Mississippi Crow Issue 10: Fresh Picked
Acrylic on canvas, “Fresh Picked” by artist Megan Duncanson of Alaska is featured on the cover. This issue contains articles by Mary Deal and Valerie Poulin, poetry by Connie Anderson, Kate Pettit, Sue Stein, and Nikki Laliberte.
To preview this issue, you can flip through the electronic version from ISSUU now by clicking on “OPEN PUBLICATION” below:
Erika Hauschildt joins me on the radio show September 7, 2010. Her seven year-old daughter, Ella Hope, lost her battle with an inoperable brain tumor (DIPG) in November of 2008. Erika shares Ella’s heartbreaking–and inspiring story, and we discuss the facts and statistics around DIPG. To listen to the podcast: Click Here. Or for a printed transcript, click here.
To support the cause: http://chapters.thecurestartsnow.org/minnesota.
One of the nation’s first staging professionals, Diane Keyes has been bringing her innovative approach to the real estate industry for over twenty years. Her unique talents have taken her to four-star restaurants, multi-million-dollar island get-aways and thousands of private homes. And when they needed someone to prepare the Minnesota Governor’s mansion for the Swedish royal family, the governor’s wife called Diane.
Along with being a stager, Diane is an award-winning author and has worked as a floral
designer, lay minister, grief counselor, and book reviewer. Her do-it-yourself staging book, This Sold House, has been endorsed by HGTV’s Joan Steffend and received two Midwest Book awards in both the business and how-to categories. She has appeared on numerous radio and TV shows and is also the author of the popular children’s book, Spirit of the Snowpeople, a book dedicated to helping children deal with grief and loss.
If you’d like to visit Diane’s website or see any of her appearances check out her website at www.thissoldhouse.biz. To read more about Diane, click here, and to listen to the radio broadcast, click here.
Mary Treacy O’Keefe is co-founder and executive director of Well Within, a nonprofit
wellness resource center in West St. Paul, Minnesota, that provides integrative healing services to people living with chronic and/or live-threatening illnesses. She is a certified spiritual director with a master’s degree in theology, and conducts workshops on spirituality and healing. Her writings have appeared in magazines and books, including Chicken Soup for the Christian Family Soul. Mary talked with Nadia about her wellness work and her book, “Thin Places”. To listen tot he broadcast, click here. A transcript of this broadcast is under construction here.
“It really doesn’t matter what you know if you don’t know how to present
it.” That’s why Roshini Performance Group constructed Communicate That!™, an unparalleled communication toolbox that ensures you always present your best. And that’s not all Roshini does. To listen to Nadia’s interview with Roshini, CLICK HERE.
Roshini is also one of the co-authors of the newly-released Power of the Platform: Speakers on Life. 
The book is an anthology of inspirational, motivational, and business messages, and the co-authors are professional and personal development experts from around the world–including notables Jack Canfield, Les Brown, and Brian Tracy. Check it out.
Author and Relationship Expert, Maryanne Comaroto
Nadia’s exciting interview today with “America’s favorite relationship expert”, Maryanne Comaroto was a eye-opener for the audience. Maryanne is the author of the jaw-dropping book, Hindsight: What You Need to Know Before You Drop Your Drawers. Publisher’s description: “Have you noticed that you have a knack for attracting Mr. Wrong (or Not-Exactly-Right)? When it comes to relationships, timing is everything. Knowing what you need to know before you drop your drawers can save you tons of heartache, money and time. For some of us, finding a man any man totally eludes us. While others have become adept at finding a man, he is rarely the right man, and rarely does the relationship last, nor should it. Let’s face it, there isn’t much worse than literally and figuratively waking up to the reality that we have been sleeping with disaster.
