Author, entrepreneur, pastor’s daughter.
Who is Tara Greene? Raised in the south in the restrictive environment of a conservative preacher’s household, Greene has come full circle, back to her roots, through her writing.
When she started writing, she had graduated college and gone to work enrolling students at Fortis College in Columbia. Struggling with the demands of adult life, she began to write as an outlet.
“I was writing about me and my best friends and things we were going through in our twenties that nobody prepared us for," she said. "We thought after college it got easier. Nobody told us it got harder.”
With no intention to write a book, she wrote about four young women from four different backgrounds and how they experienced life through their relationships and careers. With a great deal of encouragement and support from her job, her friends, and most importantly, her family, Greene eventually listened to advice and completed The Upside Down of Things.
Once again, the community came together in support, and her publishing team formed under the name Teal Dreams. Greene self-published her book in 2011, and her conservative father, rather than censoring, became her biggest supporter. Greene’s mother was right behind him, spreading word about Greene’s book through the many organizations with which she was involved. As sales went up, Tara was often asked when she would write book two.
Greene listened to her supporters, and she brought her characters to life again, showing how they had matured and grown in Turn Around Again, released in 2013. Both books are available from Amazon.
With a June 9, 2018, release date for her third and final book in the series, "Religious Sinners," Greene has taken a new direction. Using one of her previous characters as a tie-in, she introduces a southern preacher’s family.
“It explains a lot about growing up as a preacher’s kid. My dad was also a preacher’s kid," she said. "So I was around the best story ever that I just never wrote.”
She hopes to shed light on the sacrifices and joys of growing up as a preacher’s daughter, letting others see the daily struggles and successes.
In "Religious Sinners," a preacher is raising his four children conservatively, but they each take a different course in life.
“I won’t say I’m one of them," she said. "My mixed emotions and feelings are probably in those characters. But it gives you a great idea of what preachers’ children go through, some of their challenges, and how other people’s children have the freedom to make a lot of choices, but preachers’ children really don’t.”
Greene is now very active in her father’s church, taking on much of the writing responsibilities and finding joy and peace in a renewed relationship with God. As always, her father and mother remain her biggest fans and supporters.
Even though she’s almost done with this series, Greene still plans to write, although she’s not sure the direction her writing will take her now.
“I want to continue writing, because it’s a passion of mine," she said. "It puts me in a different head space when I create something that does not exist. I love that. I love to explore my characters and live another life. That’s what fascinates me.”
In the meantime, Greene hopes "Religious Sinners" will be used in Bible study groups, introducing something that deals with day-to-day living and what’s considered right or wrong Biblically. She hopes it may bring in younger people, engaging them in study of the Bible.
