Tag Archives: life

Bungbunnies, hackers and a question about blogging

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First, possibly the most important business I will attend to this week. What are “bungbunnies?”

 

Bung*bunnies (bung*buneez) Noun:

The bit of dryer lint that hangs around your undergarments inevitably finding a new home between your cheeks.
 
May also be used as a slang insult: example: The bungbunnies who wasted their time digging through my wallet came up empty handed.
 
 
First known origin: Early Rome. Bungbunnies were a common problem in Rome as a result of the way clothing was made. The Romans devised a system to deal with the little critters. The invention of the thong underwear article of clothing (also known as butt floss) freed the citizens of this tyranny and ensured clean public baths. Caesar was thrilled and “The Emperor’s New Clothes” became a very successful book.
 
So there you have it. Bungbunnies.

Secondly, and much less important, it seems as though I made it through the night without sending any further email weirdness to anyone without my knowledge. Changing the passwords and following the Google guidelines to secure my account appears to have worked. I no longer feel as much like an email leper.  Now I’m just a paranoid wreck. All has returned to normal.

 

Finally, I have a question. I was talking to a friend last night who has a blog on Blogger. He posts regular, interesting things in relation to his writing career, his art and other things and yet gets almost no traffic to his site. My advice was to make the switch to WordPress, but am I correct? How much of being a successful blogger is about what you post and your personality and how much of your success is about which blogging platform you use? I used to use Weebly for a few months before making the jump to WordPress. When I came here, I saw traffic increase ten fold. I was still posting the same stuff on the old blog, but did not make the friendships I have made here.

Does anyone else have any experience using Blogger or another blog site and can you offer your opinion of WordPress vs. the other choices? I have heard from a few bloggers that are using other platforms and are unhappy with the results. Since I only have experience with the two sites, I was hoping you guys could offer a little input. Is WordPress better when it comes to comments, likes and getting your message out to a broader audience?

Thank you guys for all of the support you showed me yesterday through the Bungbunny drama. You made me feel loved even when I had leprosy:)

Now to go answer comments and check the security of my email again.


			

	
	



				
					

	

		
Dear hackers

		

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I hope you get an email from

The national ambassador of shit

Informing you your new detail is

To pick up all of it 


I hope that granny texts you

That you’ve been cut out of her will

I hope that when you see your face

It makes you green and ill


I hope that when you walk outside

You’re struck by lightning bolts

And I can see the flash from here

Powering my computer with the volts


I hope you contract a virus

From digging through my things

And when you answer your telephone

It’s a telemarketer that rings


I hope that you are proud of yourself

And enjoyed my little toast

Without you I would not have had

Such amazing things to post


Bungbunnies:I

			

	
	



				
					

	

		
Still

		

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While I still hear your breathing


and the beating of your heart


While I still reach out for you


at noises in the dark


 


I still wait for your return


long after you’ve been gone


I still turn down the volume


when it plays that special song


 


While summer rays of blazing gold


eventually simmer down to fall


I still hold these memories


and listen for your call


 


There is a separation


between  life and death


I still feel you here with me


in whispers and in breath


 


Some days feel the pain so recent


and tears come to my eyes


the lingering unanswered


the forever question why


 


I look up to the heavens


on rainy days like this


tears from immortal memories


recalling your final kiss


 


 

			

	
	



				
					

	

		
Ahhh Vacation (as in where I tromp off into the woods with no plan and four kids)

		

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I Looooove you guys. I hope you know that and I hope that I don’t forget to tell you. Still, I have brain burn. Kira and JS Riddle (where my girls at?)


So here is my plan. I’m taking the kids and doing my usual bit of turning off my phone, tromping off into a paradise of the unknown in the forest and refusing to look back until Monday. I will do my best to catch up on everybody’s posts and emails when I return. I Have to get away, This good weather is killing me and I have a terrible case of cabin fever. I may hurt someone at the office supply store if I have to deal with my broken printer any longer.


Don’t forget to support Charles and download his book while it is still free! Also, you can find out about Sarah’s giveaway and try to win a copy of her book.


I will be back on Monday morning, armed with pictures. (And you all thought you were going to get off easy.)


