When Hanny (@beradadisini) wanted to read one of the Kindle Singles she found on Amazon, she realized she could not because of an Amazon restriction on her country of residence, Indonesia. So she reached out to the author, Mishka Shubaly, on Twitter. “My Saturday with Mishka” is a beautiful account of what happened next:

I judge people from the way they write (including the type of font they choose). I fall for their writing style, their choice of words, their inner voice, the way they place the right punctuation marks, as well as the wonderful feeling of reading those sentences out loud and thinking about how smart or funny or dark or interesting or intriguing the writer must be.

I also fall for Mishka Shubaly this way.

The Long Run is indeed a story about struggling with addiction–but it is more than that. Mishka’s addictions to drugs and alcohol is our addiction to a certain guy. To political power. To a branded bag. To be skinny. To a lighter skin-tone. To self-pity. To wealth. To the Internet. To an unresolved love affair. To a past.

We’re all dealing with our own addictions. We’re carrying these things inside, hiding it like a well-kept secret–so that no one will find out. Everyday, we’re all trying to run away from something that anchors us down, and run towards the freedom to be who we truly are.

I just love stories of connections like this. I haven’t read The Long Run, but I will now.

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(via Freshly Pressed)