HINDSIGHT: What you need to know before you drop your drawers guides the reader through the challenges of dating and mating in the twenty-first century and shares powerful solutions on how to find the right man, get him, and keep him, so you are fully equipped to create healthy, sustainable, fulfilling relationships. Maryanne Comaroto, award-winning author and media personality, has been inspiring people to create and attract healthy relationships for nearly a decade. In HINDSIGHT she reveals the six tools you must have in your tool belt to create the perfect mate. In her fun-to-read, talking-to-her-girlfriends, storyteller style, Maryanne takes you through the toxic choices we make in dating, and then teaches you how to turn six tools into lifelong skills and Self-Love Prescription exercises designed to help you achieve mastery.”
Maryanne shared with Nadia Giordana lots of inside information about her new book, and about what you can learn from reading it. To listen to the podcast: http://tiny.cc/0a29t.
Great fun over the past weekend at the Two Rivers Music Festival in Motley, Minnesota. Not the least of which, was reconnecting with some high school chums I hadn’t seen in many years.
Cass County MN Becker Busy Bees 4-H Club at the Two Rivers Music Festival, Motley, MN 2010
I was going over to watch the parade Saturday at the Two Rivers Music Festival when I saw this 4-H group holding up a sign with the name of the club, “Becker Busy Bees”. I couldn’t believe that after 45+ years, my old 4-H club is still in existence! I ran over and told them I used to be a “Becker busy Bee” and asked for a picture. Definitely one of the highlights.
Nadia Giordana, Sylvia Wilkins, Norman Wilkins, and Chuck Kasun
We all had a great time at the fourth-annual, Two Rivers Music Fest and Craft (and book) Fair in my home town, Motley, Minnesota on July 23-24-25, 2010. I signed copies of THINKING SKINNY, and offered the three-volume, documentary journal, 10,000 Days In Alaska by Norman Wilkins (my father)
.
It’s been a monumental task transcribing 27 years of the daily journal entries my father made while living in Alaska. So much that I wasn’t sure we would ever finish the project. But after bringing in an assistant, we are back on track and the three-volume documentary journal is being completed right now. Book one is 454 pages and books two and three are each in the 400 page range.
Norman is an active participant in this process. He’s a stickler for the truth and wants to be certain these journals are complete and accurate with regard to details. This is more than his personal legacy, it’s a piece of Alaska history (similar to the well-known Dick Proenneke materials) documenting daily life along the Glenn Highway at Nelchina (including dozens of families who were friends of Norman and Sylvia). His style is natural, real, and a bit cryptic, writing often in sentence fragments. That’s sometimes the way he talks too, and we made the decision early on to preserve his unique voice for this documentary journal.
“Revolver, lace panties and pepper spray–don’t leave home without them.” (book one, 
Genesis Beach). “Just south of sanity.” (book two, Just North of Luck). “A suspenseful roller-coaster ride.” (book three, Hell Swamp). “A sliver of water where wickedness and decadence take precedence over decency.” (Sin Creek, coming in 2010).
I feel that Penny Sansevieri’s book, Red Hot Internet Marketing is so important for authors to read that I’ve linked to a great interview I just read. To read it at Susan Whitfield’s blog, CLICK HERE. Ms. Whitfield is an accomplished mystery writer and a great interviewer. I have the distinct pleasure of interviewing her in a few days. Watch this blog for an update and more info about Susan.
I just interviewed a wonderfully delightful and talented woman, Gloria Vandemmeltraadt. We talked about her life, it’s ups and downs and how those things let to a very unique book, Musing and Munching. Gloria shares what she knows about making memoirs in her volunteer work at local hospice centers, helping some hospice residents write their life stories. To listen to the audio interview at BlogTalkRadio, follow this link: http://tinyurl.com/2bbk5ap. To read a written interview with Gloria, CLICK HERE.
Nadia showing Thinking Skinny and 10,000 Days in Alaska
This summer networking event was held at the Airport Hilton in Bloomington, Minnesota.
THINKING SKINNY from Cloud 9 Publishing is a finalist in the 20th Annual Midwest Book Awards (www.mipa.org) Social Science (psychology, family, self-help) category. Here we are at the Award ceremonies May 12th at the Minnesota Center for the Humanities and although we didn’t take first place, I couldn’t be happier. A list of all finalists in all categories appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Pictured below left to right: Connie Anderson (she did the final editing of Thinking Skinny), my husband Chuck Kasun, and me (Nadia Giordana).