Hope you all have an amazing weekend and also get the chance to go out and make your own trail!  XOXO

			

	
	



				
					

	

		
Even More Stuff (Too lazy to think up a better headline)

		

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Dragon


So, more stuff. I recently did an interview with Jim Gibson about his children’s book series featuring Perdita the loveable Dog, which you can find here: http://wp.me/p2SbOP-cL


Jim’s book, The World According to Perdita Whacknoodle: The Thanksgiving Pageant of Doom will be free this Saturday and Sunday. Pick up a copy for the Little one in your life! (Trust me even the parents have fun with it!) You can find it here: 


http://www.amazon.com/World-According-Perdita-Whacknoodle-ebook/dp/B00A571W9Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1364603655&sr=8-2&keywords=jim+GIBSON


I am going to make another fabulous attempt at the Scarlet Letter this evening, and since the common idea seems to be that I should just skip the first chapter, that is what I intend to do, along with no comfortable furniture and a proper meal that does not consist of sugar and more sugar. Maybe a little sugar. I will report progress tomorrow:)


So now let us have a bit of fun before I go and make that proper dinner I spoke of. I love one sentence reviews because they are rather pointless but also a lot of fun. So, I thought it would be fun to write a one sentence synopsis of your favorite Book, Movie or game. It can only be one sentence but must tell about the plot. There is no prize other than my uproarious giggles. Sorry that. 


Because I am a good sport, here is mine: The Scarlet Letter –


ZZZZZZZzzzZZZZZ.  See, there you have it. One sentence.

			

	
	



				
					

	

		
Stuff and some more stuff and few things too

		

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Tiger's Peak


Why yes, yes that is my own goofy digital art, thank you. Anyway….


So lots of not very book related topics to get to this evening. I continue to pray for and send good thoughts to fellow blogger and amazing writer Sue Vincent for a speedy recovery. It doesn’t get any more genuine and kind than Sue.


I am looking forward to spending the majority of the evening cleaning up the explosion that happened in my bathroom when my washing machine flooded a foot of water into my bathroom, hallway and back storage closet. Thank heaven for the shop vac. Remind me to kiss the guy that invented that thing. Unless he’s dead in which case I will refrain and silently thank him from a distance.


I have decided to join the Rome Construction Crew over at Green Embers blog. You can find out more here: http://greenembers.wordpress.com/about/green-embers-rome-construction-crew/


My reasons? Well, I am a bit of a spazz. Like everyone wasn’t aware of this already. Really, I need to work on public speaking (I am awful at it) and I also get really nervous around people that I don’t know very well. I have a large crowd phobia. So I will do my best to get past this and work on improving the social me. I can hear my university mates laughing uproariously right now.


Tomorrow I will be doing an interview with David Hudnut–author, musician and artist extraordinaire and on Saturday I have an interview planned with the lovely author Carmen Stefanescu whose book, Shadows of the past, was recently featured on this blog. Busy days ahead and I would like to take the opportunity to thank you all for the support you have shown to Readful Things and to me personally. You guys give me a reason to look forward to checking my messages every morning. Kisses and hugs.


I would love to see some further entries for my blog contest, I will be updating it with the info on when it is to end and so forth once I see a few more entries. You can find out more here: http://readfulthingsblog.com/2013/03/26/an-unfinished-story-a-blog-contest-from-readful-things/


I will leave you all with a question I have been pondering. I started this thing as a book blog. That was it, strictly books. I have been noticing that over time I have branched out to all types of topics, marketing, publishing, personal items about my life, interviews with everyone including some artists and non authors. Am I doing this thing right? Should I keep it just books or are you happy with the eclectic mix of stuff you find here?


Okay, enough rambling. I will leave you with another fantastically hmmm piece of my artwork.



			

	
	



				
					

	

		
An Interview with Author Glenn Langohr

		

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Today I am proud to introduce author Glenn Langohr. He has written a quite compelling series of books that are based on his own experiences. Glenn is an amazing guy, and I am happy to welcome  him and offer some space to discuss his work.




 


 


 


 


 


 


 




Tell us about you.  


 


I’m a child of God who is saved by grace.


 


 


 


 


 You have had some tough times, but have managed to persevere. Do you think without those experiences you would have still become and author? 


 


 


I don’t think so. As a kid I was all about daydreaming about baseball, riding bikes and even flying. I have ADHD. I ran away from a broken home at 12 years old and got into hustling pot pretty early. At 17 I was living in a pot smuggler’s garage sleeping next to trash cans full of weed from Mexico. I saw an immediate opportunity to capitalize and went to the border of Mexico to find an even bigger smuggler to become my live-ins dealer. It was just weed, right? Well within a year I put together over $20,000 in cash and found a two-bedroom house to rent on the beach. The O.C. Narcotic task force interrupted my flow and took my brother and me to jail. My brother was 16 and I was 18. They kept my brother in juvenile hall and let me out as an adult to take the case to court. Minus my wad of cash, I faced a 5-day notice to vacate our new house.


