Interview with award-winning author Anita Agers Brooks

Welcome, readers. I’m kicking off a new week with an interview with Anita Agers Brooks. We’re chatting about her new non-fiction, Christian living book Getting Through What You Can’t Get Over.

Bio:

Anita Brooks, CPT, CLTF, CCS, motivates others to dynamic break-throughs. Blending mind, heart, body, and spirit, as an Inspirational Business/Life Coach, International Speaker, and Common Trauma Expert. She shares hope and encouragement on the stage and from the page -- reminding audiences, "It's never too late for a fresh start with fresh faith.”

Anita is also a multi-published, award-winning author. Her titles include Amazon Best Seller and Readers' Favorite International Book Award winner: Getting Through What You Can’t Get Over, Barbour Publishing, First Hired, Last Fired — How to Become Irreplaceable in Any Job Market, Leafwood Publishing, Death Defied-Life Defined: A Miracle Man's Memoir, and is a contributor to the global book phenomenon, The Change: Insights Into Self Empowerment Book #4. Her titles are available at major and independent bookstores as well as from online retailers.

Anita’s favorite pastime is watching sunsets with her husband of thirty-three years, while they laugh and dip their toes in the water. She adores her grandchildren, but she also wants to hear about those you love. Her favorite passion is inspiring others to transform life’s battles into lasting victories.

Welcome, Anita. Please tell us about your current release.

Most of us have experienced it, or soon will and just don’t know it yet. Adversity, trauma, or grief that blindsides us and kicks us in the gut. These are things we'll never get over, no matter how much we want to — but we can get through. PTSD, depression, anxiety, abuse, betrayal, identity questions, financial crisis, illness, injury, family feuds, death, and other common traumas — we can survive them, and even reach a place where pain-filled people laugh yet again. 

In each chapter of my award-winning book, Getting Through What You Can’t Get Over, I tell true stories and offer Insider Insights. Readers will find tips for Emotional Healing, Practical Help, Spiritual Comfort, and a Guided Prayer. My core message is, “It’s never too late for a fresh start with fresh faith,” and this is the foundation from which I encourage readers to hope when things appear hopeless.

What inspired you to write this book?

Having survived and ultimately thrived in spite of what I now call a Jobette season, (think the female version of Job), I realized there were many small things that helped me get through difficult moments. When people tell you to take things one day at a time, they don’t realize that a whole day can feel overwhelming to a hurting person. I developed some positive patterns that really made a difference and helped me walk through a very dark valley. Meeting a former Holocaust prisoner of war who was captive in Auschwitz also changed my life in an amazing way. I wanted to share all of that inspiring goodness with others who might be dealing with things that they will get through, but frankly, will never get over — hence, the title of my book, Getting Through What You Can’t Get Over.

Excerpt from Getting Through What You Can’t Get Over:

            When I met her I was in the blackest hole I’d ever experienced. I cowered in a deep pit of depression and anxiety, spawned by betrayal, the pain was raw and unquenchable. Each day, I tried to scale the walls and scramble into some light, but with every attempt, I slid back down the slimy slopes of the well, and crumpled into the darkness of my despair. 

           

            My attendance at the conference was a miracle, considering most days I barely had the strength to pull myself from bed. Taking a shower required a great deal of effort. But a friend had urged me to go with her, to see the former Auschwitz prisoner of war and motivational speaker, Dr. Edith Eger. Yet at the last minute, my friend couldn’t go. To this day, I can’t explain how I ended up there. Alone.

What exciting story are you working on next?

I’m actually writing two books simultaneously, and they are pretty different titles, but I’m excited about each for unique reasons. 

The first is for emergency services workers, like police officers, EMT’s, nurses, coroners, etc. Many of them don’t have a resource for some of the challenges they face in trying to do their jobs well without losing their emotional connections with family and friends. This co-authored project is called, From the Crime Scene to the Home Scene: Living Healthy, Happy, and Whole Submerged in Tragedy, Trauma, and Death. We’re telling true crime/death stories, and some are pretty fascinating, but then addressing their impact on those who worked the scene, along with tips for others who might face similar situations. 

My other project is called, The Praise Project: Strengthening Your Mind, Body, and Spirit When All Hell is Breaking Loose. This book chronicles my experience when I made a commitment to praise God no matter what. Let me tell you, some crazy things happened — some crazy scary, but in the end, some crazy awesome things resulted. Also for this book, I’m researching and interviewing others with similar stories. I'll tell their true tales as well. I anticipate a lot of inspiration, encouragement, and motivation to come out of this title -- plus, many of the true stories and secrets I'll reveal will surprise a lot of readers. 

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I took a gulp and first called myself a writer in 2009, shortly after I read a book that said to get brave and do it. However, I didn’t truly consider myself a writer until my first paid article was published, about six months later. 

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I’m a pretty busy public speaker and inspirational coach, so I don’t get to sit down and write every day, however, I do write consistently. Even if it’s jotting a few notes in my phone between speaking sessions, researching and saving information into my writing files from a hotel room, making myself complete one paragraph in a book project in a McDonald’s while I’m on the road, or writing an article or blog just before I crash for the night. 

For writing books in particular, the key is to get the thoughts out of my head when they come, whether I’m typing them in my computer file or scribbling random ideas on an envelope. When it comes time to formally craft my book proposals or manuscripts, all of those threads of information make writing a whole book easier. If you wait for the perfect time to try and write perfectly, it will never happen.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I drink this crazy concoction that most people couldn’t tolerate. I mix turmeric, ginger, and black pepper with water. These three ingredients are three of the most naturally powerful anti-inflammatory agents known to man, so they allow more oxygen-rich blood to reach the brain. Maybe I’m crazy, but I think it improves my creativity and productivity. 

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

As an avid reader from the time I was five, I dreamed of being a book author, but it was a secret I kept locked away from everyone until later in life. I used to lay on the grass beneath summer skies and imagine what it would be like to see my name on a book cover. That little girl would be astounded to see her name on my books today. 

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

I tell people all the time, “Reading is my obsession, but writing is my compulsion. I cannot imagine living without books — and I don’t want to try.” Books are our window to a better world, where we can go anywhere, and anything is possible. 

Links:

You can connect with me on Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Periscope, and Twitter. 

Check out my live inspirational broadcasts as Anita Fresh Faith on Periscope. Keep up with my latest happenings at anitabrooks.com.

Web Store | Amazon 

Thanks for being here today, Anita!