Parenting & Family Quote by Margaret Haddix

There is something quietly radical in Haddix framing authorship not as a calling from on high, but as a job title you can claim. The first half of the line is pure reader-origin myth: the kid who disappears into books. Then comes the hinge that makes the sentence work: “as soon as I realized that an actual person got to make up the books.” That “actual person” is doing a lot of cultural labor. It punctures the childhood illusion that stories arrive fully formed, like weather. Writing becomes demystified, human-scaled, and suddenly accessible.

The phrase “got to make up” carries a sly emphasis on permission. Not “had to,” not “was destined to,” but “got to” - as if the world is offering a coveted backstage pass. Haddix is sketching the moment many creative careers depend on: the realization that art isn’t just consumed; it’s produced by someone with a body, a schedule, and bills. Calling it “the job for me” lands with pragmatic optimism. It’s not romantic agony; it’s vocational clarity.

Context matters: Haddix built a career in middle-grade and YA, genres obsessed (in the best way) with agency - kids discovering systems, rules, and levers they can pull. This quote echoes that same narrative engine. It tells young readers that the line between audience and maker is thinner than it looks, and that imagination isn’t a magical trait so much as work you’re allowed to choose.