E.A.A. Wilson's Blog, page 2
January 7, 2016
5 Reasons To Give Thanks All Year
What a way to start the way – with gratitude for the year that’s past and gratitude for the blessings to come! Thanks to Austin Wiggins for this simple philosophy. Please show him so love by checking out his blog!
Thanksgiving is tomorrow and many of us will be gathering around a table with friends and family. Many of us too, will be giving thanks before or after we eat. It is a tradition that my parents used to do with me and my brothers. When I moved out of my parents house I forgot about it. For 4 years I didn’t give thanks during Thanksgiving. Looking back now, I realize that I miss giving thanks each year with my family.
I’ve read a lot of self-help articles, especially about depression. One of the main pieces of advice is to write down things that you are thankful for. This sort of action changes the framework of someone’s brain and thoughts. So this Thanksgiving I’ve decided to look into the effects of gratitude if one were to practice it year long.
Improved Mental Alertness
Mental alertness is any function…
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January 6, 2016
2016! Write Your Novel (class)
Right! 2015 is over and I’ve officially forgiven myself for all the resolutions I didn’t keep last year… I still haven’t learned a new language, I still haven’t built an organic veggie garden, and I certainly haven’t joined a gym. But, as my characters in Ascension Denied put it:
“We’re eternal beings. And when we’re dealing with eternity, we have an awful lot of time…”
So thank goodness for eternity, because it means we get another chance. If writing a novel was on your resolutions last year and didn’t quite materialize, here’s another shot!
I’m hosting a four part novel writing luncheon in February in Sarasota, Florida. Lunch is included at all four classes, and at the end you’ll have a full outline of your novel ready for you to turn into your manuscript. If you decide that this is the year to get your novel out of your imagination and into reality, you can expect the following:
2/6/2016: Part 1 – Composting
This is the creative part of writing. Learn how to access your creativity, how to ignite ideas and develop them. Get to know your characters, explore the worlds you’ll build, feel and think your way through a journey. We will also cover brainstorming and research techniques. Creativity and creative expression are intrinsically linked to the health of the sacral and throat chakra so we will also go through a powerful meditation to ignite these. Attendees will leave with tools for doing this in their own time.
2/13/2015: Part 2 – Snowflaking
This part of the course deals with arranging the creativity we revved up in the last class. The entire class will be dedicated to writing the outline of your novel. We will explore the “snowflake” model of writing, and begin to form your ideas into a logical plot. Following this class the facilitator will review your skeleton outline and provide feedback before the next session.
2/20/2016: Part 3 – The Hero’s Journey
In this class we will continue to develop the outline following the snowflake structure. We will explore Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey” and identify plot points to ensure our protagonist is experiencing dramatic tension! Your outline will begin to flesh out and by the end of this session you should have the beginning of your manuscript. The facilitator will review your outline and provide feedback before the next session.
2/27/2015: Part 4 – To Market
In this final class we will put the finishing touches on the outline. In addition, we will discuss the various ways to take a final manuscript to market, including approaching agents, traditional publishing, independent publishing, building a readership, using the law of attraction to get out there, and other aspects of success.
$199 for all four classes ($99 for SCOL members), including individual review and feedback.
View the program: Write a Novel
Lots of love from me! Hope to see you in Sarasota in February!
Elizabeth is an author, minister of metaphysics, mom and reluctant bureaucrat. Her comic fantasy novel “Ascension Denied” is set in purgatory but is nonetheless available to the living, now, online, at all major retailers. Stay in touch through:
Goodreads
Amazon
November 10, 2015
The Orphanage in Oaxaca
You know how once in a while, as you’re happily going about the important things in life like getting your nails done and making that phone call and buying printer ink, you’re suddenly stopped in your tracks by a cause so worthy it’s like an emotional punch to the gut?
