Tanara McCauley

Culturally Imagined Stories

Tag: writer

  • The Cookie Jar

    “A cookie jar, though beautiful, will always disappoint if found empty.” My cookie jar is empty. It’s seen a batch or two–maybe–in the months since I returned home from Mount Hermon’s Christian Writers Conference; but for the most part it’s been unoccupied. Relieved of duty. Free of tenants. And for a while I blamed my […]

  • The Labor of the Journey

    “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain…” John 15:16 My youngest is in the first weeks of her kindergarten career. After years of seeing her older siblings off to school and spending her days with me all […]

  • A Wrecked Perspective

    “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18 Recently, on a day like any other, my three kids and I set out for an evening of gymnastics and Kenpo practice, with a potential coffee stop squeezed in. The smell of mint wafted from […]

  • Moving Right Along

      Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you. Proverbs 4:25 Not too long ago I was alerted to a new comment on one of my old blog posts. I had to read my entry for context before responding, and found myself frowning. At the time that post was written, […]

  • A Writer’s Praise

    Psalm 144:1    

  • What We All Need and Almost Never Get

    For many of us it seems the more rest we need, the less we get. Between taking care of my family, actively seeking the Lord, and trying to launch a writing career, (plus all my other projects and obligations) getting sufficient rest can be as far-fetched as finding out that book I’ve never pitched has […]

  • 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 […]

  • The Phoenix Rattler

    A rattlesnake is a fascinating (albeit formidable) creature. A mixture of strength, mystery, beauty and stealth, this unpredictable reptile has earned the awe with which humans regard it. For when least expected, it strikes. And its effects on the subject are not soon forgotten. The Christian Writers of the West (CWOW) are in search of entries for our […]

  • 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 […]