MSI Press Blog

  Yep, it's Caturday, and we want to share, somewhat anonymously for privacy reasons, a bit of the recent trials and tribulations of Sula, the parish cat at Old Mission who has written six books. Sula has both a big fan club -- you can even join it on her Face Book page HERE -- and quite some renown, thanks to both own publications and publications about here, which you can read about HERE (pick and choose the ones that might most tickle your fancy). To briefly encapsulate the history: 1. Sula arrived as a kitten, perhaps somewhere around age 1, at the Old Mission, which really is the only action in her little town. 2. After a few years spending much time outdoors in this sunny California town, Sula developed skin cancer on her ears. They were trimmed. The cancer came back. Her ears were removed. You can read her story about that experience in her book, Surviving Cancer, Healing People: One Cat's Story .  3. Elizabeth Mahlou related Sula's story to Guideposts Magazine , wh

  Introduction Parenting is hard.  It’s not “I would rather be hiding state secrets in a POW camp” hard, but it’s definitely “my most cherished fantasy is about taking an uninterrupted shower by myself” hard. It’s hard because you are a parent 24/7 without coffee breaks or vacations. It’s hard because it isolates you away from your friends, sometimes your family, and occasionally any semblance of adult human companionship whatsoever. It’s hard because you always put the needs of others above your own, often without thanks or even acknowledgement. (If all three of these statements are true at the same time, it’s called “having an infant.”) Even worse, not only is parenting diabolically challenging, but it also has the outside appearance of being easy, fun, and less challenging than a “real” job.  Yes, many non-parents attempt to compare the act of childrearing to any other job. However, until they find a job where it is impossible to quit, you aren’t paid, and your boss is allowed to wa

  Dr. Liz Bayardelle holds a PhD in business psychology with a strong footing in the practical application psychological research. She serves as a digital consultant. She has written two books published by MSI Press:  Clean Your Plate! 13 Things Good Parents Say That Ruins Kids’ Lives  and (forthcoming)  Parenting in a Pademic . In her own words, Dr. Bayardelle, as a busy, educated, multitasking mother, “runs a household with a teenage stepdaughter, a toddlernado, a newborn baby, two dogs totaling over 200 pounds of poor behavior, and a rabbit the size of a large housecat. She also runs a successful parenting blog ( theStaySaneMom.com ) that has an avid following of mothers who want to be smart, engaged, and thoughtful parents. For more posts about Liz Bayardelle and her work, click HERE .

  Great review of Bertha Cooper's book, Women We're Only Old Once , from MidWest Book Review: Very highly and unreservedly recommended for the personal reading lists of all women whatever their age, "Women, We're Only Old Once!" is exceptionally well written and presented, making it a unique and certain to be enduringly popular addition to senior citizen and community library Self-Help/Self-Improvement collections for women readers. Read the rest of the review HERE . Read more posts about Bertha and her books HERE

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 about how you get an acquisition editor to consider your proposal serious. Most have only a few minutes to look at each cover letter/proposal. Will yours get more than a curosry glance?  So, let's look at each item in an authorial contact. The proposal If a publisher has guidelines for the proposal, follow them. Don't assume you know better than the publisher what the publisher needs or should publish. Our submission guidelines  are at our website.  All the categories are important to us (and to any publisher who provides guidelines). If some are missing, we will ask the aut

  from the blog of the 100th Lamb The Crushed Cup As I put away my things recently on a Royal Moroccan flight from Paris to Rabat, I noticed with annoyance that the previous passenger had left a crushed drink cup in the pocket of the seat in front of me. I removed it, only to find to my dismay that it a nearly invisible amount of liquid still in it that dripped on the tray in front of me. With nothing with which to wipe up the liquid, I ripped a piece of paper from my notebook and used that, a trick I learned from my days of living in the Soviet Union, where toilet was in short supply. Notebook paper is not the remedy of first choice, but it does work—in both cases. Then, I looked around and saw that all the stewards and stewardesses had already seated themselves for take-off. With a sigh, I put the crushed cup back in the seat pocket where I had found it. Now, it would continue to be an annoyance for at least the first portion of the flight until plane service began and would reac

  Excerpt from Weekly Soul by Dr. Frederic Craigie: -10-   The heart of most spiritual practices is simply this: Remember who you are. Remember what you love. Remember what is sacred. Remember what is true. Remember that you will die and that this day is a gift. Remember how you wish to live.   Wayne Muller   In May of 1995, actor Christopher Reeve was taking part in an equestrian competition in Virginia when his horse abruptly stopped before a jump, throwing him forward onto the ground. Unable to break his fall because his hands were entangled with the reins, he landed on his head and suffered a broken neck. The former Superman, Reeve was paralyzed from the neck down for the remaining nine years of his life. In the immediate aftermath of the injury, Reeve considered his profound disability and told his wife, Dana, that “maybe we should let me go.” Her response was, “You’re still you, and I love you.” Outwardly, of course, Reeve was not at all who he had been. Unable t