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Welcome to my blog!
“I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things that I’m afraid of.” — Joss Whedon Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates!
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A Bit About Me
Who am I and what will this blog be about? My name is Adrianna Benavides. I am an aspiring author who is hoping to make it in the Young Adult and New Adult genre. I mostly write fantasy and cannot wait to share my work with the world! I want to share my experiences both […]
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Prompt: 2/6/23
I wasn’t expecting it, but I wasn’t exactly surprised either. Maybe I’d seen it coming. At the very least I should have seen it coming. There had been signs of course. I should have noticed small things missing in my mind. My memories specifically tying to him had been growing fuzzy with each visit from […]
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Prompt: 1/31/23
Are you staying, or are you going? And if you’re going, how do I make you stay? Would it make a difference if I left my mask in place? Would it make a difference if I pretended to care? Should I keep walking through each day as if everything is okay between us? I have […]
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Prompt: 1/30/23
What is your favorite season, and what do you love most about it? Fall is easily my favorite! I love that fall feels like a reset for most things. The colors captivate me constantly. I could always use more daylight to stare at the leaves against the sunsets, but I know once November hits that […]
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Stuck
There is no way around the word. This is just where I am right now. I have been moving forward on my draft of A Deal with the Devil’s Daughter, but something feels like it is missing. I also feel like sometimes I am way too hard on myself when it comes to my creative […]
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Straight From the Mind of Devia!
I wanted to share a little look into A Deal With the Devil’s Daughter! It has been a long wait, and what better way than to let the Devil’s daughter, Devia, tell you a little bit about her life. Enjoy this first look at A Deal With the Devil’s Daughter! -AB
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Moving Forward
I have been telling myself time and again that I will blog every day, that I will write every single day, and that I will finish things without panicking and hitting the delete button. It is fair to say that I have not kept up with that. It hasn’t mattered how much I say it […]
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A Deal with the Devil’s Daughter Update and Novel Announcement!
I started that story as a prompt of the day. After the prompt it kept going. It became a short story project. Well… It has become a novel outline and first few chapters! I am starting my final semesters ready to continue my deep dive. It has grown and will continue to grow. It is […]
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Writing and Fear
There are many things I am excited to write. There are many things I am prepared to share. There is one thing holding me back. Fear. It has been creeping into the corners of my mind and holding me back. I want to say everything that is on my mind. I want to share my […]
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Where My Writing Started and How far I Have Come
First pieces tend to be a writers facepalm moment. Looking back and asking “What was I thinking?” I had the distinct pleasure and displeasure to try giving my first novel another look. It was chaos… That specific piece will never see the light of day, but bits and pieces of it will. There were just […]
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Hobbies that Support my Procrastination!
Hiking is one of my favorite things to do when I can get a chance. I take pictures of amazing sights that I see on my hikes. I tell myself I can use them all. I end up using about a quarter of them. I look back and realize I killed a good amount of […]
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A Deal With the Devil’s Daughter
“Deal?” he questioned extending his dirty hand toward me. I reached out slowly waiting to see if he would take the hand back. Frank thought he had the upper hand, and in a sense he did. Until the final shake. What he did not know was that he was making a deal with the actual […]
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For Yourself Friday
Taking care of yourself is the most important thing. If you don’t take care of yourself how will you take care of everything else in your life? I put everything and everyone else first for so long that I started to fall apart. I got to the point where I couldn’t even write because nothing […]
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Prompt: 5/20/21
I said it and I meant it, and I was right. Still, I wish I could take it back, because there’s no way I can make it up to her, no way I can ever make her feel better. The deepness of the betrayal would be felt for years to come. She had tried to […]
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Things I Would Love to Study… For Fun!
I never thought hard about the question to, “What would I study for fun?” And yet it was fun and easy to answer. I study mythology all the time on my own, but I never thought to switch it up like this. I found a favorite and have had a hard time switching to something […]
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Prompt: 5/19/21
The moon broke through the clouds, and the four of them stood there, frozen, waiting for something to happen. They were in the middle of an open field, and it was as if a spotlight had been trained on them. Suddenly, without warning the moon gets buried behind clouds that were not there moments before. […]
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Workspace Must Haves!
