How This Time was born

Back in April 2014, I had a dream. A woman was moving her son into the dorms, returning to a campus that had once been her world. But instead of nostalgia, she felt an overwhelming grief—because this place held memories of Will, her best friend, the person who had once meant everything to her… and who had been gone for nearly 20 years.

She couldn’t wait to leave. But then—she didn’t.

Somehow, she wandered into a courtyard and saw Will. Not just a memory. Him. Alive.

For one perfect hour, she sat with him, talked with him, felt the warmth of his presence again—only to suddenly find herself back in her own time, back in a life where he was gone. And she knew:

She had to find a way back.
She had to warn him.
She had to save him.

That dream was so vivid, so real, that I carried the story in my mind for a whole year. Then, in April 2015, I dreamed even more of it.

I still have the text message where I told my sister.

The next morning, I started writing. I poured the story onto the page every morning before work and whenever I could on the weekends. Within four weeks, I had 25,000 words. By the end of the summer, 70,000.

But life pulled me away before I could shape it into what it was meant to be.

Then, in summer 2024, I saw the old files on my computer—and I felt it again. That same magic, that same love for this story.

I found an editor, and with his guidance, I cut the parts that didn’t belong, wrote new, better scenes, and gave Lauren and Will the story they deserved.

And now, This Time is exactly what it was always meant to be.