When I decided to build a house with my kids, everyone thought I was crazy. But I don’t believe much in plans. My philosophy instead was “I don’t know how to build a wall, but I do know how to pound a nail.” In my writing career, it’s been the same: In the beginning, I thought, I don’t know how to plot out and write a whole book, but I do know how to tell my kids a bedtime story. I do know how to write a grammatically correct sentence. And, really, isn’t a book just a lot of grammatically correct sentences put together? Creativity is about living in the moment, rather than being lost in despair, thinking about the million steps between here and there.
—Cara Brookins