Author Interview with Monique Berish

5/29/2020

Who are you?

I am a Board Certified Psychiatric Nurse with more than 20 years experience, including crisis intervention at all levels of psychiatric care from outpatient to involuntary, inpatient hospitalization. My passion includes educating people about psychiatric and mental health issues via my written articles on various mental health topics, and consultations as a psychiatric and mental health expert in multiple publications from other authors.

Where do you live?

Currently I live in Utah. However, I suffer terribly with wanderlust. I grew up in New Jersey and moved to New Mexico in my teens. Keeping true to my lack of roots I also lived in Oklahoma, Montana, Alaska, Arizona, Washington, California, and I've spent enough time in Texas to claim it.

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What’s your home life like?

Busy. I'm a single mom of three kids ages 14, 12, and 10, and I work two jobs. I am a writer Monday - Wednesday. I usually write when my children are away at school. The pandemic has forced me to replace my writing with homeschooling. So that has set me back quite a bit. Thursday - Saturday I am a nurse working 12 hour shifts.

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What genre(s) do you like to write? To read?

I write creative non-fiction such as memoir and inspirational and spiritual short pieces. Straight non-fiction on the topics of mental health and historical fiction based on true stories.
What do I read? Any book that someone recommends is good. The exception being I don't read horror or erotica. Not my vibe.

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Why did you start writing?

Why did I start writing? This is not a valid question for me. Technically I started writing because my grade depended on it in elementary school. However, I write because I have to. It's how I process life. Even when I'm not writing regularly I have to create in some way. My mind demands it. It keeps me sane.

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What do you do when you’re not writing?

My second passion is photography. If I'm not writing, I'm hiking into the mountains with my camera and capturing the landscapes and moments of peace I find along the way.
Another passion is driving. I love going on long road trips. My dream is that some day I can transition my income over to writing and tour the US while writing, hiking, and photographing this country.

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Where do you like to go when looking for a new book to read?

I am lucky enough to have an amazing network of authors to pull from, so mostly Facebook. But I love supporting my fellow authors so going to cons and writers conferences are usually my other main gigs.

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At what point do you call it quits when reading a new book?

If a book is misrepresented and surprises me with horror or graphic sex I'll put it away.

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Are you independently or traditionally published?

I am so glad you asked this question. I am a Latter Day Saint. That means any book I write is immediately excluded from any Christian publisher. And if I write on a church centered topic, most big publishing houses will pass. That leaves me with LDS publishers. My book, More: A Memoir, is my conversion story to The Church of Jesus Christ. However, my journey was not rainbows and sunshine. It's not the type of story you share at a family event or over the pulpit. It is raw, gritty, and real. I didn't lead a rated G life. So I didn't write a rated G book. That means LDS publishers were off the table now too.
Luckily, I have a good friend, Brad McBride who owns Addept Media and he offered to publish my book. He saw a gap in publishing that needed to be filled. There are many authors that write excellent, inspiring, uplifting content, but might be a little too racy for an LDS publisher. So the short answer is: I'm a hybrid. I'm an indy author being published by a publisher.

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How many books/stories have you published so far?

I enjoy writing short. I have published many short articles, stories, and poems. More: A Memoir is my first novel length work.

What book/story are you currently promoting or working on?

I am lunching my first novel length work, More: A Memoir in May. I also have a few short stories in a comedy anthology put out by Utah Humor Anthology coming out in the Fall.

As far as what I'm currently working on, it's a prequel to my Memoir. It's the story of my grandmother and my mother fleeing war torn France to the US and the struggles they faced as non-English speakers with little to no life experience.

What’s the elevator pitch?

From the rough streets of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, to the wilds of Alaska, Monique Berish wandered with a gnawing emptiness. She learned at an early age that it was better to feel nothing, especially when it came to happiness. Alcohol and sex provided fraudulent, temporary joy, but it wasn't until she let go of her abusive past and found a new path of faith that she learned that there was so much more.

How long have you been working on it?

It took me two years to write and edit, and another year to figure out publishing.

When will it be available to buy? Where?

May 1st it goes on Presale and launches May 15th. It will be launched on Amazon later in the summer.
It can be purchased at MoniqueBerish.com

How can readers find you?

Anything you’d like to add?

Thank you for this opportunity to share a little about myself, and my book. I appreciate that you are giving authors this platform.

My thanks to Ms. Berish for participating in My Laughably Inane Blog. I wish her all the best with the launch of her memoir. I'd also like to send a shout-out to our mutual friend, Michael Darling, for virtually introducing us as fellow writers in Utah.

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