About Me
Carol E. Anderson is a life coach and former organizational consultant who grew up in Detroit, but lived most of her adult life in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has travelled the world extensively for work and pleasure—including recently to Kenya on a photo safari and to the Democratic Republic of the Congo on a philanthropic mission. She holds a doctorate in Spiritual Studies, and masters degrees in Organizational Development, Film and Video, and Creative Nonfiction.
Carol is the founder of Rebellious Dreamers, a twenty-year strong non-profit organization that has helped women over 35 realize dreams they’d deferred and women of all ages come into their own.
Carol is author of the essay “What is it About Memoir?” in The Magic of Memoir: Inspiration for the Writing Journey, and co-author of the essay “Deeper Power” in Enlightened Power: How Women are Transforming the Practice of Leadership.” This is her first memoir.
Carol’s passions are photography, travel and empowering women to live their dreams. Her goal at this stage is to live with a peaceful heart, which she cultivates through walks in nature, a meditation practice, and heartfelt conversation with friends.
She lives with the love of her life, Archer Christian, and their sassy, lovable pup, Saxon, in a nature sanctuary in Ann Arbor, MI.
Writing became a path – through decades of introspection about love, spirituality, and the challenge of being human, – to sort out my personal values, feelings, and identity. That journey was also fueled by the writing of others. In particular, books on finding purpose and living a life of my own choosing resonated deeply and became valued companions on my quest for a peaceful heart.
I write now because doing so pushes me to evolve my understanding of the world and myself. It compels me to search for the deeper truths that have been hidden, and to reclaim parts of myself I hadn’t known were stolen or I’d carelessly given away. I write because it expands my curiosity, challenges my beliefs, and leaves stretch marks on my heart. I write because I believe stories are the threads of life that connect us to our humanity and allow us to touch the interior world of others.
Why I Write
I grew up in a working class neighborhood in Detroit in the early fifties, the daughter of evangelical Christian parents. Discovering I was gay at the age of fifteen became the platform for a rigorous character-building program – teaching me, over decades of delirium and disaster, that the path to internal peace is through living authentically with a fearless heart.
