MSI Press Blog

  Recently released: the audio book for A Woman's Guide to Self-Nurturing by Joanna Romer. For more posts about Joanna Romer and her books, click HERE . Purchase this book at discount from the  MSI Press webstore . Use Coupon Code FF25 for 25% off. 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 . Planning on self-publishing and don't know where to start? Our  author au pair  services will mentor you through the process. 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. Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Find their contact info

Farewell to Mother  Reading Dr. Alexander’s book about his near-death experience, I was immediately struck by the experience I’d had when my mother was in a coma. It was so vivid I can remember how it felt to this day, though it was now 29 years ago. My mother was a very healthy woman. In her 70s, she swam every day, worked on her writing and maintained a busy social life with the local garden club and other organizations. When my father died, Mom was 75 and her abilities were undiminished. After two years, sShe seemed to be rebounding nicely from Dad’s deathafter two years, yet something may have been missing that I wasn’t aware of. Or perhaps, as a neighbor hinted, she’d met a new man… One night I was awakened by a phone call around 1 a.m. “You’d better come down to Florida,” an unfamiliar voice said. “Your mother’s in a coma.” I was astonished. Just four days earlier I had talked to my mother and she’d told me she was on her way to Miami to see the Pope, who was visiting

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 Continuing with the samples of successful books, in this blog post I am including information of a book in the self-help genre; The Widower's Guide to a New Life by Joanna Romer. The book was recommended by US Review of Books and was selected as a finalist for the Book of the Year Award. How the book came into being: As editor, I proposed the book because I saw a market for it. I proposed the book to Joanna because she had written a similar book for Widows, which had sold well. I knew that Joanna had the writing and research skills to pull off a good book on this topic. Why the book sold: It filled a gap -- most of the

  I would so love to be able to reach through "the veil" and ask Joanna ro provide the back story to A Woman's Guide to Self-Nurturing . Alas, that is not possible. However, as her publisher, I do remember some conversations with her at the time she was planning and writing this book. It was a modest amount of time after we published her popular and award-winning book, Widow .  Widow grew out of her own experience at losing her husband and partner of many years; together, they had produced the 1972 feature film, Please Stand By.  As a result of her experience as a widow, she learned that she needed to take care of herself, first and foremost. She focused on a popular concept at the time: self-nurturing. A Woman's Guide to Self-Nurturing was her way, as a professor of journalism, of sharing what she experienced and learned with others. For more posts on Joanna and her books, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC Newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Bo

  This week's blog post is the next in the series of book back stories and is the story behind Life after Losing a Child (Young & Romer). From the author -  A former editor of mine, as well as a good friend, lost her son. When she called to tell me, I walked around my house for an hour before I wrote her a poem. It is the first page in a book I co-authored with another good friend, my late friend Joanna Romer. We agreed, before writing the book, that a loss such as that was even more painful – and different – than the loss we both shared as widows.  We set forth to interview parents who had lost children and followed each chapter on loss with a healing chapter, depicting ways each parent dealt with the loss in a positive way to help with healing. Several of the interview chapters were friends of ours, which made it all the more real, and painful. I hope this book has helped a parent who lost a child in a good way. Paperback copies of this book can be purchased at the MSI Press

  from Divorced! Survival Techniques for Singles over Forty (Romer) The Break-U p   “I want a divorce.” If you cringe when you read these words, chances are you’ve heard them yourself. Or maybe you’ve uttered them—initiating a divorce is almost as bad as being the victim of one. Well, not quite. Having been in both situations, I can attest that it is far more painful to be the one who is left. Feeling lost, betrayed or abandoned is a typical reaction for the marriage partner who has been told that he or she is no longer necessary for whatever reason.  We cry, we sulk, we wonder what we did wrong. Often there is confusion and unanswered questions—is he really leaving today ? Is there another woman (or man), or isn’t there? That person whom we thought we knew, the one who is now in the process of walking out the door, isn’t telling us everything because—well, the truth hurts. At this difficult juncture, our soon-to-be ex-spouse may be trying to spare our feelings by leaving a smidgeon of

