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Precerpt from Grandma's Ninja Training Diary: From Raw Strength to Strategic Strength

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  Today, I turned 76.  This, then, is the birthday edition of my diary, a birthday wherein I have now reached the line that puts me closer to 80 than to 70. There comes a moment — somewhere between 70 and 80 — when your body taps you on the shoulder and says, “We need to renegotiate the terms of this partnership.” Not because it’s failing. Not because you’re fragile. But because you’ve spent decades doing things most people never attempt: lifting seven children, two gifted and two with multiple birth defects lifting adults lifting wheelchairs lifting lives lifting entire households lifting through crises lifting because no one else could, was willing, or was around For years, raw strength carried me. I could muscle through anything — caregiving, stairs, emergencies, logistics, life. My body was the one thing I could always count on. But lately, I’ve noticed something new. Not weakness — I’m still strong. Not fear — I’m still steady. But a shift. A recalibration. ...
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About MSI Press Books and You

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  MSI Press books have won national and international awards every year since 2012, when we first began submitting books to competitions. MSI Press authors’ books have won gold, silver, and bronze medals, honorable mention, best new voice, and legacy awards in more than 30 regional, national, and international book competitions. Check our awards section. A number of our books have been among the top 100 Amazon hot new releases, including several that have achieved #1 status. Every month, a number of our books can be found in the top 100 bestsellers in their various categories. Follow our blog and watch for “publisher’s pride” or sign up for our newsletter, where we announce these great books. Want to read a great book? Check out our  catalogue . Have a great book that needs to have some TLC? Nearly everyone has a story. Not every publisher will hold your hand until it materializes as an award-winning book and pay you generous royalties when it does. We will. Tell us about your...
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Top 10 Blog Posts in 2025. #9 - Daily Excerpt: A Women's Guide to Self-Nurturing - What is self-nurturing?

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    Today's excerpt comes from  A Woman's Guide to Self-Nurturing  by Joanna Romer. What is Self-Nurturing? On a tray in the middle of your bed sits a pretty teapot, milk and sugar, a flowered teacup and, the  piece de resistance , a frothy cream puff on a matching flowered plate. No, you’re not sick, and there is no one invited to this little tea party but you. You have gone out of your way to create a tempting display of yummy food and fine china solely for the purpose of pleasing yourself. “A waste of time,” I can hear you saying—but is it? Gazing at the tea tray and the cream puff, some inner part of your being is unaccountably soothed. It is the side of you that is, undeniably, female. Yes, men and women are equal, but sometimes their needs differ. Even Sheryl Sandberg, author of  Lean In,  the most feminist book in decades, declares, “…there are differences between men and women both in their behavior and the way their behavior is perceived” (San...
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Precerpt from In with the East Wind: A Mary Poppins Kind of Life - Belarus: Minsk

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  Minsk Minsk in the early 1990s felt like a place suspended between two eras. The Soviet Union had technically dissolved, but the city still looked and functioned like the USSR. Wide, monumental avenues built after the city’s near-total destruction in WWII had little traffic. It would take some time before cars became a “thing.”   Concrete apartment blocks with identical stairwells and the faint smell of boiled cabbage dominated the city landscape. Trolleybuses and trams rattled but ran on time. Kiosks continued to sell cigarettes, newspapers, and necessities, but collapsing supply chains often meant that shelves were empty. People lined up in long queues outside shops, even when no one was sure what was being sold. A sense of order without resources, structure without certainty pervaded. People were polite but cautious; the habits of Soviet public life didn’t vanish overnight. Television was full of debates, new political parties, and the shock of Western advertising. ...
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