If Jana L. Perkins isn’t spending time with Chris—her favorite person and conveniently her husband—or homeschooling her three daughters, she’s thinking up scenes for one of her books. Even when she’s sleeping, a bit of scheming is happening behind the scenes. Perkins is often found with a book or kindle in hand. If a fellow reader or writer were to ask her for advice, she would likely say, “Life is too short for anyone to allow fear to take the driver’s seat. If you want to try something new that terrifies you, take the wheel and give it your all. And if you crash, you’ll have a great story.”