Author Interview - Bring Yourself to Love: How Couples Can Turn Disconnection into Intimacy by Mona Barbera

Describe your book in five words or less.
What you can do to turn disconnection into intimacy in your committed relationship

How did the ideas for your books come to you?
From my work as a couples therapist, couples workshop leader, and internal family systems trainer

What is the hardest part of writing for you? What's the easiest?
Hardest : Organizing the content and getting into the deep place from which vital stories flow Easiest : once I'm in that flow place

What's next for you? Are you currently working on or have plans for future projects?
Working on second edition of the book, another book for couples therapists, and more couples workshops


Why did you choose to write for specific genre?
Wanted to reach the public and help with relationships


What's it like hearing that readers are eagerly awaiting your book's release date?
Great - so great to get stories of how people have applied the ideas - especially giving better back

What is one question that you've always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?
What's fun about doing couples therapy?

Couples therapy is fun because you get to see love arise in unexpected ways. When you help people who love each other get unstuck, they naturally go back to loving each other. It comes out in the most surprising ways!

What was your road to publications like?
I decided after one rejection that i wasn't interested in spending time sending out more letters to publishers, and I wanted my book out in 8 months rather than the 4 years it takes a major publisher. I didn't want to self publish because it didn't seem like it would honor the book. So I started my own publishing company. The learning curve was as steep as mt everest. I'm currently publishing the second edition of my book and a book by someone else. Our niche is non-fiction for authors who have a platform.




Bio:
Mona Barbera is a psychologist who has been practicing psychotherapy and couplestherapy since 1976. She is an Assistant Trainer for Internal Family Systems, a certified advanced Imago Relationship Therapist, and past board member and committee chairperson of the New England Association for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation.
She lives in Boston with her husband.