The Saga of "Jettison"

Last Edit October 21, 1999

I am going to publish my first novel - by myself. Or better said, with the help of my friends. This means pick a printer, design the cover, design the ad, design the rollout plan, write the press release, figure out how to send it, design the bookmark and get it made, design the poster, plan the promotional items, when and where, how and why.
And somewhere in there, review and edit and polish one more time this novel I have labored over and fussed about for nearly twenty-five years.
I have children the same age as this book!
How did this all come about?

In the early 1970's, when I was working on and deciding if I should complete my Ph.D. in Engineering, I became involved with Bjo Trimble and her Star Trek Fan gang - working on conventions in Los Angeles - Filmation 1993, Equicon 1971, 1973, 1974. This was when fans ran the conventions - we all had day jobs. It was a labor of love.
I was introduced to others who, like me, were fans of the Star Trek universe - and who wanted the show back on the air. I had worked on the LEM lander team and MinuteMan missile in the space program while at TRW and was now an Assistant Professor on a California State University campus while I completed my Ph.D. thesis. I was a classic Trekkie - the "state of the art" engineer. Working with other engineers. And doing little else.
Now I was exposed to a whole different set of people.
People in costumes - pretty damned elaborate costumes.
The stars themselves - Shatner, Nimoy, Kelly, and the rest.
Nice people.
Directors, make-up specialists, lighting crews.
Gene Roddenberry, himself.
Nice man.

