The great anti-internet experiment

So I’m really going through with it, as terrifying at it is – I’m going offline for two months as of tomorrow, and will be offline through August 19. I’m doing this for a number of reasons:

I’ve been a little overwhelmed with the volume and nature of some of the correspondence I receive – though I am very grateful for every email and comment I get, I find that I can’t always respond in a timely fashion, and the guilt and frustration of that gets to me;

I want to rewire my brain to slow down and stop taking in so much useless information;

I’ve been using the internet to make myself unhappy, and I want to break that habit;

I’m sort of losing the desire to communicate publicly, and that’s death for a writer.

(Also, I kind of want to see if I can do it, or if I crack and start bingeing on TWoP recaps of the Bachelorette by Monday.)

So I won’t be answering email, checking Facebook or Twitter, or checking or posting to this blog (or anybody else’s blog) for the next two months – I’ll be disabling my internet browser to make sure this actually happens. I’ll be reading the hard copy of the Times we subscribe to; if I need to know what the weather’s going to be, I’ll turn on NY1. I look forward to learning nothing new in the next two months about the cast of the Twilight movies, or this Speidi person people keep writing about.

Bill will be posting new episodes of the Bilge show, though we will be taking a two-week hiatus from the show – new episodes resume on Friday, July 10. And I will be reading at KGB bar on Thursday, July 16 for the Drunken! Careening! Writers! series (7pm, 85 East 4th Street, free) – I hope you’ll miss me so much by then that you’ll be inspired to come see me in person.

This may be a stupid idea; this may be career suicide; this may not even work. But whatever happens, I feel certain that I’ll learn something from it. I look forward to sharing that with you when I find out what it is. In the meantime, I’ll miss you, and hope you’ll have a great summer.

Thanks for being the best readers a writer could possible hope for. See you in August.

Comments

[Lori]

It's a totally great idea that scares me.

[nathalie]

I'll miss reading your writing but am excited for you :) Enjoy your time! Will be curious to hear how things go.

[Melissa]

Good Luck!!!

[Stana]

Does this mean you'll have more time for lunch with old friends?

[Ashley]

You'll be sorely missed fer sure...but I completely understand the needed break. I hope it is restful and restorative.

[julie]

before you go, or when you come back- i just wanted to say I have just finished 'have you found her' which i had immediately purchased after i read girlbomb. I'm glad you have a blog because your writing totally inspires me and i wish more people could write like you. Its so hard to come by these days to read a actual GOOD book. so thanks for feeding my brain with your words. totally. rad.

[Lori Mocha]

Sigh. It's hard out here on the world wide web without Janice.

[Danika]

I agree w/ everyone you will be missed, but I'm sure it will recharge you and it will be great!!!! The world revolves around their computers so it will be a good change of pace to live life before the internet :)

[ania]

Hi there.

This may be my 4th comment here ever.

I haven't been keeping up with blogs for a long, long time. But tonight, I saw a young actress who looks exactly like you. I so promise.

And, I came here to comment, but found that you're not actually "here", and am trying to decide if I should post this now, or wait until....there it is - August 19th.

Okay, I decided I'll go ahead and post now. And you *will* absolutely want to read this comment.

Zoe Stone-Molloy:
http://www.childstarlets.com/lobby/bios/zoe_molloy.html
http://jetsetmodels.com/model_detail.php?section=agency&model_id=406&gender=female&group=actor&subgroup=

With care and gratitude (again) for your fantastic writing....