Shirley Ann Wilder | The Wilder Flyers...Inspiration and Joy

People always want to know where I get my ideas for my books. For FLY ME, it was pretty much a no brainer. My youngest son, Jimmy, is a pilot of over twenty years for UPS. He followed his father’s glide path. My husband was a commercial airline captain for more than 34 years and had a lot of influence over all our children, but especially Jimmy. When Jimmy was about 9 or 10, my husband bought an old Cessna 140 tail dragger plane that had been sitting in someone’s back yard for years. He moved it to the desert where he and his talented mechanic rebuilt it from the ground up. Before the wings were riveted in place, Jimmy would sit in the cockpit and make appropriate engine noises while his two older brothers pushed the chassis around the sandy acre where the mechanic lived. So FLY ME was born of a young boy’s dreams and memories of my flying family.

All of the boys qualified in the plane and were licensed, but only Jimmy made it his career. He got his driver’s license when he was 1 and a few months later soloed and shortly thereafter obtained his pilot’s license. Jimmy became a very proficient aviator and while in high school, charmed his girlfriend by flying her to Catalina Island for a Buffalo burger—forget drive-through Jack in the Box! While the book is fiction and all the characters are of my imagination, I did use a few events with a lot of variation that actually did occur to the Wilder Flyers.

One of the incidents I used in FLY ME was an actual accident Jimmy endured. When he was building hours, Jimmy would fly all over the county and once when he landed in a muddy field in the back country, the front landing gear stuck in the mud and the plane flipped over on its roof. It had to be trucked out and repaired at a great expense both in the pocketbook and Jim’s reputation. It’s also how I came to give my hero Trent, the nickname of “Flip.”

Over the years of living with Wilder pilots, my husband and two flying sons and a daughter who became a flight attendant, the stories told were rich with humor, danger and excitement. This is what I wanted to capture for the book.

When Jimmy married his co-pilot, I knew I had to incorporate that aspect into a romance book. My heroine is based a little bit on my daughter-in- law. Sharon is a perfectionist and talented in many ways. Her house is in perfect order, just as Ronnie’s condo is in my book. She is beautiful just like Ronnie, but as stated earlier, my heroine is a totally fictitious being created from many people and my imagination.

Pilots are a special breed of human. They are probably like others who take risks to get the rush or satisfaction or whatever it is that makes them do what they do. I imagine race car drivers, sky divers and motorcycle riders share the same state of mind. Don’t get me wrong, I think flying in commercial airliners is one of the safest forms of travel. I worried a lot more about my family members driving to the airport than I ever did about them in the air. But, by the same token, we all know that when there is an accident with a plane, it’s serious. My family has been lucky and they are competent aviators. My husband retired with a clean safety record. He did lose a tire off of a Boeing 727 jet over Richmond, California once, which earned him the nickname of “The Richmond Bomber.” He made a safe landing with no one worse for wear except a few anxious moments for the man in the cockpit left seat.

What experiences have you had as either a pilot or a passenger? Are there any questions you always wanted to ask about commercial flying? I can’t promise to know all the answers, but I bet I will know someone who does. I am on a loop with a group of retired pilots who still meet once a month to have lunch and relive the glory days of when they soared through the clouds.

About Shirley Ann Wilder

From the time she could hold a pencil, Shirley Ann Wilder wrote stories. Being the youngest of six children, she was overlooked many times but found wonder and magic in reading books. As a youngster she was especially fond of horse books and read every one of Walter Farley’s Black Stallion books.

That passion for horses carried over into her adult life, and with her husband and four children,she raised Quarter horses and German Shepherds. Shirley’s other passion was writing, but it was put on hold until her three sons and daughter were in high school. ABOUT

After developing a severe allergy to the equine species and having to give up the major part of horse involvement, Shirley wrote a weekly column for a community newspaper and a monthly column entitled “On the Wilder Side” for the California Horseman’s News in which she recounted the humorous episodes that happened during the Wilder family’s horse era. Shirley also published in college literary magazines, but her real quest was to write novels.

After amassing several unfinished manuscripts, a writing instructor suggested she join Romance Writers of America. Taking that advice, she became a member of the local San Diego RWA chapter and has since completed more than six novels. She served on the Executive Board as Co-President of RWA- San Diego for 2006 and 2007 and held several other chair positions. She credits her fellow writers for the support and encouragement that has kept her writing during recent difficult times.

Shirley Ann was widowed in January of 2008 when her husband died of stage four colon cancer after battling it bravely for three years and four months. Two of her grown children live near her in suburbs of San Diego. The eldest and youngest sons live out of state. Shirley Ann is blessed with four granddaughters and one grandson.

Since her husband’s death, Shirley has become an advocate for colonoscopies and is working on a non-fiction book about the grieving process and all one encounters when suffering the loss of a mate. “John was my hero and I will miss him forever, but he always encouraged me to keep writing and to stay strong.”

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About FLY ME

TAKING WING

First Officer Ronnie Talbot knows women aren’t really welcome in the cockpit, but that won’t stop the former beauty queen from pursuing her captain’s wings. She’s not about to let anything stand in her way—least of all the arrogant playboy sitting left seat.

“Flip” Farrell has a reputation: He can land any plane—or lady— with perfect ease. But his icy blonde copilot has got him in a tailspin, and it will take all his considerable skill to warm her up. Yet, just as she begins to find room in her heart for more than flying, a jealous ex and a deceitful coworker threaten to ground them. Only flying blind and trusting true love will get Flip and Ronnie back on course.