MSI Press Blog

  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...

  The following is the story behind Exercising in a Pandemic (Young) From the author: When the pandemic hit, I talked to many people who were dismayed at the temporary closing of places like the YMCA (where I used to be a volunteer and where I frequently went to exercise) and other fitness centers around town. Especially for women, ongoing exercise is important in order to retain muscles and flexibility. For everyone, no matter what age or gender, exercise is so good for keeping the brain and the body healthy. Many of us were working out at home, and that inspired my book, Exercising in a Pandemic. There are so many ways to work out at home, even while doing chores or watching television.  The idea is to just keep moving. One example from my book is to include kids or pets in the action – lift them instead of weights. They might think it is fun. The ideas are simple and imaginative. Even now that the pandemic is behind us, working out at home is easy and convenient to add to ...

excerpt from Exercising in a Pandemic (Young) -  Exercising In the House             Exercising at home doesn’t involve travel time to the gym, and it sets a good example for kids and other family members who might be parked in front of the television set or computer screen. Maybe they will get up and exercise with you. Maybe you can switch the television or computer to an exercise program and involve the whole family, or just leave the television on and exercise while you watch something the whole family enjoys. If the television is turned off, find some lively music on the radio to work out with. Stretch to classical or new age music. Work out to jazz or rock. Find whatever lively music your whole family likes if you are working out together. Working out to music you enjoy makes exercising more fun. You will be more likely to continue an exercise regimen.             Sta...

  Excerpt from 57 Steps to Paradise  by Patricia Lorenz-- I'd been a single parent of four for five years and I worried about everything. About whether the sump pump would conk out during a big rain and flood my family room when I wasn't home. About wasp's nests in the overhang and broken tree limbs in the gutter. About how I would put four kids through college, three at the same time. About how I would ever find a nice man to date and how sad it would be to grow old alone. One Saturday evening the phone rang. It was a nice man with a deep voice telling me I'd won a free dance lesson. "It's fun, and you'll learn lots of different dance steps," he proclaimed convincingly. “It’s really free?” I asked timidly. “Absolutely!” the man gushed in the key of G. “It’s just our way of introducing you to the wonderful world of dancing.” When I hung up the phone, I could feel my face flush. What if I step on my instructor's toes and make a fool of myself? At c...

  Excerpt from  Harnessing the Power of Grief  (Potter): The Experience of Grief and What It Might be Like for You   “I was just as crazy as you can be and still be at large. I didn’t have any really normal minutes during those two years. It wasn’t just grief. It was total confusion. I was nutty….” —Helen Hayes, Actress [ McNees ] [1]   Your individual grief experiences will differ from others’ experiences and differ from your own past grief experiences. When you lose someone, your experience of the loss may surprise you. You might envision how you might feel, or what you might think, but you will not know how you are with the loss until it happens.   The experience of grief includes general characteristics commonly experienced by everyone and personal characteristics that are particular to your own situation. Your personal characteristics will affect how you experience the more general characteristics. All these characteristics are interwoven...