Dear Internet,
It’s not you, it’s me.

I’ve been online since 1993. It started with Gopher, The English Server, and a little cyber hole-in-the-wall called D-Con. I loved that geeky, text-only frontier and the sense of freedom that came along with it. It was filled with other nerds like me, conversing, MUDing, and searching through library holdings into the wee hours of the night. I was a grad student as well as a new mother, and my online existence helped me to hang on to my mind and my dreams when everything else seemed to be falling apart.

Fast forward to today…
 Facebook, YouTube and Twitter dominate cyberspace. While their respective contributions to the net have been society-changing, I find I’m feeling much less “connected” today than I did seventeen years ago. Thankfully, the convergence of a recent extended power outage, an infected tooth, and a laundry list of holiday preparations has given me the chance to step back and re-evaluate my relationship to the net. (It says a lot when I look forward to a root canal more than checking faceBook.)

My conclusion…
I’m tired. 

I spend a lot of time thinking about what to put “out there,” what to share with all of you – in fact, I’ve come to think of the time I spend online as “curating the net,” rather than simply browsing. I don’t tweet, or post, or share links lightly. To me, the most important goals of my online life should be the same as IRL – honesty and authenticity.

To that end, I’m pulling the plug (for a bit.)
I’ll still be available via email to those who really need to reach me, but by-and-large I’m going offline until spring. You may see a fan page update or tweet now and then (thanks to my DH, Ian) and of course there will be a few tid-bits rolling out on the Canada Reads site between now and February. 

I’m wishing you a beautiful winter and I hope to see you in the spring, when I’ll have a rested soul and a whole new collection of curiosities to share!

Cheers,
Ami