Mental Author Feature #2 - Jan Emslie

The Monster The Mentalpause and Me

by Jan Emslie

Book Blurb:

The Monster, The Mentalpause and Me is a satirical look at the life of 52-year-old Molly McIntosh, a third stage Mentalpausal, with a bitter and twisted womb. She has to contend with spontaneous facial hair growth, forgetfulness, and the Wicked Witch of the East-rogen occupying her guest bedroom…her mother-in-law, AKA ‘The Monster’.

Molly’s patience is tested on a daily basis as she pits her wits against her scheming nemesis, Annabel Lextor.

Molly’s newly retired Mr. Husband seems oblivious to his mother’s malevolent ways, as Molly struggles on, dealing with obnoxious neighbours, crazy work colleagues, and deranged octogenarians.

The book spans a hilarious year in Molly’s life. Ending with the realisation that one of Monster’s husbands might not in fact be dead.

I’m a former accident and emergency nurse who went back to a university as a mature student to study Psychology. I also ran kitten adoption in Dublin for ten years and was actively involved in animal welfare in Ireland. Remember "It's cuter to neuter." 

Currently, I live in the Granada area of Spain with my own long-suffering Mr. Husband of 30 ODD! years. Eight rescue dogs and eight cats. Including the 28-year-old GRUMPY cat Alice.

"How did the Monster The Mentalpause and Me come about Jan?" People are asking me ....Well, I accidentally wrote the book! Then I also accidentally bought a cow at a market some years back, so that shouldn't come as a surprise to those who know me.

"What's it all about?"

It's in the genre of the "Sweaty, puffy, hormonal stuffy AKA The Menopause and also known by its more descriptive moniker: 'The Mentalpause.' That's where you leave your brain at....Well, leave it where ever you wish because you are going to forget where you put it anyway, along with keys, a chicken, and a very nice Spanish exchange student called Raul!

The accidental book came from my Facebook page uncannily called The Mentalpause where it evolved, when I started to write about the daily trials and tribulations of a pastry dependent, 50 something-year-old 'GAL' and her Mother-in-Law ..The Monster. Egged on by my fantastic Mentalpauser's. Uncannily similar to my own life, I avoided a lawsuit for libel by changing my name to Molly in the book.(Joke). Mr. Husband is Mr. Husband. 

I'm fond of animals but not that fond of people, which was a drawback as a clinical psychologist. I spent most of my time plotting revengeful ways to dispatch my patients, so I had more time to eat cake and put bows on kittens. Luckily my patients were very naughty people who were locked securely up for the good of society.

Then I decreed there was not enough laughter in the world, so joined up all the short stories "What I wrote." And the end product, once it had a cover, resembled a book. People said it made them laugh and pee~pee their pants a little, and that was good enough for me. 

Oh! I also have the ability not to take life too seriously and have a good laugh, mainly at myself. THE END....Or is it? I am currently working on the second book in the series. Molly's gone Mentalpausal.

'Mental Author' Feature #1 - Samantha Bryant

So excited to welcome my first fellow 'mental' author, Samantha Bryant, as she prepares for the launch of her debut novel, Going Through the Change: A Menopausal Superhero Novel, where she turns those pesky symptoms into super powers! Can't wait to read this one. Here's Samantha to share her journey...

Turn and Face the Change: Writing Menopausal Superheroes

Menopause and superheroes might not seem like a natural progression at first blush. After all, most women in superhero stories are barely dressed and eternally twenty-three. At mid-life, most of us have given up spandex and clothing with peek-a-boo cut-outs. I know I have.

Author Samantha Bryant

But there's no denying that the feelings (physical and emotional) that women experience during "the change" are powerful indeed. Hormones are overwhelmingly strong at different times in our lives: puberty, pregnancy, and menopause being the highlights in that particular movie reel. (My personal hormone movie has been mostly a comedy, though it sometimes feels like an overwrought drama when I'm living it).

Hitting 40 - Enter Night Sweats!

After I turned forty, I began to get my first direct hints of what this journey was going to be like for me. I woke up hot and sweaty. My skin did weird things. My moods shifted around me like sand on a beach. The doctor says I am still premenopausal, but the writing is on the wall. The process has begun.

Honestly, it scares me. I remember feeling at the mercy of my hormones and the effects on my body when I was a teenager and again when I was expecting and nursing my children. I'm not looking forward to going through more of that. I don't like feeling out of control.

So, I wrote about it. That's what I do, as an author. I take the things that scare the heck out of me and spin them into stories. Art is cheaper than therapy.

Hot Flashes or Power Surges?

This book took a lighter turn. Sometimes we need to make light of the things that get under our skin to take away their power. So, when I woke up sweating, I wrote a woman who could project the heat from her hot flashes out of her body, giving her the ability to wield fire.  When my back itched all the time from the dryness of my skin, I wrote a woman who was transforming into a lizard creature. When I felt depressed, I wrote a woman who became so light she flew. And when I bemoaned the strange growth of hair in new locations, I wrote a woman who turned into a man!

Of course, there's more to my characters than just what happened to them and what they decided to do about them.

We're all Superheros

I'm a long time reader of comics and fan of superhero movies and television shows. As I developed the idea for what became Going Through theChange: A Menopausal Superhero Novel, I wanted to write a superhero story that women like me could identify with. That meant developing characters who were grown women with the problems and worries that grown women have: partners, children, family, careers, feelings of self worth, ageism, weight gain, health, and so on.

Each of my women is on a personal journey, one that just became complicated by some more unusual symptoms of menopause. Writing this series has been cathartic and, honestly, a great deal of fun. I hope my readers will find it so, too!

Samantha Bryant is a middle school Spanish teacher by day and a mom and novelist by night. That makes her a superhero all the time. She believes in love, magic, and unexplainable connections.

Samantha writes blogs, poems, essays, and novels. Mostly she writes about things that scare or worry her. It’s cheaper than therapy! Someday, she hopes to make her living solely as a writer. 

Learn more about Samantha at http://samanthabryant.com follow her on Twitter @mirymom1 and join her on Facebook.

Good luck with the rest of your blog tour Samantha!! Let us know where you're headed to next so we can join you there ;)