Hello! Welcome!
My name is Karen Lowry and I’m a science-fiction writer. I have a lot of experience in a lot of other areas of the creative industries, but this blog doesn’t talk much about that, except for here.
This is my journey as I try to publish my first novel.
This is a blog about stories.
So who am I?
Well, I’m Karen (I have a PhD, but I rarely use the Dr. prefix), and I’m writing a novel. Most people call me Kaz (hence the domain name – ‘kazzalow’ is short for ‘Kazza Lowry’, and it’s my username on most social media sites).
I also suffer from OCD, a condition affecting about 2% of people worldwide.
So what do I do?
Well, I’m a freelance writer and UX designer based in Perth, Western Australia. I have more than seven years experience working in UX design, front-end web development, e-book design and motion graphics. I also have more than ten years experience as a freelance writer and copywriter. I’m proficient in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React.JS and PHP, among others, and I specialise in WordPress theme development and eCommerce. As well as my own freelance work, I contract out to The Creative Collective. I’m also studying a postgraduate certificate in marketing.
Separate to my design work, I have industry experience in event management and am passionate about my work in the creative industries. In 2012 and 2013, I coordinated the WA Poetry Festival for WA Poets Inc, also serving 2 years as co-chair. In 2017, I co-directed the inaugural Literary Youth Festival in Perth, which was held as part of Propel Youth Arts’ KickstART Festival.
I currently work as a design lecturer at SAE Institute in Perth. I have a PhD in creative writing and internet studies from Curtin University, which explored electronic literature and digital poetry. During my time as a PhD student, I was the recipient of the Australian Postgraduate Award and Curtin Research Scholarship. I still work in digital poetry, though I have less time to work on projects now. In 2017 I did find time to collaborate with author, David Thomas Henry Wright, to create a digital interface for his novella Paige & Powe, which was shortlisted for the 2017 Queensland Literary Awards.
Before all of that though, I was a poet. I’ve been writing poetry seriously since I was 14. I was highly commended in the 2013 Poetry d’Amour Love Poetry Competition for “Hinge” and have showcased my work at the National Young Writer’s Festival, Noted Festival, Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival, Trobadour Poets and Paris Lit Up, among others. My publications include Australian Poetry Journal and WRIT Poetry Review.
I love academic research and am currently investigating how higher education can utilise artificial and augmented intelligence to make students more effective learners.
I also speak at Web conferences around the world, raising awareness and support for #womenintech.
This blog is about sharing my experiences in the creative industries. It’s very focused on my journey to publication with my first novel. It’s a bit eclectic sometimes, but it’s real.
Thank you for supporting me.
So what about these novels?
THE BLACK SWAN EXPERIMENTS
NaNoWriMo2017
Leila Greyson’s city is bombed. No one survives, except for Leila, and no one can explain why. Leila should be dead, but she isn’t even injured. People everywhere begin to hope that she is the answer to a potentially devastating war. Even the media is quick to label her a hero, but Leila doesn’t feel very heroic. Now the government wants to experiment on her and find out what makes her indestructible, trapping Leila in a world she knows very little about. While Leila is trying to work out who she can trust, someone is plotting against her, putting the earth’s very existence at risk. Will Leila realise the truth about herself in time to help stop a catastrophic nuclear war, and can she trust the people closest to her?
BUT ANNA SPARKS IS DEAD
NaNoWriMo2018 (lost through hard drive crash)
Anna Sparks is no ordinary human. She was the first human to encounter life in space, and it terrified her. After seeing how this alien technology has destroyed and corrupted other civilisations, Anna vows to stop people on earth from ever getting their hands on it. But Anna cannot be trusted. Anna embodies the very technology she’s protecting everyone from. Some people call them superpowers, but her ability to control the things around her is a technological enhancement she gained during the last great intergalactic war, a war she tried to stop and couldn’t. Now she battles to keep the fighting away from her home. But Anna Sparks dies, and everyone sees it. So when earth is invaded, how is she the one who tries to save it?
Testimonials
DENNIS HASKELL
Poetry d’Amour 2013: Love poems on Valentine’s Day
One of the difficult aspects of love to represent – in film, paint, dance, words or any other medium – is sexual experience, but “Hinge” by Karen Murphy does so in a mature way, working with detailed sexual movement and a grasping use of line breaks. The poem captures both female and male movement until the point of orgasm. The Key to success in such a poem lies in the detail and in getting the tone right; here there is no sensationalising or moralising, but the depiction of a human experience that seems simultaneously gentle and violent and entirely natural.
SCOTT-PATRICK MITCHELL
Social Media Gun for WA Poets Inc
Her work was raw, honest and deeply emotional, a three part insight into the creation of Lowry’s upcoming interactive digital poetry game.
DAVID BARNES
Founder of Numbat Poetry Journal
Karen is a consistent student of poetry; her work shows shows a clear insight to the workings of the written word. Karen writes with energy and is not afraid of critic. She is always open to new approaches in the use of the English language. I believe she would be a benefit to other poets and/or students of the written word. I would recommend her any day, in any adventure.