After eight years of thinking, breathing, researching
B-17s, I was ready to disembark and concentrate on something else. But what? I
had a vague idea of three friends who joined the WAC, the WAVES, and the WASPs,
but nothing crystalized. Except for the WAC.
I didn’t want to completely turn away from flying, and
I prefer topics that aren’t commonly known. How about a grasshopper pilot? My
second character was on board.
I had toyed with the idea of a family generational
series. A World War II story paired with a World War I story. But no, too
unwieldy.
The WAC could have a sister, though, who stayed on the
home front and did factory work. Oh, dear. I couldn’t completely stay away from
B-17s. She’s building them.
She also needs a husband. He’ll be in the navy, and
not on an aircraft carrier. A destroyer! (This was in the works before Sarah
Sundin signed a contract for her just-concluded series about destroyer men. I
checked with her: She was writing about the Atlantic war; my guy’s in the
Pacific. No problem.) I studied the list of Pacific destroyers and, oooh, the Spence. All kinds of possibilities
there.
So there I had it: a sailor, his Rosie-the-Riveter
wife, her WAC sister, and a grasshopper pilot. They’re all doing their part to
help win the war, but sometimes the enemy isn’t obvious.
In two weeks, the new book is available!
Congrats on your upcoming book!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Connie!
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