Category: Blog

I’m not obsessed with winged otters, you’re obsessed with winged otters.

Oh wait…

No, I’m definitely obsessed with winged otters. You probably should be too. They’re the best.

I just broke 70k on my NaNo novel, finishing its first full draft!

This book turned out to be the first in a trilogy, so I’ll have lot more time to spend with these characters. But after an editing pass, I hope to put this first book out later this spring. Continue reading “Finishing Fourth NaNo-Winning Novel”

This has been a busy year, and I’ve had a lot of fiction published — 3 novels, 3 novellas, a short story collection,  23 short stories, and a poetry collection. Except where marked otherwise, pieces were originally published in Deep Sky Anchor or by Deep Sky Anchor Press.

Everything on this list can be read for free online at the links provided, except for You’re Cordially Invited to Crossroads Station and Hell Moon.

Continue reading “Fiction by Mary E. Lowd Published in 2023”

Oh god, that feeling when you’re trying to illustrate a story you wrote about one of the biggest heartbreaks in your life, but you rewrote it to have a happy ending… and when DALLE3 finally gets the illustration right, you just burst into tears because… look at it. Look at that moment in your life, all fixed, all better. And it’s just so powerful to see it there in front of you like that. Continue reading “Powerful Magic”

I’ve been rewatching Stargate Universe and saw the landing screen for it out of the corner of my eye. It looked like this:

“St——— Universe” [picture of a cuddly guy in a red t-shirt]

Yeah… That’s also Steven Universe. Continue reading “St—— Universe”

The 16-year-old, working on an annoying homework assignment: I want to punch something.

Me: We have a punching bag…

16: …I don’t want it that much. Continue reading “The Educational Nature of a Punching Bag”

I think it’s fascinating, kind of adorable, and really instructive in a broader way about life that if DALLE3 gets close to making an image the way I want, if I keep saying, “Hm. Not quite. Could you try again?” it gets frustrated and lectures me on the subjectivity of art… Continue reading “Positive Reinforcement”

A year ago, it took clever prompting, multiple AI programs, and a bunch of hand-editing to get an elephant bride on a space station.

Now I can just type, “Please draw an elephant bride on a space station,” into DALLE3.

The magic keeps compounding.

Magic multiplied by magic.

One advantage of having FurPlanet/Argyll unceremoniously dump twelve of my books back in my lap is that I’ll be able to start looking into advertising my books sooner. I don’t have to wait for Deep Sky Anchor to build up a catalogue of its own first now — it just inherited one.

My goal with advertising will just be breaking even. What I’ve always really wanted for my books is just for people to read them, so I’m really just trying to find more readers. That’s why I’m working on releasing serialized web versions that can be read for free too. Continue reading “Moving Forward, Moving Up”

My mom reminded me last night that when I was a kid, my dad wrote a textbook about how to use word processors for writing, back before people did that.

My divide from the art/writing world over AI this year has been a whole lifetime in the making. Continue reading “Re-Publishing Continues”