Exactly six weeks from today (but in another time zone entirely) the Hugo Awards will be presented to the winners in over a dozen categories. As an attending member of World Science Fiction Convention 2014, I get to vote for who I’d like to see win.

It’s kind of an exciting prospect!

I haven’t read any of the nominated novels, and I don’t think I will have by the time voting closes at the end of this month, so I won’t cast a vote in that category. But since everything is made available to the votes to read, I’ll probably be able to read all the shorter nominated pieces and cast my votes for those categories.

As of this writing, I know my vote in exactly one category—and of course I won’t say what it is here—but I’m really looking forward to reading and informing myself in the other categories so I can vote there too. It’s a very real way of bringing myself closer to my community, even if I’m the only one who notices.

I have attended one Nebula Awards ceremony and one World Fantasy Awards ceremony, but I voted in neither. This time, my vote will be counted. This time, whether my choices win or lose, I’ll know that I helped them get however many votes they got. This time, I’ll be a small part of it all, instead of just an interested bystander.