I'm still well behind where I should be by now, but I did make some progress on writing the Stargate novel today, in between driving my mom to the surgical center for her eye surgery, working at the polls, sending the entries for one contest category to the judge, and carrying out general mom-related duties.

Today's word count: 1,374

Total word count so far: 1,691

Suddenly, it's November. For some of us, that means it's NaNoWriMo Month (NAtional NOvel-WRIting MOnth). This is the project that encourages participants to write a 50,000 word novel (or 50,000 words of a longer novel) in just 30 days. I participated last year and didn't finish. This year, I'm trying again. My screen name is catpet.

Today, after attending a Northern Virginia region NaNoWriMo kick-off party, I started writing the Stargate SG-1 novel I've been contemplating for the last few months. I don't actually have a plot yet, which is a problem. But I had been kicking around a story idea for some time, and was thinking that the difficulties surrounding it were insurmountable. Friday night, after another local NaNoWriMo event, I suddenly figured out a way to get past those problems. And this evening I did a little research and started seeing some glimmers of plot. They're still just glimmers, mind you, but they are more than I had yesterday.

My word count for today is so pitiful that I hesitate to record it. OK, you twisted my arm.

Today's count: 317 words.

I had a plan for my Stargate book outline. I was going to pick up the crystal skull story where it left off in the SG1 series. That was the episode that ended with Daniel's grandfather Nick staying behind on the planet with the enormous cavern where they found the crystal skull, so he can learn about the giant aliens and bring back what he discovers. I was starting to work out some plot details, though I didn't have anything down on paper yet. And then, last night, I was reading through descriptions of the SG1 books that I haven't read yet — and somebody else has already done it! Rats. Back to the drawing board. I'll have to pick one of my other ideas to develop into an outline.

Yippee! The editor of the Stargate books responded to my e-mail and would be happy to look at a proposal for a book. (Thanks, klingonguy for the contact info!) The editor answered a few questions for me and was quite encouraging. Now, to write that proposal....

Of course, I am leaving for Montreal and WorldCon in the morning, so I might not get much done on a Stargate book proposal until I return home next week. I'll have my brand new laptop with me, in case I do find some time between sessions and networking activities.
 
There will be a learning curve. Not about Stargate; I'm up on the characters and mythology, especially for SG1. But aforementioned brand new laptop is loaded with brand new software -- and a brand new operating system (Vista) that I've never used. I've decided I'll fiddle around with Vista for a while. If it's driving me crazy, I'll "downgrade" to XP. But whichever operating system I end up with, I'm sure I can conquer my software issues and get familiar enough with the new system to write a proposal on the computer. Or at least, to start on it this week.
 
I am so psyched about writing for Stargate. While I'd love to get back to one of "my own" books, with original characters and settings, I need to make some money this year, even if it's not a lot of money. And if I were to jump right back into one of the two book manuscripts-in-progress, it's doubtful that I'd make anything at all on it for many months. Or longer. Stargate feels like the right project at the right time.

I never said much about my trip to Balticon, but I had a great time and made some great contacts. The most interesting news I learned is that a publisher is putting out Stargate SG1 books, and has been for several years. I hadn't heard this before because it's a British publisher, and the books are not widely available in the United States. But I would really, really love to write one.

This could solve my dilemma over my next project. I keep trying to work on my two back-burner novels and the occasional short story, but when I do, I feel guilty because I don't have publishers for them, so I'm not making any money. So I start thinking I should contact my nonfiction editors again to get another nonfiction book contract. Except that I don't want to be writring nonfiction right now. I want to write fiction. I'm a longtime Stargate fan, so this could be a great option.
 
I e-mailed the editors today. Fingers crossed.

Top 13 Best TV Series of All Time
Television has a bad image. But television is only a box. Much of its content is mediocre, but there are some excellent programs on TV too, if we can find them among all those low-brow sitcoms and catty reality shows. Below are some of the best ones I've found over the years.

Is this list arbitrary? Of course it is. There are a half-dozen others I would have liked to include, but I had to keep it to thirteen, so something had to go. Some I eliminated by setting rules for myself (Sesame Street doesn't count because it's not a weekly nighttime series) others I lumped together (see #7) and others I judged too new to have proven themselves. I decided not to include non-fiction shows like Nova, though maybe I'll do a documentary version of this list sometime for a future Thursday Thirteen. Other programs (Law & Order, West Wing, Sex and the City) I just hacked off the list because I had to hack something to keep the number down. There are also some shows you might expect to see that I just don't like (Seinfeld, Friends). If that upsets you, you can sound off in the comments section. Or get your own blog to push your own favorites. This time, it's my choice.