Creative work
Thinking
Society
- What do I want the future of the Internet to look like?
- How can our society resist fascism and become more equitable?
- How can we transform capitalism to better support people and the planet?
- How can women become equal members of society?
- What’s shaping culture today?
Past questions
No longer updated. I’ve retired some questions to allow room for new ones.
- How can I build a balanced lifestyle that doesn’t burn me out? (Retired December 2024)
- How can I join community during a pandemic? (Retired December 2024)
33 replies on “Big Questions”
I’m a book lover, sci-fi writer, and native plant nerd. Learn more about me, and see what I’m up to now. This is my personal site — you may be looking for my professional sustainability consulting services. Explore my site Peruse a starter set of posts on my favorite topics Join me in pondering my…
Updated 15 January 2025 This is more of a “following” page than a curated blogroll, but I decided to go with the more is more approach 😄 I maintain this page manually so I don’t update it often — also that probably means I’ve missed some feeds I follow 🤷♀️ I change up who I…
I’m a sci-fi writer, graphic designer and urbanist in the Seattle suburbs. Reading and blogging are my favorite pasttimes and I’m an advocate of the indie web. I’m curious about everything from technology to history to ecology. I use this website to: track what I read and watch, write commentary on things that interest me,…
What’s Tracy up to lately? Updated 15 January 2025 Supporting outreach for a city C&D (construction and demolition) salvage and waste reporting ordinance Writing a blog series on “the mindset of more” Working on my sci-fi romance novel again after a break in the fall due to hand pain Took my first trip since 2020…
Personal websites of artists of all varieties. I especially like pop surrealism. Some favorites are bolded. Jump to: photographers | painters | print makers | illustrators | comic artists | graphic design | dimensional art 🆕 added 1 Feb 2025 More collections: blogroll | interesting people | neat websites | graphic design resources | indie…
Personal websites of interesting people who I used to follow on social media before I bailed. Now I’m adding new cool folks I find. More collections: blogroll | neat websites | cool artists | graphic design resources | indie shops | wishlist | big questions Writers Ursula Vernon – writes adult works as T. Kingfisher…
Jump to: Home goods | Art shops & galleries | Personal care | Paper goods | Clothes & accessories | Garden | PNW food companies | Services More collections: blogroll | interesting people | cool artists | graphic design resources | neat websites | wishlist | big questions I like to support independent shops, artists,…
I have too many pages to fit in my nav! Here’s a sitemap of all the pages on this website. Blog Mind Garden Post Index Links to blog about Big Questions Big Questions Balanced Lifestyle Effective Creative Processes Writing Fiction Thinking Better Information Diet Future of the Internet Resisting Fascism Building Community Transforming Capitalism Women’s…
Creative work What’s an effective process for completing creative work? How can I write an engaging novel? Thinking How can I improve my thinking? What’s…
Creative work What’s an effective process for completing creative work? How can I write an engaging novel? Thinking How can I improve my thinking? What’s…
Creative work What’s an effective process for completing creative work? How can I write an engaging novel? Thinking How can I improve my thinking? What’s…
Creative work What’s an effective process for completing creative work? How can I write an engaging novel? Thinking How can I improve my thinking? What’s…
Creative work What’s an effective process for completing creative work? How can I write an engaging novel? Thinking How can I improve my thinking? What’s…
Creative work What’s an effective process for completing creative work? How can I write an engaging novel? Thinking How can I improve my thinking? What’s…
Creative work What’s an effective process for completing creative work? How can I write an engaging novel? Thinking How can I improve my thinking? What’s…
Creative work What’s an effective process for completing creative work? How can I write an engaging novel? Thinking How can I improve my thinking? What’s…
At tonight’s Homebrew Website Club, I asked for feedback on my new “Big Question” pages, which I’ve created as a way to group thoughts and writing on specific topics. I got some great ideas and food for thought and will be making some tweaks right away, while others I’ll need to think about a bit more.
Johannes suggested I start by considering how I would design the organization on paper, without letting the limitations of technology affect the way I presented the information. As he pointed out, especially on these new question pages, I’m trying to filter multi-dimensional content in a two-dimensional space. On paper, I might use all sorts of arrows and bubbles and connecting lines to help show overlaps and connections. I used to be a big fan of mind mapping as my first step for writing an essay in college, though I’ve gotten out of the practice. Then I could think about what was important to convey from that presentation of the info, and how I could adapt that for a webpage.
Spring is here — it was a big wildlife week in the neighborhood! Heard coyotes howling in the greenbelt and the frogs started their evening chorus, saw a doe in the backyard and a hummingbird out front, and spotted the first bees cruising. But, allergies also hit me hard 🤧
Spring is here — it was a big wildlife week in the neighborhood! Heard coyotes howling in the greenbelt and the frogs started their evening…
Excerpt: Website Changes: New organizing section! I created a new section called “Big Questions” which organizes a lot of my notes and reading under broad…
Replied to Too Much Information: Why Personal Knowledge Management Is Hard (Analog Office)
I so appreciate Anna’s thoughtful prompts. Her piece is great but today I’m “yes and-ing” a tiny aside in it:
This friendly jibe got me thinking — I’ve seen a related sentiment from many places that note taking is not particularly productive for most people, and that knowledge management can be somewhat a fool’s mission. To each their own, but personally, I have found my mind garden to be a huge spur in my thinking. I wanted to dig into why I find my mind garden worth the time and effort when others do not.
Types of creative thinking time
Autumn at Kubota Garden Stuff I did: 11.25 hours of writing Made myself this year’s birthday playlist — apparently my 20th! Visited Kubota…
I’ve previously discussed where I get my ideas for blog posts, but I was intrigued by Sara’s article (and Tantek’s prompt) about how…
Daily Reads: The Guardian had an article about a rise in women exploring sexual fantasy in midlife. I found it fascinating that behind the lurid…
Replied to 100 things you can do on your personal website by an author (jamesg.blog) One of my favourite things to do in…
I’ve picked out a few posts under common themes I write about. (There’s also my big questions or the blog index to peruse by topic.) The indie web | Writing | Reading | Making change Updated 15 January 2025 The indie web Connecting the indie web Building community out of strangers Barriers to a more…
Stories provide a scaffold for understanding When I read non-fiction, I’m less interested in learning facts than gaining understanding (though sometimes facts support the understanding).…
Here are some things on my wishlist. (These are mostly bookmarks that I will probably not ever buy, but it makes me feel better to save them just in case 😉 Also I’m trying to get away from Pinterest.) Prices from when items were added. More collections: blogroll | interesting people | cool artists |…
How can women (and our trans & genderqueer friends) become equal members of society? Last updated 15 January 2025 | Created December 2024 | More of my big questions Sub-questions How can we liberate American society from the patriarchy? How can women protect ourselves from authoritarianism? What does it mean to be a woman in…
What’s shaping culture today? Last updated 2024 December 4 | More of my big questions Sub-questions How has the internet changed culture from when I was a kid? Is culture stagnating? What forces are acting to homogenize culture? What does taste mean in today’s culture? How does the internet affect taste? Why am I uninterested…
new fridge!!!! I am so psyched for this layout, I think the produce drawer will be a game changer 👉 Do you have a blog?…
This is part three of a series on tackling wants, managing my media diet, and finding enough. Read the introduction on “the mindset of more.” The Internet feels like an old relative’s hoarder house, the hallways so packed with clutter you can barely squeeze through. At one point they remembered where some of the important…