Thought provoking? Or just provocative?

Every once in a while you run across a surprising, independent thought by a newspaper columnist. And I used to be one, so I know how difficult that can be. What makes this so unique to me is who it is that is going against the grain and against conventional wisdom. It's a garden blog writer, Rhonda Hayes, taking on the Pink industry. Interesting ... Put Off By Pink

Two years ago I found myself dreading October and all the pink crap that goes with it. You see, those of us with more than a nodding acquaintance with breast cancer (and our numbers grow bigger every year) don't need a publicity campaign to keep it "top of mind". We know it every day, by the scars on our chests and the holes in our hearts. We know it by absence; through the empty spots at our family gatherings. If you want to know the truth, we'd like to not think about it now and then.

Still no call from the Noble Prize people

I was hoping I had an "in" with those Norwegians.

Bad news, good news: Bad is that Vince Flynn's next novel has been delayed due to pain and tiredness from cancer treatment. Good is that Doc says he will be better than ever. Star-Trib reports.

And what's this doorknob's problem? Elitist much?

I guess he hasn't read Tom Dorsey's novels. I just finished Triggerfish Twist and Cadillac Beach. They are over-the-top funny.

Haugen Hump Day link-o-rama

Jill Callison of the Argus Leader tells about a couple other dudes from Canton (hometown of yours truly) who made it big. Not big enough to have their own blog! But pretty big ...

Even though his mother said he was "born grown up," no one living in Canton in the early 1900s would have predicted that Ernest Lawrence would be the first South Dakotan to receive the Nobel Prize.

Nor would they have expected that two playmates also would win worldwide renown.

And I could've sworn this said: A Guide to Books

I may have to add this one to the Amazon shopping cart: "Mom’s a Drunk, Dad’s a Writer: A Recipe for Disaster and a Memoir" Here's the NY Times review.

This dude at The Guardian blesses us with his list of the top 10 books of the 1980s. I may have to delve into these as well, because if it wasn't written on the back of a beer bottle in the 80s, I probably missed it.

Law enforcement has been notified

They're saying this could be bigger than The Rally. But "they" were really drunk when they said it.

From the fine folks at the Sturgis Area Arts Council:

Meet Author Mark Haugen

“Joshua’s Ladder” author Mark Haugen will be featured at a book signing on Tuesday, September 27 from 5:30-7:00pm at the Sturgis Public Library. He will talk about his writing around 6:00p.m. Copies of his book will be available for purchase as well as signing during the event.

“Joshua’s Ladder” follows Joshua Miller from depths of despair to heights of love; from South Dakota to Florida. Along the way Joshua’s love for the woman he saved from drowning is unquestionable, friendships he made unflappable, but his demons unmovable.” A reader found his “characters entertaining, charismatic and very well developed.”

Haugen has worked as a journalist for several newspapers in southeast South Dakota and across the border into Minnesota. At home near Rapid City, he lives with his wife, three teenagers, two dogs, and (formerly) Johnnie Depp, the pet rabbit. Besides writing, he enjoys running and gardening.

Refreshments will be provided by GFWC Sturgis Woman’s Literary Club, who share sponsorship of the event with the Sturgis Public Library and Sturgis Area Arts Council. If you have questions, please contact Dorothy Pulscher, 720-5467.

Norwegian TV keeps us in suspense

My former fantasy football league-mate Tom Lawrence of the Mitchell Daily Republic tells about a Faith, SD, resident about to be made famous on Norwegian television:

Did you hear the one about the Norwegian TV crew in South Dakota?

Don’t laugh. This isn’t another Ole and Lena joke.

A crew from a Norwegian production company is coming to the state this month to tape scenes for a series that will run next year on Norwegian TV.

The TV hosts are Esdwsben Selvig, who is called “Danish” and Thomas Gullestad, who is known as “The Finger.”

Family tree lands on FB

As much of a time suck as it can be, Facebook has its virtues. Recently I was invited into the Renli Family group, a pretty exclusive hoity-toity group of Norwegian-rooted South Dakota ag families who have sprawled out over time.

It must be part of getting old when you start paying attention to ancestorial family tree type stuff, because I know I never used to care when my dad would explain to me about some great aunt who was the cousin of a fella who played baseball for the Triple A Mudcats of the Yankton League in 1927. Yet, now it seems somewhat more interesting and Dad isn't around to re-tell the story to a pair of re-interested ears. My bad.

