MSI Press Blog

  When Betty Shaw’s daughter, Elizabeth Marks, distracted by a text message, was hit by a truck, the world tilted. The crash shattered bones, fractured her skull, and left her fighting for life. Brain surgery. Facial reconstruction. A long, uncertain road back. A potential modeling career derailed. But the heartbreak ran deeper. Elizabeth had been answering a text from her mother when the car struck her. That detail added a layer of guilt to Betty’s grief — a cruel twist that could have silenced her. Instead, it fueled her. One Simple Text… isn’t just a book. It’s a reckoning. A warning. A lifeline. Betty didn’t write it to wallow — she wrote it to wake people up. Her daughter’s story became a movement: more than a million views on social media, an invitation to the Oprah Winfrey Show, and a ripple effect that continues to save lives. This is what maternal resilience looks like: not just surviving the unimaginable, but transforming it into testimony. Betty Shaw turned guilt in...

  Their stories made headlines across America. Now, the original series Oprah: Where Are They Now? tracks down the Oprah Show guests who made you laugh...and made you cry. Find out where they are now, plus see what happened to the biggest newsmakers of all time and how their lives changed after sudden fame and notoriety turned their worlds upside down. As the year begins, we are taking a look back at some of our popular authors last year. The first in this series is Betty Shaw, whose book,  One Simple Text . . . ,  written together with Dave Bown has just recently been released as an audiobook (in addition to earlier ebook and paperback editions).  The trip down memory lane "news" we focus on today is the second part of the telling of the story of Betty Shaw and her daughter Liz on the Oprah Winfry series, "Where Are They Now?" Watch it here:  Texting While Driving Changed Liz Marks' Life: Part 2   About Where Are They Now  (according to OWN, Oprah Win...

  As the year ends, we are taking a look back at some of our popular authors. The first in this series is Betty Shaw, whose book,  One Simple Text . . . ,  written together with Dave Bown has just recently been released as an audiobook (in addition to earlier ebook and paperback editions).  The trip down memory lane "news" we focus on today is an appearance by Betty and her daughter, Liz Marks (the subject of the book) on Delmarvalife .  Book description: It was every parent's worst nightmare. On a sun-drenched morning in April 2012, a Maryland state trooper knocked on Betty Shaw's front door and delivered the grim news that her 17-year-old daughter, Liz, had been involved in a horrible car accident and was clinging to life. Liz recovered from her life-threatening injuries but suffered severe and permanent effects from the accident. Texting while driving caused Liz's crash, and she and her mother went on a mission to educate people about the perils of distracted ...