Pearson is probably best known for her book Goodbye, I Love You and the LDS musical My Turn On Earth. Her play Facing East, about a Mormon family dealing with the suicide of a gay son, opened Off Broadway on 29 May 2007. She also wrote One On The Seesaw, a lighthearted book about raising a family as a single parent.

Pearson's first book was the poetry collection, Beginnings, published in 1969. Her other works include

• The Search (1970)
• The Order is Love (1971)
• Daughters of Light (1973)
• Cipher in the Snow (screenplay) 1973
• The Growing Season (1976)
• The Flight and the Nest (1977)
• A Widening View (1983)
• Blow Out the Wishbone (1985)
• Goodbye, I Love You: The Story of a Wife, Her Homosexual Husband, and a Love Honored For Time And All Eternity (1987) ISBN: 1-55517-984-3
• Lasting Peace (1990)
• Mother Wove the Morning (1992)
• Women I Have Known and Been (1993)
• Picture Windows: A Carol Lynn Pearson Collection (1996)
• Morning Glory Mother (1997)
• The Lesson: A Fable For Our Times (1998)
• What Love Is (1999)
• Fuzzy Red Bathrobe: Questions From the Heart For Mothers and Daughters (2000)
• Girlfriend, You Are the Best! (2001)
• Day-Old Child And Other Celebrations of Motherhood (2001)
• Will You Still Be My Daughter? A Fable For Our Times (2001)
• A Strong Man: A Fable For Our Times (2001)
• The Gift: A Fable For Our Times (2001)
• Consider the Butterfly: Transforming Your Life Through Meaningful Coincidence (2002)
• A Christmas Thief (2003) ISBN 978-1-59955-184-5
• The Modern Magi (2003)
• The Christmas Moment (2005) ISBN 1-55517-869-3
• Beginnings and Beyond (2005) ISBN 1-55517-870-7
• The Model Mormon Mother's Notebook (2005) ISBN 1-55517-858-8
• The Runaway Mother (2006) ISBN 1-55517-927-4
• A Stranger For Christmas (2007) ISBN 978-1-59955-088-6
• In Love Again and Always: Love Poems by Carol Lynn Pearson (2007) ISBN: 978-1-59955-042-8
• The Dance (2007) ISBN 978-1-59955-097-8
• Summer of Truth (2007) ISBN 978-1-59955-046-6
• No More Goodbyes: Circling the Wagons Around Our Gay Loved Ones (2007)
• Priceless Moments: Snapshots of Motherhood (2008) ISBN 978-59955-145-2

Pearson married actor, musician, and songwriter Gerald Neils Pearson (1942-1984), whom she had met in a college production of The Skin of Our Teeth, on 9 September 1966 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The two were devout Mormons who both descended from several generations of Latter Day Saints. They were married for 12 years and had four children together, settling in Provo, Utah.

Gerald had told Carol Lynn while they were engaged that he had had sexual relationships with men, but assured her that he had left that phase of his life behind. However, he eventually confronted his homosexuality and after a move to California prompted by his desire to explore this side of himself, they separated and were divorced in 1978. He returned to live with her and their children after being diagnosed with AIDS in 1984, and she cared for him until his death. Her book Goodbye, I Love You is about their life together.

Since then, Pearson has become an unofficial spokesperson for acceptance of gay people by their Mormon families, as well as a stronger leadership role for women in the Mormon community. Many of her works address these issues, and she speaks on these and related subjects around the country. She notes, "I love the Mormon community ... and I have a unique opportunity to build bridges."

Pearson's daughter Emily (b. 1968) is an actress and writer who is currently writing a memoir on her life and family. Pearson's son John (b. 1969) is a professional caricaturist and one of the original animators of the Simpsons; son Aaron Pearson (b. 1971) is a rock musician. Her youngest child, Katharine Sirrine "Katy" Pearson Adams (1975-1999), died of a brain tumor at the age of 23. Actor and playwright Steven Fales is her former son-in-law. She has four grandchildren.

Pearson is a longtime resident of Walnut Creek, California.