Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Book Review – Whiplash River by Lou Berney & Giveaway

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I’m reviewing Whiplash River by Lou Berney today for TLC Book Tours. As always, I am provided with a copy of the book in return for my honest review.

A brief plot summary from the publisher: Having left his life of crime behind, former getaway driver Charles “Shake” Bouchon has finally realized the dream of owning his own restaurant in Belize. Unfortunately, to do so he’s had to go deep in debt to a murderous local drug lord names Baby Jesus. And when Shake thwarts an attempted hit on an elderly customer named Quinn, things go from bad to worse.

Next thing Shake knows, his restaurant’s gone up in flames and he’s on the run from Baby Jesus, two freelance assassins, and a beautiful but ferocious FBI agent. Out of options, Shake has to turn to the mysterious Quinn for help. Suddenly Shake’s up to his neck in a dangerous score that he’ll never pull off unless he can convince an even more dangerous ex-girlfriend to join him.

My review: Loved, loved, loved this book. This is such a fun read. Berney is a gifted writer. He has given us a richly drawn cast of characters. Many of them live on the edge and deal in not-so-legal activities. No matter. Berney’s gift is in writing quirky, far-from-upright characters that, nevertheless, draw you in. This book is populated by a whole bunch of crazies (and I say that with great affection.) Shake, the protagonist, has a past life that led him to a stint in jail and he’s trying very hard to live a ‘normal’ life in Belize.  Quinn, an older, mystery man has a shady past working on ‘deals’ in various countries. He talks about it continuously and hilariously. There’s the misguided young couple who are bent on killing both Quinn and Shake. There’s Evelyn, the beautiful FBI agent who goes a bit rogue.  And Shake’s ex-girlfriend, Gina, who has turned her life around but decides to go in on a caper with Quinn and Shake, just to get back at Shake for their break-up. From Belize to Egypt, this comedy-thriller, takes us on a wild ride.

I like protagonists who aren’t necessarily on the up-and-up, but who are trying to do the right thing. Much more interesting, I think. Shake is one of those characters. He’s done some bad things, yes, but he’s basically a good guy thrown into a situation where he has to do what he has to do. You can’t help but fall for him. Berney has a great gift for creating off-beat characters and a richly detailed environment. The plot is fast-paced and incredibly entertaining.

I like a touch of absurd. What I love about this book is that in the midst of something violent, Berney often adds that touch of absurd that flips the moment and changes my perception. That takes great skill. This would make a great movie; it’s perfect for film.

Berney has been compared to Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard. He is every bit their equal. He’s written another book, Gutshot Straight, that also features Shake and Gina. You can bet I will be buying it. I recommend this book highly. If you love crime thrillers with a touch of the absurd, you’ll love this book.

About the author: Lou Berney is an accomplished writer, teacher, and liar who has written feature screenplays and created TV pilots for Warner Brothers, Paramount, Focus Features, ABC, and Fox, among others. His short fiction has appeared in the New Yorker, Ploughshares, the Pushcart Prize anthology, and other publications. His first novel, Gutshot Straight, was named one of the ten best debut crime novels of the year by Booklist and nominated for a Barry Award.

Published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, paperback, 305 pages.

One of you will be the lucky winner of a copy of this great book – leave a comment and you’ll be entered!

Thanks for stopping by.

Moving from Blogger to WordPress

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I moved my blog from Blogger to WordPress last week. It was a big decision, one I had pondered off and on for quite a long time. Circumstances arose that finally forced my hand and I made the decision to do it. I’m glad I did, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a sharp learning curve.

Blogger has been very good to me until recently. I’ve been blogging over 4 years now on that platform. Blogger is free and user-friendly. It doesn’t require a lot of coding, especially with the new templates. I had an older, somewhat custom, template. Along the way, I learned how to fiddle with the html coding to design the blog the way I wanted it to be. It was the perfect learning platform for me. I spoke about my reasons for the move in this post. Now that I’ve moved, I thought I might share some of my thoughts on moving from Blogger to WordPress.

Why move?