 


Lost and alone, I met a speed dealer across the street at my new live in house. For the first time I tried the drug and it seemed like the answer to my ADHD. I could see things so clearly. At the time, I saw how to make my money back before my jail time. I went above my new speed dealer friend to his connection who cooked some of the best speed in San Bernardino. I did make the money back, but the Narcotic Task force seized it again and it was prison time.




 


What first prompted you to write a book? 


 


I had to make sense of my life and find purpose.


 


 


I was stuck for 10 more years of chasing money and sitting in prison. At one point I started a limo business I named “Prestigious Transport”, bought a condo and held a waiter job at an Italian Restaurant, but gave in to my addictions after 9/11 knocked my business to the curb. Prestigious Transport turned into Ghetto Transport quick. Sitting in a cell again, broken completely, I cried out to God for forgiveness. He filled me up with purpose and I started writing my first novel Roll Call.


 


  What has the reaction been like from those who have read your book so far? Have friends and family been supportive? 


 


I had Kirkus Discoveries Nielson Media review my novel Roll Call and they said, “A harrowing, down-and-dirty depiction–sometimes reminiscent of Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic–of America’s war on drugs, by former dealer and California artist Langohr. Locked up for a decade on drugs charges and immersed in both philosophical tomes and modern pulp thrillers, Langohr penned Roll Call. A vivid, clamorous account of the war on drugs.”


 


My wife’s father is John South from American Media and he told me to focus on the prison stuff so I wrote a series of novellas about prison life: Race Riot, Lock Up Diaries, Gladiator, Underdog and Prison Riot. Underdog is the one you reviewed and gave me the opportunity to speak at U.C. Irvine to 100 students as a guest Lecturer about prison conditions and solitary confinement.


 


My family has also been great.


 


  What is your writing process like? Do you follow a rigid schedule or is it more relaxed? 


 


As mentioned, I have ADHD and I don’t medicate. I have to block everything out. In prison I woke up at 4 a.m. to write to get it started before survival took over most of the concentration. I’ve been out of prison for almost 5 years and I still do the same thing.


 


 


There are some colorful characters in your writing, are they based on real people?


 


 Yes. I paint with the true colors of life and at times construct a fictional landscape by changing names and places in prison to protect the innocent and the not so innocent. At other times it’s pure reality.




 


 


 


 What have you learned about marketing/publishing since the release of your first book? 


 


It takes a lot of visibility. Interviews, book reviews, speaking opportunities, book signings, press releases and more, and they all have to be blasted through social media sites worldwide. It’s fun but time consuming.


 


At one point as I was getting the hang of it, I went to far and it consumed me and I’m pretty sure I turned into a spammer! At that point I stopped marketing completely and went on a writing spree with the mentality that newer and better books would do my marketing for me.


 


  What advice would you give others who have faced adversity but want to put it behind them? 


 


To make what you have been through turn into a blessing. No matter what you have been through, don’t let the resentments hold you in it. Find a way to bless others because of what you’ve been through. If you have been raped, help other people who have been raped. If you have been abandoned, beaten and abused, help others in that position. If you were addicted to something, help others get out of addiction. Go to church and sing praises. Pray without ceasing.


 


 


  What are your plans for the future? Any other books on the horizon? 


 


I’m always writing now and I love it. After the ninth prison book, Caught In The Crossfire: Life in Lockdown, I decided to write, Powerful Prayers of Gratitude. I have played around with other books and now put all of them in audio book myself. Narrating your own writing is a very good way to improve. 


 


I’m ready to go finish the Life in Lockdown series.




 


 


 Tell us a bit about your goal with your books and what you feel people should be aware of. 


 


My selfish goals with my prison books are to get them adapted into movies or a TV series. On a less selfish note I want to open the eyes of the public that this drug war is only breeding a bigger problem by locking up so many low level drug offenders, where in prison, that addiction is bred into an affliction much harder to escape. In California the prisons are so overcrowded that it’s a violent, gang-breeding machine. I’ve seen soccer moms lose their sons to a drug addiction and watched their sons get blasted with ink to fit in and come home skin heads. It’s the same thing with all the other races.




