And then, there was that time I scaled a six-story building and called it “research”…
Way back in 2013, I went on a tour of a firehouse when I was at a writers’ conference. At the time, I had zero plans to write firefighter romance. But one look at that firehouse got all the wheels in my head turning, and by the end of that year, I had two books plotted out. But I knew I was going to have to do a LOT of research in order to get my details right, and it wouldn’t do to wing it. So I went back to the firehouse for a ride-along. I got to try on all the gear (so. HEAVY!), take an up-close look at the equipment, ride in the squad vehicle on call responses (all false alarms or very small calls, but it was still really cool to see how it all works!), run the obstacle course in full gear (twice…and I didn’t cry or die, although I pondered both), and my favorite: I got to participate in a rope rescue drill where I went over the side of a six-story building and made my way down (with a TON of assistance from a squad full of very patient seasoned firefighters). I’ve used pieces of that visit in all of my Station Seventeen books, and even now, all this time later, I still remember it so well.
I’m all good on building-scaling, though. Once was MORE than enough for this girl!
