A Dot Of Pink In A Sea Of Uniforms by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

I got the idea for my novel, Handle With Care (out 4/14/26) while standing in line at the post office. The postal clerk asked the same question they ask of everyone who is there to mail a package: “Does the package contain anything liquid, fragile, perishable, or potentially hazardous?” But on this day, that question struck me on a more profound level. I thought to myself, “Well, aren’t we all?”

As I walked to the parking lot, I thought about how that question might fit into a book, but then quickly discarded the notion. What would the book even be about? And who would want to read a book that takes place in a post office? Ah, well, I recall thinking, “Not every idea is a keeper.” And with that, I went on with my day.

Until a few days later when a voice in my head said. “It’s a hostage situation.”

“Oh,” I thought, recalling the post office idea. “Yes. That’s exactly what it is.”

In the weeks that followed I came to understand that the book would indeed be about a hostage situation, set in a post office. And that the women who are taken hostage would all be carrying something that, if mailed, could change their lives significantly. Who were these women? And what were they carrying? With time and lots of daydreaming, the answers came and the story developed, until the moment finally arrived to start writing.

I wrote happily along for several chapters, enjoying seeing the characters emerge on the page. Everything was going swimmingly until the hostage situation escalated to the point in the story where it was time to call 911. My fingers froze on the keyboard. What happens now? Who comes to the rescue? What do they do once they get there? I had no idea. So, I did what any skilled researcher does: I went to Google.

The second hit that came up was a website for a hostage negotiation conference. A whole conference about hostage negotiation? I bet I could learn a lot at something like that. So, I clicked on it, telling my husband as I did, “Hey, I found a conference for hostage negotiators. Wouldn’t it be cool if they let me come?”

He smirked at me. “Marybeth,” he said in his longsuffering voice. “That’s for law enforcement training. They’re not gonna let you go to something like that.”

I pointed at the computer. “Well,” I countered. “The guy in charge’s email is right here. I can at least try.” My husband shook his head and wandered off while I composed an email.

The guy said yes. I mean, he said potentially yes. After a phone interview with him and then a phone interview with someone else and then, I later learned, a background check. But after that I was permitted to come. I don’t know if I was happier about the access I’d been granted or proving my husband wrong. Either way, six weeks later, off I went to a hotel in a state halfway across the country to an event where I knew no one and absolutely nothing about the material I was there to learn. 

My favorite part of this experience, in retrospect, (though it was not my favorite at the time), was walking down the long hallway into the convention area where the conference was being held. It was a warm day, so I had worn a dress with a light sweater and flip flops. I felt I looked presentable and professional, yet casual (hence the flip flops). I assumed that all the law enforcement people—since they wouldn’t actually be on duty—would be in street clothes as well. I can remember my sandals echoing off the tile floor—flip/flop, flip/flop, flip/flop—as I drew close enough to see nothing but dark colored uniforms all congregated as they waited to go in. While I know it didn’t happen this way, in my mind, the whole room went quiet and all that could be heard was those flip flops reverberating as the uniforms turned in unison to stare at the interloper in their midst. But I had come this far. There was no turning back.

In truth, that was as hard as it got: that moment of feeling sorely out of place and that I’d overstepped in a major way, just a dot of pink in a sea of uniforms. Who was I to talk my way into something I had no business being a part of? I didn’t have an answer to that question in that flip flop summer dress wearing fish out of water moment. But now I do.

I was a writer who needed to do research in order to get my material right. I was a person who respected what these people do on a daily basis, often unsung, and I wanted to honor them in the way I portrayed their process. I learned a ton during those three days (the phrase “drinking from a firehose” comes to mind), and even made some friends, one of whom became the inspiration for the female hostage negotiator in the book, to whom the book is dedicated. I grew as a writer, but also as a person through the experience. And, bonus, I earned 36 credit hours in hostage negotiation. I’ve got the certificates to prove it.

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Marybeth Mayhew Whalen is the author of Every Moment Since and 9 previous novels. Marybeth received a BA in English with a concentration in Writing and Editing from NC State University a long time ago and has been writing ever since. She is the co-founder of The Book Tide, an online community of readers where “a rising tide raises all books.” Marybeth and her husband Curt are the parents of six kids who are now all in various stages of adulting. A native of Charlotte, NC, Marybeth now calls Sunset Beach, NC home.

HANDLE WITH CARE

A story about finding hope in the face of hardship and connection in the face of crisis, Handle with Care is a novel for our time.

“Rich with complex characters, a tightly woven plot and natural suspense.” –Belle Burden, author of Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage

Three women walk into a post office. This is no joke–it’s the spark that ignites a life-altering crisis.

On a quiet spring afternoon, an ordinary small-town post office becomes ground zero for a domestic dispute. A husband draws a weapon and seals the doors, holding four women captive: his frightened wife, a young woman searching for meaning amid uncertainty, a mother on the brink of letting go as her only daughter graduates, and an elderly woman concealing a secret that could shatter everything she knows.

Outside, the negotiator works to keep a fragile peace, forced to confront her own issues as every word becomes a lifeline.

Each of the three women who walked into the post office is carrying something that, if mailed, would profoundly change her life. As minutes become hours in this daylong siege, these strangers forge lasting bonds. Handle with Care shines a light on hope found even in the darkest moments, and illuminates how even strangers, thrown together by chance and hardship, have the power to change each other’s lives.

This heartwarming women’s fiction novel is laced with depth and humor–it’s perfect for book clubs. Discussion questions are included to prompt lively conversations.

“A deep breath of humanity and hope.” –Gin Phillips, author of Fierce Kingdom and Ruby Falls

“Life is fragile, love is fierce, and we are far more alike than we imagine.” –Elizabeth Bass Parman, author of Bees in June and The Empress of Cooke County

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Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing