Hi readers! I hope you are enjoying your Friday despite whatever crazy weather you are experiencing! 🌧❄️ Today I’m excited to welcome back author Leigh Dreyer (who I got to meet in person in 2019! 🙌🏼) and welcome (for the first time) author Paul Trockner (Leigh’s father!)

As you may have seen their book – Came A Flight Gently – released earlier this week! It is the third book in the Pride in Flight series – a brilliant contemporary P&P series that takes place in the world of the US Air Force. Leigh and Paul were kind enough to answer some of my questions about writing together, reading, and the US Air Force. We hope you enjoy! ✈

Tell us a little about yourself and your background?

Leigh Dreyer: I am a speech pathologist, currently in the Alamogordo, NM area, though I am currently staying home and homeschooling my six year old son, four year old daughter, and chasing my fifteen month old son. I have an incredible husband who is a pilot in the Air Force. Both my husband and I are children of Air Force pilots which makes for fun family get togethers.

Paul Trockner: I’m currently an Air Force Civilian Simulator Instructor for the T-38C aircraft at an Undergraduate Pilot Training base. I retired from the Air Force and Air Force Reserve where I flew F-111s, T-37s, A-10s and T-38s. Leigh is the oldest of my 5 children. I married my wife, in the best decision I ever made in 1985. I still enjoy flying when I can.

This book is part of a series, tell us a little about it?

Leigh: The Pride in Flight series is made up of The Best Laid Flight Plans, The Flight Path Less Traveled, and Came a Flight Gently. The first book is a P&P variation whose story line closely follows the events of P&P. The next two are original continuations although you will definitely see other favorite Austen characters and events as the story continues. Each book is an altered line from a poem that I find meaningful and that I feel speaks to the tone of book I wanted to write.

How was it working together on this project? What was the process like? 

Paul: I enjoyed it. It’s fun working with your kids as adults. And in this case I was the less experienced. Process wise, for the most part we would talk through where we wanted the scene to go and what we wanted the characters to accomplish. Then how did it fit in to the big picture story arc. We’d thrown ideas around since we went to the Reno Air Races in 2018. I’d helped her some in the earlier books with the flying stuff. Mostly cleaning up radio calls and jargon. For this though I gave ideas for scenes with Weston. So she said go write what you think. Then off we’d go to write our respective scenes and then toss them to the other for editing or further development.

Leigh: It was great fun, honestly. It was also incredibly helpful. I had my third child in 2019, moved, and a week after getting into my house (we were in hotels for six weeks) the pandemic started. I had a difficult time and it was so nice to have someone devoted to the story to bounce ideas off of and make deadlines with. Dad had gone with me to Reno for the research as well so we had that experience together which I think unified our ideas of how the book should unfold.

Did you have a favorite collaborative moment? Did you ever disagree on a plot point or something?

Paul: For me the fun collaborative moments were ones talking about the beginning of love scenes. I mean how often do you talk to your daughter about bedroom stuff? I don’t think we disagreed too much. I obviously want more airplane scenes or maybe get a little more detailed in what the pilot is doing especially during the races. But I was reminded several times that that’s not what the core audience wants. If we did disagree we hashed it out in a professional collaborative manner then I lost. She’s the lead author it’s the conclusion of her stories. That said, we really didn’t have any huge disagreements.

Leigh: As far as a favorite collaborative moment? I liked having someone tell me my idea was stupid before it got to an editor or a reader. Plot-wise, I was mostly in charge since I had already written the first two and had a pretty vivid idea of where I wanted it to go in the end.

What fictional character do you most identify with?

Paul: Nathan Briddles, John Wayne’s character in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. On the eve of retirement, plans thwarted then going off and getting promoted and coming back. Prince Caspian in the Narnia series, having to build his own leadership with the kings and queens on board during his quest.

Leigh: If we stay in Austen, I think I am much more of a weird mix of Charlotte and Lydia than I would like to admit. Outside of Austen, I love Scarlett O’Hara. She’s a real piece of work, but she gets things done and she is fiercely protective of her family.

Which fictional character do you intensely dislike?

Paul: Catherine De Bourgh really bothers me. I don’t like people that are mean and demeaning just because they can be mean and demeaning.

Leigh: My favorite character to despise is Professor Umbridge from Harry Potter.

Which fictional character would you choose as your copilot?

Paul: Well the best planes don’t have copilots (fighters) but I think I would like Darcy. Straight forward, competent, seems easy enough to hang around with. Elizabeth would be good too for similar reasons. A young Capt Hornblower. Anyone with a spirit of adventure, sense of humor and excited to see what the day brings.