The Casa De Kids project has whacked me so hard I’ve got to say something about it. Reverend Drew Vogt is an incredible bloke. He has been a mentor of mine for the last couple of years, a role model and a shining light for my own personal ministry. A few months ago I found out he’s leaving my spiritual community at Sarasota Center of Light to go and build an orphanage in Oaxaca. Bittersweet: I’ll miss the fellow, but what a worthy cause! It’s the sort of thing we all dream of being a part of – but he’s actually doing it. Reality check! Drew is running an Indigogo campaign to make this happen – please check it out!
The state of Oaxaca is one of Mexico’s most impoverished states. Every summer for the last nine years, Drew has traveled to visit the orphans in Oaxaca and lend his continued support. He’s delivered over 1,000 articles of clothing, personal hygiene products, and school supplies to children in need, helping to raise many thousands of dollars in financial support. WOW!
This work is life-changing. As the children receive an empowering education, cycles of illiteracy and poverty are broken; they are better able to assist their relatives and become successful in their home-region instead of becoming migrant workers. Rev. Drew’s successes, in combination with other organizations, include 20 students who have completed high school, some who are attending college prep schools and several that are entering college and university. That’s real life stuff, people! Changing lives.
So I’m not hesitating – just a few bucks out of my Starbucks budget is going to support this project. I hope you can share a few pennies too, because when real lives change like this it radiates out into communities like ripples in a pond.
The Indigogo site is here – check it out and if it resonates with you, give what you can and share it with anyone else you think can help.
With love and light!
Elizabeth
November 9, 2015
Cover reveal! Vote on your favorite to win a signed paperback #bookgiveaway
Oh, I just had to share this with you all! My dark mystery “The Humbug Murders” has been published in USA and Canada for a few weeks now, and is already a bit of a hit, (read more about it here, or order your copy here) but this little paperback just enjoyed a makeover in preparation for its release in UK early December. Isn’t it a beauty?
Which do you prefer, the US/Canada or the UK cover? Let me know in the comments – one of you will be randomly drawn on Friday 13th November (now that’s a lucky date!) and I’ll personally send you a signed copy!
The shiny new cover prepared for the UK release 19th December!
The original cover for publication in USA and CanadaGet voting people! And from me a great, big, playful “Bah Humbug!”
Read the Publisher’s Weekly review here.
Visit The Scrooge Mysteries here.
L. J. Oliver is the penname for the writing duo Elizabeth A. A. Wilson and Scott Ciencin. Elizabeth is an author, minister of metaphysics, mom and reluctant bureaucrat. In addition to this mystery novel, her comic fantasy novel “Ascension Denied” is set in purgatory but is nonetheless available to the living, now, online, at all major retailers. Stay in touch through:
Goodreads
Amazon
October 11, 2015
Fancy some Spotted Dick?
I was so honored to be asked by Cleo Coyle, New York Times bestselling author of The Coffeehouse Mysteries, to share a recipe to accompany my newest novel “The Humbug Murders”!
I scratched my head for a bit. What recipe would you put with Ebenezer Scrooge solving hideous murders in the stagnant, belching smog of Dickensian London?
So I asked my mum what she thought – she’s is a personal historian who specializes in Victorian England – and her answer was simple! The recipe has to be cheap to make (or Scrooge wouldn’t approve), easy (because we’re all busy this time of year), and blend the satisfying spices and flavors of fall.
Spotted Dick of course!
Find the recipe and the story of The Humbug Murders at Cleo Coyle’s Mystery Lover’s Kitchen. Don’t forget to comment on the Mystery Lover’s Kitchen site for a chance to win a signed copy of The Humbug Murders. I’ll be there from 2pm EST on October 11th 2015 to answer questions!
E.A.A Wilson is an author, minister of metaphysics, mom and reluctant bureaucrat. Her comic fantasy novel “Ascension Denied” is set in purgatory but is nonetheless available to the living, now, online, at all major retailers. Stay in touch through:
Goodreads
Amazon
September 18, 2015
I Wasn’t Eaten By An Alligator, I’ve Just Been Busy
Dear friend,
I’m sorry it’s been such a long time since I posted an update – but boy have things been nuts! I’m going to try to keep this post short and sweet, a true challenge for any writer let alone one as verbose as me.
