Dear Eva,
Thank you for sharing Alison Blakely’s book, I took a look through it—though only had a minute to skim—and it looks useful in thinking about the present context.
For links, you should be able to select the link option above the text box, then copy any url and paste it directly into the “URL” field, then type into the “Link text” field what you would like the clickable text to say. I am not sure why the Link box is rejecting your requests, but in any case, I think if you just copy and paste the URL directly into the text box, people will be able to follow the links whether they are clickable or not. I did this to follow your link to Driskell’s page.
Best,
Jun