War Post: March 4th & I got an Award!

I’ve only been at this blogging thing for about two months seriously and I feel honored that people more experienced at blogging than me would be so kind as to offer me awards.  This past Thursday an excellent blogger by the name of Kevin Hiatt (Find him at his blog here) gave me the Kreativ Blogger award.  Thank you, Kevin.  I feel honored by your kindness, and hope that my blog continues to live up to the standard you have honored me with.

Most awards in blogging ask for the recipient to share a little about themselves.  And this one is no different.  So without further ado, I present for your consideration the seven requested interesting things about me.

     1. I’ve been in the Utah Army National Guard for the past twelve years, and served on Operation Noble Eagle, Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn.  For a total of about thirty one months of active duty service since September 11, 2001.  I’ve served twice as an MP and once in own service occupation as a communication personnel.  Thankfully, I have a little over three years until I get out.  No, don’t plan on retiring.  I’d rather write.

     2. When I served a two year mission to Hawaii, as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I learned how to stand in the rain, recognize the depth of various religions, and ride a bike.

     3. Currently I’m working on two undergraduate degrees.  One in English with an Emphasis in Creative Writing, and the other in Child and Family Studies.  I’m about a year away from the Creative Writing One; and about a year and a half from the Family Studies one.

     4. I’ve climbed to the top of King’s Peak in two days.  Thirty two miles and 13,528 feet.  One of my heroes, my cousin Jonathan helped me limp out the last mile.  I had just come from a military training at sea level.  So sue me.

     5. One thing I do on Twitter is #Wordmongering.  It recently became a year old and I wanted to share a short story about how it has helped me.  I discovered it when I was trying to find writing communities after NaNoWriMo.  I had nearly given up on finding any community like NaNo’s when I found #Wordmongering.  It turned out to be a goldmine of wonderful writers who are consistently writing and looking for folks to race with them.  I have never won a contest yet, but it does get me writing everytime.  Look up #Wordmongering or #Editmongering on twitter.  We are a community that needs more writers all the time.

     6. I met my wife on MySpace about six years ago.  We were married for exactly one month before I left for Iraq the first time.  That was one of the most difficult years of my entire life.  I don’t regret the decision.  She is my second brain, my support, and the one who helps me stay sane.  (Frankly with my issues, its amazing she’s stuck with me.)  I love you, my Muse.

     7. There is no question about my time in the military I hate more than when folks ask: “How many people have you killed?”  To be honest I’ve never had to harm another human being, however I know many who have.  This is a terrible question to ask, because you don’t know what memories you may evoke for that person when you ask.  You also don’t know if they have guilt over it.  If they want to share, I’m certain if you just show a genuine interest in them, they’ll share.  Don’t ask.

Now that according to the rules I've shared seven things about myself (different Kreativ Blogger Award require more, but this one only requires seven), I share with you the seven bloggers I'm giving this award to:

1. Carl Duzett     2. David Powers King     3. Ali Cross     4. Julie Jordan Scott
5. J. A. Bennett     6. Amber Mae    7. Natasha Guadalupe

To let you know, I don't expect for any of them to respond to this award.  They are busy with their own thing on their own blogs.  And that is exactly why I send you their way.  Each of them does something different that could be really helpful for you (or at least it is for me), so check them out!  And now on to the goals!

1. Finishing Draft Two of "Crimes of the Umbramancer" by the 30th of April.

     This is a new week and I've begun revising the first chapter of Crimes.  I hope to continue this week as a stronger week as I get back in the writing saddle. Yeah baby!  Wordmongering, here I come!

2. Comment on ten blogs in ROW80:

     I think I got through all of them for the week.  I try to choose some ROW80's for my Wednesday Mashup.  It seems a better way than sending everyone to the entire linky.

3. Walking at least a mile five times a week.

     I walked at least one mile this past week.  This week I'm planning on hitting this goal daily while I'm getting some reading done.  (Thank God for Ellipticals!)

4. Building a new blog for my diversity issue.

   I think I can say that I have completed this goal at this point and can strike it from the list.  I'm doing pretty well and I post four times each week.  However as I remove this from the list I plan on tooling back on my posts for ROW80.  I'm going to only post on Wednesdays from now on and do a check in on Facebook on Sundays.  My original goal of blogging regularly because of ROW80 has gone far better than I expected.  Thank you, Kait, for setting up this program!
5. Going back to my writing ritual.
   I started back on my ritual today, and since I've been writing like mad.  I plan on getting through a great deal of writing before I go to bed tonight.  I'm so glad that there are scriptures to read.  They just help me to focus my mind in way that even music can't help with.

So that's where I'm at for this week.  Looking forward to the month of March, because I have other goals I look forward to setting that I'll do this Wednesday.  That brings us to our book giveaway for the month.  This month I'm giving away one bundle of books.  Karen Sandler's Tankborn (one of my reads for this month) and Samuel Delany's Dhalgren.  For each person who follows the blog (inclusive to those who joined since the beginning of March) I'll put your name into the contest three times.  And for each person who comments on each post for the month I'll put you down for one per comment.  And again at the end of March I'll select one lucky person to send these wonderful books to.  Thanks for reading folks!  You are the reason I keep writing.

As always, my name is Jayrod Garrett and I am the First OG.  And a now Kreativ Blogger too, thanks again Kevin.