Tara Staley

Tara Staley is the author of the novel CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE, a book launching in ebook and paperback formats on Amazon in April 2013. CONDITIONS is the story of a Kitty Hawk woman who falls for one of the love-shy Wright brothers. The novel has been blurbed by NYT bestselling author Caroline Leavitt, who said: “What makes a life take flight? As the Wright Brothers perfect their flying machine in Kitty Hawk, a remarkable young woman struggles to escape her hardscrabble life even as she yearns for Orville himself. Gorgeously written, with the time, the place and the people evoked so dazzlingly, you can hear the wings of the Wright’s flying machine, wafting in the air.” Tara fell in love with the Wright brothers when visiting their memorial at Kill Devil Hills, NC in October 1999. After buying and reading two books about the Wrights, she became fascinated by their unique personalities and wanted to dig deeper. She spent nearly three years buried in biographies, photos and websites and came to the conclusion that the brothers likely had Asperger’s Syndrome. As the mother of a son with high-functioning autism, Tara saw similar patterns of behavior in the Wrights and interpreted them as “Aspies” while drafting CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE. Tara’s debut novel NEED TO BREATHE, published in 2012, was selected as a “LitPick of 2012″ on the popular Twitter forum @LitChat. It was also named a Top Pick by Underground Book Reviews and has been blurbed by author Priscille Sibley (THE PROMISE OF STARDUST) and award-winning short story writer Catherine DiCairano. Tara’s writing background includes undergraduate and graduate degrees in English and Creative Writing, an RWA award for a past novel, and involvement with the North Carolina Writers Network. She is also a founding member of the online writers’ community Backspace. As a freelancer, her work has appeared in such publications as UNCG Magazine, BizLife Magazine and the Winston-Salem Journal. She grew up, lives, and will most likely die in Kernersville, North Carolina where she and her husband have two sons, a telescope, several model airplanes and a love for the sky. She also has a cat, a penchant for powdered doughnuts, her very own Leatherman multi-tool, and a professionally framed pencil sketch of the Wright brothers.