ShoutOut Arizona: Interview with Carol Test

Carol, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?

“The creative adult is the child who survived,” said author Ursula K. Le Guin.

This has been a guiding light for my artistic evolution. As a writer, I’m obsessed with how artifacts, images, and language hoarded in family systems reveal—and hold the potential to heal—generational trauma. A Complex-PTSD survivor and young adult cancer thriver currently going through the traumatic bereavement of my young brother during the pandemic, I know it’s vital not only to reflect lived experience when writing trauma narratives, but also to recognize that within the telling of any story lies the key to unlocking mechanisms by which people survive and heal. The secret comes in finding sly ways individuals, families, and cultures, draw upon distinctive traditions, strengths, and humor to reclaim traumatic pasts.

This work feels more necessary now than ever, as the world collectively undergoes traumatic shifts.”
~ Carol Test

Visit SHOUTOUT ARIZONA to read the entirety of the interview about my current project, a lyric memoir in collage form, as well as my course on Healing Trauma via Hybrid Forms. Debuting at the 2021 Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers’ Conference, “Healing Trauma Narratives” is now offered as a free webinar with accompanying workbook through The Writing Cycle. In it, writers and survivors can explore the roots of different types of trauma, such as complex, collective, and generational, along with a variety of creative ways to tell trauma stories with a twist.

Sign up for our quarterly newsletter to gain access to the presentation, as well as stay in the loop regarding the launch of book development, manuscript editing, and author accountability services.