MSI Press Blog

 In honor of Caturday, we are sharing a picture of Joanna Charnas's foster failure. It probably is difficult to give up a foster cat -- one gets attached. To get a better understanding about Joanna, read her book, A Movie Lover's Search for Romance .  A diverting and informative story of searching for love in mid-life by a divorced social worker, who intertwines entertaining stories of successful love interests with well-known movies containing similar plots and themes. Written as diary entries covering a 15-year period, the author shares openly, in detail, and with insights her experiences with dating, friendships, affairs, and relationships. Written candidly with a light hand and turns of phrase that reflect her personality and make the book hard to put down. Joanna has also written award-winning non-fiction about coping with chronic illness. Check out: Managing chronic illness demands constant mindfulness and management. It’s a process that constantly evolves over a lifetime

  Read our book review clips. Excerpts from reviews all (well, as many as we can find) in one place; right here, with links., so you can read the whole review. From Library Journal an encouraging read From US Review of Books ... accessible narrative is written from the heart, filled with sensible guidance from someone who understands how to strengthen and manage the mental aspects over the body’s limitations. From Amazon Easy to read, in short segments a great book Wise advice for any reader. Fun and inspiring read. From Splash Magazine tips anyone can use From NYC Tech Mommy You have no idea how much I needed to read Joanna’s words at this very moment. From Goodreads Will use this as a helping tool for when we have bad days. Thank you so much Joanna 🙂 For more posts about Joanna and her books, click HERE .                     

  We just received a copy of an Instagram review of Joanna Charnas's book, A Movie Lover's Search for Romance: It’s been so nice to get my mind off things these past few days and just indulge in a lighthearted story — filled with humor, plot twists, and colorful characters ! In the end the need for love is universal and I enjoyed reading about Joanna’s own quest for love. For more information about this book, where to purchase it, and where to read more reviews, click HERE . For more posts about Joanna and her books, click HERE .   

  On Friday, August 28, Deborah Kalb interviewed Joanna Charnas about her new book, A Movie Lover's Search for Romance. Read the interview HERE . For more posts about Joanna Charnas and her books, click HERE .              

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES 1. DO WHAT WORKS: VILE COUGH DROPS As I recovered from a splenectomy, I caught the horrible cold that was going around my work place. It started with a hacking cough in my chest. The day the cough started, I went to the Nex (Navy exchange, similar to a 7-Eleven) in the basement of my building and bought cough drops. They were vile but wonderfully effective. I hated them but needed them to be even marginally functional and to get to sleep. I ran into my neighbor a couple of days after the coughing started and mentioned the horrible cough drops. He said he’d had the same illness and recommended a better- tasting brand. He fished one out of his pocket and gave it to me. His brand tasted much better, but I didn’t have the time or energy to go to the drug store right then, so I continued to ingest the horrid ones for a while longer. I often advise my mental health patients do what works to improve their health even if they don’t like the options, su

Lovely review from NYTechMommy/Instagram Excerpt: T his little book is an easy read. It’s filled with great little anecdotes that help put things in prospective. And I love that it focuses on both physical and mental well being! Read the full review HERE . For more posts by and about Joanna Charnas and her books, click HERE .

Released today: A Movie Lover's Search for Romance A diverting and informative story of searching for love in mid-life by a divorced social worker, who intertwines entertaining stories of successful love interests with well-known movies containing similar plots and themes. Written as diary entries covering a 15-year period, the author shares openly, in detail, and with insights her experiences with dating, friendships, affairs, and relationships. Written candidly with a light hand and turns of phrase that reflect her personality and make the book hard to put down. From Library Journal: VERDICT An encouraging read for the 40-plus single woman who is thrown into the dating world and is trying to mesh real life with that depicted in the movies. Reviewed by  Deborah Bigelow, Director Emerita, Leonia P.L., NJ  , Jun 19, 2020 Read more from Library Journal HERE -- which also reviewed other books by Charnas. Joanna has three other books to her name:        

11. A Slice of Canine Heaven  When Emme died, I struggled to find the right words of condolence for her owner, my colleague Matt. I finally told him that rarely are my expectations of great things completely fulfilled, but my day with Emme exceeded my hopes and was a joy. Emme was a 170-pound Great Dane who spent one hot summer day, per Matt, “babysitting” me when I was homebound with a sinus infection. I’d been sick in June with a similar illness, and when I returned to work, Matt offered to bring Emme to my home the next time I felt ill. He knew I loved Great Danes but couldn’t own one because of my chronic illness. So, during my second week-long bout that summer with sinus issues, I gave Matt a call. At six-thirty the next day, he arrived with Emme and the largest dog bed I’d ever seen.  After an hour of anxiously checking my front door, Emme settled in. She was the most obedient animal I’d ever encountered. She jumped on the couch to cuddle on command. She placed her head

Part of a series on the coronavirus pandemic written by MSI Press authors to share expertise, help, and hope,  Tips, Techniques, and Anecdotes to Help during a Pandemic  focuses on physical and mental well being during any time of crisis. Topics include meditation and mindfulness; positivity; managing setbacks; laughing at oneself; overcoming chal lenges; friends, family, and others; managing daily tasks; adaptive solutions; tricks and tools; and miscellaneous musings. Joanna is also author of: Living Well with Chronic Illness 100 Tips and Tools for Managing Chronic Illness and A Movie Lover's Search for Romance . More posts about and by Joanna Charnas may be found HERE .

