Congratulations to Trevor Pacelli for writing and publishing our first children's chapter book, Summer of the Fruit Virus, a middle-grade sci-fi adventure novel. When Pablo and Camilo's backyard orange tree mutates into a durian tree, the virus infects every other plant in San Diego, locking people in their homes and ending normal life. Between Pablo’s bullying “friends,” his newly divorced mom who starts acting like an animal, and his annoying younger brother Camilo, he has a lot to deal with. Faced with a city falling apart, Pablo and Camilo confront the mayor with the secret they discovered that could reverse the virus. 

The latest book in our Six-Word Lessons Series is now available in paperback and kindle.
Dr. Michael P. Sanders is a pastor, leadership coach and keynote speaker currently serving in Arizona who has written Six-Word Lessons on Ministry Leadership from the Trenches. It contains 100 lessons to help those working in the often-thankless positions in Christian ministry.
He draws from his 30+ years of experience to encourage readers through his honest, real-life experiences to thrive in their areas of ministry.

We are happy to announce a new book by Trevor Pacelli, What Movies Can Teach Us About Bullying. It answers the question: Can learning about bullies in the movies help end real-life bullying?

In this book, you’ll read about characters from many of your favorite movies, such as Forrest Gump, Mean Girls and Moonlight who bully and are bullied, and you’ll discover common tropes about bullies in film--good and bad. Each chapter ends with discussion questions to ignite conversation about bullying in the real world and how to stop bullying in your community. 

Bullying School Presentations
Trevor is now booking school assemblies and other presentations on movies and bullying. Contact Trevor if you would like to discuss a presentation for your group.

By Trevor Pacelli

2023 is ending, so I figured now would be a good time to share some of my upcoming projects for 2024, as well as how working on these projects has given me multiple opportunities to be a storyteller.
In 2023 I published the first book in a series, What Movies Can Teach Us About Disabilities, which discusses the good and bad representation of disabilities in film. For example, Good Will Hunting is an example of positive representation of mental disorders because it depicts people with such disorders as fully human and needing professional help. On the contrary, The Elephant Man is an example of negative facial disfigurement representation because it depicts a man like Joseph Merrick as totally helpless without the guidance of an able-bodied person.
My approach to writing that book, however, was much different than the next book in the series, What Movies Can Teach Us About Bullying. For this one, I had to focus less on categorizing types of bullying and more on delving into how specific movies portray bullying. For example, a whole chapter is dedicated to how Mean Girls shows the toxicity of class royalty and how it can taint anyone who comes too close to the cult-like behavior of a social clique. I discuss ten movies in this upcoming book with more depth than I could do with my previous book, in turn opening up my storytelling capabilities as I help raise awareness of why some movies would be considered good and others not so good.
Another book I published in 2023 with Pacelli Publishing was The Kindergarten Adventures of Amazing Grace: What in the World is Autism? It was written by my sister and illustrated by me in 2008, and in 2023, I formatted, illustrated and published a new edition of the book. I’ve gotten great feedback on the quality of my illustrations, and it makes me feel good knowing that I can convey emotion through static images to help children understand the stories they’re reading. So now, as I enter 2024, I’ll begin writing and illustrating the next installment of this series, The Kindergarten Adventures of Amazing Grace: A Field Trip to the Zoo.
There’s one more book I plan to publish in 2024, a grade-school novel called The Fruit Virus, where the plants throughout San Diego mutate into durian trees, causing mass hysteria across the city. I wanted to write a fiction book for a while because I see this as my ultimate outlet for storytelling; being a film studies major with an emphasis on screenwriting. I have enjoyed applying what I learned in college. I want to write for this age group specifically because second through sixth grade was my peak time period for reading books I actually enjoyed, and I’ve been told I’m good at relating to kids. A deeper reason is that I don’t want the lower attention spans of children to lead to lower quality in storytelling.
Besides my books, I will continue to tell stories about myself through blog posts such as this one. I’ll be sharing my life experiences so others can get a taste of what it’s like living on the autism spectrum. Each experience will be a story that includes a beginning, middle, and end. They will speak the truth about what will best help parents and their autistic kids during holidays such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
All around, I’m glad to say that since I started working at Pacelli Publishing over two years ago, I’ve gotten closer to realizing my potential as a storyteller. I’m now writing three different book series for three very different age groups and in three different styles. My writing skills are not perfect, but I hope for 2024 to be a year of improvement in my body of work.
In the meantime, I want to thank all of you for being such loyal followers of Pacelli Publishing in the last year and for giving us the chance to make our stories heard. Can’t wait to see what kind of stories await us all in 2024!