1. All of the pens! I have all different colors for writing, editing, and lying to myself about doing work when I really know I am going to do word searches or logic puzzles. 2. All my prep pages and notebooks (outline, character sketch, random scenes, etc.) I tend to write random scenes and have […]
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Prompt: 5/18/21
It was like an echo from the past, or a dream that he was only just remembering. He recognized everything about the room, even though he was sure he’d never been there before. He knew the paintings on the walls, could name the artists who’d painted them. The only thing that puzzled him was that […]
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My Chaotic Process of Writing
Let me start this by saying there are days where my thought process resembles that of a squirrel at a rave trying to talk to a duck, a pigeon, and a dog about things while dancing to the wrong beat, but it keeps on chugging so there is that. Maybe I should cut back on […]
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Prompt: 5/13/21
People pretty much hear what they want to hear, see what they want to see, believe what they want to believe. And I guess I fell into that trap as well. I wanted to believe that everything I had done to get us here was the right thing. I wanted to believe that we would […]
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A Very Successful Ten Books in Ten Days!
My ten in ten was very grab and go this time. I was worried if I overthought what I was going to read I would not enjoy it like last time. It went amazing in comparison to the last one! So, here we go! I read the first book of The Giver series for school […]
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Prompt 5/12/21
I’m not really sure who started it. We think we remember things exactly as they were, but our minds play tricks on us. I can close my eyes and convince myself that the arguments were worth it. Every time things would start getting more and more intense we would fix things by not fixing them […]
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The Folk of the Air Trilogy: Book Review
Dynamic characters, intense action, the fine line between love and hate, and a story so amazing that you cannot simply put it down and take a break! That is what Holly Black offers you in this trilogy! From the first time we meet Jude on page we see the darkness she is up against. Her […]
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All of the Updates!
I spent last semester pitching my NA Greek Mythology series to my class, and it went amazing! Everyone gave me helpful feedback exactly where I needed it, and my professor was phenomenal! My characters started to flourish with the extra guidance in their own rights, my outline became more than just the bare bones, and […]
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Girls of Glass: Book Review
Brianna Labuskes delivers again with Girls of Glass! Her mysteries just keep you guessing beginning to end! I was hooked by the female leads and the intense mystery surrounding the Burke family. When young Ruby Burke is kidnapped the Burke’s world is turned upside down. The press, the police, and the turmoil within comes to […]
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Book Reviews Are Back!
I finally found my balance with my Master’s degree and following my chosen path outside of school. I know it took me a little bit, but I am back and ready to read it all and write it all! I am excited to start posting reviews again starting today! School was a lot to adjust […]
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Fahrenheit 451: Book Review
I decided to read this piece as a class assignment. Now, I have never read it before. I have heard wonderful things about Ray Bradbury’s classic piece, and I have seen the movie counterpart. I wanted to review it and share my thoughts because I would like to get some other takes on this piece. […]
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The First Time I Tried NaNoWriMo
Not to say I flopped the entire process, but I did not get the official wordcount in. I had about 60,000 words typed in my first draft. I only counted in the edited and official words. I hit about 24,000. In total, if I would have slapped the last pages in, I had around 64,000. […]
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My First Semester as a Grad Student!
I have gone into my education with my eyes open and fully aware that it would be a lot of work. My Bachelor’s degree was absolutely that. This first semester seems like the perfect way to ease myself into my graduate program. I really enjoy that I get to pick the novels I work with […]
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Her Final Words: Book Review
The suspense starts and does not stop in Her Final Words by Brianna Lubuskes. This mystery is looked at from multiple points of view giving the reader all the clues, and yet it never gives away the ending! This book is the true meaning of keeps you guessing. Set in a small Idaho town called […]
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Crown of Shards Novels: Book Review
Scribbler has introduced me to many books over the past year and a half. The Crown of Shards novels were some of my absolute favorite amongst them. They sent the first one, Kill the Queen, and I had to have the other two! The series is unique and the world that Jennifer Estep created is […]
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November is Here, and so are the November Goals!
This month I am highly determined to hit a few goals. I have thought long and hard about how I would approach each of them and make sure they are reached. I am excited to share what November has in store for me. One: My first dive into NaNoWriMo! This one has been something I […]
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First Drafts: What is This Crap?!