Blogger is an excellent platform. It’s free. Millions of bloggers use Blogger. If you’re happy there, great. I had some serious problems with their help forum, or as I call it: lack-of-help forum. I also had problems with the fact that all of the photos I have posted over these past 4 years are housed in Picasa (part of Blogger) and have to stay there. Blogger, Google+, Picasa, Google Analytics and Feedburner are all living underneath a big old Google umbrella. I have no desire to be a part of Google+, I want to own my content and my photos. I want more control. I also, like many of you, have seen Blogger shut down a blog with no warning. Sometimes it’s due to malware or spam. Sometimes it’s for some other reason. All you have to do is search the Blogger Forum and you will find countless examples of blogs that suddenly vanished. Google/Blogger is in control and that means you aren’t.

There are lots of reasons to move to WordPress. Most frequently cited are greatly improved SEO (search engine optimization) and a platform that is much more customizable and flexible than Blogger. You can reach a larger audience. If you want to grow your blog, that’s important. If you have ads, that’s really important. And personally, I think the look of most WordPress blogs is cleaner.

All of this is true. But you can also lose followers since you are no longer able to use Google Friend Connect. I’m busy trying to let everyone know where I am, that I still have the same URL, and that Google Friend Connect followers have to find some other way of following me now. I worry about losing my readers because Google made the GFC widget unavailable to WordPress and Typepad blogs. It’s needlessly exclusionary, which ticks me off and I have a sneaky feeling it’s all about power.

What you need in a move to WordPress

Since Blogger/Google is the host for Blogger blogs, you will need to find a host. I use Bluehost, but there are many of them out there. Having a host involves a monthly fee. I think I’m paying something like $6.95 a month. I chose Bluehost because their customer service is available 24 hours a day. I can call them any time I want to and they will help me with any issue I have. After my experience with Blogger, that in itself is priceless. They have been enormously helpful during this move.

You need to download WordPress, which is free. I’m speaking of WordPress.org, which is self-hosted, rather than WordPress.com which is the version of WordPress that is like Blogger. And then you need to find a framework/theme that works for you. The most popular frameworks are Thesis and Genesis. I use Genesis along with a child theme that I chose. That involves an initial investment but that investment pays off. In my case, StudioPress, which designs Genesis, has the most amazing help forum. I asked so many questions there and every one of them was answered, quickly and efficiently. How refreshing!

What else?

You can either hire someone to design your WordPress blog or you can do it yourself.

You can hire someone to move you from Blogger to WordPress or you can do it yourself.

These things cost money. If that isn’t an issue for you and you’re wary of making the move yourself, hire someone.

It was an issue for me. Designers charge a healthy fee for designing a site. They also charge another healthy fee to move you. I don’t have that kind of disposable income. After reading rave reviews by other bloggers about Sharon Hujik’s ebook, How to Move from Blogger to WordPress, I bit the bullet and purchased it. It costs $35.00 but Sharon currently gives you a discount code that takes 20% off the price, so the end cost is $28.00. (I’ve a link in my sidebar and I’m an affiliate.) It’s worth every penny.

Believe me when I say that this book gives you all the information you will ever need to make the move. Truly. It became my best friend over the past month. I followed each and every step Sharon laid out. If I had a question, I emailed her. She responded right away. What more can you ask for?

Did Anything Go Wrong?

Short answer: No.

If you do any research on this kind of move, you’ll see all sorts of stories about losing comments or posts or followers.

I had over 1200 posts and over 28,000 comments on my Blogger blog. I didn’t lose one post. I lost maybe 50 comments. 50 comments out of 28,000? Small potatoes. Everything moved over seamlessly.

My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. If I had made the move before Google discontinued Google Friend Connect for WordPress and Typepad blogs, all my followers would have made the move along with me. Now, I have to find ways to let them know of the move. If you are a follower on Google Reader, you are still getting my feed and that’s great.

But to be perfectly honest, GFC was becoming something it shouldn’t for me. I don’t want to get caught up in getting more followers, constantly checking my follower count and comparing myself to others. No good can come of it. And the Follower count isn’t an accurate reflection of how many people really read your blog. I had followers on that widget that I’m absolutely sure hadn’t been around in years. I’ve followed blogs that I eventually got tired of and never visited again. So, the numbers? Not reliable.

