Audely Bensen Writes

I've been really bad at going to the library lately. For a while I was on a good streak: no more than 3 books out at time, and going in at least once a week to spend some time working from the library itself. Then the summer happened, and with it, my break in usual workload. Without the pressure to write somewhere fun, I started going to the library once a month, and checking out 6-7 books at a time, which then only delayed me more in making time to return them. All of that to say, when I went in to the library the day after learning that Sangu Mandanna had a new book out, and there it was, just waiting for me, even though I already had an armful of books--of course I checked it out.  A Witch's Guide to Magical Inkeeping was, of course, adorable. Mandanna once again drew together a cast of crotchety and lovable characters who realize over the scope of the book that they need each other. It was precious, and I loved it.  My only complaint with the book is that despite my overl...

View from a hike in Shenandoah during our biannual sister trip When I last posted about my annual goals , it was March.  Since then, real life has been full to bursting, between a death in the family, instability in the day job industry, some very exciting personal news, and the general sense of living through the apocalypse. Combining all of those stress-inducing factors...I lost track of the months. At the end of each of the last few months I went to sit down to write up the Quarter 2 update and had the sense that I was off count, and it wasn't time to sit down and provide an update yet.  It turns out, I was off, just not in the direction I intended to be. So, here's my update on what I've been working on for the last 5 months (oops)  April. Re-outlined Beekeeper, and tried not to drown at work, while dealing with some health challenges. Survival was the goal for April, and we met that mark, if only.  May & June. I revised Beekeeper over 45 "working" days. I...

My brother gave me a copy of Piranesi for christmas last year, and it took me until the summer to read it. When I originally opened the gift, I was surprised that it was such a slim book for how widely recommended it is. I had expected something with more heft. It seemed like the perfectly sized vacation book, so when my sister and I went on our annual hiking trip, I packed it along, and hiked with it in my backpack.  And I adored it. Despite the confusion of the introductory pages, this book hooked me from the beginning. The prose was beautiful enough to jolt me out of the writing rut I'd been in and inspire me to write (bad) poetry as we hiked; the structure made me feel free.  The hardest thing about Piranesi is now that I'm on the opposite side and ready to be the one recommending it to other people (instead of everyone recommending it to me) I'm finding that I have no idea how to explain what this is about without ruining the story for the next reader. 

I read Kat Dunn's Hungerstone because I had to. I'd exhausted all the other books in my library stack, and half of them were overdue, too. Those I read without joy, as a way to distract myself through a family health crisis. It barely worked. Everything I read for a month left me listless.  So when I picked up Hungerstone, I expected more of the same. I was mistaken! I loved this book. It was exactly what I needed to pull me firmly out of reality and into the mad world of Nethershaw. It was violent without being gory, emotional without tripping any of my sensitive wires. And the voice was excellent. By the middle of this book I was debating whether I should give first person a try too on my next novel.  While reading circumstances weren't great, I really enjoyed this book and will read more of this author. 

Last week I finished revising the final scene of Beekeeper. Yay! Only, we're never really done, are we? Over the course of this round of revision, I had pulled together a short list of scene snippets that I wanted to shoe-horn into the narrative and quality checks that I'd stumbled over during the weeks of drafting.  After a bit of heel-kicking and whining (I just spent 44 days heads-down revising my novel! I was tired!) I got to it. The two quality checks were:  Assess that each chapter has a unique goal. A friend in my writing group suggested this as a way to ensure that the pacing is moving along and that the character agency is clear.  Make sure each event can be linked by the words "therefore" or "but." If I remember correctly, this exercise was suggested through Writing Excuses (but don't ask me which episode). If two events can be linked by the words "and" or "then," there isn't enough causality to string the novel toget...

Private Rites is the third Julia Armfield book I've read. While I don't think it was bad, it also was not my favorite of what she's written. The pacing seemed quite slow, and as usual with Armfield I luxuriated in the lovely prose. Every line seemed packed with meaning, and like there couldn't have been another sentence in its place.  As the same time, I was also never really sure what the point was. It was the flip side of what I've loved most about all of her other work: the prose meanders, and spirals, and not until the very end does it coil into a neat little box of meaning, leaving you stunned and reflective. Even by the end of this one I was not quite sure I grasped that end.  Because I love the effect of that aspect of her writing in all other instances experienced to date, I will probably read her next as well! This could easily have been an instance of me not being in the right headspace to enjoy a slow book when I attempted to read it, and if I read it ag...