MSI Press Blog

For struggling writers (struggling to write, struggling to get published, struggling to sell books), this article, published last year after Joanna Charnas's second book came out, is a gem. (link: https://sanfranciscobookreview.com/how-my-dream-came-true-but-then-i-lost-my-mind-the-psychodynamics-of-being-a-new-author/) sanfranciscobookreview.com/how-my-dream-c…

Dormant for almost a year -- sadly so because this is one of the best books I have ever had the privilege to publish -- Road Map to Power , written by father-son team, Syed and Darius Husain, has gained a second wind this week, happily so because this book has the potential to change anyone's life for the better, way better, to bring real power into any life. This is exactly what both have spend their careers doing. The father, Dr. Husain, has changed many children's lives for the better hthrough his pratcice of medicine on an international level. The son, Mr. Husain, has created a school where struggling learners thrive, saving children in another way. And now their book offers the possibility to save the lives of many people in a very different way. A favorite!  And a Readers' Favorite award winner.

Just posted in the MSI Press webstore on pre-order. A picture book, for the most part: charming, delightful, heartwarming.

Released today! Noah's New Puppy  was written from veteran Richard Rice's own experience  of post-war PTSD. The almost miraculous effects of his service dog, Abby, saved him and saved his  marriage, bringing him out of hiding. He shares this story with families of small children to help them understand the suffering of their parents  and the  healing effects a dog can bring to the whole family. The Parent's Guide encourages conversations between parents and their children about PTSD, post-deployment issues, or parents and children suffering from depression. Richard's brother, Vincent, another  veteran, is  the illustrator. Available online, at select retailers, and from the MSI Press webstore: www.msipress.com/shop. Use coupon code FF25 for a discount for blog followers.

Joanna Charnas, author of Living Well with Chronic Illness and 100 Tips and Tools for Managing Chronic Illbess, talks in this post about the common everyday things that can become really serious issues for those who are ill. Read her article in yoursnews here . Read more articles from Joanna here , along with her an interview with her.

So, after a bit of hiatus because of that pesky roatotr cuff overuse that made my trainer suggest I leave off some of the more strenu ous arm activity, I returned to yoga. Suerprisingly, yoga requires a good deal of arm strength. (This has been a surprise to me: my arm strength is not good enough to get me easily through a one-hour yoga class, but it is good enough to get me rather easily through a two-hour rock climbing class. Boy, the myths are being vividly revealed as I continu with training.) One of the things I have learned is something I suppose every athlete knows, but, then, I am not and have never been an athlete, so I would not be aware of it. That is the best knowledge (and not really a sexret at all): no matter what it is you want to do, however impossible that seems, just start small and keep on going. That happened with leg presses. I struggled at first, just 18 months ago with 10 pounds, and I stayed around 30-40 pounds for months. Now, surprisingly, I can do 24...

Today we are geting ready for a Saturday morning workshop at The Literary Center in San Juan Bautista, CA: Getting Your Book Published: Loweing the Cost and Avoiding Costly Mistakes. Many authors who decide to self-publish invest far more money than necessary for far few services than possible. This workshop aims to help buyers beware and authors to get their books what their books deserve. TLC workshop slides are available for $5 at the MSI webstore -- and they come with the opportunity to ask virtual questions.

Today we are geting ready for a Saturday afternoon workshop at The Literary Center in San Juan Bautista, CA: Organizing Your Life into Memoir. Many great memoirs never get written because potential authors do not know where to start or where to stop. How to turn your life into story, or how to tell the story of your life, requires understanding "what is story" and "how is it organized." These are the topics that get explored during this workshop. Workshop slides are available for $5 at the MSI webstore -- and they come with the opportunity to ask virtual questions.

Congratulations to Pat Young, co-author with Joanna Romer of Life after Losing a Child , for the front-page article on their book in the Volusia News (Daytona Beach, Florida). Pat was interviewed earlier by MSI Blog. Check out her interview to learn more about her. Pat and Joanna's book is available in the MSI Press webstore; use FF25 for 25% dsicount. Click here to get to the book fast.  The book also available at all online retailers and some brick-and-mortar stores. A reasonable number of free review copies can be made available in exchange for writing and posting reviews. Contact editor@msipress.com to express your interest. Truly a helpful book for anyone who has experienced the tragedy of losing a child.

MSI Press Author Joanna Romer has made a unique contribution to the bereavement literature. Interviewing widows and widowers, she has written three books: The Widower's Guide to a New Life . A Book of the Year finalist and receiver of fine reviews. Click on the title to learn more and to access reviews at Library Journey, Foreword Reviews, MidWest Book Review, US Review of Books, Library Thing... Widow: A Surival Guide for the First Year . Click on the lin https://msipressblog.blogspot.com/search?q=bereavement k to read reviews such as those at Midwest Book Review, Goodreads, and US Review of Books. Wudiw: How to Survive -- and Thrive! -- in Your 2d, 3rd, and 4th Years . Click on the link to read more about this book. See more of Joanna's books HERE . Read more about Joanna and her work HERE . See more works on bereavement and grief HERE .

Pacific Edge Gym Teaching Room In accordance with my planned approach to developing ninja capabilities, two weeks ago I enrolled in a rock climbing class. One of the things I had learned from watching the stories of competitors on American Ninja Warriors included seeing how many of them were either rock climbers or spent time at rock-climbing gyms. Good climbing depends on feet, not arms. In fact, with feet properly placed, one can hang by one arm for a very long time and feel little strain. Shoes should fit snugly and have bottoms that create friction in order to use feet more effectively. The "climber's triange" -- toes and ball of foot -- indicates where a climber should place his ore her weight when climbing. (After scaling the wall in the gym three times, my toes were really sore! I gave them a nice bubbling session in my foot massager afterward.) I thought I would have to build arm and shoulder strength. I never thought I would have to build toe ...

