Nathan Lowell (he/him) 📎

Professional teller of tales

I write the books I want to read but can't find.

he/him

#selfpublishing #sff #dailyhaikuprompt #bookstodon #fountainpens

What Am I Reading Now:: Michael Chatfield: Restarting the Apocalypse #5
Linktree:: https://bio.link/nlowell
Writing Advice:: https://nathanlowell.com/view
Website:: https://nathanlowell.com

Public Key

npub1gdu03j9ezyrey6zrhcx0wgu68zlmkpsn445hr3w7nmm93c8y06kseemrr3

NIP-05 Address

nlowell_at_indieauthors.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsyx78cezu3zpujdppmur8hywdr30amqcf666t3ch0faajcurj8atgprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntuksnfw

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

Author Public Key

npub1gdu03j9ezyrey6zrhcx0wgu68zlmkpsn445hr3w7nmm93c8y06kseemrr3

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Last Notes

2026-10-06 12:20:37 UTC

stretching in the sun
shifting in the autumn breezes
old oaks groan softly
#DailyHaikuPrompt

2026-10-04 11:58:27 UTC

lingering night chill
dragging darkness into dawn
I need my sweater
#DailyHaikuPrompt

2026-10-01 13:35:48 UTC

sprouting on my lawn
appearing without fanfare
mushrooms after rain
#DailyHaikuPrompt

2026-09-26 11:17:58 UTC

fog shrouded morning
a sunrise somewhere out there
but chilly in here
#DailyHaikuPrompt

2026-09-24 11:40:44 UTC

"Have you ever put proceeds from sales towards a cause you believe in?"
I have donated works and contributed (silently) money earned from sale to various causes over the years.
It's not something I announce.
#ScribesAndMakers

2026-09-23 12:02:01 UTC

Choose a noun that is representative of you as a creative person.
Pathfinder.
#ScribesAndMakers

2026-09-21 12:43:57 UTC

wind storm stirring dust
rough fingers rake drying fields
willows toss their hair
#DailyHaikuPrompt

2026-09-19 12:50:28 UTC

"My mistake was..."
...made worse by denial. By hubris. By thinking I knew better than you. By not listening. Not hearing.
Even when I thought I was.
I'm sorry.
#ScribesAndMakers

2026-09-19 12:46:15 UTC

the wheel keeps turning
as nights grow ever longer
twilight of the year
#DailyHaikuPrompt

2026-09-18 12:39:27 UTC

Change one word in the title of a famous book, a movie, a song, and a play to create four new titles.
Book: Moby Dyke
Movie: Citizen Paine
Song: Girls Just Want To Have Pockets
Play: King Leer
#ScribesAndMakers

2026-09-15 17:07:35 UTC

- reply

portmanteau of food and fountain - "foodain?"
or maybe "takeouts"
"slopshop"

2026-09-15 11:47:35 UTC

"What's a situation where you feel a ';' definitely works better than a '.' ?"
Generally, I don't use semi-colons.
Or full colons, for that matter.
If I need to get fancy with punctuation to make the meaning clear, I need to rethink the writing.
#ScribesAndMakers

2026-09-14 12:36:02 UTC

"What's your favourite type of story setting?"
The kind where the characters interact with the setting as much as each other. Where it's not a stage upon which the play unfolds, but rather, a necessary part of the story without which the story could not exist.
#ScribesAndMakers

2026-09-13 15:24:35 UTC

- reply

I remember that.
And you're right. It helps. :D

2026-09-13 13:12:24 UTC

"How pedantic are you?"
I used to be worse.
These days I'm happy to let people make fools of themselves without feeling the need to correct them.
Except, maybe, writers' use of the word "marketing" when they mean "sales and promotion."
Yes, I know. Those two concepts have been getting conflated for decades (if not, centuries) but it's like watching somebody banging their hand with a hammer wondering aloud why their fingers hurt.
I'm still a little testy about Webster letting "literally" mean "figuratively," too, but I'm old and set in my ways.
Beyond that?
I try to be tolerant other people's foibles to let them discover their own errors in their own time.
#ScribesAndMakers

2026-09-10 12:03:55 UTC

Do you use acronyms in your work?
True acronyms are rare. The one I can think of is "TIC" - it's "Trade Investigation Commission" and pronounced "tick" although I neglected to tell the audiobook narrators so I'm not sure how they used it.
I do more initialisms. "CPJCT" is the "Confederated Planets Joint Commitee on Trade" but is always spelled out because saying the initials is a lot easier.
I use what ever is easiest to type because that would be the thing that people would say.
#ScribesAndMakers

2026-09-06 15:00:35 UTC

- reply

Yeah.
I had a 90 minutes (each way) commute for a while, but that was a long, long time ago. I listened then.
Now I have a 20 minute window to listen on my (somewhat) daily walk. I've been listening to Blues Is The Truth, a podcast out of the UK to get a music fix.
I kinda miss the old days of music everywhere all the time, but there's too much noise in my life now.

