About Tracy

I’m a sci-fi writer, graphic designer and urbanist in the Seattle suburbs. I’m also an advocate of the indie web. Lately I’m pondering these Big Questions. See what I’m doing and thinking about now.

I use this website to:

• track what I read,
• mash up ideas,
• write commentary,
• imagine better futures,
• reflect on my creative practices and work,
• document my public comments and advocacy,
• log my weeks,
• hold myself accountable, and
• save reference information (and recipes 👩‍🍳).

I studied ecology and work in sustainability, but rarely talk about it here. If you’re looking for my environmental outreach or interpretive design services, please visit my consulting website.

My favorite activities

• writing fiction ✍️
• blogging 🖥️
• reading SFF and Romance 📚
• listening to synthwave and indie rock 🎧
• baking and brunching 🥞
• wildlife gardening 🌱

My blogging process

I started blogging in 2003 and have written on several websites. My ethos is link maximalism. I loosely outlined my approach to posting in my site’s guiding principles.

✍️ My process for writing long blog posts and choosing between ideas to write about

📚 How I link reading and writing through my big questions

📅 Why (and how) I write personal weeknotes

🔨 The tools and apps I use for life and work

🗣️ I’ve done a couple written interviews about blogging and my creative habits.

✊ I do not use generative AI in solidarity with workers and creators.

Find me around the web

Personal

Micro.blog — short life notes (mostly food and library hauls)

Mastodon / Fediverse — you can follow and reply to my notes at @tracy@notes.tracydurnell.com (this is the account you should @mention if you want to tag me / talk to me there) — or this site is bridged so you can follow @tracydurnell.com@fed.brid.gy to get a feed of posts from this site (any likes on that feed will show up as a comment here)

Last.fm — I scrobble my listens (mostly indie and electronic)

Bluesky — you can follow @tracydurnell.com.web.brid.gy (link to profile) to get a feed of posts from this site — any likes on that feed will show up as a comment here

I’m not on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Professional

Consulting — I support environmental programs for local governments, as well as interpretive sign design

LinkedIn — I work in sustainability outreach with particular expertise in recycling— if we haven’t met, please include a brief note with requests to connect 😊

Contact me

I like meeting new people! Email’s the best way to reach me, at tracy@tracydurnell.com. (No solicitations — I do not accept guest blog posts, I will not mention your product, my website is delisted from Google on purpose.)

Drop me a line about something I’ve written, share something you’re working on, ask me a question, chime in on something I’m thinking about lately, or send me a good Batman meme 😉

About this site

My “start here” page collects some of my favorite and most conversation-provoking posts. I organize a lot of my thinking by my big questions. See all pages and an index of keywords and categories.

I don’t track you — for details, see my privacy policy.

I’ve delisted my website from Google (and blocked Bing and Apple) in protest of their AI practices, so the only way new folks find my site is through directories, small search engines, and other people. Thanks for linking! 😁🔗 Here’s my 88×31 button if you’d like:

Saved content

Along with blogging and posting reviews, I use this site as a digital commonplace book for bookmarking (like a personal Pinterest). I do my best to credit anyone whose writing or art I’ve saved, add commentary, and save a limited amount of information. But I’m human and sometimes I screw up. If I’ve posted something of yours that you’d like removed, simply email me at tracy@tracydurnell.com and I’ll remove it ASAP. No need for threatening lawyerspeak 😊

Comments

Comments are open but moderated for new posters, so might take a day or so to be approved and appear.

I support webmentions so you can use your own website to reply to or mention my site.

If you’d rather not leave a public comment, please do feel free to email me!

Colophon

The cover art on the homepage is a modified version of Martin Johnson Heade’s Hummingbird and Passionflowers from 1880ish.

Land acknowledgment

I live and work on the traditional lands of the Coast Salish peoples, in particular the Duwamish and Stillaguamish Peoples. I honor the land itself by doing what I can to conserve and restore native ecosystems. I honor and thank First Nations people past, present, and future for their stewardship of the land and environmental leadership advocating for Washington’s natural habitats.

As a settler born in another state, I express my gratitude for my adopted home.

(Learn about land acknowledgment and the First Nations peoples who live in your area.)

I support the Duwamish Tribe’s application for federal recognition. I call on elected officials and government at all levels to honor treaty obligations. I call for the return of public land to tribal control or joint management wherever feasible.

(Learn more about the Land Back movement.)

Like this website?

I encourage you to pay it forward by making a donation to your local public library 😊

(It’d also make my day if you send me a nice email or a book or music recommendation 😉)