About Linda Naomi Baron-Katz:
Linda Naomi Baron-Katz born on March 21, 1969, by the name of Linda Naomi Baron, raised as a modern orthodox Jew, where mental illness became a factor throughout her life. It had started with her mother when she was in the fifth grade. Her mother had suffered a nervous breakdown and was diagnosed with acute depression. This gave Linda and her family a huge amount of stress. As she was growing up into adulthood, her mother’s illness affected her in ways that she too would become a depressed person. Linda had difficulties making friends, developing positive relationships, and maintaining employment. After she graduated college, she also suffered from a mental illness and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Through the years she was faced with challenges that were difficult to overcome, but worked hard to achieve recovery. As part of her recovery from mental illness, she became active and volunteered for a variety of mental health organizations. Linda became a member of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness or formerly called National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) and published articles about her life in New York City Voices, a newspaper for people with mental illness to share their personal recovery stories. Both of these agencies helped fight against stigma and other issues pertaining to mental illness. Soon after, Linda found employment working for agencies that help others with mental illness reach their goals and dreams. Today, Linda is happily married, an author who has published two books. One is titled Surviving Mental Illness, My Story which won a Silver Medal Award by Readers Favorite for best non-fiction/autobiography and came in First Place and won the Life Journeys Award for best memoir/biography from Readers Views. Through this book she describes all of her challenges that she dealt with while having a mental illness and how she found her way back towards establishing a wellness by staying mentally and physically strong. The second book, titled Peter and Lisa: A Mental Illness Children’s Story, which she co-authored with her husband Charles Katz, is about two adults who struggle with mental illness and get better with medication and necessary support by family and friends. It is a story that children will love and understand that with help people can recover from mental illness. Linda wrote these two books to show that mental illness is not something to be afraid of and that anyone can overcome life’s challenges and achieve a happy life.
What inspires you to write?
Writing did not always come easy for me. It was a challenge. When I write in my journal, it is therapeutic for me to put down my feelings down in words. The more I write about myself, I continue to grow as an individual. I especially like to write about topics that are meaningful to people where they can achieve great knowledge and understanding.
Tell us about your writing process.
I do not have a particular writing style. I like to write on subjects that I know about. Once I start writing, the words just flow and the moment I have a thought I immediately add it on paper. Outlines are useful, but when I wrote my first book, Surviving Mental Illness, My Story, writing about my life came so easy to me that all I needed to do was to remember what happened and use the notes in my journal which made all the other details simple.
What advice would you give other writers?
I learned that your writing is based on you and what knowledge you obtain outside of your own world. I also feel that it is more important to educate the public about your written works than it is to worry about how many people are actually going to take the time to read them. What I mean is exposure is what counts the most. Getting yourself out there. Letting people know who you are. Don’t worry about how many books are selling. That’s not what is most important. What is important is you.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I decided to self publish my book because I wanted to start getting people to know me slowly. Also, at the time it was difficult for me to find a traditional publisher that would publish a memoir about mental illness. Mental illness is still stigmatized in today’s society and I do not think there are many publishers out there who think that this topic is what readers want to hear and it all depends on what readers you are targeting. That is why I decided to self publish to at least get the public interested and if a traditional publisher happens to read the book and likes it, then I would consider working with them.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think the future of book publishing is changing. I think everything is being done over the internet and books are becoming more digital. I see people buying more ebooks that print books. For one thing, ebooks are a lot less expensive.
What do you use?: Professional Editor, Professional Cover Designer
What genres do you write?: memoirs, nonfiction, books for children about mental illness, books about recovery
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Linda Naomi Baron-Katz Home Page Link
Link To Linda Naomi Baron-Katz Page On Amazon
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All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit, to allow you, the reader, to hear the author in their own voice.
