MSI Press Blog

    The following excerpt comes from Overcoming the Odds, edited by Carl Leaver\. GUIDELINES: TWO RULES FOR SURVIVAL Gratitude 1. When you get up in the morning, express gratitude that you had your husband as long as you did. You can do this by writing down some thoughts in a journal, saying a prayer, or just thinking grateful thoughts. 2. Talk about your loved one with friends, mentioning particularly nice things your husband did for you and others. 3. Make a list of everything that you have to be grateful for. Post the list in a conspicuous place: near your computer, on the refrigerator, or in a journal you use every day. 4. Take yourself out to lunch at a favorite place, and feel grateful to be lunching there. Savor the food; admire the ambiance. 5. Go to a movie that you know will touch you. Be grateful that you can still be touched. Do Something for Someone Else 1. Buy a little gift for one of your husband’s relatives. Sisters, brothers, even cousins may be hurting as much as yo

This book itself contains excerpts from the best of MSI Press's publications on triumphing over difficulties. Want to brighten your day? Find out how others did! From Good Blood by Irit Schaffer -- As soon as I looked into his blue eyes, every cell in my body bubbled with joy. Yes, this must be love. I am in love for the first time. His are the bluest eyes I have ever seen. They are like the deep blue of the ocean on a clear and sunny day. My mom is sitting to my left, my sister, Edna, to my right, and I am falling in love. Ari Ben Canaan is his name. He is in charge of taking a boatload of people to Palestine. The boat, Exodus, is filled with Jewish Europeans planning to make their home in the soon to be independent State of Israel. Unfortunately, the British authorities have detained the boat in Cyprus. They are not allowing Exodus to complete its voyage to Palestine, and Ari has to take charge. His confidence is portrayed in his thin and muscular 5’9” frame. “We can g

  Excerpt from Overcoming the Odds , edited by Carl Leaver . Introduction  If you have picked up this book, you are likely somewhere waiting. Perhaps you are in a waiting room (aptly named). Perhaps you are in a hospital room somewhere. Perhaps you are at a library or even happily ensconced on a plane, train, bus—or in your living room, having picked up this book at a library sale or some other charitable event.  We are sorry that you are “stuck” somewhere. We hope that the stories in this little book will help you pass your time enjoyable. (And, if you are in a waiting room, please leave it where you found it so that others may be entertained after you.)   If you would like to read more stories from the books from which these excerpts have been taken, they are easily obtained. You can order them from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or any other online bookstore. Your local bookstore may also have it, but if not, the manager can certainly order it for you. Or, send us a note of

  CB and the late Carl Leaver, MSI Press authors Meet our author-dads who have written absolutely splendid books for fathers (and others) about all sorts of topics! (Some are no longer with us, but their works in life and in literature live on.) And, yes, of course, we continue to sell their books. Wally Amidon (deceased) The Musings of a South Carolina Yankee Read MSI blog posts about Wally . TL Brink How to Argue with an Atheist Read more posts about TL Brink  HERE . Dave Brown (co-author) One Simple Text.. KOPS-FETRHLING.INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARD LEGACY. AWARD: INSPIRATION/MOTIVATION HOLLYWOOD BOOK FESTIVAL FINALIST Read MSI Press blog posts about Dave  HERE . Dr. Frederic Craigie Weekly Soul AMERICAN BOOKFEST BEST BOOK AWARD FINALIST; INSPIRATION BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD GOLD: MIND, BODY, SPIRIT READER VIEWS LITERARY AWARDS SILVER: MIND/BODY/SPIRIT READER VIEWS LITERARY AWARDS SILVER: RELIGION KOPS-FETHERLING INTERNATIONAL BOOKS AWARDS HONORABLE MENTIONN: INSPIRATION/MOTIVATION Read M

One of the fun things that a publisher (or at least, an acquisitions editor) gets to experience is meeting more than one member of a family -- as authors whose work we publish. In this series of presenting family authors, we take note of the Leaver writers, who have written books in various combinations and solo. Above pictured is Betty Lou Leaver and Shenan (CB) Leaver, who collaborated on Mommy Our House Guest , a fun book that has gained a number of afficionados and been serialized in a magazine.  Betty Lou, who has written dozens of books, including, for MSI Press, Think Yourself into Becoming a Language Learning Super Star and The Invisible Foreign Language Classroom (with Laura Dabbs) and Carl, who typeset and designed the covers of many MSI Press publications and edited Overcoming the Odds , collaborated on the book,  Intrepid.  who unfortunately passed away in 2021 from Cancer of Unknown Primary, Carl, unfortunately, passed away suddenly in 2021 from Cancer of Unknown Primar

  Two years ago today, Carl Leaver, typesetter, graphic designer, and co-founder of MSI Press LLC , passed away after five too-short months of cancer of unknown primary . We all want a legacy, no matter how humble, and Carl certainly has one. To wit, Dozens of MSI Press authors loved his book covers -- and, in a kind way, they reached out to him in his dying days to tell him so. He edited one book, Overcoming the Odds , and co-authored another, Intrepid . Books almost always outlast us. He was Dad to four children (or seven, depending on how you count the three who moved in with us as teenagers) and three grandchildren, two of whom lost both their grandfathers in 2021, and daddy to a couple dozen cats; his very special cat, Intrepid, who preceded him in death, is buried with him. His name is engraved on a brick, shown above by Br. James, at the St. Francis Retreat Center in San Juan Bautista, reminding a number of people of him as they pass over his stone. His obituary is the second mo

    Today's fortune cookie is associated with Overcoming the Odds (Carl Leaver). Read more about the Carl Leaver and his books HERE .  Get a copy at MSI Prtess webstore . 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.  Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Find their contact information on our  Authors' Pages .