Tanara McCauley

Culturally Imagined Stories

Tag: author

  • 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…

  • Walk it Out

    El interés tiene pies. It’s a Spanish phrase that often comes back to haunt me when I find myself making excuses not to do something. The literal translation? Interest has feet. “Who has What?!?” you ask. Stay with me, the meaning is a bit more profound. Many of us have approached a prospect or task…

  • 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…

  • White Chocolate Banana Nut Bread

    My favorite banana bread recipe is from William-Sonoma’s Essentials of Baking cookbook. If you can find the book, which is no longer available through their site, I recommend you snag it. It’s a culinary gem. I’ve since slightly altered the way I make the banana bread recipe, mainly adding white chocolate, more nuts, and cutting or tweaking an ingredient…

  • 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…

  • The Research Pill

    A novel starts off with an idea. If the idea is a good one, it takes root, causes a sort of anxious excitement that makes my fingers itch and stirs up feelings for these yet-to-be-developed characters. I can spit out the first chapter in no time. Maybe even plot out the whole story in a…

  • Authors and Agents and Editors…Oh My!

    I’m going to keep this short. Because I’m supposed to be spending this week just enjoying my family, resting up, and . The girl in the picture has the view I’m missing, but at least I keep a steaming hot cup of luxury on my reading table. So I’m good. Now back to the update…

  • Ready…or Not: An Author’s Pre-Conference Petition (and Parody)

    In less than a week, I will kiss my husband and kids goodbye, board a plane, hoist my carry-on in the overhead compartment, and fly to Indianapolis for the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) Conference. I’ve worked on my proposal and one-sheets (all that’s great about your novel on one page), practiced my elevator pitch,…

  • The Elevator Pitch

    I wrote this almost a year ago. Now that my story is finally ready for the pitching stage, I thought it appropriate to share again :-). The elevator pitch. In the writing world, it’s a short summary of your book that can be told to a prospective agent/editor/publisher in the time it takes to get…

  • Seven Books in Seven Weeks Drawing Results

    Thanks to all of you who followed along and participated in my Seven Books in Seven Weeks reading marathon! I had a great time and read some great books because of your recommendations. I also enjoyed your comments and some of the emotional turmoil we shared. All that was missing was the ability to share…