Why Is It So Easy?

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Life can be extremely difficult. Life can also be magical and wondrous. When your eyes are opened to the deeper meaning of events unfolding around you in this physical world you begin to experience more of the latter. This great Universe is an interactive web of energy that has a way of giving you exactly what you need at the precise moment you need it. As a practicer of meditation and yoga for nearly twenty years I've learned a few things but most importantly I've realized I have much more to learn. A couple things I HAVE learned are:

1. None of us are given preference when it comes to these receiving these gifts of guidance and windows of opportunity. Certain people are just more aware of what's going on and recognize them when they occur; and

2. We are awesomely powerful beings and the quality of our thoughts dictate the quality of our life experience. Our thoughts, consciously or subconsciously, draw to us certain events and circumstances.

The great problem is most people (myself included) don't always remember they have the power to change their lives through something as simple as changing their mindset. This is so simple that, at first, seems like nonsense. Most times our lives have been like a rudderless ship drifting aimlessly in the current for so long that we're used to not being able to steer. We've become accustomed to reacting to life events instead of being proactive and taking control of them. Even after opening yourself up to the idea that this could be possible and then seeing it work first-hand it's still so easy to forget that we can do it.

Luckily, we have many tools to help us in our journey to begin to actively steer our lives towards our destinies. One awesomely powerful tool is the gift of affirmation. I was recently reminded of this from a massage therapist that my wife and I met. She explained that an affirmation is so much more powerful if it's framed into the form of a question. Questions have a way of focusing the energy of our minds like a laser beam and gets much better results than mere statements.

You can use these affirmations for anything you want to change or attain in your life. For example:

"Why is it so easy for me to be successful?"

"Why is it so easy for me to be happy?"

"Why is it so easy for me to be healthy?"

"Why is it so easy for me to make friends?"

These are just general examples but the beauty of these affirmations are their simplicity and flexibility. You can adapt this tool to pretty much any situation. Go ahead, give it a try! Really, what do you have to lose? I don't know about you but I could use a little more "easy" in my life.

~Eric Vance Walton~

Eric Vance Walton invites you to follow his unfolding story by “liking” his Facebook author page at https://www.facebook.com/EricVanceWaltonAuthor for updates and promotions on his current and upcoming projects.

Download a free preview of Eric’s new book One Word At A Time: Finding Your Way as an Indie Author, here: http://www.authorspublish.com/press/sample/

The Decade of Distraction

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There’s no denying that the combination of social media and mobile devices are transforming us. The next time you’re in a public place, take notice of how many people are staring zombie-like at their mobile devices, totally oblivious to the world that is unfolding around them. Technology is advancing at such a fast pace that we haven’t had the time necessary to adapt to it from an evolutionary perspective. Science is showing that our brains are being rewired by this technology. We’re becoming less able to focus, self-absorbed, and more @ssholish than ever before. It seems like there's a massive emptiness in people’s hearts and they try to fill this void with material things. It seems we’re more connected to the world but less connected to those people in our lives who really matter. So many people are becoming more interested in recording our lives on social media than living it.

People, used to the relative anonymity of the internet are becoming increasingly brash in both their online as well as face-to-face interactions. This behavior is epidemic and stretches across all age and socioeconomic boundaries. There’s nothing more sad to me that watching a table of people in a restaurant staring at their smart phones instead of enjoying one another’s conversation and company. Life moves swiftly and there’s nothing worse than the sting of regret.

It wouldn’t surprise me if this time in history is eventually coined, “the decade of distraction.” I get it, there’s a lot to be fed up with these days and it’s mighty tempting to search for a mindless escape. The problem lies in how bad things will get if people become completely distracted and no longer are willing to actively participate in the real world.

I like the convenience of my iPhone as much as the next person and social media has completely transformed my writing career. Technology can be an amazing gift if used to our advantage and in moderation. We clearly haven’t found this happy medium, we’re drunk with it. It seems each day this world is becoming more like the dystopian society in my novel Alarm Clock Dawn and it scares the hell out of me.

Some days it takes immense strength and patience to be decent to people and engaged in this world but let me tell you why it’s worth it to make every effort. We’d never know it from watching the nightly news but this world is still a beautiful place and it’s full of interesting and incredible people. History shows us repeatedly how disastrous things happen when society becomes distracted. There’s still much this world has to teach us if we only look up from our phones long enough to pay attention.