Joanna Charnas, author of Living Well with Chronic Illness and 100 Tips and Tools for Managing Chronic Illness,   at first thought that she culd not travel from San Diego to New Delhi, given her state of chronic illness  So, she turned down multiple invitations from a friend in India to visit. Then, her nephew married a young woman from Delhi, and the compelling desire to see their wedding took over in spite of concerns about the level of medical care available in India, And she found -- joy in the experience. Read about her experience in her post in yoursnews.india: You Will Dance: Finding Joy in an Indian Wedding . Read more posts by and about Joanna Charnas here :

Here are the current best-selling MSI Press books: Best seller this week Best seller last week Best seller last month Best seller last quarter Best seller 2019 to date

So, just when I think my rotator cuff overuse has worn off and I can go back to using it for strenuous activities, I immediately strain it again. Finally, I figured out how! Months ago, I had installed a pull up bar across the bedroom door so that I could try to pull myself up (nope, I cannot do that yet -- you would think after 18 months, it would be easy, but it is still out of reach). Clearly, I need to build stronger should muscles and lose some more weight so I have less to pull. Nonetheless, I try. Finally, after the last complaint from rotator cuff, I put two and two together: it was the frequent trying to lift more than I can that has been straining the rottor cuff. That makes sense since I need 60 pounds of assist on the machine at the gym. That means, I have been asking my rotator cuff to take on those 60 pounds that my shoulder msucles cannot list. Light dawns! So, I am increasing my pushups, my work on the machine with safe assists, the carious shoulder machin...

We like to think that MSI Press is a family, but sometimes, we have families among our authors. One such family is the Imady family from Damascus, Syria. Elaine Imady, the mother, met her sweetheart in New York and moved with him to his home country of Syria, where she raised three bicultural children. Her love story is told in Road to Damascus . Read more about Elaine and her book HERE .     Muna Imady, the daughter, wrote a beloved and popular book,  Syrian Folktales . Not long after, she died following heart surgery, leaving a mostly finished, unpublished book, Damascus amid the War, due out in August 2020. Elaine and daughter #32, Sausan, put the finishing touches on the book, including a touching memorial to Muna that had been published in the  New York Times . Read more about Muna, her life, and her books  HERE . Dr. Omar Imady, the son, is a professor of political science who has written a number of fiction and non-fiction book...

Congratulations to Julie Gentile, who has been selected as a finalist in the Book Excellence Awards competition. To read more information about Julie, her book, and her life, click here . To order Julie's book, visit our webstore: Gentile . The code FF25 will get you a 25% discount as a fan or friend of MSI Press. Other Book Excellence Award winners among MSI Press authors include: Nanette Hucknall. How to Live from Your Heart.  Geri Henderson % Seanne Emerton. Healing from Incest Irit Schaffer. Good Blood Joanna Charnas. !00 Tips ad Tools for Managing Chronic Illnes s All Book Excellence Award books are available from the MSI Press webstore at 25% discount, using the code FF25.

We were delighted to discover recently that MSI Press, quite unbeknownst to us, has been included in a list of the top 19 book publishers in California. We are listed as #5 -- truly a cool experience when you stumble across the listing on the Internet. After all, who does not like positive surprises? Anyway, see for yourself. Click here for the whole list. And if you are looking for a publisher and don't quite know how to go about it, we do have some resources, like: B L Ham's book, Publishing for Smarties: How to Find a Publisher, with insider information from an acquisitions editor and highly rated by MidWest Book Review Critique: Exceptionally practical, 'real world' insightful, packed from cover to cover with specific tips, tricks and techniques, "Publishing for Smarties: Finding a Publisher" should be considered a 'must read' for anyone seeking to have their work, fiction or non-fiction, successfully published on terms as advanta...

1961 The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.  It is the source of all true art and science.  Albert Einstein  As soon as I looked into his blue eyes, every cell in my body bubbled with joy. Yes, this must be love. I am in love for the first time. His are the bluest eyes I have ever seen. They are like the deep blue of the ocean on a clear and sunny day. My mom is sitting to my left, my sister, Edna, to my right, and I am falling in love. Ari Ben Canaan is his name. He is in charge of taking a boatload of people to Palestine. The boat, Exodus, is filled with Jewish Europeans planning to make their home in the soon to be independent State of Israel. Unfortunately, the British authorities have detained the boat in Cyprus. They are not allowing Exodus to complete its voyage to Palestine, and Ari has to take charge. His confidence is portrayed in his thin and muscular 5’9” frame. “We can go back, or we can go on a hunger strike,” he says...

Tonight, husband Carl brought home three large bags of groceries and needed help bringing them up the stairs to our second-floor living space. I reached for all three. "Be careful," he said, pointing to one bag. "It is very heavy." I lifted it. "No, it's not," I told him. "Yes, it is," he insisted. Well, actually, no, it was not. It would have been a year ago, but not now. I easily carried all three bags together, two in one hand, and the supposedly heavy bag in the ohter, up our 17 stairs, held all in one hand to open the door, and then lifted them all easily onto the counter which is almost chest-high for me. If I needed an assessment, there I had it. Of course, though, I want something a little more formal albeit informal, meaning my own assessment. Beginning from this point, though, I think I will pull my trainer into helping me develop a formal assessment. She says that I have made significant progress, both vi...