Sylvia's Literary BlogSpot: Meet new author Monique D. Mensah (Aug-Sept Feature)

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Meet new author Monique D. Mensah (Aug-Sept Feature)

Meet new author Monique D. Mensah

Monique D. Mensah is a native Detroiter with an innate love for the written word. Her talent for writing was first discovered by her third grade teacher when she declared her dream to become a published author. After earning a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Michigan she completed her first manuscript, Who Is He To You. Shortly after, she launched Kisa Publishing and published her debut novel. Monique now resides in Southfield, MI where she is raising her daughter and working full-time as an enrollment counselor for a private university. She is also a freelance copywriter and copyeditor and is currently working on her second novel.

Book: Who Is He To You by Monique Mensah
Simone, a shockingly beautiful teen, is on the downward spiral of destruction as she battles incest and self-hatred and she finds cutting to be the only way to relieve her pain. Jessica lives the upscale lifestyle of a refined society matron. She strives to be the perfect wife, but without her husband, Ross, she would be nothing more than the abused stripper he rescued 16 years ago. Ryan, a fiery thirty-something, is quickly slipping into depression and prescription drug addiction as her boyfriend, Anthony, artfully dangles the empty promise of marriage. As the shattered lives of three very different women collide, they find that they have one thing in common: they are all in a desperate fight to hang onto love. Experience their emotional journey through to the shocking end where these women will experience injury, imprisonment and even death while crafting new lives from the ashes of their ruination.

Monique D. Mensah, Author of Dramatic Fiction
Author's blog: www.moniquedmensah.wordpress.com

Talking Points for Who is He to You
A woman who is secure in who she is and recognizes her self-worth, does not need validation from the men in her life.

Incest and molestation in the African-American community.
1. Although the rates of incest and molestation are similar for African-American women and Caucasian women, black women are more likely to keep it a secret.
2. Incest and molestation is not exclusive to any race or class.
3. The importance of telling someone you trust that you have been the victim of sexual abuse instead of self-medicating
4. Understanding that sexual abuse is not your fault.
5. The effects sexual abuse and incest may have on a teenager.
Depression
1. Depression is treatable through medication and therapy, but healthy life-changes are necessary as well.
2. Although sometimes hereditary, depression can be triggered by specific occurrences in one's life.
3. Understanding the symptoms of depression and recognizing when you need help.
4. The effects depression can have on you, your relationships, and your daily life.
5. The dangers of medications prescribed to treat depression.
6. The reluctance of African-Americans to seek therapy.
Identity—finding yourself and your self-worth
1. The importance of creating a healthy relationship with yourself.
2. Figuring out, what makes you happy and putting your own happiness before that of others.
3. Realizing your self-worth and what you have to offer to life's relationships.
4. Identify yourself and your self-worth and don't compromise that.
Teen cutting and self-injury
1. Teens cut and self injure as a means to replace emotional pain with physical pain
2. It gives them a sense of control
3. Cutting and self-injury is often a sign of molestation or some other form of abuse.
4. Triggered by strong feelings the teen is unable to express
A woman's search for self-validation through the men in her life.
1. Women must get to a point where they feel complete and happy within themselves before they can have a successful relationship
2. A man is not supposed to complete the woman he is with. He should compliment her.