Writing Links and My Annual Internet Break

Every year since 2012, I’ve taken an Internet break in July. That was the summer I read The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. Some of the book feels dated now with its talk of The Web and The Net, but its message is still relevant: The Internet with its limitless choices can leave us scattered and distracted.

Usually I sign off on the blog and social media at the same time, but this year I left Instagram and Twitter in June. It has been a wonderful break.

Now it’s time to say goodbye here, at least for a little while. Feel free to dig through the archives (almost twelve years of posts!) or enjoy a bit of quiet yourself. I’ll see you again in August.

For now, I leave you with some interesting links —

“As far as I knew then, Black girls like me didn’t exist in books. And as physics would have it, people who don’t exist can’t go on adventures or solve mysteries or fall in love or save the universe. Which meant that I, as a nonexistent entity, wasn’t capable of any of those things.”

Don’t Just Read About Racism—Read Stories About Black People Living by Nic Stone :: Cosmopolitan

“Authors and book publishing employees are speaking out against the homogeneity of their industry and how much writers of color are paid, issues that are gaining urgency as protests against systemic racism continue around the U.S.”

#PublishingPaidMe and a Day of Action Reveals an Industry Reckoning :: NYTimes

“The exposure of your deepest self…is what real writing demands.”
“Stories truly told can give us a key to unlock for each other those ‘thoughts that often lie too deep for tears.’”

Katherine Paterson :: Written Together (a 28-minute video that’s worth every second)

This treasure hunt was the inspiration behind One-Eyed Riley’s abandoned mine in Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine.

Forrest Fenn Confirms His Treasure Has Been Found :: Santa Fe New Mexican

Forrest Fenn finally shared photos of his discovered treasure amid doubts that it was actually found :: CNN