Elise VanCise's Blog, page 9

A Ship by Any Other Name

Photo by Elise VanCise. One of the original Hart Line Steamers. Hamilton signed deeply and stretched as he sunned on top of the crates. It was a quiet morning on their journey. That thought triggered something, it was too quiet. He sat up and looked at the old steamer’s top pipe, not a single puff of smoke.
At least the water was calm as glass. “Jacob, didn’t you notice the engine’s kaput?”
Jacob sits up from his nap on the bow and cocks his head to listen. “Damn, when did she fail?” He po...

Goggles, Steam and Superstitions A to Z Theme and more!

I’m excited about this year’s Blogging from A to Z Challenge. It’s going to be a blast, but also challenging. I’m doing a theme this year, Goggles, Steam and Superstitions A to Z.
Each day I’m hoping to write a flash fiction about a superstition in the steampunk or dieselpunk genre. There might even be a touch of atompunk tossed in we’ll just have to see. J
It’s going to be a challenge to keep with the theme, but I have always loved superstition stories. They can be creepy, scary or just good...

Tentacle

His eyes snapped open, darted about the darkened bedroom. The room was too quiet, too still. His breath panted. They were almost here. No, not again.
A soft whirring sound made his muscles tense and jump. Then he felt the warmed air on his feet from the vent just below his bed. It was just the heat, he let out a breath.
There was a sound a claw scratching on the wall. The breath turned into a gasp as a dark blur shifted in the corner of his vision. His body stiffened and stilled, his heart race...

Wanted: TARDIS, Time Machine, or the remote from Click.

Time can be a writer’s worst enemy sometimes. There are days we have plenty of it and others we need to cram about 80 minutes into each hour instead of 60. One thing many of us are very guilty of is over tasking ourselves. We try to cram tasks and projects into smaller time slots than they really need.

That makes our time wibbly and wobbly and we lose control of our schedule. Which is a big stress when you have a ton of appointments to make, personal work, professional work, and then there is...

Beware the Ides of March

It was dark in the alley, the perfect cover to watch for him. The club across the street was alive with music, lights and people. Maybe she should go in… no,  he will come out. She just had to wait.
It was damp and cold after the evening rains, but, nothing she couldn’t withstand. There had been too much planning done already to waste the moment. It had to be done tonight. Suffering a bit of cold would be worth it in the end.
Loud music flooded the street when the club’s doors we...

Liebster Award Nominee

I was graciously nominated for the Liebster by fellow Lake Writer, Juneta Key. The Liebster is a getting to
know you kind of post. A fun way for bloggers and readers to get acquainted. The nominator picks 11 nominees and gives each of them a set of 11 questions to answer on their blog.

In response, the nominees choose 11 nominees from their circle and gives them a different set of 11 questions. Basically, it's kind of like an interview. You might even be nominated more than once....

Author Torrence Sassetti talks about Though the Plaugelands

My name is Torrence Sassetti and I am the writer of “Through the Plaguelands.” The Plaguelands are a bit of a unique take on the zombie apocalypse world in that they don’t just have run of the mill zombies; they have threats far more dangerous than the undead could ever pose. Some of these threats are
outright monstrous and beastly, while others are dangerous because of how human like they are.

The Plaguelands are made up of five different territories: the Inner Territory, the Fireland, Frostla...

Writing Process: The Physical and the Mental Guest post by Mark Collington

Today we have author Mark Collington guesting in the Ludis! So pour a cuppa, kick back and enjoy the read. Don't forget to leave a little comment love at the bottom! 

Whenever people ask me about my writing process, I’m always intrigued as to whether they mean the physical process of sitting down to write, or the mental process of deciding which words to write. So I guess I’ll try and talk about both.

I’m one of those nocturnal authors. I’ve always found that my most productive hours are b...

Another week, another chpater

Wow, what a week. It was wonderfully productive and I feel like I'm mostly back on track.... mostly, I'm not sure I'm ever completely on track :)

Last week's goals
Write daily
Check! I was able to sit down and write some considerable words this week. I finished a chapter of Outlaw Born and it felt wonderful. Not for my poor MC Ben, he's having a rough time. Made me feel a smidge guilty writing him into it, but just a smidge. 

Write one article
*Buzzer sounds* FAIL The article was started but....

Creating the Write Routine

The last of 2014 was insanely busy and, of course, the holidays helped things get even wonkier. Now it’s time to get back into sync by creating a better routine.
A routine doesn’t have to be rigid or really scheduled. It’s really about building or rebuilding habits.A daily routine can start out as a simple to do list. The list doesn’t have to be completed in any certain order or at specific times. It can be adjusted for those moments when something spontaneous pops up. (Just like our Row 80 go...