An Interview with Traci Wooden-Carlisle
I first “met” Traci Wooden-Carlisle when I saw her beautiful book swag in a Facebook group. Since I have a love for miniature things, I wanted my own tiny book charms of some of the classics and of the novels I have written. I loved her Etsy shop, TracesofDesign, and that led me to check out her books on Amazon. Traci has quite a lengthy bibliography of both fiction and nonfiction. Her books contain romance, suspense, mystery, and drama but there is always an underlying theme of faith. The opening lines of her novels are lovely. Truly, Traci is an artisan and wordsmith!
Tell me a little about your life and who you are.
I am a child of God who loves the fact that I can have a relationship with Him. I am a wife to an extremely kind and generous man who supports me in my endeavors to write books that transform and deliver a message of hope, forgiveness, and the love of God for his people.
I am a graphic artist and jewelry designer because I have a few different ways of expressing my need to create.
I am a lover of people and I love sharing knowledge that may help people reach their goal quicker.
What led to you becoming an author?
When I was six I began to lose my clarity of sight. I couldn’t see far but I did such a great job of hiding it my teachers and parents thought I had a reading disability rather than a vision problem. You see, I sat too close to the television for too long a length of time, and I was warned but I didn’t listen. To me, cartoons were best closeup!
Anyway, my parents enrolled me into a special program that gave me an advantage in reading and by the time I was in the 4th grade I was reading at the 9th grade level. I loved books and I couldn’t get enough of them! When I would run out, I would entertain myself by writing stories for myself. I ended up taking the long way around and studied journalism professionally but novel writing was always in my heart. Just before the age of 40 I published my first novel.
What sort of books do you write?
I write Christian women’s fiction because I love addressing the tough topics; contemporary Christian romance because I adore a good love story; Christian romantic suspense because romance seasoned with a little intrigue and action adventure is so much fun; Christian fantasy or supernatural Christian fiction because there is a great deal of truth in warring in the spirit by praying and seeking God for answers. I thought it was important to encourage those who are intercessors and prayer warriors in real life.
My latest work is very new and outside of my normal genre. It is a non-fiction memoir, of sorts, dealing with my perspective on racism and my personal experience with it.
What was it like to work with other authors on SOUL DEEP: Perspectives on Race, Relationships, Social Justice, and Hope? What do you hope this anthology will accomplish?
Though we are all authors and women of color, our life experiences are vastly different and therefore our experiences with racism and perspectives on race and relationship as well as social justice are different. I learned a lot about what forms a person’s opinion on their environment and those around them. We could look similar but reach our conclusions from extremely different ways. It was truly informative and eye opening.
My hope is that people approach this book with an open mind with the intent not just to be entertained but to learn that we all can’t be placed in a category that looks like it will fit a certain race or creed, but to seek out the person. It will go a long way to taking us from intolerance to tolerance, from tolerance to patience, hopefully from patience to acceptance and from acceptance to love.
What advice do you have for those who yearn to be an author?
Start writing. Thoughts can only be published if you write them down.
I love Traci’s advice for aspiring authors! So simple and true: Just “start writing.” You can find all of Traci’s writings on Amazon under Traci-Wooden-Carlisle. You will enjoy her work while being inspired!
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