Has anyone ever pulled out an old story they never followed through on? I pulled out a first draft from thirteen years ago while I was packing for my move last night. I looked at it and cringed as I read through. The idea was great… the execution… well it almost deserved an execution. Guillotine […]
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Getting In Touch With Other Authors
I have been asked a few times recently about how to get in touch with other authors and people in the field by some fellow students. I felt like this would be a good time to cover that for anyone who would like some tips and tricks I have picked up. Hashtags: I use hashtags […]
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Being Sent on a Different Path Than You Plan
This last week has been eye opening. I had a change in course education wise, I did not get the house that my friends and I originally wanted, but we did get the house of our renting dreams. I experienced many what just happened moments and moments that made me want to scream. I gave […]
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The Eternal Flames Series: Book One/ New Adult Speculative Fiction
Freya has survived loss many times over. She has found a peace in the world in her community of Abnorms. When the Society comes in and takes that peace, her peace, she realizes the only way to get it back is to fight. She has fought off the use of her powers long enough. She […]
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1920’s New Adult Fantasy-Fiction/Currently Untitled
Sisters own and work in a club. They each have their own area of the club. It is not a common thing at the time, but they have a secret. They use their powers to make it successful. They are fighting the things that hide in the dark. They lure them in, they weed them […]
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New Adult Fantasy Fiction Series/Currently Untitled
Aslaya is a character I introduced in a short story a while back. Think deamon hunter stories with a pretty crazy, dark, twisted, and awesome female lead. She is a loner who does not like to keep many personal connections. She fights demons and creatures on her own, for the most part, she studies them, […]
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New Adult Greek Mythology Series: War of the Gods
The Greek gods have always ruled together, not necessarily in peace, and the world has kept moving forward. When personal relationships start to take a toll on the small ounce of peace left between them the war begins. Hades and Persephone have the Underworld running smoothly no matter what issues persist between them. They make […]
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YA Greek Mythology Series/Currently Untitled
This series follows the lives of the children of the Greek gods. Our main character will be in the dark about who her family is when we meet her. They have tried to protect her, but when she starts to have dreams and develops gifts of her own she is being lead to discover not […]
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Works In Progress!
I have a few projects I am working on outside of class. I want to summarize them for you and let you know what is in the works! As things progress and I move forward I will give project updates as well. Eventually I hope to make each project a page of its own! Some […]
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Class, My Blog, and Coming to the Blog Soon!
There are new changes making their way in! Find out what is coming, going, and getting a wonderful update right here!
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Thoughts of the day 8/11/20
Sometimes things just eat away at you until they are on paper.
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Some Things the Mind Won’t Let You Forget
Sometimes I need to write things out to be completely honest with myself, and I needed to be a little honest with myself about everything. I started this blog to do just that. I want to be honest with the people who take the time to read my blog posts, the prompts, the short stories, […]
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Finding the Balance Within My Writing
Writing is kind of like the game Topple I used to play as a kid. Except for I have a passion and love for the writing, and also I don’t want to crush my sibling horribly when I am writing. After balancing out the show and tell of all the background detail there is a […]
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From the Inside
Another prompt to short story! I love when things take on a life of their own! I hope you enjoy! -Adrianna From The Inside Ten Years Ago The building was on fire. The screams from outside were making my ears ring. The fire burned from rooms away. The crackle and pop were right behind me. […]
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Prompt: 3/28/2020
I always knew he’d find me, eventually. I just didn’t know it would be like this. I didn’t know I would be soaked through and through from the rain, crouched in an old rotted out doorway, my knees to my chest. Whenever I would hug myself tighter, I would wring water out of my torn […]
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Just Over Here Keeping Busy
This staying at home deal has worked out well for me. I wake up. I workout. I eat healthier. I am absolutely writing more. I have been dabbling with my art again. Best of all I have purged so much crap from my personal space. I have not had time to do so in about […]
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Prompt: 3/23/2020
The day was scorching hot and bone dry, the air smelled like burnt toast, and everyone’s nerves were on edge. Only Zachariah was calm. He patrolled the perimeter, making jokes about the Eastlanders finding us out here in the tall grass hiding in our small camp. He always tried to make light of the situation […]
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Things Have Been Anything but Normal
The past few months have been a whirlwind of confusion, stress, anger, pain, and a reset. After the car accident I was in I wasn’t quite sure how to sit here and write. I had a lot to say, but I wasn’t sure how to say it. My mind was a big mess. My memory […]
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Life’s Twists and Turns
On December 26, 2019 I was involved in a car accident. I am not going to dwell on the details or go too in depth. I have been sitting and reflecting a lot. I have not been able to sit on my computer and write outside of my school work this past month, I have […]
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Prompts to Stories
I wrote a prompt yesterday that sparked a short story. Well that short story has consumed my time today and has blown up into something other than a short story. I had no idea what type of thing I was walking into with this. This has turned into an entire story set all of its […]
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Prompt: 12/21/2019
The darkness was thick and suffocating, like a heavy blanket had been thrown on the world. He had to get over the wall, had to get across the border before the soldiers of Fen caught up with us. We waited until finally we saw a hand come over. The city which had held them all […]
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Prompt: 12/19/2019
Until that day, fear had been an idea, a concept. Now it was real: a feeling I would carry inside me for the rest of my life. The day began innocently enough, with a nice breakfast on the porch watching the rain fall over the land my family had owned. The smell of fresh rain […]
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Tackling my Goals!