--by Trevor Pacelli

COVID-19 had forced many companies to work from home, which to this day still is massively the norm for countless workers. Yet how do managers and supervisors keep their employees productive? Many companies and workers have found the solution, although this new system ironically has been much more convenient—less need for office spaces, no more rush-hour traffic or inflated gas prices, extra time around families, more chances to finish little chores around the house, the list goes on!

Yet working from home can still be a curse because distractions pop up EVERYWHERE. Just look at the recent wave of hilarious YouTube videos where people on Zoom calls are interrupted by kids and pets. Distractions can get much more intrusive in a not-so-funny way: The dog threw up. The laundry must be done before the kids return home from school. Temptation rises to go snack on chips and surf the web. Without a boss around, it’s easier to lollygag and shift attention to something unrelated to work.

That’s where something called, the “dones” system could help those who work from home.
The idea started with my parents/supervisors after I had graduated from college. In my last semester at Arizona State University, I fell into a real pit of despair (no, not like in The Princess Bride) since I had no job ready for me. As one on the autism spectrum, my verbal communication skills are poor, and I learned to avoid customer service jobs because of my tendency to accidentally say something rude without meaning to. Thus, my employment options felt severely limited. Although my Dad worked with me to form professional connections, set up a strong LinkedIn profile, and perfect my resume, I still saw no hope in landing a job; I didn’t know when/if I would get one. I was starting to feel like the four and a half years I spent to get my Bachelor's degree was a worthless waste of time, and that I would just be better off killing myself. So after I arrived back home in Bellevue, Washington, my parents invited me to work for their business, Consetta Group, with a focus on developing my photography and movie review businesses, as well as promoting books they had published. And just like that, on February 1, 2016, I had a job!

Right away, we began using an innovative system designed to ensure I got stuff done, and we literally called it the "dones." Here's how it works: Before the month begins, I fill out a table of responsibilities I plan to focus on for that month; maybe I plan to put up a blog post before the month’s end or put up a new photography website, and those become that month’s "dones.” At the month’s end, I note whether I got those tasks done, and decide on the next month’s "dones." I record all this in a OneNote document, which my parents can access, and at the start of each month, we meet up to talk about the progress I made that month, and what I plan to get done the next month. The system keeps me, my mom, and my dad on the same page with minimal miscommunication, not to mention it makes gargantuan tasks like publishing a book feel less scary. This process also helps lay out a tangible "to-do" list that can refresh my memory on what tasks I should focus on throughout the week. Not that I always finish the tasks every time each month, but the greater priority is in making sure I’m learning and that there are still significant leaps made toward a project’s completion. Sometimes, at our monthly dones meeting, my dad requests I work on an additional side project throughout the month, or maybe research a topic for my personal and professional development.

I took a detour from working for my parents for a few years, but wasn’t seeing any growth in myself or opportunities at the company, so in September of 2021, I returned to Pacelli Publishing as their new Chief Storyteller, and my parents and I continued our "dones" system with five categories: my book series on movies, my education about the publishing process, the website about training churches to be disability-accepting (DiChampion.com), my fiction book series, and the children's book about autism I illustrated.

In my experience, this system puts less emphasis on me fulfilling forty weekly work hours, and greater emphasis on my goals. Although a goal should still exist to meet a mandatory number of weekly work hours, a bigger priority should be on the accomplishment of whatever long-term goals the company must meet. This is where working from home can be advantageous, because the ultra-flexibility with work hours and work environment can allow personal control over what goals to set, depending on the job. 

Because of the “dones” system, I got three books successfully published in the last few months.

1. What Movies Can Teach Us About Disabilities, which took me over a year to write, and is on a topic I’m very passionate about.
2. 527 Bible Verses About Disabilities, which originally started as a list of Bible verses about disabilities Dad asked me to compile, and from there evolved into an eBook that will help other church pastors and church leaders.
3. The Kindergarten Adventures of Amazing Grace: What in the World is Autism?, a children’s book my sister wrote fifteen years ago for her high school senior project. I illustrated the book originally, and in the past year knew it needed a modern makeover.

