Makeovers - internal, external, and occupationally. Say WHAT?!

Hello, my lovelies!

It's taken a couple weeks to get this slammed out on the keyboard, but here I am.  I attended a couple webinars put together by Shelby over at Little Coffee Fox

, and there's SO MUCH valuable information that was given, it was like drinking from a really tasty fire hose.  I thoroughly enjoyed both workshops, and now I'm here, at my keyboard, ready to rock.

Happy Sunday and almost-August!

So, here we are, another day, another weekend.

Can you believe the year's just a little over halfway gone?  Crazy, right?

Cat Shaming = Photo Opportunity? Yes, please.

I've secretly always envied artists that do 'series' of paintings.  Each painting in said series tells part of a whole story, and that whole series is what the overall goal of a story's message is supposed to be.  Like we writers, writing multiple books for a series (I'm looking at YOU, Stephen King, and your many books in the Dark Tower series...).  Tonight I confessed out loud (well, on social media, but same thing) I'd always secretly desired to do a photo series.  Tonight that happened to come to fruition.  I have decided to do this series in the only way I can think of: narration.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I've enjoyed putting it together  (that is to say once I came back from my neighbour's place because I was on the verge of tears from frustration at the initial onset of everything... And then watched a good episode of Paranormal Witness).

And on Wednesday, we are transparent!

Good afternoon and happy Wednesday, everyone!

How's summer going for y'all out there in the wide open world?

Just some thoughts for you. :)

If you were to come visit me, right now, this morning, you'd see a mishmash of collections.  Books stuffed in shelves, DVDs being alphabetically arranged, a cluttered desk (mine), a tidy desk (my husband's), and on the coffee table, where I'm currently parked, there's a pile of notebooks to my left, a steno notebook on my right that's being used as a mouse pad for a wireless mouse my husband let me have when my mousepad on my laptop stopped behaving when we put Linux on my machine almost two years ago.  I've got the telly on, watching some things I've recorded on the DVR, and I'm contemplating sitting and working on my afghan later, that's in my yarn bin, to the left of the telly in front of the hot water closet.

It begins....

Happy June, everyone!  It's that time of year already! JuNoWriMo began this morning at exactly 12.01a, and I hit the ground running with a whopping word count to start off at 427 words on my latest WIP. GO ME! 

Happy Mother's Day .....

Inspiration comes to me in the most unusual ways. Earlier today, I was out taking care of my rounds, and as I was walking past the mailboxes, I saw a woman sitting on the utility box talking on the phone. Something she said grabbed my attention: “Why is it such a struggle to be a Mom? I mean, I do all the things I'm supposed to do, and it still isn't enough! I don't get it!”

Welcome, May! And to those who celebrate, Happy Beltaine!

What a crazy ride April turned out to be, but I survived Camp NaNoWriMo.  Morty and Terrence are still going to share things with you, too, not to worry!  Terrence's buried in homework and Morty... Well... Morty's .. Morty.  Ha.

Frustration, thy name is procrastination!

I want to show you all something. It's something that I noticed (and brought me to a cold realisation) this afternoon while waiting for my ride to go to my eye doctor appointment (which went well, by the way, glasses will be ready in about two weeks!).

Ready?

Inspiration in random places? Yes, please!

Before I hand the floor completely over to Morty and Terrence, I want to share something nifty about writing inspiration, and how random the places a writer can draw from to obtain an idea.

Q&A With Morty!

Good afternoon, friendly reader! Today's interview is with Morty McKowsky. Morty* is 20 years old and from Jersey Shore, New Jersey. Morty is a rather unique individual. He showed up to our visit wearing Day-Glo orange pants, neon yellow shoes, and a rather loud Hawaiian shirt with pink and purple palm trees all over it. His hair was slicked back with Vaseline (he said it keeps it back the best, gel just wasn't doing it). I have to admit, I wasn't quite sure what to make of him. I'll let you decide.

My sit-down with Terrence!

Hello there, friends!

We're sitting down today to talk to Terrence✨, a 17 year old girl who is in her Senior year of High School at Silverleaf Academy✨.

Terrence is a nice young lady, and we appreciate her willingness to sit down and discuss all things writing, as she herself is a writer as well.

FitBit on a budget. Say what?!

Okay, antics with Morty and Terrence will begin later today.  I've got something I want to show you right now before I get off the computer for the night.

It begins..... And I'm JUST about ready this time.

Welcome to April, Appreciated Friend! Welcome to the insanity of writing 50,000 words this month. Yeah…. And then a break in May, and then back at it for JuNoWriMo in June, NO break in July because there's another Camp NaNoWriMo for July, and then off for the summer until NaNoWriMo in November, then off till April. Rinse, repeat.

