Blog Archives
The Biggest Financial Decisions of Their Lives
Pay Less for College is a college financial aid and affordability guide that lays out for parents and students a clear and practical roadmap for cutting the true cost of a college degree. Why was this an important book for you to write?
Families are often making one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives in a fog. Students and parents are rightfully overwhelmed. And the guidance they get is often cookie-cutter for a system that doesn’t financially reward a cookie-cutter approach. During our 15 years in this field we have seen and heard about the financial landmines families step on – sometimes from inexperience, misinformation, desperation, or other factors. We wanted to clear out the fog and help families create a realistic, step-by-step plan to keep college affordable. Instead of vague advice, we focus on what actually moves the needle on cost– the things families can control.
In your book, you cover the latest and upcoming changes to the FAFSA, PLUS Loans, Pell Grants, and college financial aid policies. What are some key points that parents and students need to know about these options for financial aid?
The FAFSA and Pell Grants underwent major changes that were fully implemented in the 2024-25 academic year. The book walks readers through every part of the new FAFSA and breaks down the updated undergraduate Pell Grant eligibility rules. In spring 2025, Congress passed a budget bill that changed PLUS Loans, including significantly lower annual and lifetime limits for new borrowers of undergraduate loans. This may leave private loans with their less favorable terms as the only borrowing option for parents in the student’s third or fourth years.
What are some common mistakes or oversights that people make when deciding what college to attend, and what advice do you have to help others avoid these mistakes?
Colleges should be right for students academically, socially, and financially. Students often only apply to colleges they have heard of, ones their relatives want them to go to, or the ones their friends are applying to. They fill out the required financial aid forms and cross their fingers. Those schools may be okay academically or socially but financial fit is more complicated. It is often the most misunderstood part of the college search process.
If saving money is important to you, dig into the college’s financial aid policies to see how they align with your individual financial situation. Also, look for colleges that will love you back – those where your genuine interests and capabilities meet or exceed what the college is looking for. And finally, submit an application that showcases your strengths and makes it easy for the admissions officers to see your value.
What is one thing that you hope readers take away from Pay Less for College?
That they have more control than they think. When families build a smart college list, apply at the right time and in the right way, understand how aid really works, evaluate offers carefully, and trim costs–both big and small–before, during, and after college, they can meaningfully cut the real cost of a college degree.
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
Choosing a college is about finding a place where you belong—a place that fits your goals, your heart, and your wallet. Paying for college may be one of the biggest financial challenges you’ll ever face–but it doesn’t have to be harder than going to college. You can honor your dreams without sacrificing your financial future.
Pay Less for College is the go-to college financial aid and affordability guide for parents and students who want to make smart, confident choices. It offers clear, actionable insights to help you save real money—often tens of thousands of dollars—by:
Finding the colleges most likely to be generous
Understanding how and why a college will love you back
Demonstrating your value to that school
Avoiding common, costly mistakes
Cutting costs, both big and small
Why pay more than you have to?
Smart strategies. Real savings. The confidence to say yes to the dream—and afford it.
_____________________________________________What’s new in the 4th Edition
Fully updated to cover the latest and upcoming changes to the FAFSA, PLUS Loans, Pell Grants, and college financial aid policies.
Expanded tools and examples that help families understand college costs, maximize need-based and merit aid, compare true net prices, and submit standout applications.
Inside you’ll find
Part I: College Costs and Financial Aid
Understand exactly what college will cost and how financial aid works.
Part II: How to Pay Less for College
Learn how to increase aid eligibility and find the most generous colleges.
Part III: Planning
Turn knowledge into action with concrete family planning tools.
Part IV: Resources and Tools
10 detailed appendices, including guides to the FAFSA, CSS Profile, Pell Grants, and financial aid if your parents are unmarried, divorced, separated, remarried, or widowed, as well as tools to help you identify your academic strengths, social needs, and college priorities, and how to make your personal outreach most effective.
Scams are the World’s Fastest-Growing Crime
Scams Are the World’s Fastest-Growing Crime is a straight-talking field guide to modern scams. Author Ken Ray walks through how scams evolved, why they work, and how they hit regular people in every channel of life, from phone and email to social media, crypto, fake stores, and in-person tricks. He starts with history and psychology, then gives a simple four-step model of every scam: setup, lure, attack, hook. After that, he moves into detailed profiles of common schemes, global impact, why victims stay silent, and how scammers pick their targets. He wraps it all up with danger scales, checklists, legal context, a glossary, and a very raw victim story, all tied to Scam Watchdogs’ mission to protect, educate, and expose.
