Jonathan is a trainer and real-estate agent. He's from the U.K. At about 5'11" he is massively strong and has a very appealing British accent. Annoying. He is also one of the nicest people I know. 

• Why did you have Danny make the movie with Sarah?
  • I wanted to create a situation unlikely to result in love between two people. All of my main characters are flawed. Only secondary characters are left in a more or less perfect condition and if they were ever to become main characters, they would be flawed too. You know, just like the rest of us. 
• Why bourbon? 
  • When Danny and the Marshal sit down to drink and talk they consume Booker's. It's an American drink so you'd expect it to the liquor of choice for a military man/woman and law enforcement officer. Or I would, anyway. When my wife and I traveled to South Carolina to pick up a new car from the factory, we drove home through Louisville and spent three days there taking a distillery tour. We also did a lot of drinking together in various bars. Our favorite turned out to be Booker's. I've moved on to Blanton's but my wife stayed with Booker's. Just because you can't write a paragraph about bourbon without mentioning Pappy Van Winkle, I'll say, the Marshal would probably drink that if it didn't go for hundreds or for the old stuff, thousands a bottle. Seriously? I've had the Pappy 15 in England and it's great. A bartender poured it for me not, I think, realizing how expensive it was. He didn't even bother to charge me. 
    • "I'll have another," I said.
    • "One's all you get for free."

Why don't good things last forever? Bad things do. Get lucky and it lasts only a short time. Make a bad decision and it follows you for the rest of your life. Unfair I say. 

• Who was Jennifer modeled after?
  • Nobody in particular. Take any beautiful Hollywood starlet and that's her.
• How about Sarah?
  • Sarah is, loosely, my wife. Both are seriously cute, smart, and determined.
• How about all the psychological stuff, family dysfunction, and personal agony?
  • From about 1990 to 2000 I practiced as a clinical psychologist. I've taught, full time, from 1979 to 2011, and part time, off and on, ever since. I've kept the facts as related to me by patients and students out of my books but the life crisis(s) and general psychological issues most of us face are real and have become a part of how I see the world. Nobody I know has emerged into adulthood without residual issues. Danny's, Jennifer's, and Sarah's are a bit more acute but they are, at the same time, common. Most people never resolve them and when challenged their issues rise up and own them. These characters had the courage to confront their inner demons and prevail. Really, is there any greater challenge?

THINGS I'M FREQUENTLY ASKED ABOUT GIRL IN FLIGHT

• How factual is the identity stuff?

  • My short answer is, very. I did a lot of research and then put the pieces together. I don't know if an individual, attempting to hide, could do what Bridget does with Italy but I do know there are countries where such services are readily available on the black market and it didn't take very much digging to see how I could access such services. Did I actually establish a second identity in the name of research? Wouldn't you like to know?

• How about the places Bridget stayed?

  • The Temple in Denver was pretty made up but Bridget's Paris apartment was taken directly from a VRBO my wife and I rented as we traced Bridget's flights from Denver to Paris and then on to Florence. Below is a picture. See how small the apartment was? The rest of her flight, we did, even visiting the same sighs in Paris and Florence. And, yes, I did take a picture of my wife in front of The David, while she and the security guard scolded me. 

• Was the main character, Bridget, based on anyone in particular? 

  • Yes but it's a long story. One semester, when I was supervising students in a hospital, a student came into morning conference with a black eye and split lip. She'd been attacked by the man she'd been dating. In an effort to rape her he'd taken her back to her apartment, pushed her inside, and punched her twice. Her response was unusual, and that's an understatement. She said she was insulted that he would think that she would be unable to protect herself and she got up off of the floor and proceeded to beat him senseless. Then she dragged him across the room, out the door and left him in the hall. "I had brothers," she said, "grew up on a farm loading hay bales onto a truck. My brothers beat me up until I learned to fight. Did he really think a couple of punches was going to impress me? Seriously. Give me a break."

