Back in 2011, while we were expecting our second child, an idea took hold that I was really excited about. The first 20,000 words came out without any difficulty, then trickled, then stopped.

I became so stuck on the accuracy of one issue, that it shut me down for a few years. I researched the hell out of coin-flip probability. In my mind, a reader would scoff at my character’s poor study design and deem the whole thing unbelievable. The fact that it is a novel about fictional science was irrelevant. What kind of neuroscientist would run such a small n? 

And so the premise lay dormant for a few years, but I couldn’t quite forget it. So instead, I enrolled at UCLA’s Extension School and tried to use the idea as the plot for a movie. Science! Research ethics! Morality! Well, I couldn’t quite get it to work. So back it went.

Until last year, when I showed the opening to a friend who demanded an ending. Like the Neil Gaiman advice:

“How do you do it? You do it. You write. You finish what you write.”

And so, I dug it out. And combined drafts. And outlined and index carded and ruminated on the whole thing.

And finished.

75k. A draft, but a draft nevertheless of something quite unique that only I can tell.

The Grey Line (or terminator, or twilight zone) divides day and night. It is the point where dark and light meet. It is only visible to outside observation.

Yay!