Leigh: Maybe Samwise Gamgee? He seems like a solid traveling companion. Or maybe Meg from A Wrinkle in Time.

What is one of your favorite scenes from this story?

Paul: My favorite scene is when Elizabeth has her fight with vertigo then confesses her crash story to Weston. It gives her a chance to unload the fear, anger, guilt to someone who would understand but isn’t “involved” in the situation. I think everyone needs that sometimes. A place to go and unload and not be judged. Where someone whose been there, done that, been in a similar situation just listens.

Leigh: There are so many its hard to choose. You’re asking me to choose my favorite child!!! If I really had to pick, I think the scene when Elizabeth first meets Allie. It’s a scene I imagined long before I wrote it and I loved having two smart, independent women who didn’t need to compete with each other.

Which character was the most fun to write for in this story?

Paul: Weston is my favorite followed by Allie. It is somewhat autobiographical. I‘ve been an instructor for a few decades now and really still love to watch students grow and progress. So having them help Elizabeth was fun to do.

Leigh: I love Mrs. Reynolds, but Aunt Peggy I imagine like the mom in the Harrison Ford version of Sabrina and she holds a special place in my heart.

What is something you learned while working on this story?

Paul: I learned that the creative process is at times both stifling and freeing of the mind. It can inhibit thought so much that you can’t find a way out of the situation or character development. Then at the same time possibilities open up where they weren’t before. Other paths open up as avenues then become freeways of thought. How about that for deep thinking by a fighter pilot?

Leigh: So much about business organizations, planes, about Reno, about the air races. I actually researched more for this book than any other!

What do you love most about US Air Force life?

Paul: The camaraderie. I’ve got friends from pilot training I’m still in touch with. You join a squadron and you belong to something bigger than yourself. Your purpose is to defend your country. You practice, compete with each other, but you also help the others to get better. Because if they are better then so are you. People think of Fighter pilots as flying and partying. The truth is they are driven, men and women, to be the best at their job. To know more than anyone else, to practice their craft and be better than anyone else. Then also to take their wingman and help them to be better also. Being around people like that is the greatest.

Leigh: I just want to critique Paul’s answer up there… fighter pilots definitely party… Honestly, military life is so unique. Nowhere else in the world do you find a group of people that are thrown together on some square of land somewhere, meet each other, become instant friends, and say goodbye in six months without issues. It’s amazing. I’ve been through deployments, moves, and nowhere else have my kids found friends so fast or have I been wrapped up in support as quickly or as thoroughly as in the Air Force.

What is one aspect of US Air Force Life you are not so fond of?

Paul: Long separations weren’t fun. Depending on the time frame long hours each week. Lack of a second chance in the promotion system. To be honest for myself though, I can really only count a handful of days I wasn’t happy to be in the Air Force.

Leigh: The medical system. I can whine about it (and do regularly on my facebook) all day all the time. It is simultaneously the best and worst insurance on the planet.

What is your truth universally acknowledged?

Paul: If you love, respect and treat others as you would like to be treated then it will reflect back to you.

Leigh: I think that “life works out.” I thought about saying that “a single pilot must be in want of a wife” because it is absolutely true, but life has worked out more times than I can count. We all have our ups and downs, but at some point it evens out.

Excellent answers, both of you! I loved getting to know more about you and your writing together! I am looking forward to reading Came a Flight Gently and seeing what happens with these characters! I wish you both all the best on your future projects!

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~ Book Description ~

In the exciting conclusion of the Pride in Flight Series (The Best Laid Flight Plans and The Flight Path Less Traveled), our dear couple Elizabeth and Darcy have moved to Pemberley to begin their lives together. An outsider to New York society and the affluent world of Darcy, our heroine uses her characteristic drive and wit to begin her marriage and all that comes with him. Helped along by Mrs. Reynolds and a curmudgeonly airplane mechanic, Elizabeth discovers a new path to the civilian flight world. Darcy, ever the hero, supports her and learns to trust her instincts. Fast-paced and dramatic, Came a Flight Gently soars through love, adventure, and intrigue as it races through Reno to the finish.

~ Connect with Leigh ~

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GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

In celebration of her new release, Leigh is offering a lovely ebook giveaway of Came a Flight Gently to ONE lucky reader!!

To enter this giveaway leave a question, comment, or some love for Leigh and Paul! 

• This giveaway is open to worldwide.  Thank you, Leigh and Paul!
• This giveaway ends February 26th!