Meet fellow Clean Indie Reads author Carol Beth Anderson

Today I’d like to introduce my fellow CIR author, Carol Beth Anderson.

Carol Beth Anderson is a native of Arizona and now lives in Leander, TX, outside Austin. She has a husband, two kids, a miniature schnauzer, and more fish than anyone knows what to do with. Besides writing, she loves baking sourdough bread, knitting, and eating cookies-and-cream ice cream.

Yummm… sourdough is my favourite!  I was born in San Francisco, and it was one of the things I missed most when I moved to Australia (besides family, that is!)  Now Carol Beth recently released the Sun-Blessed trilogy, so as part of learning about it I’ve got a couple of questions for her so my followers can get to know you. So, firstly, what was the inspiration for your book series?

When I was pregnant with my second child, I was passionate about childbirth. I read books, watched videos, and adored the midwives at my birthing center. I had an incredible, beautiful water birth with my son. When I decided to write a fantasy novel, my first idea was to have a magic system based on childbirth.

I also wanted to use a compelling story to share lessons I’ve learned throughout life. Tavi struggles with insecurity, doubts, and vulnerability, coming out stronger each time she faces a challenge.

That sounds like a wonderful series, and one lots of people will enjoy. Now, next question, and we already know a bit about the answer, but here goes–do you write from your own experiences, or simply sit down and make something up?

I saw a quote one time about how writing isn’t just about leaning on your own experiences. It’s about empathy. (It was attributed to Neil Gaiman, but I can’t seem to find the original quote nor any proof that he said it!) I wholeheartedly agree that empathy is one of the greatest traits I can have as a writer. Some parts of my books are based on my life, and of course those parts tend to be simplest to write. But I love digging deep into my empathetic heart to explore stories I can’t personally relate to. There’s a character in my books whose mother has deep depression, another character who has a rocky relationship with her exacting father, and yet another who deals with self-loathing due to a terrible mistake he can’t ever fix. I loved exploring each of these storylines, even though I hadn’t experienced such difficulties myself.

How true is that? I’d never thought of it that way, but it’s what gives depths to our characters and helps us learn at the same time. Now, last question, what makes you happiest as an author?

It’s interesting what drives each of us … and yours is an incredible reason! Hopefully one day you’ll get back to the theatre, and who knows, maybe you’ll even be performing in one of your own works! In the meantime, let’s hear a bit more about this series, and where we can find it.