 


 


Thanks for the review of Underdog and for confirming that my book covers didn’t fit the redemptive, human side to my writing. I have changed them. Glenn Langohr’s audio books for a free sample~ http://amzn.to/10qom6H


Glenn Langohr’s complete list on Amazon in the U.S. http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00571NY5A


In the U.K. http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00571NY5A


My websites http://www.audiobookprisonstories.com


http://www.lockdownpublishing.com


Facebook https://www.facebook.com/glennlangohrcalifornia


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And here is my amended review of Glenn’s book “Underdog”


I find this a difficult book to review–at least for me personally–let me preface this with the reasons why. I want this review to be fair and honest so I would like everyone who reads this to understand my position.


This is not my genre, nor is it my standard reading material. I tend to review literary fiction, genre fiction, non-fiction historical, and classics. I teach English Literature. I am not familiar with the writing style of this author or the subject matter at hand, and I lived in Crescent City, California so I may have a bit of a preexisting opinion of the City and Pelican Bay from that. I will do my best to offer an impartial review regardless.


Glenn Langohr has written a gritty book filled with truth about the side of prison life that we don’t see from the outside. He writes from a position of authority, having lived what he writes about first hand. This makes his writing very honest, but also difficult for me to judge by my usual standards. I can’t say that this was the most refined writing I have ever read, but the honest truth is–it didn’t matter.


The tale this author weaves begins in a way I hadn’t expected, and I wasn’t sure what to think. The first chapter fumbled a little in my opinion, as though he was trying to find his legs beneath him. After that, the book really took off and it was impossible to put down after that. The story he tells of how inmates are treated at Pelican Bay was difficult for me to reconcile as I do know what a boost to the economy the prison brought to one of Northern California’s most desperate cities. I do believe his story, and I feel for those who have had to live through the things he spoke of, but sometimes it is hard to accept reality–especially when you are used to seeing the other side of the coin.


What I liked about this book the most, and what I felt earned this book the four stars I gave it, was Glenn’s ability to retain the reader’s interest. He may not have attended a fancy university to hone his craft of writing, but there is such a human element to his words and his ability to connect with you as you read his story on a personal level made this the kind of book you want to keep reading and tell your friends about. His message at the end of the story is both compassionate and detailed, which added a lot to this book in my opinion.


This review is based on a digital copy from the author. My opinions are my own.


 


 

			

	
	



				
					

	

		
My ”  ” utton has stopped working. rilliant.

		

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so it would seem that a certain utton on my laptop’s keypad has stopped working. I will do what I can to get this fixed asap ut until then I will not e a le to use most words very efficiently. So until this issue is fixed, I will e referring to you all as my favourite  loggers,  logs and telling you all that I appreciate your very kind support of my  log. What can you say? Life is an  itch sometimes. I elieve I can get this fixed straightaway in the morning, until then I promise not to post any ook reviews, talk a out ooks, or do any further logging. Hugs and Kisses, Ionia


what a unch of ullcrap!

			

	
	



				
					

	

		
Freeways to Flip-flops by Sonia Marsh

		

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FFlipFlops-L CoverLarge


What do you do when life in sunny Southern California starts to seem plastic, materialistic and just plain hellish? For Sonia and Duke Marsh, the answer was to sell their worldly goods and move to an unspoiled, simpler life with their three sons in Belize, Central America, a third-world country without all the comforts and distractions of life in the developed world. Sonia hopes the move will bring her shattered family back together. She feels her sons slipping away from her, and her overworked husband never has time for her or the boys. Instead, things begin to go wrong immediately. The home they initially rented isn’t available, so the family is forced to take up residence in a primitive, bug-infested shack. Duke’s telecommuting plans prove impractical because of unreliable Internet access, and he loses his job. Middle son Alec – always a conscientious, polite, tractable child – misses his friends and has trouble adjusting. As the days turn into months, Sonia finds herself questioning the family’s decision to move on a nearly daily basis. This is the story of one family’s search for paradise. In this memoir, Sonia chronicles a year of defeats, fears and setbacks – and also the ultimate triumph of seeing once-frayed family ties grow back stronger from shared challenges and misfortunes. For Sonia, paradise turned out not to be a place, but an appreciation of life’s simple pleasures – a close-knit family and three well-adjusted sons with a global outlook on life.–Description from Amazon.com


You can find this book HERE


    

  • Paperback: 328 pages
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  • Publisher: Gutsy Publications (August 1, 2012)
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  • Language: English
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  • ISBN-10: 0985403918
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  • ISBN-13: 978-0985403911
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Sonia Author -s Photo Red Small


 


 


 


 


 


 


 




Sonia Marsh is a “Gutsy” woman who can pack her carry-on and move to another country in one day. She’s a motivational speaker who inspires her audiences to get out of their comfort zone and take a risk.