~Eric Vance Walton~

How I Spent My Summer

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I was busy this summer.  I'm thrilled to announce my first traditionally published book One Word At A Time: Finding Your Way as an Indie Author.  My soul is in this book, it contains hard won knowledge attained from 20 years in the writing business. Please click on the attached link below to download your FREE PREVIEW of the book before it's released to the public in mid-October. Also, feel free to share this link with anyone you know who is interested in writing. Thanks for your support! Link to download the exclusive preview:

http://www.authorspublish.com/press/sample/

Writing Saved My Life

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Writing Saved My Life. I’m what you would consider the polar opposite of Hunter S. Thompson or Ernest Hemingway in the sense that writing doesn’t summons my demons but rather it helped to deliver me from them. Writing words that have the power to capture people didn’t come naturally to me, it took years of hard work.

I began writing when I was in my early twenties. In hindsight most of what I wrote was bad to mediocre poetry. I didn’t make a dime off of it but it was a kind of therapy to help heal me from years of anxiety and depression. Writing allowed me to express bottled up feelings and emotions privately in the comfort of my own space, in my own time. I wrote every single day.

It was at some point in my mid twenties that I decided that I was going to attempt to write for a living. I had no idea how to go about this. Honestly, this has been a blessing and at times a curse. The road I’ve chosen hasn’t been an easy one. I’ve worked a day job for the last twenty years while building my writing career. I’ve watched nearly all of my peers at my day job pass me on the ladder of success. During my moments of waning hope I would sometimes feel like I’ve wasted my life pursuing a pipe dream.

I’m lucky in the fact that the strongest trait in my family’s bloodline is tenacity. So through it all I kept the faith and continued to do what my ancestors have always done. I worked, I honed, I soaked up all the knowledge I could while I waited for my moment to arrive. When I was younger I really believed that success would come all at once some day when a publisher or someone in the business would “discover me” and my life would be forever changed. I realize now this isn’t how it happens for most of us.

One day, shortly after I published my novel in 2013, I woke up. I realized that a writing career isn’t a destination as much as it is a lifelong journey. Ever since I had this epiphany I’ve viewed writing to be the great blessing that it is. In life no one can hand you your dream, you must to seize it on your own. When I realized this everything changed.

In these last few years I’ve been lucky enough to connect with so many wonderful and interesting people from places like New Zealand, Britain, France, Estonia, and Africa. Each time I publish a book or an article it feels as though I’m sending something I’ve given birth to out into the world to make its mark. Words can’t describe the joy that I feel when someone really is touched by something I’ve written and it changes them or even makes them stop for a moment to think.

My first traditionally published book, "One Word At A Time: Finding Your Way As An Indie Author" will be released in just a few weeks. I have jitters like I’ve never experienced before. Will this be the book that changes my life? My life has already been changed through these last twenty years. I no longer chase after material success but rather do the best work I possibly can and will already be smiling with contentment the day it catches up to me. I owe everything to writing and my readers. Because of writing and you I am already wealthy beyond measure in everything that matters. For this, I’m thankful.

With Gratitude,

~Eric Vance Walton~

Ditching Satellite Television - Eight Months Later...The Conclusion

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As many of you might remember my wife and I got fed up with the insane cost of satellite TV earlier this year and decided to seek out other alternatives. We opted to try a digital antenna (Amazon.com, $30 one time cost) which brings in 24 free stations from the air and AppleTV (refurbished from the Apple Store, $79 one time cost). We subscribed to HuluPlus and Netflix through AppleTV for a total monthly charge of under $17.00 versus the $130 per month we paid for satellite television. We're eight months into our experiment and have discovered a few things, some of them we expected and some we very much did not. Obviously, we love the cost savings. The total return on the investment of $109 for the antenna and AppleTV was made back the very first month after we cancelled our satellite tv subscription. We have $100+ more in the bank now at the end of every month. What's not to love about that?

Now it’s going to get real. First, there was the honeymoon period. For the first few months our excitement over the cost savings carried us through with smiles on our faces. For me, doubt began to set in around the third month. We found ourselves starting to grumble about the lack of good things to watch on tv. Although Netflix does have really good independent and foreign films (which I love), the bulk of their mainstream movies are horribly outdated for the most part. HuluPlus? Forget about it unless you missed all of the bad movies from the 1980's and 1990's. AppleTV has a vast variety of current movies but our internet connection isn’t fast enough to stream them. For more current movies Redbox is a great option.

