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Cara Lopez Lee

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Cara Lopez Lee

Goodreads Author


Born
in Los Angeles, The United States
Website

Twitter

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Influences
Luis Alberto Urrea, Amy Tan, Kazuo Ishiguro, Isabel Allende, Lisa See, ...more

Member Since
July 2009

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Cara Lopez Lee's novel, Candlelight Bridge (FlowerSong Press), is a 2025 Pick in Fiction in Southwest Books of the Year, shortlister for the Hawthorne Prize, and honoree in the International Latino Book Awards. She’s also the author of the memoir, They Only Eat Their Husbands (Bower House). Her stories appear in such publications as The Manifest-Station, Writer’s Digest, and Rivet. She’s a Moth StorySLAM winner and tells stories on stage in such shows as Unheard L.A. and Risk. She and her husband live in Ventura, California, where they enjoy gardening in their certified wildlife habitat full of birds, bees, and butterflies. ...more

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Cara Lopez Lee I don't believe in writer's block. Sometimes I write tripe, but I can edit tripe. I can't edit a blank page. This isn't a talent so much as a survival…moreI don't believe in writer's block. Sometimes I write tripe, but I can edit tripe. I can't edit a blank page. This isn't a talent so much as a survival instinct. My early training took place in TV newsrooms, where writer’s block isn’t allowed. Reporters who miss deadlines get fired, so I developed the habit of writing whether I felt inspired or not.

Still, sometimes I struggle for the best words. When that happens, I go back to the basics: “See Dick Run. Run, Dick, Run!” If I write this way for a while, soon the logjam breaks and the words flow again. Later, I go back and rewrite the beginning: “Dick didn't run as if his life depended on it, but as if the lives of everyone he ever let down depended on it..." Or maybe, "See Dick Run" is just what the story needs. Simple, active, and enough to make readers wonder, "Who is Dick running from? What, oh what, did he do?" (less)
Cara Lopez Lee I coauthored Where There's a Will with Mark Dumas. Mark proved the value of asking our elders to record their life stories. In the 90s, the summer aft…moreI coauthored Where There's a Will with Mark Dumas. Mark proved the value of asking our elders to record their life stories. In the 90s, the summer after he graduated college, Mark did that with his grandfather, William "Bill" Miner, and discovered Bill had lived a bolder, more adventurous, more heroic life than he'd imagined. As a young man, Bill ran away with a circus, drove Route 66 cross-country before most of it was paved, road the rails with vagabonds of the Great Depression, and became a hero on World War Two's front lines. Years after Bill's death, Mark came to me with an idea: though his grandpa's recordings didn't have enough material for a biography, it had the seeds for a work of historical fiction to honor his life.

We pictured a teenager who has suffered a trauma coming to his grandpa the summer after high school, in need of wisdom. Grandpa and grandson spend the summer sharing their gripping stories. I was proud to help Mark bring his vision to life. The fictional Will and Dylan remind me every person is a world, and when we share our worlds, we unlock healing tears and joyful laughter.(less)
Average rating: 4.12 · 180 ratings · 47 reviews · 8 distinct worksSimilar authors
25 Years in the Rearview Mi...

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3.97 avg rating — 63 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions
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Unexpected Prisoner: Memoir...

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4.40 avg rating — 52 ratings2 editions
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They Only Eat Their Husbands

4.03 avg rating — 40 ratings — published 2010 — 10 editions
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Candlelight Bridge

4.29 avg rating — 17 ratings2 editions
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Where There’s a Will

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 4 ratings4 editions
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Back In The Real World

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Dr. Stanley Pearle: A Man o...