What I liked most was the human focus. Ray keeps reminding me that scams are not about clever tech. They are about emotions and habits. He lays out trust, fear, greed, love, guilt, and overconfidence as levers that scammers pull, then shows how those levers show up in real situations like “grandparent” calls, romance cons, and fake tax threats. I felt angry reading the sections on shame and silence, and how victims stay quiet because they blame themselves or worry no one will listen. The chapters on the snowball effect and the global scale of the problem hit pretty hard too. They show how a tiny “test payment” can snowball into life-changing loss and how those losses add up across families, small businesses, and even trust in basic institutions. Reading that, I felt a mix of frustration and urgency, like this is not just sad stories; this is a public safety issue.
I liked how practical and plain the book feels. The tone is warm and professional but still sounds like a real person talking, not a legal brief. The early chapters give clear frameworks, then the scam profiles repeat the same structure each time with “setup, lure, attack, hook” and a danger rating. That rhythm made it easy for me to skim to what I needed. I also appreciated the checklists, the “Stay Safe” section, and the simple definitions at the back, since those are easy to share with less tech-savvy family members. The author’s note about using AI tools like ChatGPT as a helper, while taking responsibility for the facts, felt transparent and current, which I liked.
I came away feeling both rattled and oddly reassured. Rattled, because the examples show how easy it is for smart, cautious people to get pulled in, especially through investment and romance scams that mix money with emotion. Reassured, because the book keeps coming back to simple habits that anyone can build: pause, verify, talk to someone, report what happened. There is a steady compassion for victims that cuts through the usual blame, especially in the dedication and the closing message that every report turns a private loss into a public shield.
I would recommend this book to everyday readers who want to protect themselves and their families, especially people who do not live in the world of cybersecurity but still live on their phones and laptops all day. It is a strong choice for parents, caregivers, community leaders, and small business owners who need something they can hand to others without translation. People looking for a clear, empathetic starter guide and a reference you can dip into whenever a weird text or email pops up, it does the job very well.
Pages: 175 | ASIN : B0G35VCVP1
Education and Evangelism
From Hill Town to Strieby explores the life of Reverend Islay Walden, a man born into slavery who overcame blindness and hardship to return home as a minister and educator, and the legacy the Hill and Lassiter families left on the community. Why was this an important book for you to write?
As descendants of the original families that helped found the church and who continue as trustees today, we worried as we watched the last of the generation before us pass away that our history would be lost if we did not make a concerted effort to preserve, share, and uplift it. As the writer in the group, they looked to me to help that happen. In addition, just as other African American community descendants are concerned about erasure, not just benign neglect, we wanted to do all we could to be certain that the history of the church, school, community and its founder, Rev. Islay Walden, would always be an acknowledged and celebrated part of Randolph County, North Carolina history, and be part of the broader American History of African Americans and the rural South. I didn’t want anyone in Randolph County to ever say again as someone once had, “Strieby? Never Heard of It.”
With regards to Islay Walden himself, I had come to realize, as I researched his life, that in his lifetime, he was not an obscure poet, as some had portrayed him. In addition, I realized that none of the biographical essays about him had really understood that his passion was not poetry, regardless of his success. His passion was education and evangelism. No one had reflected on that in writing about him, so I wanted to pay homage to him as a 19th century African American poet, but even more important for me to elucidate was his legacy in education and ministry.
How much research did you undertake for this book, and how much time did it take to put it all together?
At the time that I made the decision to finally write the book, I had been researching the community for over twenty years and had already written a book about the history of one family, the Miles Lassiter family. At the same time as discussions about writing the book, family members were also asking about historical preservation. As part of that, I prepared an extensive, documented history of the church, historic school, and cemetery in application for the county’s Cultural Heritage Site designation, which we received. That application became the first draft. It took two more years of research and writing before the book was completed in 2016.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
The level of educational excellence that the school stood for had been praised and celebrated at every turn by the entire community. This was a community with nearly 100% literacy in the early 1900s, when that achievement was rare for any community in the rural South. This community had placed a high premium on education, and members had gone to great lengths to seek additional opportunities, even leaving the community to do so, yet always returning to share love and encouragement with the next generation. In fact, this community had produced at least one young teacher by 1900, and several more soon followed.
What is one thing that you hope readers take away from From Hill Town to Strieby?
I hope readers see that rural communities of color have been seeking the same things that their urban siblings have been seeking — opportunity. They seek educational opportunities, which they hope, like everyone else, will provide them with other opportunities, including economic security, whether they leave the countryside or not.