  Excerpt from Recovering from Domestic Violence, Abuse, and Stalking by Joanna Romer -  My Experience: Lauretta Avina              “I’m a huge believer in counseling, and I never used to be.”   When Lauretta Avina heard that her sister had been murdered by her boyfriend, she couldn’t believe it at first. “I felt disbelief,” she said. “I managed to walk next door to my neighbor’s house. I told him, ‘My sister’s dead!’” Lauretta said her sister, Franca Bars, who was 38 at the time of her death in 2006, had been going with her boyfriend David on and off for seven years. “I only met him once,” Lauretta told me. “He had an angry look. That was two months before the murder.” Despite the angry look, Lauretta said she would never have imagined David capable of murder. “My sister’s exact words were ‘He would never hurt me,’” Lauretta said. “A friend said later he was abusing her. I kick myself in the butt—why didn’t I question her? But my husband had been in Iraq and came home injured; I was

Excerpt from Passing On: Preparing for the Afterlife by Joanna Romer Meet Joe Black   At the beginning of the film Meet Joe Black , Anthony Hopkins’ 65-year-old character is awakened from his sleep one night by a voice saying, “Yes…yes…” He continues hearing the strange voice as time goes on, telling him odd things like: “I want you to get swept away”—until he meets the Angel of Death, played by Brad Pitt. The angel stays with Hopkins’ character, preparing him for death (and also, evidently, learning a thing or two about life for himself). Do we have people in our lives—perhaps angels—who come to us as the time grows nearer to help prepare us for what is to come? This is an interesting thought (and if such beings look like Brad Pitt, we may not mind too much). In Meet Joe Black , the angel helps Hopkins’ character make peace with his family and himself before he passes on. I believe that’s what our angel encounters are for: to help us find peace. The world is constantly pulling th

  The following excerpt comes from Recovering from Domestic Violence, Abuse, and Stalking by Joanna Romer. INTRODUCTION   This book is for you if you’ve ever been the victim of domestic violence, abuse or stalking. It’s also for you if your sister, mother or friend has been victimized, as one of the stories in this volume describes. Having escaped a dangerous situation or come to grips with it in some way, you must now start the process of rebuilding your life. Where do you turn? How can you find the “self” you were before the abuse began? Is this even possible? Hopefully, this book will provide some answers to those questions. Included are interviews with women just like you who overcame the reality of domestic violence, stalking or abuse. You will also find advice from therapists to help you sort your life out and put the pieces back together. Domestic abuse these days ranges all the way from being called a slut to hospitalization and even murder (included in this book). In the latt

  5-star review for Passing On "...a beautifully written and fascinating guide...will keep readers' minds and hearts engaged from the start all the way through until the very end. Author Romer has done an excellent job in balancing her own life experiences, personal research and the experiences of others to provide valuable insight and information to all those with questions or concerns about afterlife existence, and her clear writing techniques make even some more abstract ideas come to life...enlightening and lovely."                                             -Tracy Slowiak for Readers' Favorite Read the rest of the review HERE. For more posts about this book, click HERE . For more posts about Joanna and all her books, click HERE .

Happy Fourth of July, 2020! In celebration of this day, we present an excerpt from Joanna Romer's popular book, Helping the Disabled Veteran . Excerpt: Holidays The holidays may be a poignant time for your veteran, perhaps more than you realize. If he or she lost a friend in battle, or simply during the course of military service, your veteran may be reminded of that friendship with sadness during the holidays. Even though you’ve never met this friend, you should respect your veteran’s grief—the friendship may have been very close. Your veteran may feel guilty if unable to do Christmas shopping. If they are confined to a wheelchair, for instance. You can offer to help—either by buying the items he/she picks out or by setting your veteran up on the computer to do some online shopping. It goes without saying that lending a little extra cash during this time would be welcome. On the day of the holiday itself, don’t be surprised if your veteran wants to stay in his/he

  Today's book excerpt comes from Joanna Romer's Widow: How to Survive (and Thrive!) in Your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Years CHAPTER SIX Exercise Dare I bring up the obvious? There are few things as crucial to your state of mind as exercise. While it may have been easy to go the gym, run around the block, or swim at the neighborhood pool during your first year of widowhood, by Year Two it’s become a little harder. Why is that? Quite simply, when you’re in a state of extreme stress or depression, such as early widowhood, exercise acts as a tonic, giving an immediate boost. As your sense of wellbeing returns, the benefits of exercise aren’t so obvious. They are still there, however, and exercise is still vitally important. Even though we begin to feel a new sense of calm and acceptance waking up in the morning, that doesn’t mean we should loll around the house all day in our pajamas. Yes, certainly, once a week it’s great to take a day off, but during the week try to incorporate a little