Toolmaker - (noun) someone who creates a tool which another uses in a way that enhances or improves their life in some way. Example: a novelist. 

Sometimes, I’ll get these messages about the Ever Afters, which go straight to my heart. 

Sometimes, a young reader will tell me, You know what? This really helped me during this time of my life. 

Or they’ll say, This particular passage saved me. 

And of course, I’m touched. I’m also baffled. 

Because I’m not in the room when this happens. 

When someone is in a terrible situation like that, I’m not there. The book is apparently there, but not me. 

I often reflect that to the reader who reaches out to me, by reminding them, “I didn’t save you. I only made the tool that you used to save yourself.”

Let’s say that you are drowning in a stormy sea. A boat comes along, the captain steers towards you, and someone on deck throws you the rope. And so, your life is saved. 

Where does the credit for saving your life go? 

Does it go to the inventor of the rope? 

Or the person who made that particular rope? 

To the person driving the boat? 

To the person who threw you the rope? 

To you yourself? 

After all, you had to participate in your own rescue When that rope was thrown to you, you had to grab it and hold on to it. 

Whenever someone present you with a tool, you are engaging your own agency to use that tool. You are making the decision to use it in whatever way you see fit. 

(Maybe there’s not a lot of deciding in the drowning-in-the-sea scenario, but I’m sure you get the idea.)

If any one person had not participated in that situation—the driver, the inventor of the rope, the guy who threw the rope, or the person being rescued—the outcome would have been much, much sadder. 

So, that’s the approach I have whenever I make something. 

I am just the person who is making the tool. 

You are the person engaging your own agency and discernment to use that tool. 

And so, that’s kind of what I’m doing with all that I share. 

I am sharing my toolkit so that you can build out your own.