So I'm in this club from the other side of my family now. My mother's maiden name was Renli. Her dad was Clayton. His dad was Olaf. His dad was Ole. Somebody in the Renli group recently posted a picture of Ole and his wife, Anne, from when they homesteaded in South Dakota in the 1860s, almost three decades before S.D. statehood. Olaf was a handsome, fully-bearded fellow. Anne, unfortunately, was also a handome, fully-bearded felllow; or maybe the politically correct term is that she was a "sturdy woman." My son looked at the picture and first thing he said of her was: "Is that a unabrow?" Yup. And he better watch it, because I'm pretty sure that unabrow could come back and kick his scrawny teenage butt to kingdom-come.

According to my calculations, that makes me a fifth-generation South Dakota, and better yet makes my kids sixth-generation South Dakotans. And fortunately, for my girls, the five generations in between managed to dilute the unabrow gene pool and replace the sturdiness factor with long, slender legs. Hopefully, though, they will be just as tough as their great-great-great grandma had to be.

Wikipoopin out?

I haven't been following the Gossip Girl goings-on that Wikipedia is supposedly running out of gas. But this story explains it pretty well:

Wikipedia, operated by the not-for-profit Wikimedia Foundation, is a volunteer enterprise. Writers and editors are not paid for their time. And now, ten years after Wikipedia’s launch, many of those contributors have moved on with their lives. (Another reason many Wikipedia writers have given for bailing out is that some of the site’s volunteer editors, displaying the all-too-common combination of ignorance and arrogance, clumsily compromise the quality of their work.)

An additional challenge is that the longtime contributors who remain, and the newcomers who have logged on more recently, are running out of things to write about.

Tough week

I got bit by a dog yesterday, and now this ...

I'm far from a computer geek, but I'm not inept. I self-published a book, uploaded it Amazon, built my own blog, in fact had one of the first blogs for a newspaper in SD, but I'll be danged if I can get this stupid Twitter link to appear on the side of this blog. I have the code. I copy and paste it in every place I can think of. But it doesn't show up except if I do it in a post like this.

Maybe I am inept.

So here it is: Follow @markhaugen

I've had the Twitter account for some time just to follow some people I'm interested in, but I've never actually Tweeted. Yes, a Twitter virgin.

But if I get a handful of followers I may just Tweet on occassion, if for no other reason than to frighten some people close to me. Follow me and I'll follow you and we'll get lost in the moment together.

I wonder if he's read Joshua's Ladder?

Like most of you, I have some guilty pleasures. For instance, I'll watch SpongeBob Squarepants any time, any day of the week. I also like Enrique Inglesias music, not nearly as much as I like Prince, but I don't feel guilty about loving Prince. I am proud to be the biggest Prince fan in South Dakota. Enrique? Eh, not something I brag about.

Perhaps my biggest guilty pleasure is being a Minnesota Viking fan, but I'm not sure if they could be described in any way with the word "pleasure."

None-the-less, I don't talk much sports here, but will in this instance mention the Vikings' punter Chris Kluwe and point you to this story in the Star-Tribune: Kluwe's a Renaissance man for the Internet age

He doesn't sound like your typical football player. One teammate says:

"When I first saw him punt, I thought he was phenomenally talented. Then I came over here from Green Bay and realized that football was just a means of supporting all of the other things he wants to do in life.

"I think guys know what you get with Chris, which is a very, very intellectual guy. So if people give him grief, they've got to be ready to take some grief back, because he's a lot smarter than a lot of the guys around here."

I can relate

"Every morning between 9 and 12, I go to my room and sit before a piece of paper. Many times, I just sit for three hours with no ideas coming to me. But I know one thing. If an idea does come between 9 and 12, I am there ready for it."

- Flannery O'Connor

Some links and a review

The newest reader review on Smashwords was 5 stars and has all the astronomers talking:

"Really enjoyed this book. Joshua and his "climb" was really interesting and kept me wondering what would be next throughout the book. Joshua was easy to like and so were the rest of the characters in the book. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a quick fun read. Am wondering what will happen to Joshua next..."

And don't sue me for missing the last couple Haugen Hump Day Link-o-Ramas. Besides, there are much better reasons to sue me than that. So here are some link-worthy linky things:

I'm always up for a good war-buddy reunion story. So there's this from the Star-Trib:

The last time they saw one another was late October 1944. Marine pilot Lloyd Flynn and his gunner mate Dan Williams said goodbye on Engebi Island in the South Pacific after eight months of flying missions together in a two-person warplane.