She says everyone has a “My Gutsy Story®”; some just need a little help to uncover theirs. Her story, told in her travel memoir Freeways to Flip-Flops: A Family’s Year of Gutsy Living on a Tropical Island, is about chucking it all and uprooting her family–with teenagers– to reconnect on an island in Belize.


Her memoir received an honorary mention in the biography/autobiography category at the 2013 London Book Festival.


Sonia has lived in many countries – Denmark, Nigeria, France, England, the U.S. and Belize – Sonia Marsh considers herself a citizen of the world. She holds a degree in environmental science from the University of East Anglia, U.K., and now lives in Southern California with her husband, Duke.


Sonia welcomes new friends, bloggers, writers and readers at Soniamarsh.com (http://soniamarsh.com) Contact her at: sonia@soniamarsh.com www.facebook.com/GutsyLiving  or find her on Twitter @GutsyLiving 




 


My thoughts:


My kids have grown so used to me saying “If you need me I’ll be on my island (meaning my office,) that it has become a family joke. The difference between Sonia Marsh and me, is that she actually really did go to the island!


I developed a great respect for this author throughout the course of reading this book. While most of us only dream about doing something like this, the pioneering family in this true life adventure actually did it. They threw caution to the wind and really lived life!


What I loved about this book, other than the obvious adventure it presents, was the way the author allowed us to glimpse inside her true life. Where many memoirs tend to shelter the things the author doesn’t wish to shed light on, Sonia put it all out on the table. This made for a very honest and natural feeling in this book and also warmed my heart. Her love for her family and her children in particular was so apparent and so paramount in this book that I think any mother could relate.


The issues she brought up about the cultural differences and the adjustments they had to make as a family were astounding and at times just plain hilarious. I still shudder when I think of the tree incident with the ensuing rash. It makes me itch just thinking about it. I now know that I would be horrible on an island. I hate bugs.


The other thing that gave this book value, in my opinion, is the way it ended. Rather than a book full of we did this and that and now we’re done, the author talks about what her experiences have taught her and how things have changed for herself and her family because of how they lived.


Overall this was an amazing story, and I hope many others have the chance to experience it. Tender, heartwarming, exciting and most of all real.

			

	
	



				
					

	

		
Once In A While You’re the Windshield And Sometimes You’re The Bug (SPLAT!)

		

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   Yesterday was one of those days. 


It started out well enough. I got out of bed and I was still alive, still had all my limbs and the house was still standing. It went downhill from there.


First my internet crashed for an hour, my computer had some sort of cosmic brain fart and refused to start for the first three tries. Oh the blue screen of death. It finally came back.


I asked my son to help do some dishes and he accidentally dumped 8 cups or so of grease down my sink, counters, onto the floor and all over the dishes we were trying to clean. I realized I had no dish soap.


After a couple of hours of cleaning up that mess and swearing under my breath, I went back to working on the computer that was still giving me occasional fits.


My 2 year olds are potty training. This is something I am proud of (what a mom thing to say.) One of them was in my office in the middle of a diaper change when he decided to pee on the floor. The other one made a run for the nearest bathroom to use the big boy potty. This is a good thing, except he wanted to attempt it standing up and it turns out he is a bit too short to reach the actual toilet. After cleaning up the mess from twin number one I went to assist twin number two, slipped in the puddle he left on the bathroom floor and ended up cracking my head on the dryer, and sitting in a puddle of pee.


My cat decided to share the bird she caught in the yard with me by leaving it on my pillow (lovely gift to find last night.)


I made sourdough bread with the intent of turning it into garlic bread and after slicing it figured out that an air pocket had formed all the way through it so it was little else than a crust with a big hole in the middle of it. (Seriously you could have stuck your arm in it and used it as a catcher’s mitt.)


So  here is the plan for today. I’m going to get away from the computer and the house and find the person who has the Ionia Voodoo doll. It has to be an author somewhere.


I love you all and will be back tomorrow to respond to comments and visit blogs and do all of that normal stuff that I can pull off when I don’t have a pee and dryer related headache. Hope everyone has a lovely day!