Cara Brookins

answers the Usual Questions

Cara Brookins

Cara Brookins is currently finishing a women's comedy about divorce and voodoo and a novel based on the real life events of building a 3500 square foot home from the ground up alone with her four children. When she isn't writing novels or hanging out with her kids, Cara develops new computer software systems as a sr. computer programmer/analyst.

Has your interaction with fans, for example, at conventions, affected your work?

Interaction with fans affects my smile more than my work. It's a challenge to smile frequently without looking like a creepy thriller writer.

Is there any particular incident (a letter, a meeting, a comment that stands out?

A young writer asked how I managed to start slow in writing because he didn't want to get famous too fast and ruin his youth. I suppose someone needs to inspire the slow end of the fame spectrum.

Do you have a favourite author or book (or writer or film or series) that has influenced you or that you return to?

I'm a huge fan of E.B. White's essays and letters, though they generally make me feel completely inept as a writer. Returning to them often feels as much a form of self-torture as inspiration.

Who is the person you would most like to be trapped in a lift with? or a spaceship?

I'd like to have a long chat with Stephen King in a lift, though only if I had duct tape available in the event his real mind is as twisted as his writer mind.

Who is the person you would most DISlike to be trapped in a lift with? Or a spaceship?

Stephen King without the duct tape.

What would you pack for space? (Is there a food, beverage, book, teddy bear, etc that you couldn't do without?)

Hot cocoa and cake are my primary dietary essentials. I start every day with a homemade version of each that includes very little sugar and no oil. (Close enough to healthy in my book.) I'd also need my Kindle -- fully loaded!

What is the most important thing you would like to get/achieve from your work?

Most of the time I feel like my main objective as a writer is to get the overload of stories out of my head. As a bonus, I get to explore tough life questions in unusual situations.

What is the special satisfaction of your work?

I challenge myself with understanding new people and situations and end up learning as much about myself as I do about others. I am an immensely curious person, so research is one of the greatest benefits of being a writer.

submitted by Cara Brookins

7 July 2014

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Just the facts:
Born: I was born in Tomah, Wisconsin in a time when home computers were outnumbered by the state's dairy cows.
Resides: I built a home near Little Rock, Arkansas, where people still spend large blocks of time in the outdoors and writers are mysterious beings who spend far too much time with ink, paper, and computers.
Bibliography/Awards:
Cara is the author of Doris Free, Gadget Geeks, Harvest of Friends, Treasure Quest, Mark of the Centipede, Mark of the Serpent, Mark of the Spider, and Little Boy Blu.

Web site:
www.carabrookins.com
Twitter: @cmbrookins
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