I… am a glutton for punishment, I think! That's gonna be a LOT of typin'. Let's see…. 50K per month, four months…. That is 200k! IN FOUR MONTHS!

I accept this challenge.

Let's do this!

Probably a LOT more excited than I should be, but.... Ehh... I can't help it!

Recently, my neighbour gave us her huge crockpot, as she's moving soon.  I mean, this thing was big enough for my little 4qt, plus it still had room.  heheheh

It's a lovely (and HEAVY) kitchen gadget.

Now, anyone who really knows me, I tend to be a bit complacent when it comes to certain things.  I find something I like, and I stay with it until I get bored, or curious, to see what else is out there.  A lot of my random recipes have come from, "What if..." and I've learned some new and interesting things.  Like, for example:

Anyone else have this problem?

I'm a member of Writers Night Quills on Facebook.  It is, as the name of the group suggests:  a group for writers to get together and discuss all things writing.

Yesterday, I cleaned off my desk, and completely revamped my work area.  A friend of ours gave me a small shelf that I was initially going to put on my desk, but upon doing so, I realized I would have really NO room to work with, so I decided to do something else with it instead, which cleared up a lot of precious real estate on my desk to be able to do other things like bullet journaling, morning pages, and the like.

A call to action.

If I may, friend, I would very much like to ask a huge favour of you.

My friends and their little boy lost their clothes in a fire at the laundromat a few days ago, and they need a helping hand in replacing the garments that were destroyed.  The dryer had caught fire and now they're in a bind.

If you are unable to donate money, can you donate a few seconds and share the link below on your respective social media account(s)?  Help get the word out as quick as possible to lend this couple a hand?

Thank you so much!

PLEASE HELP!  (link will open in a separate window)

Let's do this!

I am giving up carbonated beverages.  Soda, energy drinks (yes, you're reading that right.  No, I promise, aliens have NOT taken over, this is not some sort of Outer Limits type thing, this is most assuredly me).

An epiphany. Sort of. (Maybe?)

Oh, wow.  I've got something that just hit me right between the eyes.

Glorious festival of interruption!

Well, then.  I've just realized it's been a little bit since I've pounded the keys and updated this page.  I am a slacker!

On the cusp of a new year!

Happy (almost) New Year, everyone!

These past few days, I've been reflecting on a lot of things.  This year we're finishing up...  I gotta ask something.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just thought I'd poke my head in and say Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

And now I'm done. Final word count: 60,775 words.

My brain is liquid, but I'm happy.  I'm done with NaNoWriMo.  I'm seriously considering just doing more writing for the rest of the month, though, I mean, why not, right?

Dreams: the weirdness that happens when we're asleep.

Ever have one of those dreams that's so real that when you wake up, you can still feel things you felt in the dream? Things that were happening to you in the dream you can still feel when you're awake, I mean.

I Run 4 Tanner. #TeamHoffman!

Earlier this year, I decided to take the plunge and reach out to the “I RunFor” community. It's something my Mom's been doing for a few years now, she has posted things on Facebook about her run buddy and I asked her about what it was for.

Let's talk habits.

I was looking around for some inspiration this morning before I finally decided to call it a night and go get some sleep.  I mean, it was almost 5.30 in the morning, after all!

One thing that caught my eye, though, was something about habits.  Specifically about a habit I wish I didn't have.

Late-night chatter....

Hello out there!

Yesterday (Saturday) was incredibly cold.  I did the stuff I set out to do, and then took a 3 1/2 hour nap.  ^_^  Had a cuddle with my dog and one of the cats decided to join in on the cuddle-fest, I downloaded a jigsaw puzzle app to my Kindle, and just lazed in bed with my pets while putting jigsaw puzzles together.  Artist Date Day:  successful.

Animal advocacy.... It's not just for Sarah McLaughlin.....

I'm going to go off into left field for a bit, I need to have a vent.  Pardon my frustration and anger, but this needs to be said.

Just ramblin'.

It's a quarter after four in the morning where I am, and I'm sitting here munching a burrito and trying to figure out what to write about.  The pets are all asleep (finally Tommy got the late-night zoomies out of his system), and with the exception of our guest's occasional cough in her sleep or random conversation between my husband and me, it's quiet.  It's peaceful.  It's almost deafening.

And you know what?

I'm content.

Just moseying along... Nice and quiet.

Today's been overall aright.  Yesterday was productive, I got everything I set out to do, done.  Today, I'm just kind of moving along, enjoying the fluidity that is time.

Let's talk about gratitude.

With Thanksgiving 2016 on the horizon (already), I'm sitting here thinking about the events of recent things, and my life overall up to this point.

