Unbraided: Transform Your Pain to Power and Purpose: AUTHOR Q&A with Karla Monterrosa #blogtour

Today's guest is Karla Monterrosa, author of Unbraided: Transform Your Pain to Power and Purpose. We're very glad to have her here today to talk about her new book, writing and what surprised her about getting her book published.

Welcome to The Writer's Life! Now that your book has been published, we’d love to find out more about the process. Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning? When did you come up with the idea to write your book?

After nearly 20 years in city government, I was dissatisfied with my work and felt it didn’t have the impact it should. I started to question if I was walking in my purpose and didn’t think so. For years, I had been fighting the tension to launch into something new and different. I was in the government box of my career and didn’t think I could do anything else. I was giving all my energy at work, yet it wasn’t appreciated or valued. I was arriving at home with nothing left to give my family but a cranky, over-worked dictator. I had to make a choice.

Then it happened. I began to think more and more about my childhood and the things that had happened to me when I was young. Oh boy! That was big. I started to realize that my purpose had been there all along. I had always known I would share my story with the world someday; what I didn’t know was that the time had come.

Who is your publisher and how did you find them or did you self-publish?

Unbraided: Transform Your Pain to Power and Purpose is being published by InspireBooks.

I was at the Hispanas Organized for Political Equity annual Latina History Day conference in Los Angeles one evening, attending a panel discussion on sexual harassment in the workplace centered around the #MeToo movement, and noticed that not one person mentioned childhood sexual abuse. I knew what I had experienced in the places where I had worked and wanted to tell them that I believe the current workplace sexual abuse crisis is yet another devastating effect of childhood sexual abuse.

That night, recognizing the obvious gap in the conversation, I made the bold decision to begin to speak my truth and, further, I decided to share that I was writing a book on healing childhood sexual abuse with the help of God.

I met Dr. Betty Uribe, a published author and the vice president of California Bank and Trust. She was also our keynote speaker during breakfast the following day of the conference. Dr. Uribe graciously offered to support me after knowing me for all of two minutes. Imagine my shock and surprise. An international executive and Latina leader believed in me instantly—this was inspiring and motivating.

In the following weeks, Dr. Uribe connected me with the wonderful people who helped me make my dream a reality.

Is there anything that surprised you about getting your first book published?

Deciding to write the story of your life is a tremendously spiritual experience. Writing this book required reflection, disclosure, and, ultimately, surrender. For years, my mother and husband were the only people who knew I had this desire to share my story. I had not worked up the courage to express it to the world. Once you put something out there, there is an expectation to actually move forward in that direction, and I didn’t yet have the courage to do that. I put it off as a task I would tackle later in life, perhaps after retirement, or when I completed a PhD. Writing books just seemed like something you did when you were older, wiser, and thoroughly educated. I also knew meditating on the past would be an overwhelming and emotionally demanding process.

God was stirring in me a need to bare my soul. When I set out on this journey, I thought I was through the dark tunnel of my childhood and already out on the other side. What I did not expect was for the writing to be what actually led me to experience true freedom from it all.

Do you believe a book cover plays an important role in the selling process?

We are visual beings, and the book cover is vital to make a great first impression. It needs to be attractive, spark curiosity, and encourage the potential reader to pick up the book.

How hard was it to write a book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make the journey easier for other writers?

My advice to any aspiring author is, “You need the right professional, emotional, and spiritual support by your side.” I was blessed to have a great team of experts in the publishing industry, an excellent writing coach, and I also joined a women’s support group. All of them helped me push through when things got hard. For me, it was vital that I didn’t do this in isolation and that I had the right avenues to share my hopes and struggles throughout the process.

What other books are you working on and when will they be published?

I’m working on a study guide to accompany Unbraided that will be published in 2020 by Inspire Books. The guide will help the reader to dive deeper into many of the subjects covered in the book. My goal is to encourage real transformation in the lives of women. When a woman is healthy emotionally and spiritually, she becomes an agent of change in the lives of others. The guide will provide guidance for mentors, Bible study groups, and community organizations to lead women through a healing process.

What’s one fact about your book that would surprise people?

