Genre Hopping with the Literary Aviatrix

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Edith/Maddie here with a special guest for you all!

When I was finishing up A Case for the Ladies, I happened across a reference to the Literary Aviatrix. The name caught my attention and I went on a hunt. To my delight I found Liz Booker, a writer who also supports women who write about women in aviation. A person with a history in aviation herself, Liz has an active Facebook group and a fabulous YouTube channel, among other presences. I was honored to be interviewed for her YouTube series – watch it here.

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I’ll let her tell you all about her project. Take it away, Liz!

Hello, Wicked Writers and fans. I feel privileged to be in your virtual midst. I suppose mine will be a very different post than most. I’m Liz Booker, a retired US Coast Guard helicopter pilot and foreign diplomat with an MFA in writing for children and young adults.

I retired in the fall of 2019 with a plan to write full time and to reenergize my relationship with aviation by flying recreationally. The writing went sideways with a house full of people and I lost steam feeling isolated from the aviation community during Covid. What better way to connect than through a book club?

I started the Aviatrix Book Club in 2020, hoping to make my way through what I imagined was a small number of books featuring women in aviation with a dozen or so friends. I reached out in the women pilot groups on Facebook and was overwhelmed to have 600 members in the first week, 1,200 in the first month! Likewise, I was astounded by the number of books I found on the market that featured women in aviation, and frustrated by how difficult they were to find on Amazon thanks to their confounding algorithms. 

We’re in our fourth year now and I can proudly say I’ve built a thriving community of readers and writers around these stories. I learned how to YouTube and podcast. I built a website to serve as a central source to find the over 600 books on the market that feature women in aviation in all genres, for all ages. I navigated the murky waters of social media and figured a couple of things out. It turns out I really love promoting books and their authors, and I thrive in an environment where I can connect people in meaningful ways.

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When I started my own writing journey, I was terrified. I tell people writing is way more frightening than hovering a helicopter at 30 feet over the water at night (so, respect to all of you!) One thing I knew, though, was that I didn’t want to be a pilot writing a book.

I wanted to be a writer, who happened to be a subject matter expert, writing a book. Likewise, my goal is to help other women in aviation elevate their writing and publishing so our books are more accessible to a broader audience. To that end, I usually spend a portion of my author interviews talking about writing and publishing for the Aviatrix Writers’ Room. The Aviatrix Writers Group on Facebook has 175 members all of whom encourage and support one another the way it appears you Wicked Writers do for each other.

And what about my own work? Well, I’ve all but completely rewritten what I hope will be my debut young adult novel in the past two years. I just have some bits in the murky middle to sort out. (Conflict! I need more conflict!) It’s realistic contemporary adventure fiction about—you guessed it—a girl who is introduced to aviation and learns to fly. As I muddle my way through revision after revision I continue to be inspired by the friendships and conversations I have with readers and writers in my community.

You can check out all of my author interviews, including one with your very own Edith Maxwell (aka Maddie Day) about her recent release, A Case for the Ladies, on the Literary Aviatrix website, YouTube channel, and podcast. Just as I requested of all my MFA cohorts, I will encourage all of you to include bold and adventurous female aviation characters in your books. And when you do, I look forward to interviewing you, too!

You can find all of my links at here: https://linktr.ee/literaryaviatrix

Edith: Thanks, Liz. Awesome work!

Readers: What books have you read about aviators? Have you written any? Questions for Liz?

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Published by Edith Maxwell

Agatha Award -winning author Edith Maxwell writes the historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries (Beyond the Page) and short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the Dot and Amelia Mysteries, the Country Store Mysteries series, the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, and the Cece Barton Mysteries (all from Kensington Publishing). She lives north of Boston in an antique house with her beau and cat Martin, where she writes, gardens, cooks, and wastes time on Facebook.

27 Thoughts

  1. What an interesting post by an interesting woman! Congratulations on all you have achieved since retiring, Liz. How awesome to have created a whole new community for women who create characters who fly!

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  2. Greetings Edith & Liz,

    Edith, I listened to your podcast interview a week ago on Literary Aviatrix hosted by Liz Booker. You are a literary inspiration and I love how you stepped out of your traditional publishing world to pursue A Case for the Ladies. And where did I hear about A Case for the Ladies — none other than Liz Booker’s social media platforms. She is clearly making her way through what she calls the muddy waters of social media because her communication on those platforms have connected and informed so many!

    Liz is a resource for me. I am what she strives not to be, a pilot who IS an author (wink wink). Liz has taken myself and over 600 women writing about aviation under her wing. Her consistency with creating a safe place for new aviatrix authors to land mixed with more seasoned aviation-authors has proven as a motivator for me to elevate my own writing.

    I highly recommend listening to her podcast. Literary Aviatrix connects me to new authors, invites me to strengthen with my own writing and accompanies me on my long drives to Newark Liberty Airport before I takeoff for the Far East.

    Thank you Edith and Liz.

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    2. Thanks, as always, for your support and enthusiasm, Erin, and everyone else here, if you have little ones, check out her books that feature pups who are supported by animal air rescue!