Gratitude is such a strange word, isn't it? We don't really take time to think, “I'm grateful for x” and stopping to appreciate throughout the year what we're grateful for. I'm guilty of doing this, myself. I know other people who aren't, who take time each time something good happens, they take time to appreciate where they were up to that point, who they were as people before that moment happened. In the bigger things, yes, I do that when it's happened, or in the moment, but the littler things, not as often. Those who know me in person, and those close to me who happen to be far away that we only have the means of e-mail to chat up and check in with each other, you know what kind of year this has been for my household. Especially since September this year. This entire year, up to this point, has been strange. Sometimes intense, sometimes outright terrifying, sometimes amazing, but overall, if I were to sum up 2016 in one word, I'd definitely use “strange” for sure.

When one is overwhelmed, one needs to just step back and take it all in. Carefully..

My Mom texted me earlier.  She's real big into meditating and she's got an eye for detail (which is pretty much where I get MY attention to detail... Thanks, Ma!).  She wrote something that I want to share with you, dear reader(s).

When I read it, I could see everything in my mind just as clear as I can see my laptop in front of me right now, as I type this.  I asked her permission to share it with you.

Adventures this week.

Resuming the productivity on my veteran story.  But, I'm stuck (a little).  Good thing I've got something to help with that issue:

Oh, dear. :(

I won't go into detail.  There's more than enough being said in the media as it is, I'm not contributing.

Are you ready?

Nine more days.  Nine.  I can't believe it.  This year's flown by so quick!

NaNoWriMo 2016... Just a little over two weeks away now....

My desk right now, is (mostly) organized.  For my birthday, I got some money from a friend and I used it to - of course - get some practical items that I'll get a lot of use out of, for a long, long time.  (Thanks, Ware family!)



I've been printing up some really interesting information from past NaNos, pep-talks and the like, as well as other information I've come across from other writing blogs I follow.  Things that I want to have on hand, not just for next month's project, but for future projects and have them right here when I need them and don't want to have to scour the internet for "where was that article again that talked about that thing..." and before I know it, I've got carpal tunnel in my hands again, my mouse's batteries have been drained multiple times over, and my eyes are dry and squinty, and my body is permanently shaped in the sitting position.  Ha ha

Happy Sunday, indeed!

Another cat's been rescued this morning, by my rescue partner, Mary.  Little Ashes has been picked up from my complex at around 9.30 this morning.  This is wonderful news, because it's one less cat on the street to suffer loneliness and fear.

I Run For....

Several years ago, my Mom took up running after her divorce from the old man.  Not long after she discovered how freeing this hobby is for her, she got involved in this really neat thing called I Run For.  She's told me a lot about it, and I've watched her posts she's shared about it.  I've seen how happy it makes her, and I've always been curious.  Finally, earlier this year, I decided I'd check it out.

Recipe as promised (then really going to go unplug for the night)

This recipe, I came up with because I couldn't think of anything to put together for dinner that wasn't something we'd done 800 times already, and we hadn't gone shopping yet, and I was too lazy to go to the store (seriously, introvert.  Grocery store.  NOT a good mix!).

It's really simple, and fairly inexpensive (less than $15) to throw together.

Who, me? Nah... I'm just ... I'm here. Nothing to see. Keep scrolling.

I'm on the cusp of something huge right now.  Something I can't quite describe.  As NaNoWriMo is showing up more and more on the horizon, my furstration's starting to turn into more motivation than anything.  I've got the start of my novel, I need to dust it off and breathe some new life into it, BUT I MUST get the research done FIRST.

Oh, y'know, just goofing off, mucking about online, when I should be working.

Hello, and welcome Fall!

Things have been so insane in my world lately.  Granted, no, that's no real reason to be so absentee, but I've been learning a lot about blogging, learning a lot about writing, learning a lot about a lot of different things.  And you know what?  It's been quite a wild ride.

Can you believe it's already October, and more than that, we're already in our 2nd week of October?!  Where is time going in such a hurry...

Couple big things going on....

First, I linked my Tweaky Muse blog to my Goodreads page.  :)

Second, I got an e-mail about six hours ago about NaNoWriMo.

Updated links up top

I don't know if you've noticed at the top of this page, there's a few new places that've been added.

Big, big things afoot!

As you can see, I've been up to some changes on this site.  Thanks to my friend, B, for helping me with the coding.  It's been quite a few years since I've done this, myself, so now I'm at a loss.  Ha.  That's okay.  We got a lot done tonight, and I've got a few things 'under construction' as it were, but stay tuned, there's so much underway!

Small promo for a little while.

A month and a day ago, I published my first-ever book.  I'm running a small promo for a little while, dropping the price from $6.49 down to $2.99.

Please feel free to take a look, and if you wouldn't mind, share with your friends and families.  Thank you so much!

My book!

A quick update.

Tommy is officially our cat.  :)  He's settling in beautifully.

When the devil comes knockin', but is so cleverly disguised....