The book is separated into two parts. Part One is my journey of abuse and the specific areas of my life that were affected and influenced by those painful experiences. This part of the story was written over a lifetime. Part Two will walk the reader through the moments that God used to heal different areas of my life. Part Two was written in real-time. As I revealed different elements of my story through my writing and community, I began to experience more profound and surprising levels of healing.

Finally, what message are you trying to get across with your book?

When a woman is healthy emotionally and spiritually, she is stronger, more creative, and genuinely influential within her family and community. She becomes an agent of change in the lives of others.

If you’re ready to experience healing from abuse, Unbraided will help you get healthy emotionally and spiritually so you can cultivate the self-confidence and courage needed to follow through to freedom.

Thank you again for this interview! Do you have any final words?

To the woman who was hurt by someone she trusted, a close friend or relative: I’m sorry that happened to you. You did not deserve it, and it was not your fault!

To the woman whom no one believed. I believe you!

To the girl who no one protected, rescued, comforted, and fought for, the one who didn’t get the rightful response the offense deserved: I am outraged for you; you deserved to be protected, comforted, and rescued!

God is here with you right now. He loves you. He hurts when you hurt; He cries when you cry. He wants desperately to hold, comfort, and heal you once for all time.

Will you let Him?

About the Author

Karla Monterrosa, M.P.A. is an author, keynote speaker, and women’s empowerment coach who has dedicated her life to improving the lives of women and families. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies and Planning and a Master of Public Administration in Public Sector Management and Leadership from California State University, Northridge.

Karla began her career in the City of Los Angeles, where she quickly became aware of the scale of challenges that large, diverse communities face. She learned how to address needs by best utilizing what was already available and, during her tenure, helped to provide women, youth, and families with programming that increased financial literacy, education, and economic opportunities. Karla’s ability to pinpoint trauma and develop strategic solutions would serve as the launching pad to her own coaching program, Unbraided Life (www.unbraidedlife.com).

A survivor of abuse herself, Karla is passionate about leveraging her skills to help others overcome their past. She specializes in guiding women to discover their God-given purpose through honest self-reflection, application of biblical principles, and her one-of-a-kind 7 Steps Toward Healing framework.

Karla is a certified Mending the Soul support group facilitator, but it’s her almost two decades of experience in community and economic development that make her programming practical, unique, and transformational.

You can find Karla on the internet at www.unbraidedlife.com, @karlabmonterrosa on Instagram, Karla Monterrosa on Facebook.

To book Karla to speak: speaking@unbraidedlife.com.

A sample of keynote topics she offers:

7 Steps Toward Healing

Marriage, Motherhood, and Memories

Breaking the Cycle of Abuse

The Path to Purpose

★WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS★

Website: www.unbraidedlife.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karlabmonterrosa/ (@karlabmonterrosa)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karla.monterrosa.7

About the Book:

Title: UNBRAIDED: TRANSFORM YOUR PAIN TO POWER AND PURPOSE
Author: Karla Monterrosa
Publisher: Inspire Books
Pages: 250
Genre: Non-fiction/self-help/overcoming abuse/Christian

Vulnerable, courageous, and deeply personal, Unbraided: Transform Your Pain Into Power and Purpose, will help you to identify the areas of your life that are being affected by abuse and provide a path for you to experience breakthrough and healing.

Karla Monterrosa experienced physical, emotional, and sexual abuses early in her life. She was able to take those negative experiences and use them as fuel to propel her forward for a time, accomplishing personal, educational, and professional successes. Eventually, within the stresses and pressures of marriage and motherhood, her scars became utterly exposed. She realized that her past was beginning to harm her family in the present, and it was then she chose to take courageous steps to heal from abuse—to become the woman, wife, and mother they deserve.

If you’re ready to experience healing from abuse, Unbraided will help you get healthy emotionally and spiritually so you can cultivate the self-confidence and courage needed to follow through to freedom. Learn how to deal with the long-term effects of abuse—fear, shame, lack of trust, and anger—in order to build strong relationships, enjoy intimacy, and experience joy.

Using thought-provoking journaling exercises, biblical principles, and her one-of-a-kind 7 Steps Toward Healing framework, Karla will gently guide you through a journey of self-reflection and healing—while making it feel like an intimate conversation with a trusted friend over coffee. Are you ready to step forward into the life you desire with renewed energy, unshakeable confidence, and purpose?