I have been keeping up with everything for the most part and I feel so good writing every day! Even if it has been just a little bit the last two days. I got hit with the flu and it wasn’t easy to keep up with my reading, but I got myself back on track […]
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Prompt: 12/18/2019
“How did you know?” I asked, not sure I wanted the answer. I thought I had been careful. I thought no one would ever figure out it had been missing. I had been sure to measure it all out and put back the replica in the exact place. No one had been in or out […]
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Prompt: 12/17/2019
We took turns guarding the door, neither of us sleeping very much. Ricky looked nervous, and suddenly I felt bad about getting him involved. I shouldn’t have told him who I really am. I shouldn’t have told him anything that put him here in this place with me running and hiding just to stay alive. […]
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Prompt: 12/16/2019
Perhaps it was a dream, she thought. Perhaps if she pinched herself, she would wake up. But she didn’t want to wake up. She wanted to stay in this dream world where everything seemed to flow continuously with ease. Nothing was ever hard or hurt. Then she began to wonder if feeling the pain elsewhere […]
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Officially on a Break!
I made it through my toughest semester yet and cannot wait to begin flying through my TBR (to be read) list! I also am ready to take my time off and dedicate it to my writing and my blog! This is the most excited I have been for a holiday break in a long time. […]
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The Holidays Are Upon Us
As Thanksgiving week draws to a close and December starts up I have been thinking a lot about what I am truly thankful for. My family- My insanely large and wonderful family, extended family, and friends that have become family over the years. You are all amazing miraculous human beings. You have been there through […]
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Forgotten Town
This was a little tidbit that has been sitting in my brain for a while. I have been trying to work on a new aspect of my writing with each piece. This time I wanted to focus on the descriptive pieces and making my dialogue stand out. I wanted to find a different kind of […]
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My Weekend of Writing
I will be honest here… I went into the weekend just planning to write a short story for the blog to try and get somewhat on track with my short story a week… instead I had the most magical Saturday. I wrote for about eight and a half hours. It was the best feeling in […]
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Outlining… Just a Rough Process, Needing to Find Your Process, or a Trip Through The Inferno
I hated outlining anything for school. I dreaded an outline. It was always so bare and empty to me. (Yes I am aware that is what an outline is.) In school though they had us cut it down to so little I never felt I knew where it was going. It was horrifying and made […]
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Courage in Words
This is the piece I submitted for my final story in my writer’s workshop. I wanted to do something completely new and totally different for me. I wanted to challenge myself. I hope everyone enjoys! -Adrianna Courage in Words Aiyana closed her eyes listening to the sound of people clinking glasses, and it was beautiful. […]
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The Huntress and the Wolf
Well the prompt sparked a story! I might want to dig into these characters more and build on it, but for now this is a small part of their stories that I wanted to tell. I hope you all enjoy! –Adrianna The Huntress and the Wolf The images flashed rapidly of fire, snow, metal, and […]
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Writing Exercise of the Day
I had a lot of fun with this one. I opened to a random page and I just went for it. I think I might have found another story idea to tackle. It might end up being my next short story! I would love to hear what everyone thinks! –Adrianna
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The Craziest Dreams Make the Best Story Ideas
I am not going to lie… my current WIP started with a dream. (As most of mine do.) It is one of my favorite pieces i have ever written and can’t wait to share it… Anyway, last night I might have had a serious weird series of dreams that may or may not have been […]
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Music and Writing
There is something beautiful about the flow that goes from hearing a song and transitioning it onto paper with new words and a new story. There is not just one type of music that anyone should listen to when they write. Everything is going to pull a feeling from somewhere. I have about twenty different […]
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Inspiration Doesn’t Come From Just One Place
I wanted to tell all about how my family was my inspiration. However, while I love them dearly and know they will be reading this, they are not my only inspirations. I have been inspired many ways and by many things in life. They are absolutely one, but again not all credit to them. I […]
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Story Jumping is not Helpful… For Me
I have this history of going between all of my stories. I thought it was beneficial for the longest time. I used to be able to bounce between idea and idea. However, I have recently printed off a few of my stories in which I did this. It did not work out well in the […]
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Words of the Watcher
It has been a long and crazy two weeks where finals and work were concerned. I know that I was doing edits around one this morning so I hope I caught them all, but here it is. My next short piece. I hope you all enjoy it! -Adrianna Words of the Watcher There are days […]
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The Truth About Finding Time to Write While Writing Final Papers
Truth be told this last week was horribly exhausting. I had to take a break from posting to focus on my final papers. Both of the papers wound up being over fourteen pages and a separate migraine for each. I stayed up most nights editing and being supremely obsessive over small perfections/imperfections. On top of […]
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The Connection Between Reading and Writing
I have been told many times that if one wants to become a writer they need to read every second they can. I began small with just a few shelves and now I have two sides of a closet that look like this. Books have taught me how to open my mind to millions of […]
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Other Lives
I hope you all enjoy this short story! Adrianna Other Lives The snow was falling lightly in the village. As the girl looked out through the small window she smiled and listened for the waves of the sea below. Her grandfather was cooking stew in the kitchen for lunch to warm them on the cold […]
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I Can Write Here… Or Here… How About Here?