“The Humbug Murders”
Pre-Order this Christmas Mystery!I’m am SO THRILLED that the first story in this murder mystery series is available for pre-order (ships 27th October)! The story is set in Dickensian London, and features Ebenezer Scrooge as the reluctant sleuth stalking the stinking streets of London in a race to solve the grizzly Humbug murders before he himself is slaughtered like a Christmas goose. Read more about it here.
And oh gosh, it’s so exciting! It’s my first traditionally published mass market paperback, and it’s generating so much buzz I can hardly keep up. It’s crazy watching your dreams come true like this – humbling, nerve-racking and deeply fulfilling too. The coolest thing? New York Times bestselling author Cleo Coyle totally digs it AND she has asked me to write for her superpopular blog Coffeehouse Mystery – what an honor! Watch for my post there on 11th October.
The book is on tour in Europe at the minute, and will be at Frankfurt Book Fair in October. This is kind of an open secret, but there is a three-book deal on the table and rumor has it TV producers are sniffing around. It’s such a killer concept that I don’t blame them!! (OK, I know I’m biased – but come on! Everyone loves a Scrooge!) I’ve also just heard from our publicist that the book is submitted for the Edgar Awards 2016 – how crazy would it be if it won? The winner last year: Stephen King for “Mr. Mercedes” !! Yikes!
2. “The New 8-Bit Heroes”
Follow The New 8-Bit Heroes projectAs most of you know I’m the narrative developer on the Nintendo game Mystic Searches. This is such a cool game – it’s set in a world where dichotomous magic systems are being wiped out by the Mistress of the Void, Amryia. Young Julian, a mystic’s gypsy descendant apprentice, must race to safeguard each magic element in a time and space bending adventure before there is nothing left but Void.
The documentary that covers the production of the game is in full swing, and a year since launch we’ve come a really long way! When I was first commissioned for the this job, I thought I got the easiest end of the deal. I just get to write the story (my favorite thing in the world!) – and don’t even have to think about coding and pixels and bugs and stuff. But, as I quickly found out, when the producers ask you to create a fantasy world, using no words (argh, words are my only medium) and then scale it down into something that fits on a floppy disc, the job doesn’t seem so easy. In fact, it’s been the biggest challenge in my writing career. But I’ve gotten to do some really cool stuff: With a film crew in tow, I’ve been to Norway to interview a folklore specialist, pounded the streets of London to find wordless inspiration, and even had a sit down with the fantasy legend Piers Anthony! Check out this short video update from our producer Joe.
3. “Ascension Denied”
The reviews are rolling in (go here to read the latest and submit your own – it helps me a LOT!) so the pressure is on now to finish the next book in the series. I had a monumental moment in August when I did my first ever book signing event at Indie Bookfest in Orlando. Having been a huge fan of indie literature for ages I had attended the event in previous years – but never as a real live bona fide author! Meeting so many passionate readers was beyond inspiring and reminded me of how far I’ve come – the very best feeling in the world was being able to showcase that to other aspiring writers and reassure them that they are empowered and in control of the direction they go in life.
4. Roger
You might remember my friend Roger here. His cranium was defiled by over 30 award-winning and best-selling authors at Indie Bookfest 2015, and although I love him dearly we agreed to go our separate ways. Many of you entered the raffle to win him, and according to the Raffle-God Randomizer, Roger’s new owner is Lindy, who I have contacted separately for her mailing address:
Lindy, Roger will add another head to your family soon (don’t worry, he doesn’t eat much).
5. Penelope Rose
My beautiful daughter PenelopeI saved the best news for last! My husband Matt, my daughter Olivia and I are extremely happy to announce that our new baby girl Penelope Rose was born safely on September 11th 2015. She is an absolute dream – sleeps 5 hours a night, feeds well and enjoys harp music and Tenacious D.