Given that you don't live in my complex, and given that I'm not one to really talk about much in my personal life these days, it's highly likely that you won't know about whom I speak, I'll not do too much of the pronoun game with you, but I'm not mentioning names. This is for the safety and privacy of those of us directly involved.

When the devil comes knockin', but is so cleverly disguised....

Given that you don't live in my complex, and given that I'm not one to really talk about much in my personal life these days, it's highly likely that you won't know about whom I speak, I'll not do too much of the pronoun game with you, but I'm not mentioning names. This is for the safety and privacy of those of us directly involved.

I have an announcement!

I did it.  I took the plunge, and I did it.

It's done! It's done!

At approximately 8.35 pm EST on Friday, 24 June 2016, I, T Rea Okerberg, accomplished a goal I've struggled to complete for a long, long time.  I finished writing my first book.  I tried to do this when I was 15, but it didn't work out too well, and for a long time after that I'd talked about it, but never did anything really to make it happen and see it through to completion.

I can't breathe. An open letter to those who have never buried their own child.

Loss is a very real thing.  Grandparents, parents, siblings.... But what about when someone loses their own CHILD?  What then?

I have something to say to you, and you are not going to like it, but that is just too bad.

My eyes are open, and now my heart can heal.

Generally, I don't talk much about my LDS days. It's…. too traumatizing, if I'm to be honest…

Don't get me wrong. I come not to blast the Mormons, I come to share my… perspective.  Experience.

Take this as you wish, but please take it only for how it is intended, and not for how it sounds, because what I am about to say is going to make me sound like a raging jerk. And again, I don't mean to come off that way.

WOW. I can't even right now.

I just did some writing today.  The post I wrote earlier for this page, it was a word count of a little over a thousand words.  I also did some writing on my JuNoWriMo project.

Welcome, June.

Well, it's been a few days since I said anything on here. JuNoWriMo is on day 5, and so far, I'm 15 days AHEAD of schedule! How's THAT for amazing!

Today is Sunday, and it's kinda raining and muggy and gross out. Ah, summer in the Midwest, I tell you. It's alright, though.

Things are going at a nice, steady pace for me, but I'm still trying to figure out a balance.

Sound advice from someone who's been a HUGE influence on me.....

As those of you who know me know, I'm a huge, HUGE fan of Mr Neil Gaiman, and his lovely and amazing wife, Amanda Palmer.

Now, I'm not really one to be too bothered by my nocturnal emissions, as dreams are just something that happens.  We don't know why, nor do we know where they come from.  We just know that it's our brain's way of...... processing things, I guess?

Well, one night a few weeks ago, I was laying in bed, sleeping, comfy, minding my own business, and I had what started out to be a really terrible nightmare, but turned out to be one of the most profound experiences I've ever been fortunate enough to have.

Not a techie, but...... I DID IT.

Remember Geocities?  And then one day, Yahoo bought them out, and then not long after that, Geocities was taken down.  A distant memory..

The Five Problems I Have With Social Media

It's the “Digital Age.” Just about everything is done online anymore. Since the inception of things like Facebook, Instagram, Myspace, other venues (I remember back when I was in my early 20s, and the internet was still fairly new, there was a forum I used to go on pretty frequently called wbs.net), it's brought people who are worlds away from our humble little homes right into our living rooms/dining rooms/wherever you access the internet. Everything's right at our fingertips these days. While this is good and fun and a great way to pass time (or in my situation, procrastinate! Ha ha), there is a downside.

Memories of Times Long Gone (x-posted on Scriggler under "T Rea")

I'm not going to talk about my earliest memory, that's too personal to share with just anyone. HOWEVER, I am willing to share a couple of my happier memories from childhood.

Tobias (fiction)

My name is Tobias. I'm 14 years old, and I don't like to talk much, because my Mom hit me in the face when I was 10 with a baseball bat and it left me with a serious speech impediment that I get bullied for constantly. It sucks, but what can you do, right?

Hilary (fiction)

The heavy black and blue winter sky was thick with rain clouds that, at any moment, were about to open and empty their contents upon the crowded streets during rush hour.  Hilary was the only one seemingly concerned about the impending storm.

Comparison between two people - (fiction)

JoAnn likes to have a quiet corner where she can focus.  She can't handle a lot of commotion.  It's easiest for her to be in a place where you can hear mice breathing, so she can get her thoughts out.  Sometimes, it's hard to concentrate past the sound of the keys clicking away on the typewriter.

Gearing up for JuNoWriMo!

I'm counting it down....  Not long now....  Just a few more days, and I'll be full-force involved in my writing.  I'm participating in three writing projects this year:  JuNoWriMo in June, Camp NaNoWriMo in July, and NaNoWriMo in November.

Hello there! Welcome! Come right on in!

Thanks so much for stopping by to my humble little hole in space!