On Thursday, the two World War II vets saw each other for the first time since that farewell, this time outside Flynn's home in Edina.

"Captain, how are you?" said Williams as he stepped sprightly out of a vehicle, saluted and stretched out his hand, laughing.

Flynn was too choked up to say anything at first, and the two buddies, stooped with age, just hugged.

"I told Bruce it'd be emotional, and it is," Flynn finally choked out. "Son of a gun, how are you?"

I ran across a list of 15 books your kids should read, according to somebdy I never heard of. I'm surprised ol' Harry Potter isn't on there. I've personally never read a Potter book, though I caught a couple movies, but I credit that series with getting my daughters into reading.

As for book series, I was big into the Encyclopedia Brown and Hardy Boys books as a kid. The series I also read which aren't on this list include the Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan series and bookshelves full of Louis L'Amour books my grandma Renli had.

Today's tweeners most likely only know of the Tarzan movie. Would be nice if they knew he wrote over 20 Tarzan books. Hey, tell somebody! Ed's first Tarzan book (his friends call him Ed) came out in 1912. That shows a good imagination, unlike milk, doesn't have an expiration date. He wrote over 70 books total. You can access the Tarzan ebooks for free at Gutenberg.

With L'Amour, a North Dakota boy, I felt like I practically grew up with the Sacketts and that series of books. All told, LL had 89 novels. It's amazing to me how prolific some of those writers were.

So next time your kid says" I'm bored!", introduce him to Barnabas Sackett.

Here's one guy's list and the link to the story:

15. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
14. Asterix
13. Charlotte’s Web
12. Childhood of Famous Americans
11. Encyclopedia Brown
10. The Hardy Boys
9. Have Space-Suit, Will Travel
8. Homer Price
7. The Mad Scientists’ Club
6. Mrs. Coverlet Novels
5. The Spaceship Under the Apple Tree
4. Tom Swift, Jr.
3. The Three Investigators
2. My Side Of The Mountain
1. The Chronicles of Narnia

A Cassiopeia (5 star) review

Yeah, either I really know my astronomy or know how to use the Google machine. You guess which.

It's always nice to click on ol' Amazon.com and see a new five-star review pop up. This one for Joshua's Ladder, the e-book version:

"I thoroughly loved reading this book, I was hooked from the start and found myself laughing on one page and crying on the next. The characters are entertaining, charismatic and very well developed as is the plot. Being a resident of the Black Hills of South Dakota I loved the familiarity of the setting. I would highly recommend this book... can't wait to start reading the sequel!"

Haugen Hump Day link-o-rama

This week, featuring stories in the great South Dakota towns of Mitchell, Onida and DeSmet ...

The Mitchell Daily Republic tells us about this 98-year-old first-time author (Good for her!):

God has always had a strong presence in Lorraine Wise’s life. Now, God has a presence in her new 166-page book, “God is Real: Excerpts from my Spiritual Journey through 78 Years.”

Wise will hold a book signing from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at the Reader’s Den, Mitchell, promoting the publication, which she wrote when she was 97. The book’s subtitle refers to the number of years since Wise’s spiritual awakening as a young woman.

Wise, who is now 98, said the idea for the book came to her about 15 years ago, during a reunion with two of her closest friends.

And we're always up for a good rodeo here in the Black Hills. We'll soon see if that allure is worldwide, as Amanda Fanger of the Onida Watchman explains:

Sutton Rodeos of Onida are set to participate in a world-changing event – the first ever rodeo in China.

Called Rodeo China, the event is one of historic proportions. This 8-day rodeo will take place at the National Stadium in Beijing, China. It is being organized by Less and Forever More, Inc., an organization started by Richard and Carrie Tucker.

Jill Callison of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader writes about the 40th anniversary of the Laura Ingalls Wilder pagent in DeSmet.

If Charles Ingalls had his way, his family's stay in De Smet would have been brief.

"Given his own way, it seems to me, Charles would have gone into the sunset forever," says Marian Cramer, referring to the wanderlust that took Ingalls and his family more than 1,500 miles in a covered wagon.

But Charles Ingalls had married a woman much less inclined to roam. Caroline Ingalls made him promise to take a railroad job that brought the couple and their four daughters to Silver Lake in Dakota Territory.

And she made him promise to stay.

