What is this?

adrift.world is my personal creative writing space. It is driven by three things:

1. My desire to write and improve my writing.
2. My questionable love of html.
3. An impulse purchase of some off-brand story dice

Each story starts with rolling five story dice from the nine in the set, chosen blindly from the bag they came in. Then, after drafting an unreasonably quick plot outline, I start writing in my Joplin notebook and try to bring the world to life. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

I do not impose time limits or schedules on myself when it comes to the actual writing part of the process. As much as I would love to commit to doing at least one story per month, I still have to work full-time to pay my bills and generally have other things to do attend to. Wish it were otherwise.

Who are you?

Hi! I'm benchly! AKA "nick" in meatspace.

For all my love of technology and mucking about in digital realms that people have largely forgotten about, I also enjoy the written word. Something compels me to seek out used bookstores wherever I go, hunting for gems in the form of obscure reference manuals, books about strange events or science fiction novels with trippy covers. I also love my Nook Glowlight and purchasing digital books from independent authors to read on it.

Writing, for me, is a form of therapy. I'm not terrific at it, but I feel better when I have written something. It's a healthy way to release, lighting up parts of my brain that typically go unused in my day-to-day life. Through my writings, I can explore outside myself, reframe a problem in a context I had not previously considered and put all those errant, univited, ever-chattering Anxiety Gremlins to some sort of productive use.

Thought I'd share it with the world, just in case someone else enjoys it.

How can I support this project?

You can say hi on Bluesky! Maybe pass a story to friend if you think they will enjoy it!

Or, if dollars are your thing, you can help with my minimal server costs, buy me a coffee, or just say thanks by donating to my Ko-fi: Ko-fi/benchly

Maybe you need some filler for your blog/website? I'm open to work!

Contact me at my Bluesky link the footer and let me know what you have in mind. If I think we can work together, I will provide a private email and we can negotiate, depending on content and terms.

Are you open to criticism?

Yes, if it's constructive, offered with the goal of helping me improve.

I'm not a writing or linguistics expert and tend to flub a lot of grammar rules. I read Elements of Style and immediately realized I was in deep waters without my pool floaties. Were it not for spellcheck, you'd think I was writing while fully intoxicated. So, being a realistic fellow, I always leave myself room to improve.

Plots are also difficult for me, but I really enjoy world building. Hence this project. The plan is to treat each attempt like an exercise, not a finishied product. I have no idea if that's a good plan or not but let's roll the dice.

Have you written a novel or short stories? Fantastic, because I'd love to hear your thoughts!