Over the air TV programming during our peak viewing time of 6 to 8PM consists of nightly network news, Wheel of Fortune, and a few sitcoms. The former of which bombards you with a steady stream of depressing/negative stories, fear mongering, and mostly nonsense. Our savior has been a combination of PBS and a weak local over-the-air channel that plays reruns of 1970's sitcoms like MASH and Sanford and Son.

Now for some of the things that we weren't anticipating. We are watching far less television. As a result we have more of our time to do other things, like read, listen to good music, exercise, and write (for me). This has enhanced our lives in ways that are both measurable and in many ways that aren't. We find that we aren't zoned out in front of the tube so we talk more. About six months into the experiment I noticed that my brain isn’t as fuzzy, my mental recall is faster, and even my perception of reality had become vastly different than it was before.

Even before this experiment began we watched far less television than the average American. Still, this transformation took a full six months to start to occur. Once I reduced my television viewing I began to realize on a deeper level that the importance our society places on celebrity gossip, consumerism, and trends seem utterly ridiculous given the more serious things going on in the world. Some programming seems like an absolute insult to your intelligence.

Eight months into life without satellite TV life is different but I can assure you that it’s better. I feel more intuned with my body and soul, I feel healthier physically and mentally, I have more free time, and there’s more money in my wallet. I realize that more than our television was deprogrammed as the result of canceling that satellite television subscription! In conclusion, although I miss American Pickers and a few other shows, the positives far outweigh the negatives. A veil has been lifted and our lives are so much better for it.

~Eric Vance Walton~

You Say It's My Birthday...

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…Happy Birthday to me.  : )  Exactly 43 years ago I came into the world at around 4:40 AM.  Ironically this is very close to when my alarm chimes every single weekday morning for work.  In spite of these early morning wake ups, it's truly been a wonderful life thus far. Today I'm thankful to have the opportunity to spend my day doing one of the things I love most in life…write!  I'm wrapping up my manuscript for my first traditionally published book on writing for beginning (Indie) writers.  The working title is, "The Writer's Life - How To Live It"  

I'm wrapping up edits today on a chapter pertaining to maximizing profit from your work and budgeting. It's the largest chapter so far and contains tips on painless ways to cut the excess from your budget as well as ways to squeeze the most profit from your writing. This afternoon, I'll be hammering away at three new chapters on craft.  I can think of no better way to spend this day. 

As soon as we have more updates and release date for this book I'll be sharing these things here! 

Have a wonderful day, all! 

The Cure For The Common Road Rage

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  I consider myself a peaceful and easy going individual most of the time, I’ve meditated and practiced yoga for almost twenty years. There are few things anymore that rile me up but one of them left is the annoyance of bad drivers. When I’m driving something transformative happens that reduces the level of my patience nearly to zero. It seems that drivers, more than ever, have their minds on anything and everything but driving. Rules of the road to them are mere, “suggestions” and this would include lane markers, signs and traffic lights.

Yes, I admit was one of those horn-beeping, finger-flipping barbarians who would not hesitate to call you out for cutting me off, running a red light or drifting into my lane while simultaneously steering with your knees, sipping your latte, and checking your Facebook news feed.

My cure came in a most unassuming way. Just recently I bought a used 2010 Honda Fit. This car is perfect for me in every way and inadvertently has ended my decade long, love/hate relationship with driving. I believe what this car has taught me could possibly cure road rage on a global scale.

I’ll never forget the first day I discovered it. It was just a regular day and I was on the way to work. From the other direction someone turned left in front of me, nearly shearing off the first few inches of the front of my, “new” car. I was furious and instinctively slammed my palm into the center of the steering wheel and that is when it happened… “meeeeeeeeep”. Just as a succession of blistering expletives were about to be launched from my lips I laughed instead.

This was no normal horn, in fact it reminded me of the horn on my old 1983 Tomos moped...if the battery were almost dead. The sound was embarrassingly dreadful and actually the antithesis of what a horn should be. I felt shame, I felt embarrassment, it humbled me.

As my father so graciously taught me through his example, the offensive gestures and fiery expletives can come in any order but the horn beeping must always proceed them both. That’s the way it is, there’s no other way.

Instantly, I became a change man, years of anger were wiped clean. All it took was a wimpy horn.

~Eric Vance Walton~

25% Off All of My Books Through Monday, May 26th!

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25% Off All of My Books Through Monday, May 26th!