Amyzon!

Just a heads up to you Kindleheads out there. Amy's Ladder is now available in ebook form at Amazon.

So as not to be confused, or to confuse you more, Amy's Ladder is the sequel to Joshua's Ladder in the ebook format.

In the paperback format, Joshua's Ladder includes the Amy sequel. Got it?

OH! And I received my first-ever royalty check today! Not Koontzian, but it's a start.

Hump day link-o-rama

*** I've written before of my respect for former Argus Leader sportswriter John Egan and how honored I was to work with him and to call him a friend. The Argus has a story about his book, Drop Him Till He Dies.

Imagine growing up believing your father had murdered your mother and had been executed for the crime.

Or that your grandfather had murdered your grandmother and was hanged for it but knowing little else.

Or knowing nothing about it at all.

That was the situation John Egan found himself in 30 years ago when an Argus Leader co-worker writing a story about capital punishment nonchalantly asked, "How come you never said anything to me about Thomas Egan?"

"Who's that?" Egan replied.

*** Bill Keller, executive editor of the NY Times, laments how most of his staff is out writing books instead of doing their jobs. One of his funnier columns.


*** And finally, a good ol' small-town newspaper, the Freeman Courier, has a nice story about a good ol' small-town church celebrating its 125th anniversity.

The people of Salem Mennonite Brethren come together to celebrate 125 years with appreciation, reverence, pride and a renewed call to make 'little things become large.'

Interesting stuff, literally

Last year Ledbury poetry festival asked poets to name their most hated words. For this year's festival – running from 1 to 10 July – they've asked for the expressions that have become such cliches that they have lost all meaning. Here are their responses.

Veto Von Botherland, was born in Germany, he understands German, responds to German and enjoys German Schutzhund Sport. So what is so special about Veto Von Botherland? Veto is the first German Shepard canine with a position on the Black Hills National Forest. Check it out.

Denver's Tattered Cover Book Store has been a focal point for the city's literary community since 1974. Owner Joyce Meskis explains the challenges of operating an independent bookstore in an ever-changing climate, and the future she sees for the nation's independent booksellers. NPR has the story.

Nice lil' 5-star review on Amazon

LOVED this book!!, June 23, 2011
By WGR
Amazon Verified Purchase
This review is from: Joshua's Ladder (Paperback)

I am a voracious reader, mostly of non-fiction (politics, current events and history) along with Christian-based books. A friend recommended Jacob's Ladder and I'm so glad they did. I really enjoyed getting to know Joshua and his life story, staring in South Dakota, then to Cocoa Beach and back. The characters in the book are unique and the author really makes them come alive. If you are from the Midwest, there is going to be a lot to recognize in the story. There are surprise twists throughout the book, which are actually two stories (Joshua's Ladder and Amy's Ladder). A couple shocking developments made me hunger for more. I would HIGHLY recommend this book to everyone and I look forward to more of Mr. Haugen's writings in the future. A wonderful book!

Tiger Mom, meet Irish Setter Dad

One of the more talked about books this past year was Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and what is the best way to raise your kid. Seems the basic question is: Do you raise them to be career/money oriented or do you raise them to be happy?

P.J. O’Rourke offers his thoughts in this column “Irish Setter Dad.” (You have to sign in, but it's free.) Here's a snippet:

"My kids fit the success profile. I’ll bet Muffin and Poppet are accepted at the University of Idaho, assuming Wii is a Title IX thing. And Buster will be waving goodbye to Harvard while he’s still in junior high.

Amy Chua, I’ve got bad news. “A” students work for “B” students. Or not even. A businessman friend of mine corrected me. “No, P. J.,” he said, “ ‘B’ students work for ‘C’ students. ‘A’ students teach.” Teaching in the Ivy League gives you a lot of time off, Amy—enough to write a crap book, worse than Yale prof Erich Segal’s Love Story. Maybe when you get some time off again you should come to rural New Hampshire and meet the Irish Setter Dad children.

Buster, age 7, is a master of passive resistance who can turn staying up past his bedtime into Tahrir Square. He could hire himself out as a civil disobedience coach to Mahatma -Gandhi and Martin Luther King, if they weren’t dead. Poppet, 10, is a persuasive saleswoman, not to say charming con artist, who can hand you a sheet of black construction paper with a hole in it and convince you it’s a science project on collapsed super-novas. And Muffin, 13, has her own .410 shotgun and knows how to use it.

