A lot of people have been pointing me to the Clitoride Awards and congratulating me for the wins. To be honest, I was in shock for a little while when I looked them over. I mean, we all hear the "honor just to be nominated" thing once in a while at awards time, but this was the first time I felt it. I was nominated for a lot of awards that I knew I wasn't going to get near the top three. But I felt thrilled, just knowing that people thought that my work was good enough to be put up there to be compared alongside the works of some of SOLs best and most respected authors. Those nominations will be available on the website for years to come for anyone looking through previous years to see what other stories and authors were worthy of mention. It left me feeling very touched at the thought that you all judged me worth that mention.
My Journey did extremely well, picking up first and third in the category for Best Story By A New Author and second place for Best Incest Story. The real thrill for me though was to see first and second place for Best BDSM Story and that's because that genre is so easy to miss the mark and SO unforgiving when you do. As someone who's practiced in my private life, I've heard the tales of scenes gone wrong and seen the scars, both physical and emotional, from moments when someone takes it too far. I tried very hard to portray those themes in My Journey in terms of a loving relationship rather than an abusive exploitation and the outpouring of support in that category is clear proof that I've done my job.
That was also a category that was important to me for another reason. It was a category that didn't focus on new authors cutting their teeth for the first time. I was competing against everyone on the site. That makes me proud of that accomplishment. To me, it was a very personal triumph to be told that I had offered the best BDSM story of last year, not once, but twice. Don't get me wrong, I loved seeing the awards for Best New Author and ALL the love that My Journey got, but that theme was one that I wanted to do justice to and you all told me I knocked it out of the park.
But enough about my excitement. I can tell that you're all really eager to get to the part where I post a new chapter. Chapter 8 is the end of Ham's time in Austin and the beginning of his return to Birmingham and his reunion with Mike, Mary and the kids. It's a turning point in his relationship with them since he's been someone they've had to actively take care of in the past and now he's returning on his own, independent and undamaged.
As a final word, I want to thank everyone who voted for me and I hope I continue to delight your imaginations with my words.