13. Body Beautiful   After three months of sitting on the couch and bingewatching Grey’s Anatomy, funked out, combined with holiday overeating and two months of illness, I gained ten pounds. I had just enough work clothes to make it through the week. In the mirror, I saw a small watermelon nestled just below my rib cage. I kept thinking, this isn’t good, but I’m not allowed to catastrophize. I will lose the weight eventually. This fluctuation in weight is common for many women in their 50s and 60s. I have several friends who gain and lose fifteen pounds routinely. I thought, under no circumstances am I allowed to hate my body. So I didn’t. I tried to combine my limited work wardrobe in creative ways. My colleagues complimented me. I worried that I would be less attractive, but both a previous and a current paramour let me know this wasn’t an issue. I struggled, failing week in and week out to lose the ten pounds. I repeated: you are only allowed to love your body. Eventually I

Sadness  Sometimes, living with chronic illness can make us feel deeply sad. It’s okay to occasionally fall apart. Cry if you need to. After a painful and unexpected episode of particularly bad health, I often found myself overcome by sadness and despair. I would be doing the dishes, making the bed, or watching a television commercial, and I’d start to weep. On top of everything else, I then felt stupid. But so what? No one besides you cares if you sob while you wash the dinner dishes! However, if sadness overwhelms you and you can rarely shake it off, you may be clinically depressed. Then you might consider consulting a therapist for counseling or antidepressant medications. Therapy and/or medication won’t ensure your happiness, but they may alleviate the oppressive quality of your sadness. While it’s natural to feel sad, try not to dwell on your despair longer than necessary. Only you know how long you need to focus on your sad feelings. But if you find yourself weeping

Just up! Managing Editor, Dr. Betty Lou Leaver, and Graphic Designer/Tech Director, Carl Leaver, traveled to San Diego, California in February. While there, they met with author, Joanna Charnas, author of three books, and conducted an interview on each book. Listen to the podcast  about 100 Tips & Tools for Managing Chronic Illness on our podcast page on our website by clicking  HERE . Take a look at Joanna's three books: 100 Tips & Tools for Managing Chronic Illness Living Well with Chronic Illness A Movie Lover's Search for Romance (to be released in July)

Joanna J. Charnas is a social worker with over thirty years of experience as a licensed mental health provider. She received her master’s degree from Boston University School of Social Work in 1988 and has earned the highest level of social work licensure in California (Licensed Clinical Social Worker, 2001.) She has worked in numerous service sectors, all of which placed fragile people in her care and enhanced her clinical acumen and skills. Since 1995, she has worked specifically with people with mental and physical illnesses. She published on HuffPost Blog for two and a half years, and her writing has appeared in PopSugar, The San Francisco Review of Books, and SteadyHealth. More about her writing can be found at  www.joannacharnas.com Her first book ,   Living Well with Chronic Illness ,  was released August 25, 2015. Her second book,  1 00 Tips and Tools for Managing Chronic Illness , was released in April 2018. Her third book, A Movie Lover's Search for Romance

A diverting and information story of searching for love in mid-life by a divorced social worker, who intertwines entertaining stories of success love interests with well-known movies with similar plots and themes. Written as diary entries, covering a 15-year period, the author shares openly, in detail, and with insights her experiences with dating, friendhips, affairs, and relationships. Written candidly with a light hand and turns of phrases that reflect her personality and make the book unable to put down. Joanna Charnas's third book is now available on pre-order: Amazon MSI Press webstore (use code FF25 for a 25% discount) Joanna has written two other books:

My brother, Charles, visited Paris a few weeks earlier than I did in the spring of 1988. Before my trip, he instructed me three or four times to buy a French phrase book. I didn’t understand his insistence on this matter. He spoke fluent French, so his advice wasn’t based on his own needs. After being told for the umpteenth time to buy the book, I went to a bookstore and purchased one. This was two decades before smart phones were available, which can now translate for travelers. My brother must have been psychic, because my host in Paris, a friend from high school, had a family emergency and had to return home to the U.S. after the first day of my six-day visit. My trip to Paris would have been much more challenging without the little phrase book. Eight years later, I worked for a large AIDS Service Agency full of young people with extra cash. My colleagues were always darting off to Europe on vacation. I lent my little phrase book out several times, and it was always recei

Still on the move, MSI Press staff has reached San Diego -- attending a conference this weekend. San Diego is home to MSI Press author, Joanna Charnas. So, we met for lunch and fun at Tandoori House, and we talked about Joanna's forthcoming book, A Movie Lover's Search for Romance . And also about her wnning previous books:  Living Well with Chornic Illness   and  1 00 Tips and Tools for Managing Chronic Illness . And we made THREE podcasts! Check Joanna's book pages in a couple of weeks. We will place them there -- and on this blog (so do keep following our blog)! And if you want more than inside information, sign up for our newslettert!

Available as of today, on pre-order, at sale price!  Release date: June 15, 2020 Other books by Joanna: Living Well with Chronic Illness 100 Tips and Tools for Managing Chronic Illness Read posts by and about Joanna and her books on this blog: click HERE .