Author: marylowd

World of Warcraft quest givers in 2003: Go kill twenty people and collect their bandanas

In 2021: Go find twenty depressed people and say something nice to them Continue reading “Some Things Change Over Time… Others Don’t”

I’m rewatching Moana, because I think its structure may be useful for the fantasy novel outline I’m trying to refine.

I find working with models for story structure really helpful, especially because I struggle so much with outlining. Continue reading “Borrowing Plot Structure as a Stand-In for Outlining”

When you’re not used to seeing yourself depicted in society, and then suddenly, you see someone like you…

Sometimes your own initial reaction will be, “This person seems weird and wrong!” before (hopefully) having it sink in that, actually, you’re finally seeing yourself. Continue reading “Spooky”

David Rose (Schitt’s Creek) and Rarity (My Little Pony) are both characters whose strong aesthetic senses resonate deeply for me… while also causing me to recoil, because they’re so focused on fashion, and I loathe fashion, because I can ONLY WEAR COMFORTABLE CLOTHES, which is anathema to most fashion. Continue reading “David Rose, Rarity, and Fashion”

Today, I got to the point in my sci-fi horror novel-in-progress where I got to kill off one of the major characters. He’s been slated for death from the beginning, designed specifically to be annoying, so it’d be fun for me to kill him.

But it wasn’t fun… I don’t know why. Continue reading “Killing a Character for the First Time”

Sometimes I wonder how much of the intensity of my ambition comes from having spent the first two decades of my life under the power of an erratic, terrifying, 6’3” man with social power and a prestigious academic position. Continue reading “Escaping My Dad Through Fiction”

We’re showing the kids Lord of the Rings for the first time. It’s also my first time seeing it in about fifteen years.

And it’s so weird how it goes along like a perfectly normal epic fantasy… and then all of a sudden [MEME!] and then normal fantasy… and then [MEME!]

It’s also disconcerting after fifteen years of Sam being idolized as the most perfect character on the internet to see again how hypocritical and judgmental he is when it comes to Gollum. Continue reading “Re-Watching Lord of the Rings”

Two chew toys and a remote control… guess which one the puppy wants to gnaw…

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Well, today’s been complicated emotionally…

It sounds like our kitten, Hazel, will be okay, but last night her suture from being spayed last week started gushing milky white pus like the android in Alien when he gets speared through the middle. Continue reading “Puppy and Kitten”

If I controlled the universe, every day would be filled with 60s style pop songs about spaceships, sung by talking animals.

Yes, I’d change the genre of our space-time continuum to a furry sci-fi pop musical. I don’t know what the deal is with all this mainstream nonsense. Continue reading “Long Day of New Puppy”

A reader pointed out the way I’ve been posting about my new puppy (24 hrs!) sounds a lot like the voice of Cassie, the living spaceship in my Entangled Universe trilogy who loves bunnies.

I’ve been thinking about that a lot… Continue reading “Clarity & Cassie: the Conscious and Subconscious Mind”