that will have to be delayed for awhile. Susan and I are continuing to attend pre-marriage counseling, with no decisions yet made but with a clear inclination in that direction. She said that the six months I’m gone in the upcoming duty tour can be seen as a kind of trial period. I’m not sure precisely what she means, but I’ll agree that how we deal with physical separation could be indicative of other capabilities within the relationship.

And ― I haven’t yet received official notification, but I saw it in the listed results ― two of my stories were recognized in the White Knight Awards: “Dusk Over Pompeii” (Runner-Up for Best Het Pairing), and “Learning Curve” (Runner-Up for “Where Do We Go From Here” – Best Post-“Chosen” story).

That’s it for now.