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About Me

Hi!

My name is Audely Bensen, and I'll be using this blog to write about writing. I started this blog in 2018 to hold myself accountable to writing with a goal of publication. This year I'm doubling down on that - I want this blog to push me to write and to act with intention, when it comes to being a part of the writing community.

By day, I'm a technical writer and health services researcher, where my focus is substance abuse policy, and data quality for a large federal data set. I spend the wee hours of the morning writing fantasy and near-future sci-fi, and my nights reading it.

Email me at audleybensenwrites@gmail.com to chat.

Popular posts from this blog

Fall writing update - 2

When I last wrote in September I was working on a zero draft of the Wedding Crown, getting my Monster Girls ready for Pitchwars, and trying to find any sort of enthusiasm for my Brigadoon re-write.  I ended up giving up on Brigadoon. At least for now, the story just wasn't sitting well with me. Maybe I tried to push too many drafts too soon. Instead, I focused on the Monster Girls. I did one full pass of the manuscript, cleaning up the emotional details, making sure the tone was as consistent as I could get it. I felt pretty good about it going into the Pitchwars submission.  Then I spent a weekend hard-core workshopping the first chapter and query with my writing group. And the effort was worth it! I ended up getting one request for a partial, which I was thrilled by. That was my goal this year--if I could get at least a request, I would be happy. That ended up being as far as I went--and for good reason. After the extensive workshopping, I re-read my next few chapters before...
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Reading as a Writer: Children of Time

A coworker challenged me to read Children of Time as part of our 2-person sci-fi book club. My heart sank when I opened the cover to read the first line: I'd tried to read this book before as an audiobook on a road trip with my husband the year before. He adored this book and was excited to share it with me, and I couldn't get through a half-chapter without falling asleep.  But, since I'd committed to reading it before realizing which book it was, I sat down to finally read it. And just like my husband suggested, I flew through it. Of course, it did take three mediums to read this--I read the first third in the physical book, then switched to audio book on another road trip, then finished it on e-book during an unexpected train delay. Separate from the experience of reading the book, I felt very lucky to have access to so many different library resources to get me through the finish line! I probably would not have picked this book up if not for the joint cajoling of my hus...
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The baby steps do matter

Last week I posted about finishing my first draft of Beekeeper. Over 79 days, I wrote 57,00 words.  What I didn't say was that drafting Beekeeper was the first time in nearly a year where I was drafting something completely new. I'd spent so long revising Predacide that even last year's full draft was largely cobbled together from old scenes, with a handful of new ones scattered in; and unlike in years past I hadn't managed to draft my August short-story.  And surprising no one, writing is hard.  When I first started drafting in January, it felt like pulling teeth to write 100 words. I'd push myself to write 100, then 200, and wonder at how I ever managed a whole month of Nano sessions.  And as much as I hate to say it, every day it got a little easier. Each morning I wrote a little bit more than I did the day before. There were some stops and starts, of course. We went to Vegas to see the Killers, and then certain executive orders began sending shockwaves through m...
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