Tromping Trolls

Mar 16, 2017 | 2 comments

Tromping Trolls

by Molly Jo Realy @RealMojo68

Frankly, My Dear . . . : Tromping Trolls

Social media is one of those love-hate relationships. There’s a lot of good buzz it can create, but there’s also a bitter aftertaste if a troll decides to attack your territory.

It’s important to understand the difference between trolls and someone who just doesn’t like you. You have every right to delete inflammatory comments and keep peace on your pages, but be careful to not manipulate the system so you’re only seeing the sunny side of things. If a person voices their dislike, let them know it’s okay and different people have different views.

When those views, comments, reviews, and posts turn into hurt and hate, it’s time to tromp that troll!

What’s a troll? Well, they’re not those cute little dolls from the 80s. No, the trolls I’m talking about are people who actively seek out posts with the intent of posting, well, less than sweet comments. They start arguments, throw insults, and pretty much like to turn things sideways.

One of the ways you can conquer these little nuisances is to have a comment filter on your blog settings. These automatically search for words you’ve flagged as offensive or inappropriate. You may want to take it a step further and add a captcha filter. This requires the commenter to manually type numbers and/or letters they see in a small photo, to prove they’re not a robot or automated reply. On most social media sites, you can report inappropriate comments and block users.

Trolls can be hard to handle. It’s always a good idea to never respond. Even when you feel like defending yourself, clarifying your position, or just plain stopping the madness. Trolls feed off the chaos they create. If you stop responding to them, most of the time they’ll move on.

CLICK TO TWEET: Frankly, My Dear . . . : Tromping Trolls

It’s Gonna Eat Me!

With some sweet tea, a spoonful of honey, and some heavy Army boots,

~ Happy writing.

Molly Jo

And Frankly, My Dear . . . That’s all she wrote!

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Frankly, On Faith: Are You Addicted to Busyness?

Mar 12, 2017 | 2 comments

Frankly, On Faith: Do All Things

by Molly Jo Realy @RealMojo68

Frankly, On Faith.

So, just how busy are you?

Are you overwhelmed at times? In need of some “down” time? Is coffee more necessary than enjoyable? If your people had just three words to describe you, would “multi-tasker” be one of them?

Do you feel exhausted more often than not?

Yeah. I hear ya. Sometimes just breathing takes more effort than I want it to. This pesky life with its pesky chores at its pesky pace of lightning speed . . . Sometimes I just wanna scream.

You, too? Phew. Good. Thought I was alone for a minute.

Oh, not good that you’re going through it. Not even good that you understand. Because, really. Wouldn’t it be great if fewer people understood the chaos of a demand-it-now mentality? But still. I’m glad you’re in it with me.

So. Here we are. Holding on to the ropes as the sea churns a little more than it used to. Trying to keep our heads above the water more often than not.

And the storm comes and drops something else on us. Right? Another wave. Another hit. Another emergency.

It’s enough to make This Girl want to jump overboard.

But alas, I know all too well that even though the ride is rough, there’s better safety in the boat than out in the sea itself. So I stay. You stay. And we look at each other and say, “What are we even doing here?”

The high waves come and rock the boat, but then the seas calm, the sun comes out, and we’re happy to be warm and dry again.

And we can think clearly again.

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
~Mark 4:39, NIV

And it’s with a deep breath and clearer vision that we realize the Captain has been here all along. He’s the one who tethered us to the boat in the first place!

So we feel good about what we’ve overcome and we decide to take on more.

STOP. DOING. THAT.

Stop taking on more. Stop ignoring the peace He has gifted you. Stop being addicted to busyness.

Just be still.

In this moment, we can give ourselves permission to sit back and let Him navigate. All we have to do is row. All we have to do is let go our grip and let Him take over.

All we have to do is have faith that He will get us to our destination. And when the Son is out, it’s okay to relax and enjoy the view.

CLICK TO TWEET: Frankly, On Faith: Are You Addicted to Busyness?

With fair winds and following seas,
~Molly Jo

Frankly, On Faith: Are You Addicted to Busyness?

And Frankly, My Dear . . . That’s all she wrote!

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Happy Planner: Conference Style

Mar 1, 2017 | 4 comments

by Molly Jo Realy @MollyJoRealy

Nippers, NOLA, and a Happy Planner

Hey y’all! Remember when I fell in love with my Happy Planner? And the Meal Planner pages to track the holiday foods and monthly meatloaf recipes?

Of course, I also bought my Planner to help with the social media, writing, and editing projects.

Happy Planner Page: Social Media MoJo

In less than three months, I’ll be at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. Immersed for five days with fellow writers, agents, publishers, teachers . . . friends. It’s pretty much my equivalent to a big family reunion.

One of the most important accessories a person can have at any conference is a notebook and calendar. There will be classes to take, people to meet. Projects to share and shop out. It’s important to be able to track all this information. And for me, it’s also important to have a creative outlet for journaling.

So I took a few extra pieces and designed my own Happy Planner. Of course, my main writing focus is NOLA, so I made sure to add those little touches as much as possible.

Grab a glass of tea, sit back, and let me tell you all about it.

Happy Planner: Conference Dashboard

The dashboard is a tabbed, plastic divider. Think of it like a large bookmark. Some people use it to hold their sticky pads for writing notes. I also use mine as a motivator. Each day, several times a day, I’ll be reminded to be productive and, as Dwayne Pride of NCIS: New Orleans says, “Learn Things.” All this one needs is a honkin’ big coffee cup sticker.

Happy Planner: Conference Style – supplies

The beauty of the Happy Planner is even if you pick up a calendared version, you can purchase inserts and accessories. I knew when I first bought my Planner, as the months passed, I’d take them out and put them into another Planner, like a memory book. Since the extra covers come three sets in a pack, I had two left over to choose from. I picked the stripes/dotted combo because the dots remind me of ~ wait for it ~ Tiffany Blue. Like y’all didn’t see that one coming, right?

The Planner inserts are designed to easily slip onto the discs, so whether you have five or fifty pages, they lay flat and secure.

Happy Planner: Conference Style – I Heart Discs

The six-month calendar extension pack is so my friend. Since the tabs are undated, instead of using them as monthly inserts, I use stickers to identify each day I’ll be on my trip, including travel time.

Happy Planner: Conference Style – Day Tabs

Each month-at-a-glance layout will be used for that day’s highlights, while several week-at-a-glance layouts have been converted:

“What They Said . . . ” will be a collection of quotes to inspire and motivate
“Growth Spurts” track those “Aha!” moments

This leaves two week-at-a-glance layouts to be used however the day requires. Perhaps autographs from fellow conferees? Notes to and from God? They can be anything.

Happy Planner: Conference Style – Week-at-a-Glance Pages

I picked up photo pocket inserts and a fuse tool, so I can make photo/glitter/memorabilia pages (as inspired by Me & My BIG Ideas blog post “Valentine’s Shaker Pocket“). Oh, and twelve small containers of glitter. Hey, they were on sale, okay? And who doesn’t love a good shake of glitter now and then?

Happy Planner: Conference Style – Photo Pages and Fuse Tool

Of course, no Planner is complete without a Bucket List, yes? I queried my friends for suggestions, and as you can see, This Girl is going to be pretty busy.

Happy Planner: Conference Style – Blue Ridge Bucket List

Finally, an ample supply of lined and graph pages. Because you never know . . . I may feel like writing something.

Happy Planner: Conference Style – Writing Pages

A few stickers, some washi tape, and my Happy Planner is almost ready. Of course, I’ll post photos as more pages are ready, but I’m pleased as punch with the initial layout.