For the children’s book, we laid out a process with monthly goals and an ideal deadline. Throughout the early stages, a “done” was making up a storyboard. Later on, a “done” was completing four illustrations. Throughout the book’s final stages, a “done” was finishing the last five illustrations. That next month, a “done” was getting the illustrations reviewed by a professional. Two months later, my “done” was submitting the book. Even then, I still had to set a new “done” for the marketing of the book. Bottom line, after many long and difficult roads that made me sweat blood and tears, the book was published by the deadline we had set, and now all three of these books can be purchased on Amazon at last! 

The “dones” have been the best possible work option for my professional growth, discovering new opportunities, personal accountability, goal-setting, and creative control, none of which would these three books have been possible without.

​Our son Trevor has just completed What Movies Can Teach Us About Disabilities. Based on extensive research and his knowledge of film as a Film and Media Studies major, this book covers ten disabilities most commonly depicted in movies, and explains all the story tropes that come with how they’re treated.

This has been a massive project that took over a year to complete, and Trevor is very satisfied with the finished product! It would be a perfect holiday gift for those who love movies, want to learn more about disabilities, or just want an informative read!

Learn more about Trevor and his other books at TrevorPacelli.com, and learn more about how you can become a published author at PacelliPublishing.com.

We wish you all a beautiful holiday season and new year!

Lonnie, Patty and Trevor Pacelli
Pacelli Publishing

This year marks the debut of The Kindergarten Adventures of Amazing Grace: What in the World is Autism--version 2.0, by Briana and Trevor Pacelli! This version has nearly the same text as the original 2008 copy, but now with all new illustrations and formatting.

This children’s book about autism was written by our daughter, Briana, for her high school senior project, and our son, Trevor, who also was in high school at the time, illustrated it. Earlier this year, Trevor decided to give the book a much-needed makeover, and we could not be happier with the results! It's available in paperback and e-book and will make a great holiday gift for your child or grandchild!

We are excited to announce our newest book on this important and much-needed topic, Six-Word Lessons to Homeschool Your Child by Christy Sanders.

Christy has taught public school, earned a Master's degree in teaching, and homeschooled her three children since 2010. Her children have various special needs, so she has become an expert at how to adapt to children of different abilities. She teaches at conferences and seminars for homeschoolers. 

This book will help parents who are new to homeschooling, need advice for teaching children with disabilities or learning differences, or just want some new ideas and resources.

​Learn more about Christy and find homeschool resources at LetsGetRealLiving.com.  

 
Our founder, leadership expert Lonnie Pacelli, has written a new book to help leaders scale up and lead those who are also leading others. Six-Word Lessons on Scaling Up as a Leader has 100 practical lessons and examples to help leaders build habits to be effective while not sacrificing their life balance.

Coming Soon from Pacelli Publishing
Six-Word Lessons on Homeschooling
What Movies Can Teach Us About Disabilities

Let us know how we can help you share your expertise or get your story out!

Patty, Lonnie and Trevor Pacelli
PacelliPublishing.com


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Trevor Pacelli is finishing a book called, What Movies Can Teach us About Disabilities. It includes ten chapters that each focus on how a different disability is represented in film.

We need reviewers who have the disability corresponding to the chapter that talks about that same disability. 

Facial Disfigurement (Abnormal Facial Structure, Facial Scars, Loss of One Eye)

• Memory Loss (Alzheimer's, Dementia)
• Mental Illness (ADHD, OCD, Anxiety, Depression)
• Motor Impairment (Paralysis, Parkinson's, Cerebral Palsy)
• Mutism (Selective Mutism, Absence of Speech Due to Paralysis)

If you have anything related to these and are interested in reading one of my chapters, please email Trevor. You'll be looking for:

1. Any words or other ideas that may come off as offensive to your community.
2. Anything about the culture that is inaccurate.

Any other general feedback is also appreciated. Grammatical editing will be done separately. It should take you less than an hour to review a chapter. 

Thanks so much for considering, and feel free to pass this along to anyone you think might be interested.