Author Links: Goodreads | Facebook | LinkedIn | Website | Amazon
Navigate Family Technology: A technology roadmap for families with ideas to navigate uncharted waters
Navigate Family Technology is a clear-eyed, heartfelt guide to raising kids in a world ruled by screens. Author Nora Duncan O’Brien lays out the modern family’s digital dilemma: how to help children thrive without letting technology consume them. Through chapters that blend research, personal stories, and practical advice, she explores everything from communication struggles and social media traps to empathy loss, anxiety, and sleep disruption. The book reads like a roadmap for parents who feel lost in the constant hum of notifications and the tug-of-war between connection and control. It’s as much about reclaiming calm as it is about setting boundaries.
I found myself nodding along at every mention of the “magnetic pull” of devices. O’Brien doesn’t wag her finger or preach, she levels with you like a friend who’s been there. I appreciated how she backed her advice with science but kept her tone real and warm. Her writing has rhythm and heart, and you can feel her genuine concern for kids and families in every line. Some chapters, especially those about online predators and the permanence of digital mistakes, made me pause and feel a lump in my throat. She’s not just talking about technology, she’s talking about childhood, safety, and the kind of presence that screens quietly steal from us if we’re not careful.
There’s something brave about the way O’Brien admits she’s learning right alongside us. She owns her mistakes and turns them into lessons without ego. I loved how she weaves humor into serious topics, it makes the heavy stuff easier to sit with. Her practical ideas for setting boundaries, encouraging empathy, and helping kids “embrace boredom” actually feel doable. The mirror she holds up to our tech habits is unflinching.
I’d recommend Navigate Family Technology to any parent, teacher, or even older teen who’s trying to understand why screens feel so irresistible. It’s a wake-up call for families trying to find balance in a hyperconnected world. If you’ve ever found yourself scrolling through your phone while your child talks to you, this book will make you want to put it down and really listen. It’s wise, gentle, and full of heart, a rare mix in a world that’s usually shouting advice at us from every glowing screen.
Pages: 222 | ASIN : B0DZF9VL27
A Sustainable Life
Humanity in Trouble and Our Failure to Act is an unfiltered collection of essays that offer insights into the human condition, where humans have gone wrong, and potential solutions to alleviate human suffering on both individual and global scales. Why was this an important book for you to write?
Because as a species we have not improved our lot or reversed our negative impact on the environment and life on the planet. We have not lived up to our potential given our big brains and despite our “invention” of science and technology and subsequent understanding of how the Universe works.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
Humanity’s lack of connection or respect for Nature resulting in our devastating effect on the environment.
Our lack of impulse control, egocentric nature, and failure to live up to the potential of our big brains.
Gradual but impending environmental devastation and high probability of species-level extinctions, including our own.
Perpetual emergence of dictatorial, warlike leaders throughout history, now armed with nuclear weapons.
What advice do you have for individuals who feel powerless in the face of the world’s current challenges and want to make a positive impact?
Start with working to improve all aspects of one’s own existence: live a sustainable life, support humanitarian and environmental action, vote for enlightened political candidates, practice charity, study the self, meditate, improve the education of children, and promote global peace.
What is one thing that you hope readers take away from Humanity in Trouble and Our Failure to Act?
You are not a “separate being” but rather a sentient member of the Universe interconnected with the web of all life, matter, and energy, and act accordingly by practicing gratitude, love, and compassion.
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Amazon
This book is the result of overwhelming outrage and disappointment with our species, our failure to adequately address worldwide problems that threaten our very existence. We (if there is a ‘we’) should be embarrassed and ashamed. Nature has endowed us with near perfect bodies and amazing brains and for the most part we squander our evolutionary inheritance. And the greatest gift of all, consciousness, is under-developed in most of us. In this collection of essays, the author offers insights into the human condition, the reasons we have run afoul of the natural order, along solutions to alleviate human suffering on an individual and global scale plus some playful jabs at our human folly.
One Door at a Time: How Putting Students at the Center of Education Works
One Door at a Time is a powerful memoir-manifesto hybrid, co-written by Michael Gary Jr., David L. Heiber Sr., and Ivory A. Toldson, that tells the story of Concentric Educational Solutions, a student-first initiative grounded in Afrocentric values and real-world experience. Through a mix of lived narratives, reflective critique, and practical frameworks, the book charts the failures of the traditional education system, especially in underserved Black communities, and the grassroots, door-knocking, relationship-centered model that Concentric has pioneered. With stories from Baltimore to D.C. to Detroit, the authors show how putting students and their families at the core of the education process can transform not just academic performance, but lives.
The writing is earnest and clear, but it never hides from the hard stuff. I appreciated how the authors peeled back layers of bureaucracy and systemic dysfunction without sugarcoating anything. They didn’t shy away from naming how some systems are built not to serve but to survive themselves. What hit hardest were the sections about chronic absenteeism and the real lives behind those data points. They didn’t just throw around big ideas, they brought in stories of missed kids, misunderstood families, and teachers caught in the crossfire of outdated models. It felt deeply personal. You can tell these folks have walked the walk.
