Audely Bensen Writes

Me at the Rock of Dunamase near Portlaoise, Ireland With our wedding over and no change in housing, 2022 should have been a relaxing year compared to the prior two. Yet somehow, 2022 was one of my busiest years yet. I attribute most of this to an increasingly demanding day job. I love my job, but at times it is definitely exhausting. I took nearly three weeks off work this summer to travel Ireland and Scotland. While I've been to Scotland before, this trip was life-changing in that it highlighted for me just how untenable my work schedule had become. Since August I've also been dealing with an as-yet-undiagnosed stomach issue that's added another layer of fun to my life.  This year I set a goal to read 12 non-fiction books during the year. In the end I read 13: five writing craft books (of which Sin and Syntax was my favorite), four books to research world-building for The Seaming, and three books related to work. In total I read 104 books this year (including one beta-rea...

I picked up A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine on the recommendation of many of my writing friends. It look me a couple weeks to work through the book due to a hectic work schedule, but when I had the energy to read, I really enjoyed this book.  More than in many fantasy/sci-fi books, I felt like I would be friends with Mahit and Three Seagrass. I enjoyed following their decisions as they navigated the bureaucracy of the Empire. I also enjoyed the depth of the world building. I don't think I could ever create a world as thoroughly researched. However, the research was also the point that pulled me out of the book. A few years ago my husband and I spent seven hours wandering the Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico City, reading about the history of the Mexican people. Reading Memory , again and again I found myself getting distracted by familiar words and customs. I had a hard time focusing on the world the author built because it was so clearly drawn from truth. And to ...