Overheard while trying to sleep…
3-yr-old: “Don’t talk to me or else I’ll eat this!”
9-yr-old: says something
3-yr-old: “Augh! Now I have to eat this!”
Category: Blog
More Important Than Friendship
People keep posting stuff about how they’ll stay friends with others, regardless of political differences. Here’s what I think about that:
When the political difference of opinion has to do with whether other people should be free to exist, then it certainly is worth ending friendships over. Protecting the basic rights of all people — including LGBTQ folk, Muslims, black people, Hispanic people, women, and people with disabilities — is more important than civility. It’s even more important than friendship.
Alas, No
The nine-year-old, looking confused and troubled, “But I thought Nazis were, like, hundreds of years ago.”
Ducks and Planets
Three-year-old: “The big bad duck lives in the woods!”
Me: ?
Three-year-old: brings me a stack of books, flips through the pages, and says on each page, “This is not the big bad duck!” Continue reading “Ducks and Planets”
Furry Stories from 2016
These are Mary E. Lowd’s furry stories that were published in 2016 — you can read all of them for free online:
- The Mouse Who Was Born a Bear — Maureen never felt right as a bear. [~1,200 words]
- Marge the Barge — A Newfoundland dog is not naturally graceful on the ice, but perhaps a tabby cat can teach her to be. [~6,600 words]
- Questor’s Gambit — Commander Bill Wilker, a Collie dog on the Tri-Galactic Navy ship Initiative, must protect his crew from a mysteriously powerful lifeform, and following his captain’s orders may not be enough. [~8,000 words]
- Sheeperfly’s Lullaby — A sheep’s fairytale. [~1,400 words]
- Of Cakes and Robots — Chirri gets her biggest order for a cake yet, from a surprising customer. [~900 words]
- High School Dogs — Katasha is the only cat at the high school dance. [~1,000 words]
If you enjoyed any of these stories, please consider nominating them for the Ursa Major Awards. It only takes a minute, and award nominations and wins can make a big difference to authors. Nominations are open through February 28th.
The Beginning of Something Good
The nine-year-old is learning how to make cupcakes. This could work out well for me.
An Icy World
Ah, what a lovely day for a walk through the freezing rain.
The ice on the snow cracks like the sugar crust on a creme brûlée.
The nine-year-old is saving a snowball in the freezer. She named it Samantha.
Twitter and Bed Times
That moment when you — a novelist and short story writer — wish that your writing was as good as a joke Twitter account.
Upset that we’re making her get ready for bed, the nine-year-old asks in a huff: “But what if I end up in bed TOO EARLY.” As if that would bother us…
Moles and Squirrels
Sometimes instead of writing new words, you pepper previous passages with useful references to the relatives sizes of moles and squirrels.
Happy New Year — Two Pieces of Flash!
To celebrate the end of 2016 and the start of 2017, we bring you a pair of stories that were originally published in A Glimpse of Anthropomorphic Literature earlier this year — this is the first time they’re available to read for free online.
Our first story, Sheeperfly’s Lullaby, is a snowy fable about a sheep and a wish that’s granted in an unexpected way. Our second story, The Mouse Who Was Born a Bear, is story of transformation and becoming one’s true self. Continue reading “Happy New Year — Two Pieces of Flash!”