Other thoughts

For me, the hardest part of the move was designing the blog. The coding used on WordPress is predominantly CSS coding. I had no idea how to work with it. I wanted to tweak the theme I bought so that it worked for me. In the beginning, it took me one entire day to figure out how to widen the margins of the posting area and the sidebar. There is indeed a learning curve. It got easier, however. Every question I had about it was answered in the StudioPress Forum. And with each answered question, my ability to work in this framework increased. I became much more confident. Now, I’m not a blog designer. But I’ve learned that you can design your own blog. I learned that on Blogger and I’ve learned it on WordPress. I like learning new things. It keeps my mind sharp. I feel empowered. The theme I chose had the elements I wanted in a blog and had some design elements that were perfect for my style. It made for a perfect design starting point.

I hope this gives you a little more information about moving from Blogger to WordPress. If you have more questions about the move, you can email me or leave the question in the comment section and I can address it in another post. I do have threaded comments now, so if I can answer your question quickly, I’ll do it there. Check back!

A couple of more things:

1. If you know of someone who reads my blog through Google Friend Connect, can you pass along the information that I’ve moved, that I’m at the same URL, and that I can be followed through my RSS feed or via email? I’d so appreciate that. I recommend following through Google Reader (which you can do by clicking that RSS button.) For a great post about how to use Google Reader visit Marianne’s blog here.

2. Remember that the first post for ‘A Favorite Find’ will be this Saturday. I’ll get the post up on Friday evening, though it is officially scheduled for Saturdays. I’d so love for you to join me.

Thanks, everyone! Happy Tuesday.

A Walk, A Gift, An Update, A Party

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Lately, we’ve been taking long walks on our local rail trail. We don’t take nearly enough advantage of it. We’re trying to change that. A brisk walk is good for the soul, the body and the mind.

The sun was bright – it was high noon – and I was shooting with my iPhone – so there’s a bit of graininess.

A couple of days earlier, these beauties were off in the distance; yesterday they were right by the fence.

Could that baby be any more adorable? And mom had the most beautiful eyes. I’m glad I’m a vegetarian.

That’s the ridge in the background. We have that same view, especially in the wintertime, from our little cottage.

And look who we found on the path:

It’s been a week now since we lost Riley. Each new day brings a small measure of healing. I’ve been watching Scout closely and I can tell she is not herself. She looks for Riley. She does that nesting thing – pawing at the rug – far more than she used to, and she does it a bit obsessively. She used to do it on the rug in the den. Now she also does it on the rug in the living room where Riley spent most of his time. She’s very clingy. She’s anxious. She doesn’t understand why Riley isn’t here and it is deeply upsetting to her. We are showering her with attention and love. But the poor thing is a bit lost and lonely for her brother. So am I.

My friend Judy sent me a package which arrived on Saturday. Enclosed was a beautiful sympathy card with a little note saying “these might bring a smile to your face.”

 You’re darn right they do! You know I love these little elfin creatures called Nisse. If you remember, Judy handmade one for me a few months back when we did a swap. I sent her one of my Obsession Scarves. This was such a wonderful surprise. Thank you, Judy. By the way, Judy has a new blog called 20 North Ora (the same name as her wildly successful Etsy shop) and I know she’d love it if you dropped by.

I hope all of my readers find their way to my new site here on WordPress. If they’ve subscribed via Google Friend Connect, they are not going to get my feed. If you know of someone looking for the blog, please send her/him my way. It’s the same URL and it’s easy to subscribe to my feed.

This Saturday, September 1st, will be the first A Favorite Thing party. I sure hope you can join in. Every week, we will share a favorite thing; whether it’s a cherished antique, a book, a piece of furniture, a vintage find. It could be a camera or a laptop or a new washing machine (goodness knows, my laptop and camera are among my favorite things!) I will post the necessary link information on Friday evening around 8 pm and it will stay open for linking through Sunday.

Quick question: Are these photos too large for you? I’m experimenting – they are a little large for my 13″laptop screen but I know readers like large photos. Let me know what you think. Update: I think they might be too large, so I changed the size.

Have a wonderful Monday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Thanks for visiting! Feel free to browse, read and enjoy. All content is my own; including photos and text. Please do not use anything on this site without permission.

Disclosure/Privacy Policy can be found in the Navigation Bar under ‘About MHC.’

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