oh so random

All the Ways You Can Follow My Adventure

Hey everyone! I leave on a 4pm train to Georgia in less than 45 days! I’m so excited. I wanted to write a brief post and let everyone else know how they can follow me on my journey. The Trek – https://thetrek.co/author/darlene-m/YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdep36F5tj95Ro-J7e6TTYATrail Journals – https://www.trailjournals.com/journal/24586 These are the three ways I will be doing…

Officially start my AT Thru-Hike March 2021!

Me Summer of 2020, manifesting my dream of thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail! ©2020 DAMGarrity Departing on March 12, 2021!

Yes! My train ticket is purchased and I will be on my way to Springer Mountain in early March. I have gone out to set up my tent twice since I purchased it from REI and each time it has gotten easier. There is some video of my first attempt on my YouTube Channel.…

Thru-Hiking in 2021 and also… NaNo!

Appalachian Trail Map!

Hello everyone! How are you making out these past couple of months? I am doing well. Is anyone doing NaNoWriMo this year? I am going to give it another shot this year. It’s a lot of fun trying to write 50,000 words in 30 days! My NaNo is https://nanowrimo.org/participants/damsteelman

Also, I am officially doing a northbound (NOBO) thru-hike in 2021! My YouTube Channel…

One Foot in Front of the Other

Me on the AT 2020 ©All Rights Reserved.

Hey. How are you? I’m living the dream and doing some serious soul searching. Why am I here? What is my purpose? Where do I go from here? All deep questions that I have contemplated for the last several months. I feel disconnected although my deep connection with nature is strong when I am out in it.

I ordered some more supplies to do longer hikes. I…

Appalachian Trail, Come Back!

What’s going on everyone? I am doing well. The hubs and I are officially hikers (I guess?) and we recently hiked 12 miles on the Appalachian Trail this past Sunday. We didn’t see any critter like the other time, but there were some nice views once the fog cleared and a few people as well.

And lots of mud.

Me about to embark on the Appalachian Trail for a few!

Back from the Pandemic – onto Life.

Hey everyone! How are you doing? I am finally back from the pandemic… we were able to keep our home and business, and had to pool our resources in order to do so. I was keeping my attention on the shop and the home and so didn’t really have much time to blog or write. Didn’t even write for Medium really.

But now, that has changed.

Bald Eagle in Pennsylvania ©2020 DAMcGarrity

Since we…

Isn’t it great how we all have favorite things? I love books, music, and nature. I also have other odd favorites, like bread butts, burnt baked goods, and finding whatever I need when I ask the universe for it. So, it’s no surprise that I once had a strange attachment to a parking spot which caused me a great deal of anxiety and grief.

Image: Pinterest

It started at my old toxic job…

Many writers isolate by nature… writing is a solitary act for the most part so it is no surprise that despite the horror of the world at the moment, many of us are sighing with relief of not having to participate in social activities or put on pants to go shopping.

Also, I broke a rule of mine and have been watching the news, which is terrible… most of it is fear mongering and updates on our…

Image: KTSM.com

First of all, I’m not. I went out to WalMart today expecting a something from a Stephen King book and it was pretty average. All the poultry was sold out from the meat department which intrigued me. I bought a pack of hamburgers and moved on with my life.

I have stuff already in the house and truth be told, I am not the kind of person that panics, ever. I did walk around a…

Life is supposed to be fun, right? I mean, if we’re not enjoying ourselves, what’s the point, really… I quit a toxic job back in November of 2019 and life has been quite the adventure since.

My husband and I went on our Sunday Drive today (it’s kind of a ritual for us from March through November) and snapped a few hundred photos with my new camera… Here are some of my favorites! I am happy…

Image: Pixabay – Alexas_Fotos

There is a little song called ‘Follow Your Heart’ by a Canadian band named Triumph and whenever I need that extra push in life, it always seems to find its way into my day.

“Living for today, forget about tomorrow

Follow your heart (you got to follow your heart)

Any other way will only lead to sorrow…”

Triumph

It is easy to confuse the head with the heart… It…

Reflection of the Day – Consistency (or lack thereof)

©2020 DAMGarrity. All rights reserved.

Consistency is great depending all on how you look at it. I have a real problem with directional consistency and I am trying to change that. One ‘keep my ass in the seat and write’ moment at a time.

It has been brought to my attention that I am kind of all over the place with ‘what I want to do with my life.’ Is it possible I am going through a…

Reflection of the Day – Living in Fear

Good morning and welcome to my new blog series: Reflection of the Day. I know you are busy with life stuff, so these posts will be short and thought-provoking.

©2020 DAMGarrity. All rights reserved.

How much of your life is rooted in fear?I asked myself that the other day. And I realized, a whole lot of my life is rooted in fear. The thing is, we get what we focus on, whether we want it or…

Hey everyone! How is your 2020 going so far? I just wanted to drop a line and share the exciting news that I wrote a piece that was published on Roadtrippers.com. 🙂

You can check it out here: https://roadtrippers.com/magazine/centralia-graffiti-highway-pennsylvania/

Other things are going well, too. I am freelance editing and I picked up another part-time job to help out around the house…

Multiple Sources of Income

Hello, how are you? I hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving and are getting ready for the upcoming end of year holidays. Today I wanted to talk about writing and the different avenues we can take to turn it into multiple sources of income. Also, how to stay steadfast in your commitment to yourself and not be ‘short changed’ by clients that don’t value your worth.

A short story

I acquired a…

Weekend of Dropped Balls

Good morning and Happy Autumn!

These past two weekends were crazy… I had an author event in Quakertown for the Annual Fall Festival on October 12 and then this past weekend was the First Annual Author Festival in which the entire center of Easton, Pennsylvania was authors and vendors galore. There were a few hiccups and bumps at the end of at all, but for the most part, it seemed to be…

Clearing the Wreckage of my Past

Good afternoon. My name is Darlene and I am an alcoholic, addict, bonafide do anything that feels good until it almost kills me human being. I haven’t had a drink or a drug since 2006. Doing other feel-good stuff however (eating, over spending, etc) I have partaken in and it is time to quit that shit.

©2019, Darlene A. McGarrity

One of the things I had to do to get where I am today is…