MSI Press Blog

  Did you overeat during Chistmas (right after overeating on Halloween and Thanksgiving) and plan to do it again on New Year's Eve and Day? This time of year sure is fun (from the good food, happy food, and much food perspective), but it can bring pounds and regrets. So, below are some articles/posts with good (and perhaps surprising) reading on the topic: From HuffPost: The Toxic Phrase We Should Stop Saying around the Holidays The Point: We should go to the gym for health reasons, not with the singular intent to burn off calories  From Webmd: 9 Ways to Manage Binge Eating Disorder over the Holidays The point: Take control to not become the tail being wagged by the dog; while oriented toward binge eating disorder, most of the recommendations work for anyone who tends to eat just a tad too much at this time of year From MSI Press Blog: Recovering from Holiday Overeating: Overcoming the Tyranny of Day One The point: Dr. Christina Fisanick Greer, author of The Optimistic Food Ad...

  Literary Titan awards are given to books and authors that have astounded and amazed LT editors with unique writing styles, vivid worlds, complex characters, and original ideas. According to Literary Titan, t hese books deserve extraordinary praise, and LT is proud to acknowledge the hard work, dedication, and writing skill of talented authors. MSI Press LLC is also proud of its authors whose books have been selected for awards. In 2021, gold awards were won by Liz Bayardelle for both her books, Clean Your Plate!   Read more posts about this book HERE . and for Parenting in a Pandemic . Read more posts about this book HERE . A silver award was received by Renyuan Dong for his book, Rainstorm of Tomorrow , which has won a number of awards. Read more posts about the book HERE . A silver award was received by Arthur Yavelberg for his book, A Theology for the Rest of Us , which also won the Best Indie Book Award 2021 for theology. Read more posts about the book HERE . Congratulat...

  The Christmas season has become a mixed set of emotions for us. My grandson was born Christmas Day 20 years ago -- extra annual joy! The brother of a young man we took for 6 years died Christmas eve this year of covid. This is the first year that our family is observing the holidays without our patriarch, Carl , and Murjan , our beloved cat. So, for sure, grief has wrapped itself around our holiday activities. Here, then, is an excerpt from Julie Potter's book, Harnessing the Power of Grief , that we have found insightful... Beginning to adjust You are not a stranger to this process. There are many times during your life when you have to adjust to and make your way in a new world: the first day of school, going away to college, getting a new job, marrying, moving to a new neighborhood, retiring and living in a new world with no colleagues and no 9-to-5 schedule, becoming ill or disabled at any age and living in a slower world with people surging on ahead of you, emigrating to a n...

  It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would What at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic arises from a discussion last week with an author whose cost of book returns brought an otherwise successful book into the negative net income (i.e.) loss realm. Our conversation revolved around several questions that arose from her discussions with her local bookstore.  Why/how do returned books create loss for an otherwise successful book? A large number of returns can eradicate all profit from the book sale and put the book into the loss column on a P&L statement: print costs will not have been recoupled; additional books have now been returned to the publisher's inventory, books that wer...

The cats in the window, Intrepid (tabby-mau mix) and Murjan (red & white Turkish van), were the best of friends. Murjan "raised" Intrepid after he was found as a small kitten crying in the grass after his mother died. Both were born in Jordan and were brought to the USA when we moved back home to California. Both were diagnosed at the same time with lymphoma though the vet said that it was pure coincidence. Intrepid was the younger by four years, but he had the worst case: his kidneys and liver were already damaged when we found out he was sick. Both began chemotherapy in summer of 2018.  Intrepid In October 2018, Intrepid , named for his daredevil approach to life, died. He was only 11 years old. As the days went by and the chemo did little more than make him loopy--actually, it was difficult to know whether the progressing disease was causing him to walk drunkenly or the chemotherapy side effect or both--he ended up on IV at home at times and IV in the pet hospital at t...

  photo by Nick Lovejoy See #34 . It is our Sula. Now, look at the cover of Sula's Christmas book -- in #34, she was just looking for the right place to sit down, and she found it.

  MSI Press wishes all who celebrate it a very, very merry Christmas! And HERE is a medley of Christmas posts past to enjoy!

  Recently, MSI Press received word that three of its authors' books have won their categories in the 2021 Best Indie Book Award competition. Congratulations to the following: Bertha Cooper: Women, We're Only Old Once . Winner, Nonfiction: Self-Help. Bertha also won the 2021 Phoenix Award for Best New Voice in Health and Fitness. Read posts about Bertha and her books HERE . Julie Potter. Harnessing the Power of Grief. Winner, Nonfiction: Grieving & Bereavement. Read posts about Julie and her book HERE . Arthur Yavelberg. A Spirituality for the Rest of Us . Winner, Nonfiction: Theology. Read posts about Arthur and his book HERE .

  Excerpt -- # 14   Tapping into Learner Motivation with Authentic Texts   Olla Al-Shalchi (University of Texas at Austin)   Using authentic material in the language classroom is essential. It not only helps build learners vocabulary and grammar but gives them an insight into the culture of the region. During the early stages in learning a language, it may be challenging to find appropriate authentic materials, but when learners are at the Advanced level aiming toward Superior-level proficiency, that challenge no longer exists and the sky is the limit with the authentic texts available. Additionally, authentic material motivates learners to continue learning the language because they see that they are closer than ever to reaching professional proficiency. Learners feel accomplished and proud when they are able to work with texts that were intended for native speakers. At the Advanced level, learners after have mastered the most common grammatical struct...

  Franki Bagdade, author of  I Love My Kids, But I Don't Always Like Them , a 5-star Amazon "hot new book," was recently featured in a story in The Detroit Jewish News . You can read the interview  HERE . Go ahead and meet Franki a little more personally, check her availability for consultation, read her blog, and learn her highly experienced thoughts on parenting at her blog,  FAAB Consulting . Read more MSI blog posts about Franki and her book  HERE .

  It is Tuesday AND SOLSTICE. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic came to mind as I threw away an author's submission--threw it away without a word, with no intention of responding, not even of letting the author know I had seen it. Why? Because he did not give me a no-cost way to respond to him. Publishers will not pay out of pocket to tell an author that a work is not suitable, and in that case, money put into preparing and mailing samples is money out the window, definitely not money in anyone's pocket. This particular sent only mailing address information and an envelope which would require me to purchase a stamp. Oh, there was a telephone numb...

  Earlier, I wrote about the two paths that erupted in front us when faced with a late-stage cancer diagnosis: to focus on living or to focus on dying. There are so many problems and so much confusion when told after a fall or a blood test or something else that seems otherwise innocuous that your loved one has advanced stage 4 cancer.  The worst thing about a late-stage diagnosis is time, or the lack thereof. Not just the time left for a cancer victim to live, but the time available to make decisions.  The first decision--to treat or go on hospice --is a significant one, and there is often no time to really think in through. From my own experience with more than one relative diagnosed with more than one kind of cancer at an advanced stage, there is an automatic, nearly instinctive choice made, not a reasoned one. Got insurance? Treat the cancer. Don't have insurance? Don't treat the cancer. Those are clearly not the most logical or even medically best or viable criteria...