Kristina Forest

that it was a career, if that makes any sense.

You know, I was 17 at the time.

I was like, I really like reading books, but I didn't think of it.

I didn't think of the career of being an author the same way that I thought about being a teacher or being a lawyer or something like that.

I was like, wow, this is a career where he makes a livable wage to the extent that he can help put his daughter through college.

And I thought again about Sarah Dessen.

I was like obsessed with her books.

And I was like, I really want to do that, but I want to write those kinds of stories featuring people who look like me with black characters.

And from there, there was literally that moment in my senior year of high school when I took that creative writing class.

that I decided that I wanted to be a writing major in college.

And thankfully my parents didn't ask a lot of questions.

They did not ask me really, I don't think my dad said anything.

He was like, okay.

My mom was just like, okay, fine.

You know, I was very lucky that they just- They thought you come to your senses on your own.

No, it was more just like, I was a very determined kid and

I was like the kid who would come home from school on Fridays and do my homework right away.

And that's just like a perfect way to sum up the way that I was when I was younger.

I think definitely still like that as an adult.

But I think that my parents just knew that I, I think they just trusted that I knew what I was doing to the extent that a 17 year old can know what they're doing.