The City In Your Toaster Oven

by Mary E. Lowd

A Deep Sky Anchor Original, December 2021


“…she worked fast, chipping at the bread with her chisels, carving her predetermined pattern into its doughy grain.”

Warm buttery crumbs flaked off the toasting bread and sprinkled down to the diminutive city built on the metal tray below.  Gooey cheese dripped off the sides of the horizontal toast.  Metallic creatures — ant-like with their half-dozen legs and expressive antennae, but tiny, so tiny, ant-sized to an ant — scurried back to their minuscule buildings, seeking refuge from the reeking rain.  Later when the fallen scraps had cooled, foragers would gather them up and the city would feast on bread and cheese. Continue reading “The City In Your Toaster Oven”

Struggling with Burnout

I’ve been really struggling with the concept of burnout lately.
During the two years vaguely centered on the pandemic, I wrote four books, invented numerous weekend holidays to distract my kids, and burned myself out to the point of a serious health crisis.
And I still feel like writing another book is what will make me feel better, even though it is demonstrably NOT an effective way to make myself feel better.

Continue reading “Struggling with Burnout”