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L.A. Freeway Fail – Cara Live at The Moth StorySLAM

I grew up in Los Angeles, so I was sure that driving was in my blood. It was not. This became ridiculously clear one long and scary night in L.A. I shared this story at The Moth StorySlam, in the city where it all went down:

 

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Cara’s Recent Updates

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Echoes of Iceland by Alex M. Stein
Echoes of Iceland
by Alex M. Stein (Goodreads Author)
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Authors who dabble in mythology often draw on classic gods and heroes, or introduce us to lesser-known cultures through their creation myths. Alex Stein does neither. Instead, he has written 42 original modern myths featuring new gods and heroes, bit ...more
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The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James   McBride
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Burro Genius by Victor Villaseñor
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Gathering StarDust by Victor Villaseñor
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Raíces, Relics, and Other Ghosts by S. Salazar
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Butter by Asako Yuzuki
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The Western Horse by Randi Samuelson-Brown
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Loving Pedro Infante by Denise Chávez
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Karen Carter Karen Carter wants to read Migrations
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Quotes by Cara Lopez Lee  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“The purpose of my life is not to get what I want. The purpose of my life is to become who I am.”
Cara Lopez Lee, They Only Eat Their Husbands
tags: memoir

“Running away is vastly underrated.”
Cara Lopez Lee, They Only Eat Their Husbands
tags: memoir

Topics Mentioning This Author

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Read Women: Hispanic Heritage Month - Sept 15 - Oct 15 23 59 Sep 23, 2025 09:27PM  
“Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains. You could see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow. They smelled of moss in your hand. Polished and muscular and torsional. On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming. Maps and mazes. Of a thing which could not be put back. Not be made right again. In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery.”
Cormac McCarthy, The Road

“We die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have plunged into and swum up as if rivers of wisdom, characters we have climbed into as if trees, fears we have hidden in as if caves. I wish for all this to be marked on my body when I am dead.”
Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient

“I don't understand this at all. I don't understand any of this. Why does a story have to be socio-anything? Politics... culture... history... aren't those natural ingredients in any story, if it's told well? I mean...' He looks around, sees hostile eyes, and realizes dimly that they see this as some sort of attack. Maybe it even is. They are thinking, he realizes, that maybe there is a sexist death merchant in their midst. 'I mean... can't you guys just let a story be a story?”
Stephen King, It

“An adventure is never an adventure when it happens. An adventure is simply physical and emotional discomfort recollected in tranquility.”
Tim Cahill

“For whatsoever from one place doth fall,
Is with the tide unto an other brought:
For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought.”
Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene

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Nurture Your BOOKS™ is a global company that provides Book PR, Promotion, Publicity, and Marketing Services for authors (primarily indie) and publishi ...more
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This is our reading group for anybody who loves to read and identifies as a feminist. We'll be reading a variety of books that may fall into one of th ...more
131508 We Love Memoirs — 426 members — last activity Dec 22, 2025 08:09AM
The friendliest group on Facebook is now on Goodreads! For all the good stuff and free books head over to https://www.facebook.com/groups/welovememoir ...more
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Comments (showing 1-8)    post a comment »
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message 8: by Cara

Cara Lee Join the "They Only Eat Their Husbands" book tour adventure today! I'm leaving in an hour for Cheyenne, Wyoming, first stop on a tour that will pass through Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, California, & New Mexico. Check my website to see when I'm coming to you: http://www.caralopezlee.com/events.php


message 7: by Cara

Cara Lee Monday, December 6, you can listen in on my radio tour as I share travel tips and talk about "They Only Eat Their Husbands: A Memoir of Alaskan Love, World Travel and the Power of Running Away." I'll be on the radio during morning drive-time from coast-to-coast. A couple of shows are national. Here's a rundown: http://www.caralopezlee.com/events.php


message 6: by Cara

Cara Lee This Friday is my book launch for "They Only Eat Their Husbands: A Memoir of Alaskan Love World Travel, and the Power of Running Away." Someone at the Lighthouse Writers Blog is already stalking me, and I couldn't be more thrilled: http://lighthousedenver.wordpress.com


message 5: by Cara

Cara Lee You can now order "They Only Eat Their Husbands" from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or http://www.CaraLopezLee.com/books.php .


message 4: by Cara (last edited Sep 23, 2010 10:44AM)

Cara Lee Want a peek into the life of an obsessive-compulsive author who can't stop writing even when she's talking? Check out my guest post today on Author Patricia Stoltey's blog: http://patriciastoltey.blogspot.com/2...


message 3: by Cara

Cara Lee Thanks for finding me, Penelope. I look forward to checking out what you're reading. Penelope wrote: "Thanks for adding me as a friend!"


Penelope Marzec Thanks for adding me as a friend!


message 1: by Jen

Jen Yay - I'm so glad you decided to take the plunge and join!


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