How do you manage your online privacy? Are there certain things you won’t post in certain places? Information you’ll never share online? Or do you assume information about you is accessible anyway?

Photographers, artists, poets: show us PRIVATE.

Privacy! What Privacy?

Some of you might have noticed that we were burgled earlier this week.

This is how they got in, through the window, which they completely removed.

It was a very unpleasant experience, & if I’d ever been concerned about over-exposure online before, this was the time to really start worrying.

My laptop & my husband’s netbook were stolen. The netbook was just used for teaching materials & it was a shame to lose it but not devastating. The laptop, however, was  pretty much the centre of my creative universe & I am still reeling from the shock of losing it. I hadn’t backed up much of my work from the last few weeks & I have lost some wonderful designs & photographs.

More than that, though, it contained photo’s, art, writings, contacts, news articles, my favourite websites , all available with a click of the mouse. Of course they would have had to get past my password, but I’m sure that only slowed them down for a while.

Just to make things worse they took the document wallet that I use to house my most important papers when I am travelling. In it were my passport, driving license, cash cards, logins & all manner of personal documents & information.

So by now with my laptop & my documents, they have access to just about any aspect of my life they could wish to investigate. They even stole my tarot cards & runes. What a nightmare.

So I am … disturbed & any sense of privacy has flown out the window with my jewelry. Yes they took what little I had, most of it gifts from loved ones over the years. They rummaged through everything.

All week I’ve been phoning here & there, cancelling credit cards, changing passwords, filling in forms, answering questions, allowing strangers into my house to fix things & now I just want to be left alone.

The whole episode has made me realize that if I’m going to be an author / artist, I’m going to be exposed one way or another anyway, but that I also have the right to say “Enough” & step aside sometimes. It has made me more determined to focus more deeply on my personal needs & I am more determined than ever to finish my books & get them published.

So I need to buy a new computer  & start afresh with new photos, new art, new tales, new poems & new ideas, maybe it will all lead to a new me.

Do Not Disturb

More bloggers to not disturb here …