Tanara McCauley

Culturally Imagined Stories

Category: Faith

  • Stories Along the Way: “The Choice”

    Stories Along the Way: “The Choice”

    It all began at the tree. The war, that is. Though it didn’t seem a war-worthy event on that fateful day. It seemed like a simple choice. My choice. One I was free to make. A lone fruit pulsed in the tree’s center like a beating heart. And it was beautiful, its colors of fire.…

  • Stories Along the Way: “The Dying Lights”

    Stories Along the Way: “The Dying Lights”

    Years ago I was introduced to a practice called “prompt response” that helped me practice drafting without pausing to edit. The instructions were simple: open the image, start the ten minute timer, write. My first story was 0 words. As time went on, however, I could often complete a full story in those ten minutes.…

  • The Goodness of God

    I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. ~Psalm 27:13 It was Valentine’s Day, 2009. The NBA All-Star festivities were taking place in Phoenix, and my husband Jon and I decided it would be fun to go as a…

  • Happy and Prosperous 2015!

    A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. ~Proverbs 16:9 It’s the second week of the new year, and I hope you are still as excited about your goals and resolutions as you were at the beginning. I know I am. 2014 ended with the blessed commotion of travel, family, laughter,…

  • The Nearness of God

    The Nearness of God

    The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. -Psalm 34:18 This will be our first Christmas without my mother-in-law. For some it will be a first Christmas without a spouse, a sibling, a friend, or a child. For others it will be the second…

  • When Mom’s Away…

    As I gear up to head to the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) conference in St. Louis, I’m tempted to fret over how my family can possibly manage without me. My husband is off work and my father-in-law will be flying in to keep him company, still I’m skeptical of two men being able to…

  • Iselle

    Iselle is the only member of our family who hasn’t been to Hawai’i. So imagine my surprise when I got a text from my sister, “Iselle’s headed to Hawai’i?” Then another text from a friend joking about the title “Hurricane” matching my daughter’s personality. Indeed it does. The little four-year-old shouts, “Boom, baby!” when it’s…

  • With Eyes Set Ahead

    Writing is…well…hard. The temptation to quit lurks at the crosswalk of every failure, around the corner of any rejection, and along the alleys of each hard-to-write story. It’s not when the temptation confronts me, but when I actually entertain it, that I’m given a way out of the temptation with a message that speaks exactly to what…

  • A Little Tact, Please

    Years ago, in a modest California home on a crowded California couch, I sat next to my Great-Grandmother who was visiting with my parents for a few weeks. Remote in hand, I flipped through their zillion channels for something suitable to watch. It went a little like this: Click. Pause. Interesting? No. Click. Pause. Seen it. Click.…