Rose McCauley, Christian Author

Let's play Tag!

When we were children, we spent hours playing tag. As adults we often play "phone tag" with friends and family members. Now we are entering the world of"blog tag"! I have been tagged by one of my ACFW friends, Pat Gonzales (http://www.pattishene.blogspot.com/) to tell what I was doing 10, 20 and 30 years ago. So here goes:

Thirty years ago my husband and I were living in the white house on the farm where we still live. I had taught school for 6 years, but was now staying at home on maternity leave with our almost four year old daughter, expecting the birth of our second child. This was before the days of standard ultrasounds, so we didn't know the gender. I dreamed I would have a red-headed boy, and although the nurse predicted a girl by the heart rate, on October 30, 1977, I gave birth to our son--a boy with blond hair that still has reddish glints! My writing was nonexistent at that time although God had planted the idea in my head years before. My reading consisted of Cinderella and Bible stories.

Twenty years ago my husband and I were in the whirlwind of raising three kids--14, 10 and 5. Between band practice, soccer, baseball and basketball games, and church activities, we managed to sometimes make 6 trips to town a day and survive! (We live about 6 miles from a small town.) We ate most of our meals together, I taught school where the youngest two attended, and the kids and I helped my husband on the farm when possible, so we spent a lot of time together! Writing was still non-existent, but my reading level had risen to The Christy Miller series, and The Thorne Twins, and, of course, still Cinderella and Bible stories.

Ten years ago, our oldest daughter was married, our son was in college, and our youngest daughter was the lone chick at home. Since she still had one year to wait for a driver's license, we still made several trips to town most days, and I was still teaching school, but these ideas for stories kept clogging up my brain, so I actually wrote down some ideas and a few scenes and character sketches (although I didn't know that was what they were called at that time!) My reading had expanded to include several Christian authors like Janette Oke, Lori Wick and Brock and Bodie Thoene. I found out I was eligible for retirement in one more year, and my husband (and the stories in my head) were both encouraging me to retire so I would have time to write, so I did, and here I am with a blog and lots of unpubbed manuscripts, and lots of new friends and new authors to read!

So, I am blog-tagging the following people, and hope they will take time to play this new game:

Brandilyn Collins http://www.forensicsandfaith.blogspot.com/

Miralee Ferrell http://www.miraleesdesk.blogspot.com/

Tricia Goyer http://www.triciagoyeer.blogspot.com/

Rachel Hauck http://www.rachelhauck.com/blog.htm

Cara Putman http://carasmusings.blogspot.com/

Cindy Sproles http://mountainbreezewriter.blogspot.com/

Kristy Dykes http://www.christianlovestories.blogspot.com/

Camy Tang www.storysensei.blogspot.com

Maryann DiOrio www.maryanndiorio.com/blog

Robin Johns Grant www.queenofperseverance.blogspot.com

Check out their sites and learn something you didn't know about these authors.