(Note:  I received a nice letter from Faye, who runs Where The Winds Blows, one of the major Mah Jongg websites - I'm adding some clarifications based on her letter and encourage folks to go visit her site to shop for their mah jongg needs. Thanks for writing, Faye!)

I'm a gamer. I game. It's what I do.

I prefer RPGs, LARP or tabletop, even online gaming, but with real people playing real characters. I love casual board and card games, silly things that let you stab your buddy in the back while laughing together. Resource building strategy games? I'm so there!

I have my preferences, but like other addicts, when those aren't available, I'll take just about any source to get my fix.

Impromptu hallway rummy game at a con? Sure, I'm in. Playtesting something that's barely put together for a friend? Hit me. I can take it. Pokemon, Flatcrack (aka Magic: The Gathering) or Yugi-oh? Lend me a deck, and I'll do my best to hold my own. Heck, in a pinch, I'll play Candyland with the preschoolers (and I'm not talking those cool Smirk-and-Dagger remakes, I'm talking old-school Gumdrop Mountain and Gramma Nutt stuff here. I just love games.

Wow! Nominations were released this morning for the ENnie awards, and I'm blown away to find that One Geek to Another was nominated for Best Blog!

For a blog that deals with all aspects of geek culture (movies, music, karaoke, conventions) along with gaming in all its myriad forms to be nominated for a game-focused award along side such great strictly-game focused blogs as Critical Hits, Gnome Stew, Kobold Quarterly, and NewbieDM.com - well, I'm honored and amazed!

For those of you unfamiliar with the ENnies, the process goes something like this.

On June 8th, Alyssa Smith, an editor in the publishing industry, guest director for UberCon, and personal friend of mine, received a phone call at work. The call, from her landlord, informed Alyssa that her apartment was on fire. The fire had apparently begun in the unit below hers, but her home was now ablaze as well.

She returned home to find all of her possessions destroyed and her beloved pet sun conures missing and presumed dead.

Without renter's insurance, and with her landlord's estimate of 2+ months to repair damage to her home, Alyssa is in dire straits of the sort that any of us could find ourselves in. I made a donation immediately, but wanted to do more.

I had a short story which had been featured on my website in a rough form, under the title Night and Day. But when Alyssa's situation led me to ask what I could offer as incentive for folks to donate to her cause, I sat down overnight on June 8th and rewrote it.

Now, doubled in length, retitled, and formatted as a .pdf, I am offering it as a Thank You for anyone who donates any amount, no matter how small, to Alyssa at least throughout the month of June, 2010. Simply make a donation of any amount to Alyssa at the link below, and write me at jess@jesshartley.com. I will send you a copy of A New Beginning in a .pdf format immediately.

We are, most of us, one disaster away from a similar situation. One car accident, one house fire, one earthquake or tornado, one serious medical condition, or the like, and a lifetime of hard work and careful planning is destroyed. Coming together to help one another is an important part of what makes us a community, whether that's defined by location, religion, politics, or in this case, our love of reading and writing. This is my way of helping another member of our community. I hope it inspires you to make a donation to help as well.

Donations to Alyssa can be made through the donation button here: http://rosefox.dreamwidth.org/1597560.html This account has been set up by Alyssa's trusted friend, Rose Fox, and all funds donated to it will go directly to Alyssa. Alyssa and her room-mate will be updating this blog as their central information source about the fire and its aftermath. Please share this with others.

I thank you for your time, for your generosity, and hope you'll enjoy my story.

The contracts have been signed and are on their way back to me, so I guess it's okay to announce the news I've been holding onto for the last week or two.

The fabulous Elizabeth Jote of Objective Entertainment has offered to represent my literary career, and I've enthusiastically accepted.  I HAVE AN AGENT!

That very loud squeeing noise you may have heard from the Arizona area of late? That was me. :)  I've spent several hours discussing the industry, communication, writing and public relations with Ms. Jote of late, and I couldn't be happier to be working with her. She's clever, funny, and wicked smart, and I'm really looking forward to what this next stage of my literary adventure brings.

For those of you who may be wondering how this will affect my current projects, the answer is - not too much. Thankfully, the timing is really good on this new development. I'm currently working on Shattered Glass, and the patronage period for The Shattered Glass Project closes on June 20th. (Artisan and Virtual Patronages can be purchased until 6/20/2010 at www.shatteredglassproject.com).

Final drafts of the story will be done near to that date, and then we'll go into full production mode on the physical copies for Artisan and Personae Patrons.There may be some slight shuffling of release dates as projects get bustled around a bit to make time to honing my novel so that we can begin the shopping process for it, but I expect that I'll be able to keep things mostly on track.

Thanks to everyone for their encouragement and support on the journey so far! I can't wait to share with all of you how these next stages progress as we go along!