Having been putting a husband through law school when Star Trek first aired, dead bang broke back when color TV was new, my husband and I had watched Star Trek in black and white on a set with a tube that was 50% functional. A trapezoidal picture. A failing tube. I had never seen the show in color.
Now I saw an episode, up on a big screen, with other fans, in full color, and I saw the blooper reel, and I was hooked. I was a confirmed Trekkie. A Roddenberry groupie. It didn't stop when he pulled me into a pressroom and told me I should be in the movies. (I was dressed as a Vulcan. A female science officer. Of course.)
For several years I attended and worked on conventions - including running the exhibit room at Equicon 1975 - which featured Dioramas of George Pal movies (and the late George Pal); exhibits form Disney studios (Disney never exhibited before - they sent things to Dr. White); Forrest J, Ackerman's photos (he took me into his cellar and I ended up with a wall display on the treatment of women in Science Fiction film - ending up with the women of Star Trek). I had and still have set sketches from Star Trek and from Forbidden Planet. I had costume sketches. I had special effect models. I have back-lot film from Star Wars. I was photographed with the original big head - and they ran the photo next to an interview with Gene. I was honored.
During all of this I made costumes (three per day) and shaved my eyebrows. I was a Vulcan - and I had a character - T'Zara - a high priestess - half human and half Vulcan and a true telepath. I have read Darkover.
This should now sound familiar if you've read the chapters of Jettison that I have on-line.
As a result of all this volunteer activity, I met writers. Heinlein. Asimov. Marion Zimmer Bradley. Jerry Pernell. David Gerrold. Larry Niven. I sat in on writer's meetings. SFWA was new.
I also taught programming during part of this time - and I would construct procedures with RETURN (STAR TREK) prominently displayed on the answer sheet. I did not join the belly dancer who crept into the Paramount lot and stuck RETURN STAR TREK stickers on the bumpers of the executive's cars, but I did write letters.
I completed my Ph.D. - in computer science. (Star Trek said it was OK to be smart. ) And I signed those letters with a prestigious signature. On letterhead.
We won.
Eventually.
Look where Star Trek is today. $3 BILLION dollars in estimated merchandise. So far.
Why did I react to the fandom?
Well, I had been reading science fiction since I was 8 - sneaking down to the basement to read through my stepfather's stack. Saturday Evening Post. And others. I read anything and everything when I was growing up - we didn't have TV until I was 8-9 years old - and it was only on at night. Summers were long. And boring. And the basement was cool and fitted with sofas and lights and it was quiet.
I was a budding storyteller - and I entertained brothers and sisters and neighbors alike with fantasy stories and plays. I had decided that I would, eventually, be a writer. But I would not live in a garret. I even had, at that time, a full-blown novel running around in my head - I just didn't know what to do with it!
Imagine this child now dropped into this world of the authors I had early admired. Heaven. Inspiration. I listened. I learned.
As it happened, after I married husband number two, and while I was home with my new-born premature infant, I was reading Star Trek novels - a new feature on the bookstore list. And I didn't like them. This was before Paramount woke up and set guidelines. They needed to do that - some of the early books were not worth the paper they were printed on.
"I can write better than this," I said. Knowing that I had been planning to eventually become a writer - someday - and had been nurturing the dream since I was 16. (I've been published since the age of 14 - newspaper reporter for 4-H and Girl Scouts. Essay contests. That kind of stuff. )
"Why don't you?" It was the only thing my now second ex-husband ever did for me. Besides the kid. (My older child - now nearing 24 years of age.)
So I sat down and did.
I took classes - when I could.
I put a second mortgage on my house and bought a computer.
I went to conventions - writer's sessions.
I went to UCSD. San Diego State.
I edited. I plotted. I examined.
I met and took classes from David Brin (now a very well-established science fiction writer). I re-met Greg Bear (also now very established and successful) - he who had been a fellow professor at a San Diego university in 1975, and who had, with me, been beamed from the Enterprise to the lobby of the old El Cortez hotel in a local TV commercial to promote the convention. We were in costume. I was picking tribbles off his shirt to punctuate his lines. Hilarious. Burn that tape!
Both these men told me "Never throw out anything you write. It will eventually find a life."
I took that to heart.
I had a second kid, changed jobs (several times) upgraded computers, (and migrated the manuscript). It took time, but I had 400 pages and I liked it.
I found an agent.
I submitted it for review.
I sent a check (New York agent).
It took months, and phone calls, and letters, but --- they eventually took it and sent it to Pocket books - the "official" Star Trek publisher. After they had "misplaced it" several times. God bless computers.
I have been told by the English teacher - herself a Trekkie - and a few groupies I met in Massachusetts, that I had the "voices" down. My characters sounded like they did in the show - they were real - and it was a fun book.
The agent's reviewer said it was a fun book.
He also said that my characters - T'Zara (how'd we know that) and the Kashin warrior women in her entourage (shades of Marion Zimmer Bradley - but only shades) - were "strong enough to stand on their own".
Pocket lost the manuscript.
Several times.
At long last, Karen Haas [check spelling] wrote and said that she "would buy it but I needed to fix the time-line" - Paramount had the books now firmly set in a time period - and that she "would buy anything I wrote".
All this took about 6 years.
I rewrote in 4 weeks.
My agent didn't move on a contract.
Karen left.
The replacement editor - wouldn't look at the book.
So close!
I rewrote the book as a non-Star Trek novel - but the agent would not try it.
Since this was the 80's by now, a book too close to Star Trek "had no market".
It sat.
I remembered the words of David Brin and Greg Bear. I held on.
I kept this book in hardcopy and migrated it from PC to Mac and up through the different versions of Word.
I took more classes.
I was a Director of training. I was a Director of Customer Documentation. This means that I wrote and had printed tons of documentation over the years.
I went to more conferences - on occasion. Wistful. Waiting.
I wrote short stories and drafted other novels - a whole pipeline of them in various states of completion.
I wrote short stories that entertained my company when they ran them in the company paper.
And I raised my kids.
Along the way, I went back to school and took a degree in Marketing. I was a Director of Marketing at a high-tech firm for 3 1/2 years. I wrote ad copy, press releases, designed direct mail, handled inquiries (hire a service), designed covers for databooks, and printed more manuals. I directed photo shoots and worked with illustrators.
I went to the first Romantic Times convention in 1993. The first time I had left my kids and gone somewhere. They were 17 and 14 at that point. Time.
I met other women writers. I took more classes.
I met Fabio. I wrote 30,000 words. And I chased him around the country - because he represented escape from the techie world and into my writing. Every time I saw the man, I wrote 25-30,000 words! Inspiration!
I fussed. I wanted to be a writer - but with two active boys, and a full time job, and serving as a Boy Scout leader - I had no time.
Wait A Minute! I write - constantly! Just not novels.
"You idiot!" I told myself. "You ARE a writer!"
I felt better.
When HTML 1.0 appeared, I discovered the web.
I built websites.
Including one of my own.
I wrote stories for it (now over 200 of them). I played. I kept up.
I eventually became Fabio's webmaster - a big task for a big man. I practiced. I learned.
I occasionally got published. MacAddict. Newspapers. Computer Design.
I hung in there.
When my old company went public, I bought a date with Fabio (Make A Wish) and I became his fan club president. And the site exploded. It's now 60Mbytes and hundreds of links.
I spend hours.
And I write short stories. And articles.
Sometimes about Fabio.
Sometimes about my kids.
Sometimes just about.
I have survived.
This year something began to happen.
I shopped.
I did unusual things.
I was cleaning up an office area. Yes, unusual.
I had remodeled and put a room on my house.
I had rounded up all my files and stories that I had written in the past 25 years.
I was restless.
Something was going to change. Soon. I wasn't sure what.
And it wasn't that the last of the boys is about ready to leave the nest.
Something was "blowing in the wind".
And then,....
A few weeks ago, while cleaning the garage, I found a printout of that first novel. My abandoned baby. I picked it up.
I was at page 28 before I realized I was standing in the garage, juggling pages, hooked on my own book! (I have now read the whole thing - I like it! I do! Just a little tweak here and there....Spellcheckers and Grammar checkers and I have all evolved after all.)
Time to do something.
Time for the baby to be born.
So, I went to Toronto to the Romance Writer's convention - because I have been working on contemporary and Regency story ideas. Because they know me as Fabio's webmaster.
I was looking for ePublishing. Independent publishing houses. Anything.
Maybe an agent.
I listened.
And I realized that I knew more about the web, more about technology (big surprise - I teach the men how to play with their toys), more about marketing (that company I was Director of Marketing for went public - how I bought Fabio and became his webmaster), about dealing with deadlines and artists and printers - in fact, I know more about the whole process than the people on the panel!
I had ordered a G4 before I left for Toronto.
I hired a cover model before I came back.
My mind had decided for me.
I will now do this.
I've been practicing for 25 years.