2026-09-06 14:46:39 UTC

Have you ever listened to an audiobook where the reader had a good voice, but not the 'right' voice?
Yes. I had to stop listening.
Upside? I have zero time for listening to audiobooks these days so it's never a problem.
#ScribesAndMakers

2026-09-05 11:50:01 UTC

"From a purely aesthetic standpoint, what is your favorite color of ice cream?"
The pale, creamy yellow of a rich French vanilla.
#ScribesAndMakers

2026-09-04 19:49:04 UTC

- reply

I generally shrug and let those people get on with their lives. Not worth the angst.

2026-09-04 12:21:30 UTC

"If ebooks stopped being produced, how much would you miss them?"
Cut off my left leg, why don't you?
It would be less painful and easier to deal with going forward.
#ScribesAndMakers

2026-09-02 11:56:21 UTC

"How do you think where you live affects your creative work?"
I live mostly in my head. Always have. That's been problematic all my life because I keep bumping up against, well, everything and everybody else.
After years of wandering, I've been blessed to occupy the same house in a suburban neighborhood for the last 30+ years in a state far from my Down East roots. Too far from the ocean but I can see the Rocky Mountains if I stand in the right place in town. I'm only a short drive from a sea of grass so vast it rivals the sea.
My desk is in the cellar.
My highway is digital.
My early nomadic state brought me here to the place where Michener started. My decades of work provided the stability for me to become the writer I always wanted to be. My long years of trying and failing and trying again brought me to the place where I began to find success.
How does where I live affect my creative work?
I live mostly in my head. That's where most of my friends hang out. It's just taken me a while to get to know them.
#ScribesAndMakers

2026-09-01 12:39:07 UTC

It's September. List 7 things about your creativity (accomplishments, goals, etc.)
1. Get a completed draft of the next book by month end.
2. I never thought I could write that many haiku.
3. My bread baking is on hiatus until I get my A1C back under control. :(
4. I'm starting to make my own yogurt again.
5. My Practice has helped me find a path I can, perhaps, walk long term.
6. Those "A new day" posts help me settle in. Saying something personal , positive, and honest in 500 characters has become my daily touchstone.
7. I'm still here. Still writing. Still learning and (I hope) still growing.
#ScribesAndMakers

2026-08-31 12:05:36 UTC

"Choose an adverb to sum up how your month went."
Adequately.
I'm more interested in how next month goes.
#ScribesAndMakers

2026-08-31 11:48:45 UTC

sweeter by the day
grapes hang heavy on the vine
musty with their yeast
#DailyHaikuPrompt

2026-08-29 13:22:08 UTC

Do you know what you wanted to be at 11?
I wanted to be a computer programmer. In 1964 computers seemed like the wave of the future. I even built some simple ones for science fair projects. Never got more than 2nd prize. The math and science teacher judges didn't see much use for a numbering system consisting of 1s and 0s.
Eventually, many years and a couple of careers later, I became one.
#ScribesAndMakers

2026-08-27 11:48:58 UTC

red leaves already
a few among those still green
there, some yellow ones
#DailyHaikuPrompt

2026-08-17 12:26:37 UTC

harvest time begins
as days grow ever shorter
soak in autumn's sun
#DailyHaikuPrompt

2026-08-10 12:38:29 UTC

pack a picnic lunch
eat under a shady tree
fall's already here*
#DailyHaikuPrompt
* In the "haiku calendar" autumn spans August through October. I used to find that odd.
Then I started paying attention.

2026-08-09 02:58:02 UTC

- reply

Why not?

2025-12-15 13:11:37 UTC

How's your creativity going so far, do you need help or critique?
I'm riding the high of a new release last week. It's been a while so I'd forgotten what a rush it is.
It will subside soon and I can get back to dealing with the holidays and a major house upgrade before the New Year.
Help? Nah. I'm good, thanks.
#ScribesAndMakers

2025-09-23 12:25:30 UTC

Shameless someone-else-promotion day. Let's boost away
I read 2-3 books a week so I have a lot to recommend!
@npub1hsh…fvhr for her medieval mysteries
@npub12ft…9lty for her lovely magical world
@npub1puc…hekh for the mystical forest and the spirits that people it
@npub1c2z…r3xd for some excellent space opera
Some that I've not seen online:
Haylock Jobson's Heretical Fishing series.
Deanna Chase's Witches of Keating Hollow
Christina Garner's Hollywood Lakes mysteries
#ScribesAndMakers

2025-06-22 14:42:17 UTC

If things don't go well with your creative project, do you give up or persevere?
My basic premise:
The only way out is through.
Usually by the time I get more than 20k into a story, it has its hooks in me. Before that, it's just a suggestion. A possibility without commitment.
That said, I put projects out of my misery more than once in my past. I might do it again.
#ScribesAndMakers

2025-01-14 13:06:30 UTC

Are you a pantser or a plotter? Have you always been this way? What brought you here?
Pantser. I've tried plotting. Tried 40 sentence outlines, save the cats, snowflakes, pinch points, and all the rest. They never work for me. By the time I've scoped out the story, I've lost all interest in writing it.
I have to know what just happened so I can write what happens next. If I can type fast enough to keep up with the movie in my head, I win.

2024-11-24 13:09:23 UTC

What's the most challenging part of the writing process for you?
Getting started in the morning.
#WritersCoffeeClub

2024-09-17 12:45:52 UTC

- reply

Congrats.
So much in only 5 words!