Tag: Behind the Scenes

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A Cruise Into the Past – Starting with Mailboat I!

 

Have you always wanted to know how the Mailboat Suspense Series got started?

    • No, I didn’t grow up in Lake Geneva.
    • No, I wasn’t a mail jumper.
    • However, I did start developing the story while I was trapped in a life of emotional abuse and depression that nearly led to suicide… and creating this story helped me survive.

By popular demand of my fans over on Patreon, we’re going back to the very beginning of the Mailboat Suspense Series for the ultimate Story Behind the Story—starting with Mailboat I: The End of the Pier.

If you’ve been thinking about whether or not to give my Patreon a try, this is a once-in-a-lifetime moment to climb aboard. I’ve made the first two posts open to the public just so you can sample what we’re all about.

What Is Patreon?

I created my Patreon page in response to the most frequent complaint I hear from my fans: Waiting for the next book to come out!

My Patrons get some incredibly cool perks:

    • Access to every chapter I write, the minute I’m done writing it
    • Book Club Questions to discuss every chapter together
    • Behind-the-Scenes posts revealing details like my inspiration, writing process, and thoughts and feelings behind every moment in the story

A lot of my current Patrons followed along as I wrote Mailboat V, and they now know the Mailboat Suspense Series on a crazy intimate level. They’re currently waiting, breathless, to repeat the experience with Mailboat VI.

Why Are We Launching This Cruise Into the Past?

Right now, I’m wading into the lengthy but vital planning, research, and outlining phase for both Mailboat VI and Mailboat VII, and it’ll be a while before I have new chapters to release for the Patrons.

We were all sad about letting our community go dormant. In addition to the delights of reading and exploring the story together, we’ve created an incredibly tight-knit community around our passions for reading, Lake Geneva, and creating a safe space to discuss mental health.

Rebecca—both my untiring publicist as well as one of my loyal Patrons—had an idea. (Yes, another one. It’s like a garden spigot that doesn’t turn off.)

She suggested we could go back to Mailboat Book I and explore the very beginning of the Mailboat Suspense Series together.

I put it to a vote for the Patrons—and they approved it unanimously.

Schedule of Activities

Approximately once a week, I’m going to re-release a chapter from Mailboat I, followed by Book Club Questions to help the readers go even deeper into the experience.

My Patrons say they’re looking forward to the excuse to re-read the series, as well as to learn what their fellow readers think of each moment of the story.

With every chapter, I’ll also include a Behind-the-Scenes Post telling the story behind the story. And I’m planning to go deep. 

Way deeper than I’ve ever gone before.

If you’ve been to one of my readings, you may think you know the backstory.

But there’s more.

Patreon has become my safe space to talk about my own experiences with trauma and abuse, and my own mental health journey. And if we’re going to talk about the very beginning of the Mailboat Suspense Series… we’re going to talk about some of the darkest times of my life…

But most importantly, the beauty that grew out of the ashes.

That first behind-the-scenes post is live now, and it’s free.

More Than Complimentary Soaps and Shampoos

The first chapter has already released, and it includes a lot:

    • The Prologue of Mailboat I: The End of the Pier
    • A sample audiobook narration of the prologue, performed by my former Montana employee, the amazingly talented Nathaniel Brown
    • Book Club Questions to launch the discussion with our online book club
    • A Behind-the-Scenes Post talking about how I encountered the idea for the Mailboat Suspense Series in the first place—and what my life was really like at the time. (Spoiler: It was pretty freaking awful.)

All of that is available now—and yes, I made it available to the public  for free as a sample of everything we do over on Patreon. If you’ve been waiting for an excuse to give my Patreon page a try, I can’t think of a more ideal time to come aboard.

We can’t wait to welcome you to this deeper-than-ever Cruise Into the Past. It’s almost summer, and the water is fine. Come join us!

~ Danielle

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Blue Pinwheels and Child Abuse

This week, my local county courthouse lawn was glittering with hundreds of small blue pinwheels. I assumed it was symbolic of something, but I wasn’t sure what.
I later found a story by one of our local news outlets explaining that the pinwheels are there to bring awareness to the fact that April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
My attention was caught. As you know, child abuse is a primary theme in my books, the Mailboat Suspense Series. And as I recently shared, I was myself emotionally abused as a child, into my adult years.
I love that it’s “Prevention” month and not “Awareness” month. The more I research broken families, foster care, etc., the more I ask what we can do to prevent children from ever being removed from their families in the first place.
In other words, what can we do to stop child abuse and neglect at home? What can we do to get help for the parents so that the children don’t have to suffer?
I know not every broken family situation can be saved. But speaking from my own experiences of childhood emotional abuse, I can’t help but believe that my life could have been markedly different if my mother had accepted the mental health options that were available to her. Instead, it somehow became more acceptable to ignore the problems than to address them.
That’s why, for me, the problem of child abuse begins with normalizing mental health care for adults. An unhappy parent cannot raise a happy child. An unbalanced parent cannot raise a well-balanced child.
But with proper mental health care, the future could be far brighter for both the adults and the children.
So… take care of your mental health, yo. If not for you, then for the kids in your life.
P.S., for more information on National Child Abuse Prevention Month, check out the resources at the Children’s Bureau, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. And see if there are any events in your town where you can listen, learn, and/or volunteer.
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Wanna know how we did in the film/TV competition?!

I recently let you all know that Charles and I made the semifinalist round of the ScreenCraft Virtual Pitch Competition, where we proposed the idea of the Mailboat Suspense Series as a TV show.

With that accomplishment, our next task was to submit a recorded pitch to try to get to the finalist round. (You can watch Charles and me here!)

Sadly, Charles and I and the Mailboat story weren’t chosen as finalists, so this ends our journey with the Spring 2022 ScreenCraft Virtual Pitch Competition.

But that’s hardly the end of our journey with Hollywood. We still have such big plans!

For starters, placing as semifinalists is still a big deal. We beat out almost 1,000 other pitches to get there. This credential can only help us on our forward journey.

And let’s not forget, I’ve been approached on two separate occasions by parties interested in my film and TV rights. I’m still nursing those leads along.

The competition is really only a small part of a much larger picture.

I couldn’t imagine this journey without you, my loyal fans. Thanks for putting the wind in our sails, cheering us on and believing in an eventual film or TV adaptation. We promise to keep you posted on upcoming developments!

Meanwhile, what can you do to help?

      • Recommend my books to your friends. The more people I have on board, the more Hollywood will take notice!
      • Support my store by purchasing or pre-ordering one of my books. (Mailboat V is coming this summer!)
      • Go above and beyond by joining my Patreon page! You’ll get to read my next story AS I WRITE IT while supporting me in a very tangible way.

Thanks so much for coming with us on this thrilling cruise. We can’t wait to tell you what happens next!