What stood out most to me was their relentless commitment to human connection. It sounds simple, just go to a student’s house and ask why they’re not in school, but the bravery and humility in that act is huge. This isn’t some theoretical overhaul. It’s a day-to-day grind rooted in trust and compassion. The Afrocentric lens added a depth I didn’t realize was missing in a lot of education reform writing. They’re not just advocating for more “diverse” classrooms. They’re rethinking what school means altogether, from the ground up, through culture, family, and identity. At times, it read like a love letter to forgotten students and a challenge to every adult who ever said, “We did our best.”
I would recommend One Door at a Time to anyone who works in education, or who has ever wondered why school isn’t working for so many kids. It’s especially important for policymakers, school leaders, and those in teacher prep programs. But I think it would move anyone who believes education should be about more than test scores. This book isn’t a silver bullet, but it’s a flashlight and a set of tools, and a reminder that sometimes, real change starts with just knocking on one door.
Pages: 260 | ISBN : 978-9004735989
Luella’s Library
Luella’s Library follows a young book-lover named Luella and her tech-obsessed best friend, Lino. While Lino would rather play games on his phone, Luella invites him to her magical home library. What begins as a reluctant visit quickly turns into an unexpected journey when a book literally opens a portal to a string of enchanted worlds. From leprechauns and giant flowers to pirate chases and Pegasus flights, Luella and Lino bounce through whimsical scenes to help a lost leprechaun find his pot of gold. With each chapter-like page jump, Lino inches closer to understanding the power of stories and, maybe more importantly, the joy of reading.
I really enjoyed this children’s book. The writing feels fresh and light, and it’s got this genuine warmth that pulls you in without trying too hard. Tara Lala keeps the pace quick and bouncy, which works beautifully for younger readers, but it’s the undercurrent of real friendship and curiosity that made me smile the most. Lino’s change from grumbly phone kid to wide-eyed explorer never feels forced. It happens in little moments, like when he chooses to paddle away from pirates or plans to rescue the leprechaun from cave bats, that feel earned and sweet.
The artwork is a real treat for the eyes. Every page bursts with color, from glowing portals to shimmering forests, and the level of detail in each scene adds so much depth to the story. You can spot tiny fairies dancing near fireflies, or catch the sparkle of a unicorn’s mane as it gallops. The illustrations feel alive. Each setting feels carefully crafted and full of charm. It’s clear a lot of thought went into bringing this magical world to life, and it absolutely pays off.
I think the book is strongest when it leans into that childlike sense of discovery. There’s something charmingly nostalgic in the way the story treats books like treasure maps. The dialogue stays simple, but never boring. It’s not trying to teach a lesson in a heavy-handed way. It’s just showing that reading can be magical, funny, and exciting.
I’d definitely recommend Luella’s Library to parents of kids who are hesitant readers or glued to their screens. It’s especially great for kids aged 5 to 8, and perfect for a read-aloud bedtime adventure. Honestly, it gave me that little rush you get when you remember why you fell in love with stories in the first place. It’s bright, fun, and just plain lovely.
Pages: 38 | ASIN : B0F7NPYTC6
Educating the Public
Healing Canadian Healthcare is a heartfelt, firsthand call to action from veteran nurse Kathleen Boucher, offering practical solutions and powerful stories to address Canada’s deepening nursing crisis. Of all your proposed solutions, which one do you believe would have the biggest immediate impact if implemented today?
I think that if all the provinces made short infomercials about the many choices nurses have in their careers, it would help educate the public. To be cost-effective and maintain consistency, the provinces could use the same infomercials across the country.
What would you say to a young person considering nursing today, in light of the system’s current challenges?
Nursing is an excellent profession with numerous choices, allowing you to find a specialty that you enjoy helping people in. The more young people who join and remain in nursing, the faster the healthcare system will improve.
What moment or experience finally pushed you to write this book after decades in the field?
An RN with whom I work, who has over ten years of experience, kept saying to me that she did not think she would last until retirement. The fact that she felt she would not last until retirement bothered me, as we need a mixture of new graduate nurses, nurses who have been in the profession for a few years, and veteran nurses to work each shift. I listened to a webinar about writing a short, punchy book. A punchy book, by definition, is a short read that requires a topic that needs to be discussed but may be controversial. Educating the public about nursing and asking Canadians to help improve nursing enrolment & retention may seem like a lofty goal. The nursing crisis is a subject that warrants discussion.
Author Links: Goodreads | Facebook | Website | Amazon
LITERARY TITAN 