About Carmen Klassen

First and foremost, I’m a reader. I grew up in a rural area outside of town with no TV. So I read—a lot! Trips to the local library were always a treat for me, since there was never extra money to buy luxuries like books. It wasn’t long before I had read through the Little House on the Prairie series, all of L.M. Montgomery’s books (including Anne of Green Gables), and the whole Nancy Drew series.

With the children’s section of the library conquered, I moved on to adult books, simply because I was desperate to keep reading! I also remember reading all the cereal boxes while eating breakfast, and spending hours trying to read my dad’s old university textbooks—he graduated with a degree in Theology so I didn’t make it too far!

When I was 12-years-old, my world tilted and never quite righted itself. My dad, who had been living with Parkinson’s disease, took a turn for the worse. By the end of my grade 7 year, I was a co-caregiver with my mom, even when we had to put Dad into long-term care. Every night she would drive to the care home to feed him supper before we ate. He passed away when I was 23.

Through my teenage years, books were my escape. I loved spending time with friends, and whenever my older siblings came to visit I was extra happy. But there was a lot of time when it was just me and a book.

Fast-forward to a few years ago (because this isn’t supposed to be a book-length autobiography!). I was a newlywed, part of a blended family with my new husband’s children and my children from my first (very bad) marriage. I knew I was starting to heal from the past when I could finally lose myself in a book again!

After leaving a very rewarding career as a Professional Organizer when we moved countries, I worked part-time as a freelance writer, mainly writing blogs for businesses, website content, and advertising copy. It was a decent gig, and I thought I’d found my ‘forever’ career.

Then, in November 2018 I unexpectedly got the idea for a fiction story that wouldn’t leave my head. That idea became Sweet, Smart, and Struggling—Book 1 in the Success on Her Terms series. Before I was even part-way through the book, I got the idea for book 2, and book 3. What a shock!

These books are straight from my heart. Over and over again I’m amazed at the resilience of the human spirit—especially in the form of women who get knocked down, get back up, and go on to make the lives of everyone around them a little bit better. There’s a lot more of their stories to tell!

Every morning I’m up at 5 am to write before moving on to all the other parts of running an independent author business. I’m constantly amazed at where I am now, and so very grateful for new chances, fresh starts, and lovely readers like you!

Here’s to happy endings!