Meet Mindy
Mindy Tsai is an esteemed author known for her honest and personal storytelling. After facing unimaginable challenges in life, she turned to writing to unknot her struggles.
With a cup of coffee on a Sunday afternoon, she invites readers to immerse themselves in unforgettable literary experiences through her compelling memoirs. ​
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Mindy grew up in New England, holds a master's degree from Cornell, and had worked in software technology consultancies as a project manager and business development lead in Boston. She currently lives in Taipei, Taiwan.
My Books
#Schizophrenia
In 2004, Mindy begins hearing a voice in her head, someone she calls "Joe," and sees signs everywhere that hold mysterious clues only for her. What she doesn't know at the time is that she is experiencing her first schizophrenic episode. For the next decade, she oscillates between two worlds -- a normal life and a secret voice-filled one -- until she begins the journey of merging her two worlds back into one. Becoming Whole documents her onset of schizophrenia and the subsequent years spent learning about it and how to live with it. It is her journey to find solace.
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#Singleliving
At age twenty-seven, Mindy breaks up with her long-time college boyfriend and starts an odyssey. Realizing she is lost and unwell, Mindy spends the next fourteen years putting the pieces of her life together. She doesn’t seek fulfillment in a relationship with another man, but instead, she learns to find contentment in herself and with her friends. When she finally feels it is time to start dating again, she is forty-one, and the experience is awkward. Although not accepted as the ideal, being single has great advantages. I'm with Me shows there is more than one right way of going through life.
Reader Reviews
Creative Todd
"Becoming Whole is a beautifully written memoir of a woman's journey with schizophrenia. The author tells the story of her journey in a way that is relatable and well written in its honesty. Schizophrenia is a subject that still to this day is shrouded in shame and mystery. The author talked about Joe, the other within her, with love and compassion. This was my revelation: We've long believed that this illness only compels the expression of mental demons and devils, What Ms. Tsai describes is something so much more nuanced and personal. She reminds us through this wonderful memoir that we need to bring a compassion to people with mental differences. This memoir is about the multiple facets of the the human spirit and the struggles to regain ones footing and return to a life. Becoming Whole is about compassion, self empowerment and the complex and messy work of being human."
"A beautiful memoir as it is told with innocence, honesty, and simple realism. When I started reading the book, I couldn’t put it back down - I didn’t want to stop following Mindy’s journey with her. Though schizophrenia is not something I know a lot about, this memoir helped me understand more about a person who is going through this and how she learns to live with it, independently - her thoughts on the everyday, how she reacts to those around her, how they react all in different ways. It painted an emotionally beautiful descriptive storyline that I truly enjoyed following."
"I read the first memoir (Becoming Whole) by Ms. Tsai, and I can only say that the second one is just as good, if not better! This memoir offers so much to the reader, so many happy, lonely, witty, and growing moments. With a focus on her romantic/dating life as a single woman past her thirties and into her forties, Ms. Tsai illustrates her experiences (some better and some worse), from dating to self-exploration to reconnecting with her roots back in Taiwan, in a highly candid, engaging, and simultaneously laid back way. It’s almost as if you are sitting right next to her, listening to her narrate her story as you read, which only makes the content more up-close and personal. You will not regret this read!"
Stay Connected
I write the Encore Years newsletter on Substack. I am passionate about living my encore years/adulthood II/third chapter in the most authentic and fabulous ways possible in good and bad times.
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