Well, friends, here we are at the end of August, and I have all sorts of lovely news to share.  For starters, I did find out that I didn’t win the SheWrites contest I mentioned a couple of weeks back, although there are five absolutely amazing folks who did. However, there are lots of other things that have happened that give me warm fuzzies:

1. I WON CAMPNANO!

Eeep, it's so shiny!!!

Ahem, you will forgive me a wee bit of excitement.  There were some days this month when I wasn’t sure if I’d ever reach 50,000 words, but somewhere in the small hours of the morning, I reached my goal.  I can hardly believe that I did it, and I am soooo grateful for everyone who’s provided me with encouragement over the past few weeks (EmWantstoWrite, I’m looking at you — those tweets of yours have been wonderful!).

In honor of this success, I’ve posted the first scene of TELL ME NO LIES.  It’s the version that I polished up for the SheWrites contest, though it will most likely end up getting pulled apart and tweaked later on down the line.  Check it out if you are so inclined. 😀

2. Blog Love!

The second piece of awesome news: Last week I received my first-ever blog award!

I was given the Liebster from both Emilia Quill and David A. Ludwig, two bloggers and writers that I had the wonderful opportunity to meet during the 7 Virtues Flash Fiction Challenge earlier in the month.  In addition, Isis Rushdan, a new friend that I’ve made through the Writers’ Platform-Building Campaign, gave me an honorable mention.

I’m incredibly grateful, especially because I started blogging back in May without any real expectations, beyond trying to be accountable for my writing goals through ROW80.  Somewhere along the way, however, I have met some wonderful people who I am quite proud to refer to as friends.

More exciting than receiving the Liebster is the chance to pass it on.  These are the rules for the award:

THE RULES:

1. Show your appreciation to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Post the award on your blog.
4. Bask in the camaraderie of the most supportive people on the internet—other writers.
5. And best of all—have bloggity fun and spread the love.

With that in mind, here are my top five picks, chosen for their overall awesomeness and supportiveness. Ladies, you’re all wonderful!

1. EmWantsToWrite (@EmWantsToWrite)
2. Nadja Notariani
3. Elizabeth Anne Mitchell (@lapidaryprose)
4. Marie Andrews (@marie_andrews)
5. C.M. Cipriani (@crystalcip)

Swing by their blogs, add them on Twitter, leave them lots of love. Ladies, I look forward to seeing who will receive the Liebster to next.

On the topic of friends, I’m looking forward to going out to the Castro tonight to celebrate the 26th birthday of one of my closest buddies, Chris.  We’ve known each other since 3rd grade, and still fondly reminisce about our “puppy love” days, even though he came out a couple of years ago.

My bestie and me, 5 years ago

Now that NaNo’s behind me, I think I’m going to take a few days off, as I’m feeling slightly frazzled and brain dead.  I need to focus my attention on my thesis, since I haven’t gotten too much done on that front.  I’ve also got a hefty stack of books on the TBR list, so I’m going to tackle those as well.  I’ve also been a little swamped and missed Monday and Tuesday’s blog posts, so hopefully I can take some time to queue up a few posts this weekend. With roughly three weeks left until school starts back, I want to make the most of my remaining free time.

Don’t forget: Today’s the last day to jump aboard the Writers’ Platform-Building Campaign!  It looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun (and I’ve seen some friendly ROW80 faces as well), so check it out.

ROW80’ers, we’ve only got a couple of weeks left of Round 3!  How goes your progress?  Swing by to check in on everyone here.