Writing the Climax of Mailboat V… with the Lake Geneva PD!

Currently, I’m writing like a mad woman, trying to wrap up an epic climax sequence for Mailboat V. Guys, I think even *I* underestimated how epic it’s gonna be.

So, earlier this week, I enlisted the aid of my friends Sergeant Jason Hall and Lieutenant Ed Gritzner of the real-life Lake Geneva Police Department to draw from their expertise.

To be honest, I used to feel guilty about asking them to take time away from their real-life duties just to make-believe with me.

And then came the day Ed and I were working through the climax sequence for Mailboat III: The Captain’s Tale.

“One last question,” I said. “Where would you set up your command post?”

“The parking lot of the state park,” he said.

I thanked him for his time, and we hung up.

Two minutes later, he called me back. “I change my mind. The parking lot at the state park is too close to the action. Let’s put it at the middle school.”

I laughed, even as I updated my notes. The way he called me back so fast–he was acting like this was real.

And then I realized… he was basically treating my climax sequence like a training scenario.

Scenario training is something emergency personnel do in real life—and they make it as authentic as possible. The below photo isn’t a real car accident; it’s a training scenario I attended in 2016, put on at an event called the Writers Police Academy.

They pulled out all the stops for this, even landing a helicopter to carry away one of the “patients.” The entire thing unfolded as if it were real, and gave the emergency personnel involved a chance to practice their skills and use their equipment. That way, next time it is real, they’re ready.

Now that I equate my fictional emergencies with scenario training, I don’t feel so guilty about asking Jason and Ed for their time. And frankly, they’re usually delighted to help. (I keep having to remind myself that other people find authors cool.)

And after all the emergencies I’ve written into the Mailboat Suspense Series… you should feel very safe in Lake Geneva. I’ve prepped your PD for the literal worst, LOL.

But for the climax sequence of Book V… I might have thrown them a doozey.

When working through these “scenarios,” I’ll start by telling Ed and Jason what information they have at their disposal, and they’ll in turn tell me how they’d respond, what tactics and resources they’d deploy, etc.

Let me just say, the climax of Book V has a lot of moving parts–what my cop friends would call “a dynamic situation.” From an author’s perspective, I’m rotating between quite a few points of view, as well as multiple, constantly-changing locales; and in real time, everything would be unfolding in a matter of minutes. This scenario is pulling in more law enforcement officers than I even have names and call signs for. (Random name generators have been my friend. Don’t worry, I only use the good ones, and I lean towards German surnames, cuz southeast Wisconsin, amiright?)

How big is the climax sequence for Mailboat V? I think Jason’s reaction sums it up best:

I gave him the opening scenario. In response, he established a perimeter and sent in additional units.

I threw him a hard left.

“Oh, shit,” he said. “I lose my job.” Despite his initial pessimism, he adjusted quickly, creating an inner perimeter and calling in additional resources.

I gave him another hard left.

“Oh, God.” He considered a moment, then asked—hopeful, almost begging— “Is my outer perimeter in place yet?”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him… probably not.

Jason’s most frequent comment throughout the scenario? “It would be chaos… It would be chaos…”

LOL. I have too much fun with these books.

Also, don’t get any ideas about calling the LGPD so you can grill Sergeant Hall or Lieutenant Gritzner for spoilers. I haven’t even told them everything–like, the final, final showdown, which I felt confident to write without their input. In fact, I didn’t even tell them which characters were involved.

“I’m trying to think who’s who in this scenario,” Ed admitted.

Secretly? I’m really hoping to blow their minds once they read it.

So… Definitely tired over here from all the last-minute writing. Definitely feeling like my arm’s about to fall off. Definitely wish the writing was done already. And definitely watching the calendar and observing that this release is going to be down-to-the-wire.

But that’s pretty typical, TBH. I have no idea how I manage to release a book every year. Magic is real.

But now that the climax sequence is finally coming together… I’m more certain than ever that this could be my favorite book so far. If you haven’t reserved your pre-order yet, better get it in now! Or come meet me at one of the book signings on the 2022 Lake Geneva Book Tour. When you see me, you’ll know I put 110% into this release.

~ Danielle

P.S., if you want to help me over the finish line in a very real way… you can buy me a coffee! I can’t tell you how much that lifts my spirits, warms my heart, and fuels my writing.


My First Winter in Lake Geneva

As many of you know, I was in Lake Geneva a few weeks ago. Thanks to everyone who came to see me at the Cornerstone Shop!

But my primary reason for coming to Lake Geneva was to finally see the area in winter. While I’m currently writing Mailboat V (set at the end of summer and releasing this August), I’m already planning Mailboat VI, which is set in the off season.

(And because I know you want to know, my outlines suggest there will be about eight books all together in the Mailboat Suspense Series.)

