Tanara McCauley

Culturally Imagined Stories

Category: Writing and Pursuing Publication

  • A Writer’s Labyrinth

    Not too long ago my father-in-law presented me with a challenge. I placed all of my fingers together at the tips except the middle fingers, which touched at the knuckles: Easy enough, right? Then I had to tap each pair of fingers together on command, all without moving the middle fingers. First the pinkies, then…

  • Race for the Chicago Hot Dog…A Food Tour Tragedy

    On my way to the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) conference in St. Louis, I made a two-day pit stop in Chicago to visit a dear friend who’d just moved from my town to that town. My sister, who lives in Boston, jumped at the chance to join us, and we spent days before our…

  • 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…

  • Falling Off the Writing Wagon

    “Find a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” ~ Confucious Quite an inspiring declaration. Too bad “inspiring” is not synonymous with “truth.” I love to write. The process of weeding out an idea, then turning that idea into hundreds of pages, is beyond rewarding. But make no mistake about…

  • Deleted Scenes

    Ever watch the deleted scenes of a movie? Better yet, ever watch the deleted scenes of an animated movie? If you’d asked me that question ten years and three kids ago, my response might’ve been an incredulous, “What on earth for?” Nowadays, however, it’s an all-wise sounding, “But of course.” In the world of writing (an…

  • 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…

  • Blog Hop – My Writing Life

    I’ve been asked to participate in a blog hop. The assignment is to answer four questions about my writing, then select three other authors to answer the same questions on their blogs within the next couple of weeks. Be sure to see the links to their blogs at the end of this post and find out…

  • Dare to Live the Dream

    Every dream has a starting point. My love of reading, and the eventual desire to write, began in the pages of two childhood classics. Where the Red Fern Grows is the first book to ever make me weep. Not cry. Weep. Hysterically. As if my house had just gone up in flames and every family…

  • WriMo NoMo, but Keep it Up Writers!

    NaNoWriMo is over, and like thousands of other writers, I hit over 50,000 words in thirty days. Sure a few things had to give. Blogging, for one, was chucked like an old pair of tennis shoes and left hanging on the telephone poll of “to-do-later.” And though I’d love to say my house stayed in…

  • NaNoWriMo: A Novel Goal

    Image courtesy of Just2shutter / FreeDigitalPhotos.net I’m amped. And not from pilfering candy. My blood is buzzing through my veins because, in little more than an hour, I’ll lay aside inhibitions, excuses–and a small portion of my sanity–and join thousands of writers around the world on a mission to write an entire novel…in one month.…