Most people probably imagine authors getting struck by inspiration in beautiful cafés or while staring moodily out rainy windows.

Mine usually arrives while I’m covered in shampoo and trying not to get conditioner in my eyes.

That’s how Erased, Not Gone started: one weird little thought about memory wipes, criminals, and whether losing your past is a punishment or a mercy. By the time I got out of the shower, argued with myself for twenty minutes, and aggressively towel-dried my hair, I had the beginning of a sci-fi romantic suspense novella I absolutely was not planning to write.

This is the story of how a tiny idea snowballed into a full book anyway.