  • I'm not saying this is how women should respond to an attack but I couldn't stop thinking about her "fight or die" response and a character began to build itself in my mind. Since, when you write, there should be both a story and a character arch, I started Bridget out as a victim and developed her into a person, not unlike my student. In the end, Bridget has to fight for her life and when asked about it later she says, "Yea, they thought they were dealing with a girl but what they got instead was me."

  • I don't have any particular wisdom on this issue of self defense for women but as the world has opened up, I think, with the freedom, comes heightened risk, not just for women but for men as well. Many books, written for women, have the female main character rescued by a man. He recognizes her specialness and protects her from a hostile and unappreciative world. I wanted to write a story of a woman who didn't need to be rescued by a man. A woman who, in fact, did the rescuing. That's why Bridget's boyfriend is little. He's 5'5" tall and Bridget is 5'10". A bigger male would have created the expectation that he would protect her. Typical. Bridget does her own protecting. 

  • During the first half of the writing, I thought a lot about my student. At about the half way mark I was doing some of my writing in my gym, in the lobby, in front of the fireplace. There, at the front desk, one day, appeared Sonja. Sonja is a yoga instructor and is just a little over 5’10" tall. As I wrote I began to wonder, could Sonja knock me out? How about that big guy over there? Could she knock him out? I really don't have any idea but slowly she became the physical model for Bridget, at least with regard to height and physical competence. Sonja is tall, slender, fit, and strong.  Bridget, in my mind, is heavier and Sonja is prettier.  

  • The issue of looks is an important one for me. Bridget says, regarding her looks, that she's a 5 or a 6 and, maybe on a good day, a 7. In books meant for women, especially young women, there is the recurrent theme of rescue. The female main character in these books is unnoticed and under appreciated, then an extraordinary man comes along. He sees her under appreciated beauty. He is handsome, rich, and he falls in love with her. He see her for the great person she actually is and he rescues her. This is a perfectly wonderful fantasy but I didn’t want to write such a book. In my view, women, like men, rescue themselves, if they are to be rescued at all. Such women recognize their own under appreciated self as worthy. They get up in the morning and appreciate what they did the day before and the person they are becoming. They resolve to do even better. They remake themselves where needed, not to be recognized by others but to be appreciated by themselves. In Flight, this is Bridget’s quest, at least that’s my view. 

  • Below is a picture of Sonja. Have Bridget look exactly like Sonja, if you want. Or use someone you know. That’s the great thing about books. The author writes the book but you modify it as you go along. In movies or TV, you get an actor and they become the model of that character. In a book, your imagination is activated and the character becomes who you want them to be. You exert your influence over their appearance and how they sound. You control the inflection in their voice and, thereby, alter the meaning of what they say. Writing is a creative act. So, too, is reading.

  • And yes, I think Sonja could knock me out but luckily she is a really nice person

THINGS I'M FREQUENTLY ASKED ABOUT Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain

• How about Faith? Does she have a physical model?
  • Yes, I used the appearance of a friend, Harmony. Harmony modeled for the cover of the book. She's a trainer, like Jonathan. She developed Volo Yoga, a type of suspension yoga. She also organizes health retreats. Here is the link for her web site and a picture or two of Harmony. 
  • http://www.voloyoga.com

How about Faith's husband?

• No, I made him up from sociopaths I treated in my pre doctoral internship. Without launching into a lecture on psychopathology, the sociopath is developmentally incomplete. If you are willing to buy into a traditional model of the mind, we are all born with life drives, a need for food, water, shelter, and anger when the drives are not satisfied, those drives and responses create a tension between the child and society. Rage whenever frustrated is acceptable in a two year old but not later. Parents and society instill us with a mental map of right and wrong. The tension then moves inward as the child tries to satisfy their needs while living within the limits of their developing conscience. Most of us resolve this tension by developing coping skills which include the ability to delay gratification and see life in the long term. We develop epathy, and rational decision making. Take away a couple of those ego strengths and you have Faith's husband. When I was practicing I tried to not treat sociopathic individuals. Typically, they don't come for therapy, anyway.