MSI Press Blog

  Excerpt from Travels with Elly (MacDonald) - from chapter 2, ALBERTA  “If we hope to preserve our way of life, the first thing we must do is rediscover our respect for the land, the water, and the entire natural world. And if we do manage to regain that respect, then we must make sure that human beings never lose it again.” (Quote from the late, The Honorable Dr. Lois E. Hole, displayed on a plaque at the Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park in St. Albert)  Shortly after crossing the border, we entered Crowsnest Pass, site of the devastating Frank Slide. In the early morning of April 29, 1903, a mountainside came thundering down in the darkness, burying most of the town of Frank and killing 90 people, the highest death toll from any slide in Canada. Massive boulders, remnants of the slide, remain piled 30-metres high on both sides of the road. An Interpretation Centre provides personal stories of survivors and dynamic, hands-on educational programs. To forewarn residents

(photo by Frank Perez) 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. Today's topic is a little bit about marketing. A lot about marketing would take not only one book but many. For authors, marketing is an important "duty" and a rather daunting one at that. Very few publishers (well, probbaly none) have big enough pockets to take on the full task of marketing, especially for new authors without a natural fan base. So, they expect authors to help.  So, let's look at some of the techniques authors can do to help with marketing. Techniques that exploit the author's fan base (an author without a fan base is not going to sell many books): Authors need

  Excerpt: THE WOMAN WHO TOUCHED JESUS (Gospel account in Matthew 9:20-22; Mark 5:24-34: Luke 9:43-48)   A large crowd was following Jesus, pressing around him. A woman crept up quietly, trying to touch him. This dear lady had an internal bleeding disorder. For twelve years, she’d suffered under the care of many doctors and spent all her money to pay them. But, instead of getting better, she grew worse. She’d heard of Jesus. So, she pressed through the crowd and slipped up behind him, thinking, “If I only touch his clothes, I’ll be healed.” As soon as she touched his cloak, she felt the bleeding stop. Background This brave lady risked public humiliation by approaching Jesus unbidden. Women of her day were often not treated with dignity. She knew she would likely be ridiculed, but she was enough desperate to choose to face the consequences. The disciples would not be sympathetic. They fancied themselves to be Jesus’ palace guards, shooing the riffraff away, especially women and childre

  Excerpt from Clean Your Plate!  Be Nice to Your Friends [ILLUSTRATION 6, CHAPTER 6 WARNING GOES HERE] As anyone who has ever talked to a toddler can tell you, toddlers can be brutal. Like, soul-crushingly, life-ruiningly frank. There’s a lot of truth to the Internet meme that says “if a woman calls you ugly, she’s jealous; if a man calls you ugly, she’s flirting, but if a kid calls you ugly...you’re ugly.” Kids have absolutely no sense of social niceties. They also occasionally spaz out with small bursts of poorly-controlled demonic meanness of unknown origin. (No, it’s not just your kids. It’s all of them.) Why We Say It The fact that parents across the globe tell their kids to be nice to their friends is entirely unsurprising. We’re terrified our little monsters will alienate their peers and doom themselves to a life of social isolation and misery (sticking us with the therapy bills). However well-meaning this parental plea for our kids to exercise their still-developin