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Meet Caryl McAdoo

  • Writer: annaj00
    annaj00
  • Nov 27
  • 7 min read

About Your Writing Journey:

  1. You’ve written in a variety of genres, from historical romance to Biblical fiction and children's books. How do you navigate writing across such diverse styles, and what does each genre bring to your writing journey?

At the DFW Writers’ Workshop where I was mentored, one of the respected published authors (this was before “Indie Publishing”, and the workshop frowned on “vanity publishing) had been a Navy sergeant. Jack Ballas, for a long time he was Berkley’s top selling Western author—he told me, “Caryl, pick a genre.” I just never could!


I don’t know that my style changes a lot. I pray every story gives God glory, so there’s that . . . I probably feel a bit more free maybe in the Biblical fiction to speak about how wonderful and awesome and amazing and powerful our God is, but I’m not shy. My historical romance characters talk about Him that way as well. 😊 


For children, I just play like I’m talking with my grandsugars. I have 29, so I’ve had a lot of Grami practice! 😊 My non-fiction books are also written in a easy going conversational format, so it’s just me talking and sharing.


  1. Your books are known for blending romance with Christian values. How do you weave your faith into your stories, and what do you hope readers take away from that?

I believe my readers would agree when I say my stories are pretty much all character driven. Those fictitious friends of mine are my knitting needles. I use them—the one who is already a Christian; or sometimes both are—to get in the Biblical principles Holy Spirit has taught me. . . Things like not worrying, to never fear, that my words are so important. For instance, there is no good luck or bad luck. The Bible says ALL good gifts come from the Father of lights above, so ALL good things are from Him. Not from Lady Luck! To acknowledge “luck” we’re giving God’s precious glory away. He is worthy to receive all praise and glory. So, I’ll have a character use the word luck. We’re all so used to saying it—a hard habit to break. The Christian character tells them basically just what I just told you, and that’s how I weave a lot in. The way my Christian characters live their lives—how they react to situations or how much they love—to show others He is real just as our lives testify to how much we love our Father in Heaven. So it’s all through those people I come to care deeply about.


  1. ree

    You mentioned that your writing is a “labor of love.” Could you share more about how your personal experiences, especially with family and faith, influence the stories you tell?

Oh, they are in every sentence, every paragraph and are the stories! I trust that some God has called Ron (my husband and co-author) and me to write, He has a purpose for them. I pray to advance His Kingdom here on earth, to BE a blessing everywhere I go, to

always prefer the other more than myself.I believe Holy Spirit writes through us, recalling all the lessons He’s taught us so we can let our characters teach our readers. A lot of the reviews on our books say the story caused them to draw closer to God. That’s the best kind of review, right? 😊 



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About The Constant Pray-er and The Generations Series:

  1. Your new book, The Constant Pray-er, is part of your Our House on Heather Wynd series. Can you give us a glimpse of the story and what makes this particular book special in the series?

It’s very different in that the title character is an old, widowed grandfather, and he prays all the time! 😊 So there’s that . . . He has two granddaughters coming of age—or well into their prime to hear them tell it—and they’re both interested in the same man at first . . .  until he  shows his true colors.Then there is the true-blue new friend who—if one could be—generous to a fault. You know the type, kind, considerate, always putting others first and serving. The family-owned bakery/café affords a nice backdrop for a lot of meetings and meals. And then being in the glorious Scottish Highlands for us made THE CONSTANT PRAY-ER very different as most of our novels are set in Texas. Our characters travel, but most are in Texas. I love Texas a LOT. God does, too.  


5. As a writer of Biblical fiction, how do you bring characters from the Bible, like Adam and Eve, to life in a way that resonates with modern readers?

People are people. Adam and Eve and their children were like us. Customs and cultures have changed through the centuries, but people are still people. We portray them as people and get right down into their lives. I wept at the scene where Adam and Eve buried Abel. Can you imagine? Digging the whole. Eve watching her husband place her son into the grave . . . No one had ever died. He was the first, and on the same day Cain left.How heart broken that mother was! We just told their story as if they were real people—which they were! 😊 


Personal Insights and Writing Process:

6. You’ve had a long and successful writing career, with your first book published in 2014. How have you seen your writing evolve over the years, especially with your transition to indie publishing?

Our first ten books were traditionally published, number ten by Simon and Schuster, and we thought we had surely arrived. It took them two years to get the book to market. During that time, Ron and I wrote like five ,ore books, including book two and book three for the first book. We couldn’t sell another title without them being offered and they didn’t want to read any of them until the first book came out so we could do anything for those two years.Then for some reasons we didn’t know about—like the young heroine couldn’t marry a thirty-five year old man, then be the third wife of a Cheyenne War Chief (after being stolen off the prairie on the way to her mothers and whisked away) and THEN falling in love with the Texas Ranger who rescues her! Who knew? Right?—they (Simon and Schuster) declined to exercise their option on out ‘next’ book.


Friends were patting us on the back and were so sorry, but I said, “No, no. God just has another plan.” That plan was to go Indie. I would no longer even consider giving one of my stories away to a publisher—big or small. I learned that no one loves your book like you do and so believe you ought to be the one with the say-so.



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7. What does a typical day of writing look like for you and Ron? How do you balance your creative partnership with daily life on your “Peaceable Farm & Bookery”?

We get up between three and four every morning and pray for an hour / hour and a half. Sometimes we get on the computers—Ron almost always does, but on many occasions, I climb back into bed and watch some news. That’s usually when he writes. We write back and forth. He goes over what I did then keeps going and I then go over what he did and keep going, playing leap frog! 😊 We write an average of 1000-1200 words a day, usually only in the morning. Around seven or seven thirty, we eat breakfast and play a game of Qwirkle, then I head to the barn to milk our goats. We have nine bur I only milk four. A couple should be kidding any day now. We let the herd out and the chickens (fluctuates around 150-200) For the last year one project is our cedar fence around the house to keep the goats out. (They are all my flowers!)All the cedar, Ron cuts off our twenty acres—the line posts, cross posts and pickets. He digs the holes and does all the nailing then screwing. My job is to spy our straight. I keep the distances between similar and make sure the pickets are all the same height and straight 😊 It’s looking great. We do a couple of sections a day.We’ve also been working on a cowboy pool (a 8’ in diameter water trough). He built me a 12 x 12 deck to put it on and got the pump going. He’s going to heat the water with a fire pit type thing where we burn wood, the copper wrapped around it that the water id being pumped through gets hot and comes back into the pool! Voila! A hot tub for the winter months!We’re always working or playing games together. We love living he country life and being together 24/7. Well, I do get away with my lady friends here and there. Luncheons, pedicures, all that. 😊    


8. You’ve written an impressive number of titles over the years. What keeps you motivated to continue writing, and how do you see your writing journey unfolding in the future?

Until God opens the door for a vision we’ve been waiting on almost fifty years now, we’ll probably write until we die because we enjoy it. It’s something we enjoy creating together. When the vision comes to fruition, I see us as way too busy to write much as it will be clear the end times are here, and we’ll have people we need to snatch out of their darkness into His marvelous light! Blind men to pray for. Amputee vets who will be needing new limbs. We will be doing His will and watching the eastern skies!Thank you so much, Allyson, for inviting me to visit! Your questions were very insightful and well thought out! A great visit!~ 😊 BLESSINGS!



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© Allyna Author Services 2022

'Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters...' Colossians 3:23

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