I don’t know how anyone else handles spontaneous ideas, but personally I write on anything if the need arises. I have an embarrassing pile of ideas that have been sorted into each series of notebooks. I have compiled many notebooks (I am serious when I say MANY) from these notes and many stories are just […]
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The Fountain in The Garden
This week has been a little rough. I hope you all enjoy. I really did like writing this piece. It just came to me line after line. I haven’t written anything that simply without thinking every little word in a very long time. –Adrianna The Fountain in The Garden Legend has it that in the […]
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The Wall Between a Writer and Their Work
That’s right everyone… it is time. Writers Block. It has set in and I have had many feelings about it. I am talking from “it will work itself out” all the way to “let me just throw my computer out of a moving vehicle and see if that prompts some things”. There are many times […]
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Glass House
This one was an interesting write for me. I have been working on it over the past week and have debated if this was the route I wanted to take. I had four other endings for it that just didn’t seem to go how I wanted. This one felt like my best fit. I hope […]
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Writing and Research
While being a full time student is many things, among them sleepless and half there while clinging to coffee cups, the most important thing is doing the research and putting in the work. I never realized how much I carried my research process over into my writing until the other day. My process is very […]
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The Pillars
I hope you all enjoy my story of the week! Thanks for reading! Adrianna The Pillars The wind crept across the earth bringing with it loose, vibrant, red and orange leaves. The crossed the stone path until they stopped at a young woman’s feet. They shone bright against her black mid-calf boots. The red leaves […]
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My Writing Space Will Find Me One Day… Probably in a Dream.
I have tried desks, floors, random comfy chairs, horribly hard chairs that force you to have great posture so you don’t lean back on them, counters, tables of all varieties, and many locations. I have yet to find that one spot that is just my spot. My desk is currently piled high with my sketch […]
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The Voice
I recently submitted this to my school’s online literary website. I have been waiting for news for a little bit, and the story is special to me. It has been my first official submission anywhere, it touches on some very important issues I have dealt with, and it is a piece of work that I […]
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Welcome to my blog!
“I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things that I’m afraid of.” — Joss Whedon Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates!
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A Very Successful Ten Books in Ten Days!
My ten in ten was very grab and go this time. I was worried if I overthought what I was going to read I would not enjoy it like last time. It went amazing in comparison to the last one! So, here we go! I read the first book of The Giver series for school […]
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My First Semester as a Grad Student!
I have gone into my education with my eyes open and fully aware that it would be a lot of work. My Bachelor’s degree was absolutely that. This first semester seems like the perfect way to ease myself into my graduate program. I really enjoy that I get to pick the novels I work with […]
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Her Final Words: Book Review
The suspense starts and does not stop in Her Final Words by Brianna Lubuskes. This mystery is looked at from multiple points of view giving the reader all the clues, and yet it never gives away the ending! This book is the true meaning of keeps you guessing. Set in a small Idaho town called […]
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Works In Progress!
I have a few projects I am working on outside of class. I want to summarize them for you and let you know what is in the works! As things progress and I move forward I will give project updates as well. Eventually I hope to make each project a page of its own! Some […]
Adrianna Benavides Writing 