MSI Press Blog

Excerpt from  GodSway   (Keathley): Daddy’s Girl (part 1)             Did you ever think about jumping off a building? No, I don’t mean in a suicidal way. If that’s what you’re thinking, you should call a crisis helpline immediately, seek professional guidance, and then finish reading this book. What I mean is, have you ever thought about the circumstances in which you would consider doing something so irrational, illogical, and yes, dangerous, that you would never do it under normal conditions? Like stuntmen in a movie, you’d want to know there was something there to catch you, say a net. And you’d have to trust the people on the ground enough to be assured they would hold on to the net tightly, not to let you hit the ground, right? It would help to know they’d had lots of practice and had successfully held the net for other jumpers. And you’d probably want to talk first-hand to those guys, or at least read up on what the...

  ROMAN PILGRIMAGE   I had only one wish on my bucket list—to visit Rome. I lived there as a student nearly fifty years ago, and had never been back. Now was the time. I was excited by the prospect of visiting my old haunts. I wondered what I would discover, not so much about the eternal city, but about myself. How have I changed in those fifty years? The real journey, I realized, was inward. For the most part, I would be alone touring the city for two weeks. I expected the time to be a personal retreat, a spiritual pilgrimage. What it turned out to be was beyond my expectations.   I stayed at an airbnb near the Coliseum, in the center of the old city. Coincidentally, it was around the corner from the Hotel Forum where my mother stayed when visiting. The hotel became my landmark. Everything of interest to me was within walking distance. I had no agenda for each day and did not follow a guidebook. A fellow classmate had given me some suggestions of typical tourist sites, w...

Name: Patricia Young Book: Life after Losing a Child   Date of Interview: August 5, 2018 Who are you? What do you want readers to know about you? Pat Young has written for the Daytona Beach News Journal, South Bend Tribune, Flint (Michigan) Journal, Clarkston (Michigan) News, New Mexico Magazine, Silver City (New Mexico) Life Magazine, and other publications. She earned numerous awards for her writing, including National Newspaper Association and Michigan Press Association awards. She earned two media awards while at the South Bend Tribune. One of her stories (Giant Wind Harp in Tune with Nature) in New Mexico Magazine was chosen for inclusion in SIRS Discoverer data bases. Why are you qualified to write this book? Pat, and her late co-author Joanna Romer, are both widows. Though neither has lost a child, both women understood the painful bereavement process one goes through after the loss of a loved one.   What is th...

  It seems appropriate that today's daily excerpt, on Caturday, would from a cat book -- Saints I Know by Sula, Parish Cat at Old Mission -- and be about St. Gertrude, the patron saint of cats. St. Gertrude of Nivelles 626-659 St. Gertrude of Nivelles is the patron saint of cats, which is why sometimes I am tempted to say that she is my favorite saint. But I really don't have a favorite, they are all very special. Well, I talk to St. Francis each morning to find out what jobs I have that day so I suppose that does make him sort of extra special—especially since he is the patron saint of animals. If you think of my jobs as a mission, you might say I am a Mission cat with a different mission every day, thanks to St. Francis. Like St. Basil, St. Gertrude came from a family with many saints. Her mother was St. Itta of Nivelles, her father was St. Pepin of Landen, her sister was St. Begga of Ardenne. Unlike many other saints, St. Gertrude didn't come from a poor or humbl...

  The following post is from Pat Young, co-author of Life after Losing a Child . The holidays conjure up visions of families enjoying the festive atmosphere of Christmas. But it’s not so festive for everyone. One woman I interviewed while working on a book lost her son a few months before Christmas. The family kept him with them during the holidays by putting his photograph under the Christmas tree.                 “We had him with us for Christmas,” the grieving mother said.                 Another family kept their son’s memory alive by including his beloved dog in festivities. The dog had acquired many mannerisms from its late companion. Even questionable “dog manners” like begging at the dinner table were accepted with a smile and fond memories of the boy who would slip treats to the dog while eating dinner.    ...