Try your Chinese Tiger Mom stuff on my kids."

In my mind, O’Rourke has managed an incredible career by appealing to the diverse audiences of The Atlantic Monthly, The American Spectator and The Weekly Standard, as well as viewers of Bill Maher and listeners of NPR. Author of 16 books, he is considered the most quoted living man. Don’t doubt me, Wikipedia says so!

In a 2008 LA Times column, O’Rourke shares his take on mortality, after learning that he had:

“of all the inglorious things, a malignant hemorrhoid. What color bracelet does one wear for that? And where does one wear it? And what slogan is apropos? Perhaps that slogan can be sewn in needlepoint around the ruffle on a cover for my embarrassing little doughnut buttocks pillow.”

Haugenmail

Okay, I'm going to start stepping it up here. Lately I've been busy, distracted and generally unmotivated. But that's about to change. So let's go to the mail bag with questions and comments from actual people who actually interact with me via email, Facebook, phone or at baseball games.

From a guy with too much time on his hands in Faith, SD: "Finished reading Joshua's Ladder this weekend (family travel - so it was also the first book I read on my phone). I'm ready for the next rung on the Ladder! I hope his next love interest has a less hazardous occupation :-) It was great! Good Job!"

My first thought is of my grandpa Clayton Renli and what he would think if I were to flash back 40 years and say to him: "Hey, Grandpa, I just read a book on my phone." He'd probably ask: "Mark, have you been drinking out of the cattle tank again?"

I still remember Grandpa and Grandma's party line phone and the two rings that were theirs. Sometimes I would "accidently" pick up the phone on other rings and listen to others talk until somebody said: "Hey! Is there somebody else on the line?" Then I'd hang up, though I think the guy from NSA stayed on. That was probably the first evidence to suggest I might someday become a nosey journalist.

FYI, my grandma Lydia's best friends were named (and this is not a joke): Alma, Selma, Thelma and Helma. And Selma (this is not a joke) was married to Selmer. More proof that God has a sense of humor.

From an in-law, so doesn't really count as an actual person: "So Joshua's Ladder in ebook is different than Joshua's Ladder in paperback? Wha?"

Yes, those in-laws are easily confused. Here's a publishing update on all things Haugenish. I'm typing slowly so everybody will understand.

Joshua's Ladder ebook - Is available for every kind of ereader known to mankind. You can access them all at smashwords.com (even a Kindle version) but if you are a hard-core Kindle user and cling to your Amazon website like your first teen love, it is also now available at amazon.com. Seems originally Smashwords thought it was close to cutting a deal with Amazon to have their books distributed there, but it fell through. But that doesn't affect you now. All is good.

Amy's Ladder ebook - This is the sequel to Joshua's Ladder. It's been finished for a couple years and I was going to publish it later this year but changed my mind. Two reasons: 1, a few sad-sack weepy readers were so angst-ridden over the ending of JL that I thought I better get AL published for their own mental well-being (compassion is my middle name); 2, see below.

Joshua's Ladder paperback version - The paperback version also contains Amy's Ladder. This will appease the previously mentioned issue of distraught readers and basically gives you old-fashioned book readers a two-fer. This is available at amazon.com for a very reasonable price of $14.95, if I say so myself. You can also ask your favorite brick and mortar bookstore to order it for you, and then when enough people ask they will catch a clue and just stock the dang book. It will also soon be available at the world famous Wall Drug bookstore and some other elite sales outlets across the Rushmore State.

And, lastly, from a Haugen groupie/reader from Rapid City, SD: "Reading this on my vacation in England. Well, when I'm not at the pubs. Loving it so far!"

Keep on drinking, baby. It gets better with every sip.

Now in Paperback: Joshua's Ladder

I have it on good authority that if Oprah hadn't retired last month, Joshua's Ladder was next on her Oprah Book Club. Such is my luck.

Sooooo, we'll have to settle for announcing it on this blog. Joshua's Ladder is now available in paperback! At the low, low price of just $14.95.

CHECK IT OUT HERE.

The paperback version is extra good because it combine's Joshua's Ladder and the sequel, Amy's Ladder, all into one easy to read book. As e-books, those two were, at least for the last two days, the top sellers at independent book publisher Smashwords.com (and you can also get my Hitchhiker short stories there for free).

It's really worked out quite well as I've had over 1,500 downloads of the e-books and now the paperback version is out on their heels.