Such a thrill to be included among so many great 2009 releases.
What do weight-loss, visualization, prayer and lucid dreaming have in common? Listen to Mary T. O’Keefe interview Nadia Giordana about her award-winning book, THINKING SKINNY at http://tinyurl.com/y3rpsbx.
For those of you who don’t know the particulars, Ali Vincent weighed 234 pounds whe
n she started as a contestant on the Biggest Loser reality show. At the spectacular finale, she had lost 112 pounds and weighed in at a petite, 122 pounds, winning the title. Ali Vincent talked with listeners about her Biggest Loser experience, and about her new book, Believe it, Be it. She shared how losing weight changed her life and also what life is like as the first female Biggest Loser. She reveals her favorite tips and tricks and a lot more.
On Wednesday, April 14, 2010 Nadia Giordana talked with Ali Vincent on Interviews with Extraordinary Women. Click here to listen to the podcast interview at BlogTalkRadio.
I’ve been a writer and publisher since the early 1990′s and over the years a lot has changed. Independent publishing has grown up and come into its own. I have to think that the Internet has helped spread the word and made it possible for legitimate independent publishers to reach the right clients. In addition to that, the Internet has served to educate and raise the sophistication level of the writers and authors themselves. (I’m talking about the predatory, pseudo-publishers that have been taking advantage of naive writers for decades.) It’s not so easy for them anymore. Today’s writer’s are savvy and when they need to check a company out, they know where to find that information. Print on Demand technology has revolutionized the publishing industry as a whole, and there is a fast-growing, vital and exciting community of talented people finding new and viable ways to see their books published and made available literally worldwide. At the same time, we are seeing more and more big publishing houses flounder and cut corners (that’s another article altogether).
One of the best ways for a writer/author to keep a solid footing, is to become involved in local and national conferences and networking organizations. Example: this weekend, I participated in the Bloomington Writer’s Conference and Book Fair in Minneapolis. It was a great experience, though I wish I could have attended more workshops. I did however, have the opportunity to give a 10-minute, televised reading from my book, Thinking Skinny. (I’m not sure when or where it will be aired, but if I can get the clip, I will post it here at the blogsite.) Overall, I learned a lot and loved the one-on-one interaction with the public, talking about my book, and especially getting to know dozens of local writers and publishers.
–Nadia Giordana
Two organizations I can suggest: Midwest Independent Publisher’s Association (MIPA) and the Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards.
Show time: Thursday, February 18th at 4:00 p.m. CST. LISTEN HERE at airtime, or anytime after 2-18-10. This program will remain available on demand for your convenience.
newest, Down to the Needle. All are available at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com. She has written numerous stories and articles and her website, www.writeanygenre.com is a valuable resource for writers. Mary was a 2009 Pushcart Prize nominee, and she is the Associate Editor for Mississippi Crow magazine. She lives on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. 
February 5, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. CST. Nadia talked to Wendy Brown-Báez on BlogTalkRadio about some of her most exciting endeavors. Wendy also performd some of her poetry for the audience. To listen to the broadcast, CLICK HERE.
About Wendy: Among other things, she has facilitated writing groups, mana
ged shelters for the homeless, visited penitentiaries and half-way homes and worked as a hospice volunteer. She studied alternative healing, ceremony, and spiritual traditions and is a member of a woman’s Moon lodge. Wendy has performed nationally (and in Mexico) in cafes, bars, galleries, bookstores, schools, cultural centers, peace centers, writers groups, art festivals, and women’s retreats. In 2008, she received a McKnight grant to teach a bilingual writing workshop with at risk youth and in 2009, a McKnight grant to develop a writing workshop with impoverished youth into an art installation, both provided through COMPAS Community art program. She is the author of Ceremonies of the Spirit, a full-length collection of love poems published by Plain View Press in 2009. For more info, go to Wendy’s website, Writing Circles for Healing. To read a transcript of the broadcast, click here.
Available at Amazon.com 
