Meet Cara Blaine

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cara Blaine a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Cara, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

Finding my purpose was easier than being brave enough to accept it. I’ve known since I was about seven years old that I wanted to be a writer. I took creative writing summer classes in elementary school, honed my skills in AP English classes in high school, and then went to college. But when it came to declaring a major, all of the naysayer voices closed in: “do you want to be a starving artist? You won’t make a living writing poetry.” (To be fair, it is probably very difficult to make a living as a poet, specifically, and that’s how I identified at the time.) So I majored in Psychology and minored in Creative Writing, then went into social work after I graduated.

Social work is a vital service, but it drained me emotionally and killed my creative drive. I eventually quit to stay at home with my kids and ran several small businesses over the years that enabled me to be home with them. But it wasn’t until they were around six and nine years old (~2018) that I got back to writing, and it wasn’t until 2022 that I decided to tackle my first novel.

I have always written poetry and the occasional short story, and loved it, but writing a novel shifted something inside of me. It ignited a passion for writing I hadn’t felt in a long time, and that passion gave me the courage to accept what I have always known was my purpose: to be a full time story teller.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Reading and writing is my escape, and it’s my goal to write books that help others escape reality while at the same time ensuring that my stories make commentary on the real world. My books are adventurous, whimsical, witchy, sometimes cozy, and sometimes spicy. But they also include themes such as systemic racism, social justice, diverse representation, and personal and generational trauma. My most recent book, Token of a Wolf, is the first in a duology. On the surface, it’s a fast paced, urban, paranormal fantasy story inspired by Little Red Riding Hood. It’s also about systemic racism, human trafficking, breaking the cycles of generational trauma, and the courage to live a lifestyle alternative to the norm. Book two in the duology, Promise of a Bruja, releases in November, and adds mental illness to the list of heavy topics, while also providing the entertainment of banter, spice, and character crossover from my other series.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

One equality that is essential to creativity is curiosity. Curiosity jump starts the imagination, while also ensuring that you’re always learning and improving your skills. The second quality is grit, defined by Dr. Angela Duckworth as passion combined with perseverance. Dr. Duckworth’s research has shown that having grit is the defining factor of success in every single industry–not innate “talent” or IQ as many believe. Grit is definitely related to growth mindset and resilience as well. The third quality, or perhaps skill, that has been impactful for me: gratitude. As someone with anxiety and OCD who has intrusive thoughts and can “spiral,” a gratitude practice is helpful in redirecting my thoughts and training my brain to focus on the positives, both big and small.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?

I’m going to name two. The first is Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Dr. Angela Duckworth. I think everyone should read this book, but especially parents and teachers. The second is called In the Garden, Behind the Moon: A Memoir of Loss, Myth, & Magic. This book was exactly what I needed at a difficult time in my life and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a spark of hope, a hint on how to rediscover joy, and anyone who wishes to learn how to recognize truly magical moments in everyday life.

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Image Credits

The Tucson Author Alliance logo was designed by one of my co-founders of TAA, author J.B. Velasquez.

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