Seeing Lake Geneva under ice and snow for the first time was AMAZING. I’m so glad I went! So enjoy this photo journal of my trip.

Have coffee, will travel! Even while waiting for my first flight out of Missoula, I was writing the next chapter of Mailboat V for my Patreon Page. (They’ve already read 20 chapters over there!)

My first time at O’Hare! I only got lost a few times… Also, I arrived really late, and didn’t roll into Lake Geneva itself until one in the morning, LOL. I was tired.

Since Book VI takes place in winter… Bailey will be in school! I reached out to my friends at the Lake Geneva Police Department and asked if their School Resource Officer at Badger High could give me a tour.

Officer Theon Ward was fantastic. Our tour lasted THREE HOURS. Any time he asked if I wanted to see this or that, I replied, “Dude. I live fifteen hundred miles away. YES, I want to see that.”

Thanks, Officer Ward, for making my research so complete! And thanks to Courtney Hinzpeter of the LGPD for coming along and photographing our adventure.

I can’t tell you how impressed I was with Badger High. With all the classes and opportunities offered, it was more like touring a small college than a high school. Here’s my favorite photo of the tour–Officer Ward appreciating an EXTREMELY talented monolog by one of the students from the theater department.

I couldn’t go to Bailey’s high school without picking up a tee shirt! This is now one of my prized possessions. Go, Badgers!

One of the reasons I was so excited for this trip was to see Winterfest and the International Snow Sculpting Competition! My favorite sculpture was, of course, by Team North Dakota–a sea serpent wrapped around a Viking longship. My home state took third!

Since I was so busy with research, I made time for only one public event, a book signing at the Cornerstone Shop. Some of you drove two or even three hours to come see me! Thank you so much, I felt the love. Here’s a pic I got with Paula, one of my top fans.

For anyone who was looking for me in Lake Geneva and couldn’t find me… I spent a lot of my down time here! This is the new Mobile Command Unit for the Lake Geneva Police Department. It’s essentially an office on wheels, making it easier for the PD to manage large events like Winterfest, or respond to emergency situations.

And most importantly, IT WAS WARM–one of the top reasons I kept finding myself there, LOL. I got to check out the PD’s latest tech, brush up my skills writing cop stories, and hang out with my friends from the PD–some of whom I hadn’t seen since pre-pandemic. Dang, it was good to see them.

Speaking of old friends… I found the Mailboat up at its winter berth in Williams Bay! We had a good, long talk. So much love for this boat…

My friend Stacy managed to wrangle a ticket for me to see the Ice Castles, even though they were sold out that weekend! What a magical experience. Yes, I totally tried the ice slides.

Back at O’Hare, I had time before my flight to upload pictures to my Facebook and Instagram pages–and listen to Bailey go on and on about her life post-series, including memorable trips she took out of O’Hare Airport. My characters always feel so real–and LOUD!–when I’m in the places where the story is set.

And it hasn’t really worn off. Feeling inspired by Bailey’s excitement for her life post-series, I spent time this week fleshing out the big-picture series outline. You know it’s good when you make yourself cry. So much joy.

And then I was home! It was great to be back with Charles again–but my trip was definitely too short. In great news, I’ll be back in Lake Geneva next August for the release of Mailboat V! I can’t wait to see you then.

The American Orphan Train Movement, the History of Foster Care, and How It Was Never Designed for the Children

Currently, I’m hammering away at Mailboat IV, trying to get it ready for the August 1st release and August 20-22 book signing tour. This week, I devoted some time to reviewing what I know about the foster care system in the United States, since our main character Bailey, is a foster kid.

Guys, it’s kind of like watching a car wreck and not being able to look away.

On the one hand, you have a lot of beautiful people who are opening their homes, hearts, and lives to kids who aren’t their own. You also have hard-working case workers, therapists, and CASAs (Court Appointed Special Advocates–lawyers for children) who are doing amazing things to help kids, and their stories are inspiring. You also find stories of adoption that are straight-up tear-jerkers.

But just hop over to YouTube and type in “foster care story.” Warning: only do this if you think you can handle the myriad tales of abuse and neglect that happen to children in the foster care system. (And for a perspective on Southeast Wisconsin, here’s an amazing 25-minute documentary that’s a real eye-opener.)

This week, I went on a mission to understand how abuse within foster care is happening–when the system itself exists to save children from neglectful and abusive situations. And it finally dawned on me to look into the history of foster care and adoption. (I always find a little historical context goes a long way in helping to understand the present.)

That’s when I learned just how closely the orphan trains of the 19th and early 20th century were connected to modern-day foster care. In fact, they’re considered the foundation of today’s foster care system.

