There were five drafts of BARELY BREATHING. Since the first draft, 10,000 words were cut and then 4,000 were written in. The first two chapters used to be three. And in the second draft, I changed Jonathan’s and Rachel’s personalities drastically.

I would like to share two scenes that never made the final version. One is part of a chapter that was only mentioned and the other is what I considered for the Prologue of BB for the longest time, but in the end I found a more emotional way of sharing the same information.

Ice Skating

Sara and Emma had their own “first” when they went ice skating together. It’s a cute moment, but it really didn’t add to the story.

The Almost Prologue

This is the ending you wanted for REASON TO BREATHE, but I decided to push you off a cliff instead. So I thought I’d use it for the Prologue of BARELY BREATHING, to allow the book to begin and end with Evan’s voice. But I decided you should find out what happened to Emma as she did, and I think that was much more powerful. I know how much you like Evan’s voice…