MSI Press Blog

Ken Mogren is sharing excerpts from Spunky Grandmas….And Other Amusing Characters on the maiden voyage of the American Symphony river boat while docked in Winona, MN. Read more posts about Ken and his book HERE .                                         Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter                           Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .

  Franki Bagdade's hit book, I Love My Kids, But I Don't Always Like Them , was listed today as #84 in the category of disabilities & hyperactivity.  Read more posts about Franki and her book  HERE .                                         Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter                           Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .

  The Tuscon Daily Star recently published an article by Arthur Yavelberg, author of A Theology for the Rest of Us , on the question for meaning. You can read the article HERE . For more articles by and about Arthur and his book, click HERE .                                    Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter                           Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .

From reviewer Helen Dumont at Midwest Book Review:  Critique: With a very special appeal to readers who enjoy limericks and humorous verse. "Spunky Grandmas and Other Amusing Characters" is a lighthearted joy to read from first page to last. Written and illustrated with wit and comedic insight into human foibles, fables, and fun, "Spunky Grandmas and Other Amusing Characters" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal reading lists and community library Contemporary Poetry & Humor collections. To read the rest of the review, click HERE . To read more posts about Ken and his book, including excerpts, click HRE .                                    Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter                           Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .

  This fall and winter Julia Aziz ( Lessons of Labor ) will be offering her famous Release & Empower Women's Circles. More information and registration can be found HERE . For more posts about Julie, her book, and her activities, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .

  excerpt from Life after L RIVER CHILD   Our children are like rivers Flowing with the seasons of our lives. Some meander gently Through pockets of humanity. Some flow quietly into oceans, While others encounter Deep gorges and tumbling waterfalls. It is this “challenged river” Which carves the deepest banks, Leaving the greatest mark upon the earth. While some of our river children Flow on through many sunsets, Others make a briefer splash. But when the river child Who flowed through many challenges Disappears, It leaves behind those beautiful carvings, Etched deeply into the banks Of our memories. -Pat Young osing a Child For more posts about the late Joanna Romer and her works, click HERE . For more posts about Pat Young and her works, click HERE . 25% discount on paperback with code FF25 at www.msipress.com/shop Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .

  This week, Jews around the world gathered to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, and are now turning to preparations for the rest of the fall holidays: Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, and Shemini Atzeret.  To say that the fall is busy for Jews would be an understatement, particularly for Jews who are adjusting to a new school year (or helping kids do the same).  Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. Instead of celebrating with fireworks and champagne toasts, Jews bring in the New Year with round loaves of challah, apples dipped in honey, and the sharp cry of the shofar (a ram’s horn that is blown in the month leading up to the holiday to “wake us up” to the new year and day of judgment ahead).  Although the mood of the “high holidays” Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are supposed to be serious and reflective, since we are focused on evaluating a year’s worth of behavior and our destiny for the year ahead, Rosh Hashanah tends to be a more light-hearted event for family and delicious food.  Yom Ki

Excerpt from  Lessons of Labor INTRODUCTION   Before giving birth for the first time, I was warned that labor would be the most painful physical experience I would ever endure, but no one ever told me I would be entering into battle with my own mind. No one explained that the pain of labor was just as much about facing my inner demons and giving up the pretense of control as it was about physical discomfort. I didn’t know that I would keep learning from the experience for the rest of my life.   This book is not a manual for having a “successful” natural birth or for becoming the ultimate Zen mother. Though you may have been searching for such a guide, I do not think you need one. I offer you the stories of my birth and early motherhood experiences to share the learning I received through this incredible rite of passage. Instead of teaching you how to labor or how to live your life, my reflections are intended to ignite your curiosity about your own labor as an opportunity for self-disc

    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 at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic is about a creative when to gain some oomph for your book from blogging if you do not have a blog. Blogging does indeed have certain advantages for book promotion, but not all authors are inclined toward blogging or have the time to do so. Still, the blogosphere can be kind to them. First, let's look at what blogging offers: It gets your head above the waves of millions of books out there and thousands more published daily. For non-fiction books on popular topics and especially for memoirs, this is pretty important. If you are consistent -- you must be consistent -- and your blog catches on, you co

As with Carl, many people have "signs" of cancer that can be interpreted either as something else quite mild or dismissed entirely as just a bad day or maybe I ate something bad yesterday. Otherwise quite healthy people simply ignore them as an annoyance. (Before cancer, Carl was sick just one day in his life -- 50 years earlier he threw up, once, on the lawn, from unsuspectingly drinking stagnant water the day while carrying out his Forest Service employee duties, Seriously. Never again did he ever throw up even after three rounds of chemotherapy, but he died, healthy, from cancer!)  This is the insidious nature of cancer. Often, you just do not know you have it because the signs are so innocuous until it has taken over your body and is in the winner's circle -- and you have an incredibly difficult battle to get your body back -- and many people lose that battle every single day. This is especially true of "toilet information." Change in bowel movement is prett

  San Juan Books is the hybrid division of MSI Press LLC. It allows first-time writers to become published in a traditional way through the reduction of risk by sharing publication costs. All other publishing features are traditional in nature, and most SJB authors go on to be offered traditional contracts for their subsequent books. SJB publications are available as paperback, hard cover, and e-book versions. SJB authors' books very much hold their own against their contemporaries in the traditional publishing division. Indeed, a number of them have outsold their traditional compatriots. Today, San Juan Books presents author Marti Wells-Smith. Marti Wells-Smith is a Christian, wife, friend, and grieving mother, who finds great hope in continuing her life journey amid unexpected joy and sadness. She shares her deepest thoughts and experiences through free verse poetry and non-fictional prose to comfort others who struggle with the loss of a child or loved one, or with life itself.

  Excerpt ¿EL NIÑO YA COMIÓ? La historia nace en un sector muy humilde de una hermosa ciudad colombiana. Solicitan mis servicios profesionales como Psicólogo, para que ayude en el proceso de vida-muerte-vida, o como se diría en un lenguaje más sencillo, al buen morir de una paciente que para el caso   y que por el máximo respeto que amerita su situación llamaremos paciente A.   Se trata de una mujer quien llevaba viviendo en su cuerpo gastado por los años   104 veranos pero que quizás por la forma como los había vivido se le habían convertido en   interminables 104   congelantes inviernos. Abrigaba la esperanza de un mejor mañana no sólo para sí misma sino para sus hijos. Anhelaba   un mejor despertar a la vida, un mejor dormir en paz, un mejor - encuentro con Dios - y un mejor – entregarse a la eternidad-.   Llevaba postrada   mucho tiempo en un mueble   viejo y oxidado por los años de la existencia, algo parecido - que se acercaba por plantearlo de alguna manera - a una   cama -