Happy (US) Memorial Day everyone! To celebrate this Holiday weekend, and the unofficial start of Summer, please enjoy a 25% discount on all four of my titles (including my debut novel Alarm Clock Dawn) with the discount code MEMORIAL25. As always, thank you for your support!

Read The First Five Chapters of Alarm Clock Dawn for Free!

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Read The First Five Chapters of Alarm Clock Dawn for Free!

This is the first book of trilogy in the Alarm Clock Dawn series. Sometimes, when all hope seems lost, there's only one solution…to AWAKEN.  

What Readers Are Saying...

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was easy to read and full of twists, turns, reflection and enough suspense to keep me reading (I just had to find out what was going to happen next!) It contained a good mix of drama, science fiction, poetry, spirituality and a hint of romance. It was a book which really made me think outside of the box and is one I still continue to think about! Rumor has it this is a part of a trilogy and I am eagerly awaiting the release of the next book. I believe this book will interest a lot of people because it crosses several genres. Congratulations Eric to a job well done! - Sue Kimmes

 

Alarm Clock Dawn is cleverly written and the title should "dawn" on you as you progress in your reading. Once you do get it, you may be surprised at the meaning of it and realize how the story relates to your life.

Eric Vance Walton is a brilliant author and poet and proves it though out by providing his readers with layers of spirituality, suspense, poems, and symbolism. All you have to do is be willing and able to be receptive to Eric's message. I believe that it is a powerful one and very well worth your time. I guarantee once you pick the book up, it will be hard to put it down.

The book should help you, as it did me, to remember some things that you may have forgotten, things that are extremely important to a person's soul and mental well-being. It may also help you to remember what you are passionate about. - Jean White

This is an excellent first novel from an author more known for his poetry. Set in a dystopian society, that frankly looks like somewhere we could easily be headed, the author crafts a cautionary tale about the excesses of a society that strives for more and more "things". Driven by huge multinational corporations with excellent advertising (Marlboro, Budweiser, Lunestra anyone?), the story evolves to provide a yin to the yang that sets it up. I am NOTORIOUS for getting halfway through a book and jumping to the last chapter, just because I hate waiting. This book was the first one that I didn't do that to in a Looooong time, and I was handsomely rewarded. There was a nice twist and denouement that I just didn't see coming. Well worth the read! - Shawn Mullen

This book was a fun and thought provoking read!! The characters are so relatable,I found myself challenging my own routines and reasons behind them!! A must read for anyone who is ready to enjoy a story that will force you to look beyond yourself! - Kami Burgess

Surrender

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It only took half
a lifetime to
learn that
I'm wise enough
to realize
I'm not nearly
wise enough

So I lay down
my defenses
for these were
proverbial fences,
and fear was the lock
on the garden's gate

I am
present now
with nothing
left to lose,
nothing to prove,
my soul stripped bare
by humility

future flow now
and let me
ride your waves
for I've found
my bliss
and the garden is
like some warm
sweet kiss
that floods
my empty
places
and leaves
me longing for
you, only you
or nothing at all.

~Eric Vance Walton~

Read or Download the First Five Chapters of my novel Alarm Clock Dawn for Free!

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Read or Download the First Five Chapters of my novel Alarm Clock Dawn for Free!

ALARM CLOCK DAWN, author Eric Vance Walton's debut novel, is the chilling story of a world only decades ahead of our own. Adam Harkin is an employee of XenTek, the most powerful corporation the world has ever known. Adam begins to question the purpose of his existence in a world where people are no longer citizens; they are merely consumers. Every aspect of a person’s role in society is to be determined by one number—their credit score. 

The planet is protesting corporate greed and insatiable consumerism through crippling super storms that erupt without warning. 

In a race against time, thousands of people are waking up from this nightmare, burning their Consumer Identification Cards and doing the only thing they can to strike back—dropping out of this toxic society. One by one they join the camps outside the cities. The fate of humanity itself is at stake and the clock is ticking. One question haunts their fragile optimism: Is it already too late?

The Cliff

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The knowingnever leaves me now, it's haunting to realize the when, the why, the how

drowning in a sea of greed, so blissfully distracted as the 1% reaps, their machine consuming evermore

We each play our roles but those nervous smiles reveal the feeling that something's wrong with the direction of this herd

At times it seems like the right words might just break our trance but so continues our dance right to the edge of the cliff.

~Eric Vance Walton~