Novenas & Novellas

Review: The State Within

I first ran across the BBC America production The State Within while I was on a sick day from work. The version on Amazon Prime, at least here in the U.S., is seven, fifty-minute episodes, which is exactly the right amount of time for marathoning something when you’re feeling too well to stay in bed but too poorly to do much more than sit in front of the television.

It was a good call: I was absolutely riveted. At the time, however, I figured it was because (a) I was sick and my brain wasn’t at full capacity and (b) I was in the middle of a celebrity crush on Jason Isaacs. But then, across this past holiday season, I found myself queuing it up again — and, like before, being completely enthralled. This time, I didn’t have anything to blame it on, either; this time, I can trust that I did, in fact, genuinely like it.

Writing Review: January 2026

Writing

I’ve been tracking my writing stats since 2024, and in the past two years, January was a light month. Not so this year. As of this writing, my word count is 33,039 for the month — and note that it’s not quite over yet. Unlike December, this time, my writing pace was steady, which means this word count figure is actually a bit of a slowdown.

But I don’t think that slowdown is a bad thing, given that burnout is real. And toward the end of the month, I was feeling it a little anyway. This last week, I’ve intentionally backed off a little…but only a little, and only enough to tune and calibrate a bit. The idea is to write at a sustainable pace for the entire twelve months. That’s why, despite the extremely strong month, I’ve decided not to change my original annual goal of 225,000 words.

Using AI: Is it Caving? Hypocrisy? Or Just a Tool?

Writing

I mentioned in my last post that, during December 2025, I made a change to my writing process that has paid off in spades. It came after a lot of serious thought and consideration, but now that I’ve made the plunge, I can’t believe how much difference working with an AI has made.

There’s a lot of yelling and screaming out there, these days, about whether AI writing is “real writing,” and I should make one aspect of my position on the matter clear: if the writing itself is generated by AI, it’s not the author’s work. This is evidenced by the fact that, if text is solely written by generative AI, it cannot be copyrighted.

Further, I still fully agree that the use of copyrighted work to “train” a LLM is unethical if the author hasn’t given permission — and in my personal case, I have explicitly prohibited the use of my work for such purposes. This holds true even for my fan fiction, as certain aspects of fan fiction are, in fact, copyrightable to the author and not the source material’s creator (and thus, it is possible to plagiarize fan fiction).

So why did I “cave” and begin using AI?

Review: Nexus Nine

Reviews

I’m well aware of the phenomenon of “filing off the serial numbers” in fan fiction. (It’s pretty much impossible for any fan fiction author not to know about it, particularly in the wake of Fifty Shades of Grey.) To be quite honest, filed-off fan fiction tends not to be very good, and I often find myself turned off a bit by it. After all, one of the unspoken rules of fan fiction is that it’s always kept non-commercial; the very act of filing off the serial numbers violates that rule.

But I’ll admit it: every time I saw an advertisement for Mary E. Lowd’s Nexus Nine: a Tri-Galactic Trek Novel, it looked interesting. And recently, when I had some digital credits over at Amazon, I gave in and purchased it.

I’m not sorry. Not at all. Rather the reverse: I adored it.

Writing Review: December 2025

Writing

I’m now almost eight weeks into my new life, and for a while I was despairing about being able to pick the writing back up. But then, all of a sudden, it picked back up dramatically — to the point that, in December 2025, I logged my third-highest monthly word count in 2025 at 28,079.

Virtually all of that word count came on or after December 16th. Nearly eleven thousand of it happened between the time I signed off the day job on December 24th and the time I signed back in on December 29th.

That is definitely a comeback — and with a roar! It wasn’t quite enough to make up for the deficit I accumulated in October and November, but it came close. Given the reasons for the deficit, I’m calling the month a win, particularly since I hit another goal: finishing up Never But Maybe before the end of the year.

Writing Review: November 2025

Writing

November 2025 very much did not go as I’d expected, and my writing output shows it, clocking in with a word count under two thousand.

I’m keeping the details and reasons between us, but my husband and I separated early in the month. I’m the one who moved out, and since there was nothing keeping me in Georgia, I came back home to Eastern North Carolina. I spent exactly half the month — fifteen days — living in a hotel before moving into a beautiful 1910s-era house in a small town. It has way more square footage than I need, but it’s well-built and extremely walkable.

The long-distance move and keeping up with the paid job took up nearly all of my time and energy in November. I’m just now beginning to reflect, regroup, and figure out what I want to do next.

The Iron Rose and Other Stories

Writing

NOW PUBLISHED! I have two stories in The Iron Rose: Tales from Lacerta Station!

Here’s the official blurb:

Most travelers pass through Lacerta Station without ever venturing beyond the main concourse. But past the jump gates and travel kiosks is a hole-in-the-wall bar, frequented by station workers, ships’ crews, and the occasional wayward soul.

Set against the backdrop of humanity’s expansion throughout the stars, The Iron Rose: Stories From Lacerta Station offers a glimpse into the everyday lives of those who find in the bar a helping hand, a stiff drink, or a tall tale.

Available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and many other outlets.

Writing Review: October 2025

Writing

Last year, around this same time, I noted a dip in my writing productivity and I attributed it to a tooth infection and traveling. This year, I didn’t have such handy excuses, but the dip in productivity happened anyway.

While I am going to note that I experienced a major depressive phase this month (one that I’m still not sure I’m completely out of), I find it interesting to see that it once again happened right around the time the seasons changed. It’s equally interesting to note some of the things I did by way of trying to get out of it:

I began to keep a personal/spiritual handwritten journal again;
I made several posts on this site’s blog; and
I even started a new blog that focuses on an aspect of my non-writing life.

Clearly, then, the problem was not a lack of writing productivity itself, although my word count was the lowest it’s been this year. Instead, it’s a situation of my creativity, particularly as it regards fiction, taking a nose-dive.

Ten Ten Road and My Magnum Opus

Writing

A glance at my Current Projects page shows that I have quite a bit going on. Unfortunately, for the past couple of weeks I’ve been suffering from an acute case of writer’s block. This is a shame, because there are a lot of stories I’m hoping to read before I pass on. Since nobody else has written them, it has fallen to me to do so.

One story listed on the page, down near the bottom, is called The Return. I note on the table that it “addresses themes of identity, genetic engineering, and colonialism.” That’s both true and accurate, but what the summary doesn’t mention is that The Return is part of a much larger project that I’ve been developing, off and on, for over twenty-five years.

Fanfic Review: Come Whatever

Reviews

For my first fan fiction review, I’ve gone back to one of my all-time favorites: Come Whatever, posted by gabolange in September 2022.

Summary: Susan really had meant to put the whole day–week, really–behind her in the immediate aftermath of “Sic Transit Vir.” A story of friendship, change, and getting the last word.

This delightful short story, written from the viewpoint of Commander Susan Ivanova, is lighthearted while addressing topics that are actually quite serious — just like the episode it’s based on, Sic Transit Vir. In it, poor Ivanova is surrounded by questions about alien sex and the political ramifications of romantic pairings, and when she has the expected reactions things don’t go quite the way she’d like.

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