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  3. As a military brat, I must first and foremost thank you for your service. What an awesome accomplishment in both your previous career and your present one as well. Find it extremely interesting to find that your first novel is aimed for the younger generation – maybe to entice and encourage interest into the field of aviation. Won’t that be grand!

    Honestly, off the top of my head early this morning, I can’t think of a book that I’ve read that dealt with aviation. I do, however, have a great desire to read Edith’s book A CASE FOR THE LADIES. Now that you’ve perked my interest into that genre, I’m going to check out what else I need to add to my gotta read list.

    Continued success and although a senior citizen, I’m anxious to see and read your upcoming novel.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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    1. Oh, Kay, just have a look through the SHOP BOOKS tab on my website! You can sort by genre, fiction, non-fiction, etc . . . we’re discussing Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead in the Aviatrix Book Club this month, which I would shelve next to Steinbeck’s East of Eden and Michener’s Hawaii, if you like that sort of literary saga, which I do! And if suspense/mystery/thriller is your thing, we have tons of those options as well, including a couple of personal favorites, The Huntress, by Kate Quinn, and Stateless, by Elizabeth Wein (who also wrote the NYT best-selling Code Name Verity- fabulous).

      See? You got me going . . . I can’t wait to hear what you find that interests you!

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  4. Welcome Liz! I am picturing a whole series in my head – and of course now I can’t remember it. Not enough caffeine.

    But this fall (I think) Laura Jensen Walker will release a book about the Nightingales of WWII – and of course I can’t remember that exact title either!

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      1. This is wonderful! We love to celebrate the contributions of our cabin crew, and I couldn’t have done my job if we didn’t have well-trained EMTs in the back (I’m a little squeamish so my policy was never look back!)

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  6. What a great post! I always wanted to learn to fly, can’t imagine why I never did. Remember those Learn to Fly Cessna ads – It’s all good, though. I did learn to jump out of planes, I married an aviator, and it turns out I’m an excellent navigator. Somehow, I always know exactly where I am and how long it will take to get where we’re going!

    Women in aviation fascinate me. You’re reading my gateway book – West With the Night. I have the entire series of Markham’s books. Then there was Anne Morrow Lindberg. Her diaries are fabulous, and although she’s overshadowed by her husband’s accomplishments, she was quite the aviatrix.

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    1. Well, all fun! We just discussed the memoir of another woman who started out with skydiving, ended up getting her pilot’s license at 51 years old and who, by the time she was 60, had circumnavigated the world solo – TWICE! And Markham’s book is fabulous for sure, but I have to say, I just finished Louise Thaden’s High, Wide, and Frightened and it gives Beryl a run for her money, at least for flying scenes and adventures.

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  7. What an interesting and passionate human this literary aviatrix is. Inspiring read. Thanks, Edith and Liz.

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  8. Welcome to the Wickeds, Liz! What a wonderful community you have built! Good luck with you own novel! I have loved writing the Beryl and Edwina Mysteries which feature an aviatrix, as well as her ground-loving friend.

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    1. This sent me down a rabbit hole looking at your books! ;-). I must know more. Is there any flying in them? I’m guessing Beryl is our pilot? Tell me more!

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  9. Welcome to the Wickeds Liz! First of all, sending you good writing vibes so that you finish your YA soon.
    I love this post, and how you took lemons and turned them into lemonade re COVID. And obviously you hit on a point of interest for folks. Thanks for visiting. Can’t wait to check out your YouTube channel!

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  10. Fascinating! I admire the way you brought together a like-minded group of women to support one another in this manner. It’s heartening to see the huge response you’ve gotten! I highly recommend James R. Benn’s ROAD OF BONES, a Billy Boyle WWII mystery, which has quite a bit about a squadron of Russian women pilots known as The Night Witches by the Germans whom they targeted during WWII. I knew nothing about them until I read that book.

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    1. Thanks for the recommendation – that’s a new title for me and I’ll check it out. Lots of fabulous books, both fiction and non-fiction about the Russian women who flew in combat in WWII, Night Witches is another topic you can sort for on my website!

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  11. This is so cool! I loved West With the Night and the several great kids’ biographies of Bessie Coleman and Amelia Earhart. As a former children’s librarian, I’m delighted by the spotlight on Coleman and Earhart in those books for any budding aviatrix or aviator.

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    1. Well, if you love Bessie Coleman stories, you MUST check out Carole Hobson’s A Pair of Wings (and my interview with the author ;-). This is a fabulous adult historical ‘fiction’ that holds true to Bessie’s accomplishments in the context of her times, and it’s a rare example of a book that was originally self-published and has been picked up by Holt for republication due to come out this fall! Thanks for the note! -Liz

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    2. And, P.S., if you’re on Instagram I’m featuring children’s books this month with promotion videos from the authors! -Liz

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  12. Welcome to the blog, Liz! We just watched the Blue Angels practice yesterday. I believe they have a female pilot now. Good luck working through the middle of your book. You’re an inspiration for creating such a great community!

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    1. Thank you! Yes, they do. As a Naval Aviator myself (the Coast Guard attends flight training with and receives our wings from the Navy), I was present to celebrate Lt. Amanda Lee’s first performance, along with a crowd of other women pilots, in El Centro. The only embarrassment was how long the Navy took to select a female performance pilot – the Air Force was way ahead. -Liz

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