Stargate SG-1: Two Roads
When I was in high school, I wanted to be an actor. Or an artist of some sort. I took a combined seven years of classes for both. My senior year, because I had to fill half a semester of electives, I took Creative Writing. Because I was in that class, the Drama team I was on elected me to write scripts for a project we were working on. I wrote a fake episode of SNL and something I wrote made a girl I like laugh out loud. That. Was. Magical. And life-changing. I started writing more with one of my friends after that, coauthoring some dumb little story. After a few chapters he gave up because "my sections were so good" that he couldn't keep up. So I thought, "Wait, I'm good at something...? Maybe I should hone that..."
So I tried to write. I wrote and rewrote and re-rewrote the same novel while poking at short stories. Then in 2004, I took a trip to Vancouver for a Stargate convention and it changed my life. The Pacific Northwest was just "that place where they film Stargate" until I was actually there. It really did change me, I think. Everything about that corner of the country drew me in and made me feel like I belonged. I spent less than three hours on San Juan Island but I don't think I've ever really left. I changed the setting of my novel from Chicago to an island off the shore of Washington, and Squire's Isle was born. I don't know what would have happened without Squire's Isle, but I don't think On the Air would have registered as much with the readers if I wasn't so in love with it myself. Plus there's just something magical about the place.
I'm still a published author. I'm a professional writer. I owe it all to a trip that I took because I really, really enjoyed Stargate SG-1. In 2004 I also submitted a novel to Fandemonium way back when they first started publishing Stargate novels, but it was such a mad dash in those days... and I specifically remember that a novel with a plot rather similar to mine was released either third or fourth in their series. So things conspired against me. But the novel I wrote for them was the first time I ever wrote anything novel-length. A single story, 50,000 words (it was my first NaNoWriMo win), and with that I knew I could do it for real.
And now, evidence that I have come full circle. Stargate was there at the beginning of my writing career. It helped me get up and start moving. It gave me my island, it showed me I was capable of writing a novel. And now, almost ten years later to the day after discovering Squire's Isle, I present to you the cover of my official Stargate SG-1 novel.
It's absolutely everything I wanted in a novel. Sam and Vala... the first cover to feature Vala/Claudia Black, which I'm very proud of. It's a huge honor to be the first novel bearing a major character. The only character left to grace a cover, I think, is Mitchell. This novel has a lot of Daniel, so I understand why he's there. But Sam and Vala... that was the dream, and it's come true! I can't stop staring at it. :D
So I tried to write. I wrote and rewrote and re-rewrote the same novel while poking at short stories. Then in 2004, I took a trip to Vancouver for a Stargate convention and it changed my life. The Pacific Northwest was just "that place where they film Stargate" until I was actually there. It really did change me, I think. Everything about that corner of the country drew me in and made me feel like I belonged. I spent less than three hours on San Juan Island but I don't think I've ever really left. I changed the setting of my novel from Chicago to an island off the shore of Washington, and Squire's Isle was born. I don't know what would have happened without Squire's Isle, but I don't think On the Air would have registered as much with the readers if I wasn't so in love with it myself. Plus there's just something magical about the place.
I'm still a published author. I'm a professional writer. I owe it all to a trip that I took because I really, really enjoyed Stargate SG-1. In 2004 I also submitted a novel to Fandemonium way back when they first started publishing Stargate novels, but it was such a mad dash in those days... and I specifically remember that a novel with a plot rather similar to mine was released either third or fourth in their series. So things conspired against me. But the novel I wrote for them was the first time I ever wrote anything novel-length. A single story, 50,000 words (it was my first NaNoWriMo win), and with that I knew I could do it for real.
And now, evidence that I have come full circle. Stargate was there at the beginning of my writing career. It helped me get up and start moving. It gave me my island, it showed me I was capable of writing a novel. And now, almost ten years later to the day after discovering Squire's Isle, I present to you the cover of my official Stargate SG-1 novel.
It's absolutely everything I wanted in a novel. Sam and Vala... the first cover to feature Vala/Claudia Black, which I'm very proud of. It's a huge honor to be the first novel bearing a major character. The only character left to grace a cover, I think, is Mitchell. This novel has a lot of Daniel, so I understand why he's there. But Sam and Vala... that was the dream, and it's come true! I can't stop staring at it. :D