I thought it’d be easier to write with Christmas music on than while listening to the 5-year-old sing the alphabet loudly & atonally, over & over again… but I underestimated his ability to sing along with every song by singing “Jingle Bells,” regardless of the actual song playing.
Author: marylowd
Different Kind of Win
#NaNoWriMo isn’t over yet, but I’ve already had a very significant win: I did not give up when I fell behind. That was hard, and I’m glad I’ve had a chance to practice that valuable skill.
Snippets from Near the End of NaNoWriMo
The 5-year-old insisted on listening to Little Shop of Horrors during the drive to his first dentist appointment today.
I’ve started writing characters with zhe/zir pronouns in my fiction, and while the initial transition was difficult, I got used to them surprisingly fast, and now it feels ridiculous that people don’t use them all the time, because they’re just so extremely useful and elegant. Continue reading “Snippets from Near the End of NaNoWriMo”
Better Than a Man
Ladies, if he:
—dyes his fur fun colors, and sometimes lets you pick the pattern
—alters spacesuits to fit you
—is extremely loyal and goofy
—is an otter
He’s not your man; he’s Trugger from the Otters In Space trilogy.
Not All Dogs
by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in Dissident Signals, July 2018
Lucky was a good dog. He’d been a good dog all his life.
So why was he standing in an office supply store, watching his three adopted kittens run wild, while trying to figure out how to make protest signs for a rally to free his tabby cat wife from prison? Continue reading “Not All Dogs”
Van Gogh and Jello
I don’t seem to be able to write about anything other than Van Gogh and Jello today… which is really weird while working on a far future space opera. #NaNoWriMo
Moments of Life
That feeling when you have like ten different things you need to do, and you have just about enough time to do half of one of them…
True love: being handed a spoonful of warm banana bread batter, taken straight out of the loaf pan that’s already in the oven, because you looked sad that the bowl had already been cleaned out.
Traveling Book Salesman
Going through closets and found this sign I rigged up for selling Otters In Space from a suitcase back when it was self-published with homemade, pixelated cover art.
Fred Patten
F
red Patten, a pioneering member of the furry writing community and prolific editor, died today at the age of 77.
Words are failing me, but here’s a picture of all of the anthologies Fred edited with stories of mine. That’s enough encouragement to change the course of a writing career, and also my life.
Rest in peace, Fred.
One Green Balloon
That feeling when you’re trying to write, and the five-year-old is repeatedly bouncing a balloon off of your head… and you’re encouraging this behavior, because it’s less disruptive than so many other options. #NaNoWriMo
The balloon is green, in case anyone was curious.
Things you don’t expect to ever say: “You need to try to hit my head and not my computer.”