Authors Connect at the 2024 Women in Aviation International Conference

Above: Founder and former WAI President, Dr. Peggy Chabrian, stopped by the book for a photo op. Peggy was a staunch supporter of including books and authors in the conference, a legacy that continues today.

Top: Ashlee Leppert, The Hurricane Within and Laura Savino, Jet Boss, Bottom: Former Thunderbird demonstration team pilot, Caroline “Blaze” Jensen with Thundermouse, and Patty Bear with her memoir From Plain to Plane: My Mennonite Childhood, a National Scandal, and an Unconventional Soar to Freedom, with her ‘plain people’ garb, her USAF flight suit, and her airline Captain uniform on display.

It was my pleasure to support Authors Connect activities for the Women in Aviation, International annual conference in Orlando, Florida for my second year in March. We had an outstanding turnout with 21 authors assigned to three simultaneous book signings at a prominent location outside the exhibit hall. We also hosted the coop book shop for the second year, making books available to conference-goers throughout the conference rather than exclusively during author signing times. I look forward to working with WAI to make this an even better feature for next year’s conference in Denver.

The bookshop was an attraction this year! Thanks to Patty Bear for her creative direction and for standing the watch as all of the authors rotated in for their shifts. Eileen Bjorkman, Flygirls Revolt, left. . Top Right: Yolanda Witvliet, The Airline Transition Manual and A Pilot’s Guide to Scholarships and Grants, holds court with some aspiring airline pilots toward the end of the table. Bottom right: Merryl Tengesdal dropping some wisdom for Wonder Woman and friends.

I brought my “She Believed She Could so She Did” inspirational bracelets, wine charms, and Literary Aviatrix Journals for sale in the book shop. The proceeds support my youth outreach events where the bracelets are the prize for Literary Aviatrix Pilot Bingo.

With the generous support of WAI and their sponsors, United Airlines and PASS International, I was able to host the second Authors Connect Reading and Reception on Thursday night. I hosted our first event in 2023 and it was a huge success. We had another great event with positive feedback from attendees. Each attendee received an Aviatrix Journal and I led a simple writing exercise before the reading, asking everyone to write three words to describe their first flight (or first big life event). The wrote them on a sticky note for us to see at the end of the event, and in their journals to hopefully inspire them to write their aviation stories. And each author raffled off a signed copy of her book at the end of her reading.  

The military ladies put on our flight suits for the Women Military Aviators Flight Suit Social on Friday. Top left are Loree Draude (She Just Another Navy Pilot), Patty Bear (From Plain to Plane), and Becky Condon (She Flies). Top right is Kodey Bogart (Helo Girls Firefighting Pilot) with the Whirly Girl book bundles featuring The Adventures of Dolph and Gwen by Darcy Guyant, which were a big hit, especially with our Coast Guard friends. Speaking of Coast Guard, I went vintage with the flight suit this year, wearing our old blue style suit from my baby pilot days (I could still fit in it! Amazing!) Bottom left is me with Kim Dougherty (Aviation in Literature), center was a quick ambush of my fabulous Literary Aviatrix Classics series cohost, Capt. Jenny Beatty, and Ninety-Nines President Robin Hadfield. I was honored to sit down with LT Miranda Fay and talk about my Coast Guard career and Literary Aviatrix for the Flight Suit Friday podcast.

I got fangirled by WAI’s awesome volunteer, Devon, who asked me to sign my Authors Connect column in Aviation for Women Magazine. How Fun!