Audely Bensen Writes

Finally! Finally!! I got my grubby hands on a copy of Gideon the Ninth. I had this on hold early in the pandemic when the libraries shut down. Then, I bought a copy, only to have the package stolen off my doorstop. We moved to a new city, and a couple on months post-vaccine I finally worked up the energy to go get a library card. I spent an afternoon writing in the library, and as I was leaving, there it was: Gideon the Ninth, sitting on a shelf. I have never a checked a book out so hard.  Reading this book was so fun. Although I'd heard that this book was pretty heavy on the violence and gore, I personally didn't find it to be too graphic. The vibe felt more like a a sixth grade boy's gross humor. Combined with Gideon's personality, this book had me laughing out loud more often than not.  This book was an excellent lesson on voice, and the lack of limits on voice. I never knew a book could have such a distinct personality. I'm excited to try writing a character li...

We've made it to the tail end of summer. For the last week it's been a crisp 60 degrees and dreary each morning, before rising to a humid 80 during the day. With the Delta surge, I've mostly stopped leaving my house again, except for the occasional walk to the trash can behind the house.  I love these weeks. The cold mornings tease at sweater time, and the dewey grass just wants to be walked in. It brings me back to the excitement of a new school year, to new friends and new activities.  For the last two weeks I've been on a writing break. I wrapped up draft 5 of the Wedding Crown on August 17th and set it off to 6 beta readers. So far I've had feedback from 2, so I'm sitting on those notes, trying not to thing about it too much until I receive more notes. I've spent the break slowly reading through a craft book (Jack Heffron's The Writer's Idea Book ), working on some scattered house projects, and of course, wedding planning. We're less than thr...