What are the orphan trains? I’m glad you asked. I hear a lot of you like history. I do to. And I can’t fit the half of this research into my next novel, so here it is:

The Orphan Train Movement

If you’re not familiar with the orphan trains, they’re a fascinating bit of history–and there’s an entire genre of historical fiction dedicated to them!In a nutshell, a minister in New York City named Charles Loring Brace noted that there were some 30,000 children living in the streets–children he feared would grow up to become thieves and prostitutes without intervention.

Meanwhile, railroads and settlement were expanding across the continent. Families moving west needed help on their new farms and ranches. Brace had a solution.

He loaded children aboard trains and sent them West. The kids lined up on the platforms, tallest to shortest, and farmers and townsfolk could take their pick.

The orphan train program was a smash success. Brace expanded into other cities, and between the 1850s and 1920s sent some 250,000 children west.

Once I understood that modern-day foster care was formed out of the orphan train movement, I understood why abuse is so rampant in foster care.

It has its roots in child labor.

Foster Care Was Never for the Children

Not every child who rode the orphan train ended up in a loving home. The reason the orphan train was so popular was because it provided free labor.This was the 19th century. Children, like women and African-Americans, were considered property. Kids were to be seen and not heard. They had no rights. Even natural-born children were expected to be dutiful and obedient, nothing more.

So it isn’t surprising that many kids who took the orphan train later reported that their adoptive parents beat them, overworked them, and generally treated them differently from their own children. Volunteers within the communities were supposed to make sure this didn’t happen, but they were disincentivized from doing so, because where would the children go, if not here?

In perspective, the orphan train existed mainly for the benefit of adults, not kids. It kept unsightly urchins off city streets, prevented homeless kids from becoming adult criminals, and provided labor out West.

And that’s the way the system has always worked–for the adults, not the kids. In some Western cultures in the Middle Ages, it was common for nobles to foster each other’s children, as a means of sealing bonds between them, similar to arranged marriages. The children, of course, had no say in the matter. I’ve heard other tales (more research required) of children of the poor being indentured to the rich. Supposedly, this better provided for the children’s needs–but it was, in fact, both child labor and slave labor.

So these are the shoulders on which the modern-day foster care system is built. To this day, we find the poor, the addicted, and the abused inconvenient. We funnel them into prisons. And what do we do with the kids? Give them to strangers. It’s the only other option.

Child labor has thankfully been outlawed. But that also means there is no great incentive for every-day people to take in foster children. Today, there is a massive shortage of homes for these kids.

That’s why abusive homes–homes like Bud’s in the Mailboat story–manage to slip in. Case workers are overloaded and they’re desperate to keep the homes they already have. Like their 19th-century predecessors, they’re disincentivized to investigate allegations of abuse because these kids have to go somewhere.

Meanwhile, kids today are still disenfranchised. If a child says their foster parent is abusive–and the foster parent says they’re not–the adult is believed, not the child.

How Do We Help the Kids?

I find the entire situation infuriating. My boyfriend Charles can tell you that I storm around our apartment raving after a day spent researching foster care. Fiction about orphan kids is incredibly popular. We love them on the page. But in real life? They don’t get a chance. Their reality is completely unknown and misunderstood. Foster kids are criminalized, as if their situation were their own fault. Meanwhile, we believe that someone else is taking care of the problem.But to a still-large extent, they aren’t.

One of the things that foster care workers constantly ask for is awareness.

Another is more homes. Kids would be trapped in abusive placements less often if case workers simply had more options to choose from.

Meanwhile, I find myself wondering what we can do about the front-end. How can we help families who are struggling with poverty, addiction, and abuse? How can we support them before their household becomes too dangerous for kids to grow up in? As a girl who’s dad died when I was very young, I can attest to how strong the bond is between parent and child, even when the child “never knew” their parent. In my opinion, if we can help prevent kids from leaving their homes in the first place, that would be an ideal outcome.

And that, I think, funnels directly into the issue that’s ultimately closest to my heart: Mental health awareness. So many of the problems I’ve listed above–poverty, addiction, and abuse–stem directly from untreated mental health issues. I think one way to save our kids is to finally acknowledge that so much of our behavior–and misbehavior–stems from our mental health, and that not taking care of ourselves can result in the neglect or abuse of our kids. If we can reform our social systems, our judiciary systems, and our police systems to acknowledge the keystone of mental health, I believe this could be a better world, for adults and children.

My ideas are all half-formed and require piles of more research, including conversations with people who are actually in the trenches. But I hope something in here is helpful to someone. One of my goals as an author is just to get people thinking. To start a conversation. Because conversations are the beginning of change.

Have you ever been involved in foster care or adoption, in any way? I’d be happy to hear about your experiences, good or bad. I’m open to learning.

If not, I hope my little walk through history and modern-day foster care was enlightening and can spark conversations and ideas between you and those you know.

~ Danielle


All Bailey wanted was a family of her own. Instead, she found a body at the end of a pier…