At Absolute Love Publishing, we believe in creating goodness in the world. This post is one of a series in which we’ve asked our authors to explain why they choose to align themselves with our publishing house and why they use their craft to create goodness …
Absolute Love Publishing Author Cara Bartek: My Life in Superposition
I am fascinated with the idea of quantum superposition. I know this sounds strange, especially for a children’s author, but it is an idea that always has held a little magic for me. And yes, an idea like this does seem more suited for someone the likes of Stephen Hawking or Neil Degrasse Tyson or possibly even my very serious accountant rather than for an ordinary person like me—what with all the Greek letters, hieroglyphic-looking scribbles, and logs that don’t grow on trees. Because, you know, theoretical physics can be intense. But theoretical physics can also be, well, theoretical. And those little theories can shed some philosophical light on issues for ordinary people just like me.
Quantum superposition states that subatomic particles exist in two different states until the particle in question is observed. In other words, the most basic building blocks of our universe, the subatomic particles, exist as both waves and particles until seen. These two different states are actually superimposed upon one another until a scientist or an ordinary person like me takes a look.
This tells us some astonishingly fundamental things about life. First, that the universe is much stranger, much more extraordinary, and much more incredible than we could ever imagine. Second, that we human beings hold within us awesome power – we can change the fundamental building blocks of our world simply by looking.
Quantum superposition also tells me something fundamental about my life. It tells me that my life is, in fact, in superposition. My circumstances are both good and bad, done and undone, happy and sad, successful and unsuccessful. It’s all about my choices.
I didn’t come to writing via a normal path. For me, writing always was something I imagined I would do after I did normal, responsible things like work a normal, responsible job. As luck would have it, in the commission of normal, responsible things, my life changed. I gave birth to my first little girl, Caroline.
Caroline was like most babies, squiggly and pink and full of poop. However, she did something to me that was most uncommon. She made me consider my life, and the decisions I made that shaped that life, from her perspective. And that perspective changed my writing.
Serafina Loves Science! is a series about an eleven-year old girl who uses her love for all things science to figure out friends, school, parents, and life. I write these books to introduce complicated scientific principles to children in a way that is fun and simple and to foster a love of learning and curiosity about the natural world. More importantly, however, I write to encourage the millions of girls out there who are existing in superposition, both loving and hating science—feeling frustrated and fulfilled, scared and confident.
These books are for them. I want to move their beautiful little minds into a position of self-assurance, where they can feel free to explore and learn and to become the women they were meant to be.
George Jones, wearing a rhinestone polyester suit and sporting the latest haircut from the 1960s, once said, “I’ve had choices, since the day that I was born.” While he may have chosen clothes that are most certainly a fire hazard and often forgotten where he was, his song perfectly sums up the way I think about my life, a life that is in superposition.
I believe that I determine my own fate. I believe that I have choices every day. I can wake up or hit snooze. I can write or not write. I can do bad or I can do good. Today, as I write silly stories about a sweet little girl who loves science, I choose good. I choose to do something to bring goodness and a love for science to all the little Carolines in the world who might also be superposition. And I am so thankful to have the opportunity to do that through my partnership with Absolute Love Publishing.
Additional posts in the “Creating Goodness” series:
Why I Use My Craft To Create Goodness … Jean Brannon
Why I Use My Craft To Create Goodness … Meredith Ethington
Why I Use My Craft To Create Goodness … Steve Schatz
Why I Use My Craft To Crate Goodness … Janet McLaughlin
