MSI Press Blog

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

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:

  It is Tuesday. 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 a never-ending one: how to market books, especially if you are a small press or a self-publishing author. The simple answer to that question is any way and every way you can, in small numbers and in larger quantities, over and over (keeping in mind the magic number of 22 ). Here are some ideas that have worked for MSI Press authors. Larry MacDonald, author of RV Oopsies , sells books nearly every day. He has a niche (travel humor), and nearly every day, his book turns up in the top 100 list of books of travel humor. What is he doing right? He built a following with his "dumb things RVers do" annual competition

In honor of Caturday, we are sharing photos of the cats who own MSI Press authors, starting with Sula, pictured above, who is herself an MSI Press author. Click HERE  to see Sula's works. Simon is owned by Joanna Charnas, author of chronic illness support books and A Movie Lover's Search for  Romance , who says he is her "foster failure." Click HERE to see Joanna's works. Jeremy Feig was owned by Shelly. He wrote a book about her, How My Cat Made Me a Better Man , that won a book of the year award. Click HERE   to read about Shelly, including excerpts from the book. Carl and Betty Lou Leaver are owned by Intrepid about whom they wrote a book, stuffed with illustrations, and five other cats. Click HERE to see Intrepid . In the picture, Happy (black & white) and Murjan (red & white) share a cat bed. Cindy McKinley Alder is owned by Watson, shown here wrapped in a ribbon. So cute! Click HERE to see Cindy's contributions to the field of teaching, parenting

When I was twenty-eight years old, I tried to learn how to knit. I’d just finished graduate school and hadn’t found a job yet, so I had plenty of time to visit the yarn store where I’d purchased wool for a sweater. At the store I received instructions from the owner whenever my knitting hit a snag. The yarn shop was like an informal club, and other knitters would sit at the large table in the middle and knit and chat with each other.  I got to know the owner over the course of the summer. She operated the store full time while also running her house and raising three teenagers. She told me that when she needed a break from her demanding life, she checked herself into the Ritz Carlton for a weekend. She explained that several weekends a year at the Ritz in Boston was less expensive than year-round therapy, which she implied was the alternative. She said she chose the Ritz because it was the only hotel in Boston (in 1988) that had twenty-four-hour room service. During h

Dreamland Encouragement Last night’s dream has stayed with me since I woke up. It has hovered in my consciousness throughout the day, first at synagogue, where I intended to focus on loftier matters, then at lunch with friends when it kept popping into my head at odd moments, then at the video and drugstores where it seemed to affect my ability to make correct change, and finally sitting on my couch during the evening, trying unsuccessfully to distract myself with a movie. The dream lingers, and I’m wondering what it’s supposed to mean. The dream started at a wedding—my wedding. Guests lined up outside a modest wedding chapel waiting to enter. Most of them were dressed in t-shirts and casual weekend clothes, as if they were about to rake leaves instead of witness the beginning of a marriage. If anyone ever showed up at a wedding of mine dressed like that, I’d probably nurse my indignation and resentment well past a ten-year anniversary. So, I knew immediately that the dream wa

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

  Excerpt from Tips, Tools, and Anecdotes to Help during a Pandemic by Joanna Charnas.  6. The Same Pep Talk   I’ve had the same chronic illness for forty years, and I continue to have occasional relapses that necessitate staying home for one to two weeks to recover. I’m frightened every time this happens, and with each episode, I give myself the same pep talk. I remind myself that, with one notable exception (when I had a relapse and a sinus infection simultaneously), I always recover within two weeks. I tell myself my illness isn’t progressive, and so this relapse will be like all of the others, and I’ll be able to resume my regular activities in at most two weeks. I remember that eventually I always return to a functional state, and all I need to do is take care of myself and I’ll be fine. These re lapses never get easier and they still frighten me, but giving myself a pep talk and remembering how well I’ve managed over the decades helps me get through them. Paperback co

  Excerpt from   Living Well with Chronic Illness Tae Kwon Do I use the five tenets of Tae Kwon Do, a Korean martial art, to structure my attitude. The tenets guide the practice of this sport, but they also offer an elegant template for shaping an effective attitude. The tenets are as follows:   ·        courtesy; ·        integrity; ·        perseverance; ·        self-control; and ·        indomitable spirit.   When you feel you’re in a rut, these five tenets may help you move toward a better attitude. I’ve kept them framed in my office for over twenty years as a constant reminder of how I want to think, feel, and behave. For more posts about the late Joanna Charnas 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 .

  Joanna Charnas's award-winning book, A Movie Lover's Search for Romance , has been released in hard cover, joining her paperback and e-book versions. Check out more information about this book . Get a discount on the book at the MSI Press webstore by using the code FF25.

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

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

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

  The following books were winners in the recent Pinnacle Book Achievement Award competition of the National Association of Book Entrepreneurs (NABE). Stay tuned for a presentation of each book. Congratulations to: ·        Joanna Charnas, A Movie Lover’s Search for Romance (Memoir) ·        Bertha Cooper, Women, We’re Only Old Once (Health) ·        Fred Craigie, Weekly Soul (Inspirational Books) ·        Gregory Jones, Surviving Freshman Year (Religion) ·        Colette McNeil, Choice and Structure for Children with Autism (Parenting)   For posts on previous Pinnacle Achievement Award winners among MSI Press authors, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter  here  or on our  home page . Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or

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 .

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.

  As a Chanukah gift to our readers, we are offering a 40% discount on A Movie Lover's Search for Romance . Use coupon code ad40 at our  webstore  to get the discount. For more information about  A Movie Lover's Search for Romance , including posts by and about the author and all her books, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com. 

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 .

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…