2017: Things I wrote & things I loved
I wrote more in 2017 than I have ever before, fueled largely by the tens of thousands of words I wrote daily at work. However, I still tried to find time for some extracurricular writing. Predictably, I often wrote about bikes and traveling. Here are some highlights:
Austin charmed me to death.
Alexis Ryan described bike racing well. “It can be so tragic, and I think that’s what the draw is. Because if it’s not tragic, it’s one of the most beautiful things, to win a bike race. The person who has won has destroyed themselves to win.”
There are few places where I’ve suffered more than on Montana’s highways. Montana state legislature is flirting with the idea of banning bikes on its roads. Here is an anecdote from my time riding in Montana.
I’d like to dip my toe into this type of part-fiction-part-nonfiction free-writing more often.
I feel like too much of the social internet is the sharing of stories, news briefs and headlines that are designed to thoroughly chap one’s ass.
So here are the things I adored this year, things I bookmarked and kept coming back to, things that made me laugh.
I think the mark of an incredible story is that it makes you want to get out of your seat and go do something like it. The writing, the video, and the photos from Roadtripping Everest are all unthinkably cool.
I could bloviate about how much I loved Melodrama for a thousand words and I wouldn’t even come close to making coherent sense. Stacey Anderson, however, wrote some very good words about it.
I love this kind of collaborative storytelling. I love it even more when it’s about amateur bike racers having a good time.
This entire story is a hoot, but the first four paragraphs are too funny.
“I ain’t even here Sergeant. I’m in Cheyenne, Wyoming.”
The Adventure Zone is a riotously funny and thrilling D&D podcast. I reread this thread by Justin often when I’m feeling uninspired.
