My stepmother, Mary Ellen Corbett, had this photo and quote hanging in her office. She didn’t care if the quote got cut off at “meet” because its message is still loud and clear: Her book, Half Souls, is a memoir she felt to be her life calling. It’s such an honor to bring the manuscript to fruition four years after her death. Half Souls debuts on Amazon in May of 2024.

I was only 11 when she wrote this 8-page syndicated newspaper series inserted into 400 U.S. newspapers. But I was there in person when she got the phone call that her former husband had crashed his plane at sea. So when we went to Hawaii that following summer to report on the story for her her series which then ended up being Half Souls as well, I decided as I climbed the steps up the air traffic control tower on the Big Island that journalism would be my career. I’ve never met a person who loved writing more than my stepmother. Her blood must have been blue ink. That’s why it gives me such pride to finish her project for her and bring it to the world.

Why did I wait so long after her death to publish Half Souls? In her belongings, I could not find the photo she wanted for the book cover. One day it surfaced, and here it is, above. She’s holding a book called There Is A River, and we know that to be the story of Edgar Cayce. Most of Mellen’s book collection left behind resides on the shelves of Smiley Library in Redlands, California, where we can now donate her own book. Kindle Unlimited readers have the e-book for free as of May 4, and the paperback will be coming in honor of Mother’s Day this year. I hope the book unleashes a flood of ink from people who want to write their own memoirs after they read the way she wrote hers.

Mary Ellen Corbett of Fort Collins, Colorado, left behind instructions in her will to publish her epic memoir, Half Souls. Soul Custody Press releases her story on e-book through Amazon nearing the anniversary of her 2020 death, on May 4, 2024. Read this life backstory from the Pulitzer-nominated newspaper series she wrote titled “Survival At Sea” in 1978. It will make you want to write your own memoir or write down someone else’s story.

What do you do with a lifetime of diaries, letters, and other written keepsakes? What do you do with someone else’s collection you’ve discovered or inherited upon death? One way is to “tour” the collection by writing a new journal, using it as a travel journal while you explore the materials. Then you’re left with one book and can discard the rest. Would you like me to do this for you? Ship me your materials, and I’ll boil your collection down to one handwritten diary to pass on, giving you the highlights and summaries, with or without your direction. Don’t just toss it all in the trash. Let’s find the gems and create a treasure out of the collection.

There are life stories. And then there are life stories that add up to the writer’s clearly intended message to readers. Soul Custody Press specializes in helping you write you own book on topics of family, non-fiction and fiction, by professionals, parents and even children. Each writer starts with a two-hour consultation online. You may not need another to get the ink flowing or the action plan rolling. Email soulcustody.pamela@gmail.com to sign up for a session.

Parents, sign up now for a 30-minute session to save you time and money as you learn about and shop for professional supervised visitation monitors to help you fulfill your court-ordered parenting time. Email Pamela at soulcustody.pamela@gmail.com. In the meantime, make sure you’ve acquired one of the two official court orders for supervised visitation: FL-341A or DV-140 for Family Law cases. Ask your lawyer, or if you don’t have a lawyer, one contact is your Family Law division online help services; in San Bernardino County it’s selfhelpforms@sb-court.org

It’s called California’s Access to Visitation Grant Program through the Judicial Council of California, Operations and Program Division, Center for Families, Children & the Courts. To find out if you are eligible and to apply, email Shelly La Botte, the program’s coordinator, at Shelly.LaBotte@jud.ca.gov. Learn more at the website http://www.courts.ca.gov

http://www.cityofredlands.org/recreation

Here is the registration link:

https://www.cityofredlands.org/post/soul-custody-press

Are you interested in the field of professional supervised visitation monitoring? Classes on “The Career Path of Supervised Visitation” occur virtually every week through the City of Redlands Recreation Division –a two-hour online class to familiarize you with the 2021 training requirements of professional visitation monitors in the State of California. In this online class, you’ll get ready to study the 2021 California Rules of Court Standard 5.20: Uniform standards of practice for providers of supervised visitation.

This prep class is not affiliated with the presenters of the state course, who are with the Judicial Council of California’s Center for Families, Children and the Courts, Access to Visitation Grant Program in collaboration with the California Association of Supervised Visitation Service Providers. Why would you want to take a prep class for the main course when you could just take the 24-hour training itself? Find out about the profession and you’ll see why this class was a good move to discovering whether you have what it takes to work in this field.

Email soulcustody.pamela@gmail.com

From the author, Pamela Little: “When I published a memoir in 2014, I took informal credit for inventing a self-imposed diagnosis to add to the annals of dysfunction. If you take a look at my book on Amazon at “The Resting Place – A Graveside Diary” under my former name Pamela Little, you’ll see the story behind the humorously true condition. For now, here’s the definition of PDDD from the book: “Death of the spirit is far more fatal than death of the body, and body and spirit feel equally crushed after a divorce. I call it Post-Divorce Destruction Disorder, PDDD. No, there isn’t a pill for it yet that I’m aware of. It is characterized by rapid weight loss in the initial radioactive phase of divorcing, perhaps coinciding with a rebound relationship, and leads to weight gain due to fierce attempts to bury grief and anger, while at the same time warding off the opposite sex in case that doesn’t work out either.”

Little tells Soul Custody Press: “In Amazon reviews, feel free to write what you are reminded of from your own experience after reading the book, rather than a critique of the book itself, though both are welcome. Many people get half way through before putting it down due to its dark, comedic nature. They then miss the light at the end of the tunnel; the recovery from PDDD. So push through. Hopefully I can inspire you to get to the other side if you feel stuck in the dark. Better still, I can inspire you to help others through to the other side. The sequel, an unpublished manuscript titled “The Rest,” is still…resting on my shelf.”

Dear Families,
What a year it has been globally. And families are their own little worlds. In them, I want to honor those family members and friends whom we’ve lost this year, from the pandemic, natural, unpredictable or accidental causes. Grief is an unwelcome house guest, an invisible shape-shifter that can redirect its effects onto random situations and people and cause harm to others without us knowing. None of us is alone in the holiday response this year to anything — financially, socially, domestically. The losses we grieve are of many kinds, including time we wish we had with our children. The end result? Family comes into full focus as if in the spotlight. This has enormous positive potential heading into a new year.  So how do we move forward? Out from the physical distancing demanded of us this year we can connect more emotionally, spiritually and mentally virtually as we interact with our children face to face on screen when not in person. We may not be out doing fun activities, so it’s an opportunity none of us should miss for closer communication, new information about one another, and new ways of participating in their lives. For example, getting to play in their rooms with them is not something that visitation in person usually includes. In 2021, we will be moving forward with our families no matter where we are, no matter what happens in the world, and no matter what our circumstances are at any given moment. Thank you for allowing me the honor of supporting you and your children. If I can be a family resource for you, I’ve got plenty of ideas and know other people who have them, too. I’ll leave you with a poem by my stepmother who died this year. She wrote it for our torn up family when I was 12. Related by marriage, our family is a descendant of Joseph Mohr who wrote the words to “Silent Night.” So she obviously got the poetic gene. Those of us who are not currently living with our children can appreciate the last line here the most: 
“Home holds the countless comforts we grow up and leave behind. And though we’re ever searching, ’tis a rarity to find, a peaceful, private, perfect place by loving hearts designed. Home is where a soul can rest. Home is a state of mind.” –Mary Ellen Mohr, 1976
Let’s all remember that no matter what our circumstances, our children’s homes are in our hearts, forever.

Best wishes for a healthy and harmonious New Year. — Pamela