I thought it might be interesting for some readers to see some of the stuff that gets left on the cutting floor. I’ll share some of this to give you an idea of what the story is about (even while not sharing the synopsis yet).

The only thing I’ve said about 40 is that it’s kinda like It’s A Wonderful Life as told by Stephen King.

Here’s an early sample of a cut (and don’t worry–the story is not in second person, just this portion):

In this dream, you are on your own.
In this dream, you are a boy 39 years old.
In this dream, you hold onto an empty shopping cart that’s tearing down a rocky road but since this is a dream it might as well be a sled gliding over ice.
The drop off is coming.
The end of the world is in plain sight.
Five seconds.
Four
Three.
You are a boy again strangled by blankets and seeing twisting faces in the moonlight on the wall.
Two.
One.
Then falling into an ocean that swallows and sucks you in like Jonah and the belly of the big fat whale.
Sorrows swim in time Tyler in time.
Then a noise awakens you.