We recently had the chance to connect with Kirsten Pursell and have shared our conversation below.
Good morning Kirsten, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
As an author, people hear award-winning and best-selling and assume that means financial success. In reality, being an author is less about overnight earnings and more about relentless passion — writing the story, then essentially running a marketing company to get that story into the world. I don’t write to chase sales. I write to create emotional connection and to tell reinvention stories that make women feel seen. If even one reader feels less alone because of something I wrote, that is success to me. Obviously, if I could add best selling to my resume, I’d be pretty excited, too.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Kirsten Pursell — an award-winning and Amazon best-selling indie author writing stories for women who are rewriting their own lives. My novels explore reinvention, self-discovery, and the messy, beautiful reality of starting over—especially in midlife, when society tends to stop paying attention. I’m fascinated by the quiet moments of awakening, the friendships that save us, and the relationships we have to release in order to reclaim ourselves.
What makes my brand unique is authenticity. I don’t write perfect heroines. I write women who break, doubt, question, and rise. I write for the woman standing in her kitchen at midnight wondering, “How did I get here?” and even more importantly, “Who do I want to become next?”
Right now, I’m continuing to grow a connected universe of female-driven stories, including my newest novel, The Unabridged Life of Missy Kinkaid — a midlife reinvention story that’s been generating editorial buzz and resonating with book clubs. I’ve been told I’m a voice for women, allowiong themselves to be seen in my stories, which are predicated on my own struggles and victories.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I actually remember the exact moment this question took shape in my life. In college, I took a class called Cradle to Grave. On the first day, the professor asked, “Who are you?” Everyone began writing labels — wife, student, daughter, son. I wrote one word: “Me.”
It stunned me how quickly people defined themselves by their roles. Even then, I knew I wasn’t meant to fit into a neatly labeled box. After college, I was still me, but suddenly I was also a corporate climber. Then I was me and a mom. With each phase of life, I slid into that revised version of myself. But they were “add-on”s to evolving versions of myself.
Today, I say I’m on version 3.0 — the version no longer defined by expectations or titles. I am whatever I choose to be: me… plus writer, author, athlete, creator, and whatever else I decide next.
Still me. Still evolving, growing, being. I love it.
When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
I think I’ve been unknowingly doing that my whole life — writing has always been my outlet. As a teenager, I poured every raw emotion into journals. Page after page, I tried to make sense of heartbreak, confusion, and the messy parts of growing up. I didn’t know it then, but I was already learning how to transform pain into language.
Years later, after my kids left the nest and I was faced with the question, “Who am I now?” I started writing novels. That’s when everything clicked. I realized that the emotions I was putting on the page — the uncertainty, the reinvention, the ache of feeling invisible — weren’t just mine. They belonged to so many women.
I became a voice for women in midlife who were struggling to articulate what they felt.
My stories are real. Honest. Imperfect.
They are about women who break and rebuild and rise.
That’s when pain became power — not just because I processed my own, but because my words helped other women see themselves and feel seen.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
Absolutely. I am unapologetically me — on the page, online, and in person. What you see is what you get. I’m too old, too grounded, and too comfortable in my own skin to pretend to be anything else. I genuinely like who I am, and I show up as her everywhere.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What will you regret not doing?
I don’t believe in regrets. I believe in learning and evolving — in choosing differently once you know better. But if I had to name something I would be unwilling to miss out on, it’s this: taking the risk. Betting on myself. Choosing the life that feels true instead of the one that feels safe.
I won’t walk away from writing the stories that keep tugging on me, from saying the brave thing instead of the polite one, from showing other women that reinvention is always possible — at any age, in any chapter.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kirstenpursell.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirstenpursell/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsten-pursell-40851910/
- Twitter: https://x.com/kirsten_pursell
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KirstenPursellAuthor
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kirstenpursell
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/kirsten-pursell
Image Credits
Marci Browe