And that’s it from me for now! I love you all and as always, thanks for reading
E.A.A Wilson is an author, minister of metaphysics, mom and reluctant bureaucrat. Her comic fantasy novel “Ascension Denied” is set in purgatory but is nonetheless available to the living, now, online, at all major retailers. Stay in touch through:
Goodreads
Amazon
September 5, 2015
Talk: Turning Darkness Into Light
If you’re in or can travel to Sarasota, FL tomorrow, I’ll be doing an inspirational talk titled “Turning Darkness Into Light”. This talk will give practical and real life techniques for mastering our internal shadows and using our failures as launching pads for success. Very useful if you, like most of us, sometimes feel bogged down by your own thoughts!
Hope to see you there!
Sarasota Center of Light on Tuttle/Browning at 10.30am and 7pm
September 1, 2015
Validating God – and why “just feel it and believe it” doesn’t work for me.
Not all people on the path of spirituality are feelers. There are thinkers among us. And that’s not to say that feeling types don’t think, or that thinking types don’t feel. It’s just a way of classifying how we process information around us.
As an author my job is to make stuff up and write it down. From the reservoirs of imagination, I have to design worlds and interesting folks to go in them. For some writers this is as easy as visualizing an alien civilization that lives on the surface of a spherical planet revolving around a sun – in a universe where gravity doesn’t exist…? I wish I could violate logic like that! But I just can’t. I’ve tried. I end up feeling the wrinkling of my nose from a disgusted disbelief. You see, the thinking type within me needs to know that any world I create, even though fictional, operates within structured parameters that make universal sense. For example, if I incorporate into my stories a fluorescent species of butterfly that makes thunder with its elbows, I need to first figure out what sort of environment would allow that kind of creature to evolve. There must be physical laws. There must be natural laws. There must be vibrational laws. Even if they’re wildly different from ours, they have to be there to validate that physical existence. Understanding those laws helps me to create – and it helps my readers suspend their disbelief about what they’re reading, because it makes sense.
In the same way, I have a deep need to intellectualize spirituality. It’s not as easy for me to just “feel it and believe it”. For me, it needs to make sense, have pattern, and be provable. Oh, I’m not reliant on scientific proof, I understand entirely that the esoteric cannot easily be proven in the physical. Even in the secular, scientific realm ‘evidence’ is a very subjected and disputed thing. Although I see modern science make fast progress towards the ability to measure what spiritual teachings have told us for thousands of years, I’m not one to wait. In the meantime give me sound anecdotal evidence, or, more importantly, experiential evidence, that makes sense within the realms of known physical, natural and vibrational laws.
So I go seeking that proof. I read widely on spirituality, science, myth, legend and life. I read widely and skeptically. It has taken me a lot of training not to get pissed off with text that doesn’t fit my beliefs, or that contrasts other perfectly valid sources, but instead to pull out the perspectives that either resonate or enlighten me. In that way my understanding of all-that-is has evolved continuously, and is by no means complete.
I also ask for signs from spirit – and then I feel frustration if they don’t come, and doubt when they do. A sign can come as clear as crystal, so specific there’s little room for question, and yet the ego voice in my mind will say “coincidence, nothing more.”
I’ve found my spiritual mentors have often offered gentle criticism for this habit of mine.
“Looking for signs, asking for guidance from literature, seeking approval…These are just symptoms of the yearning for validation, from those around us or from higher realms. It shows insecurity, lack of faith in oneself, and doubt.”
Our spiritual leaders teach us that all we really need in order to embrace our greatness exists inside of us already. That there is no need to seek validation and that our higher selves already know the answers. That seeking approval is a habit of the ego mind. Not a soul thing.
And that’s fair enough. But they use “ego” as a label for something lesser than “soul”. And is that fair?
You have an ego mind – yes, and it is valid! It is a logical, rational piece of equipment that uses complex cognitive processes brilliantly engineered by evolution, and it helps you make sense of your world in a way that brings the lessons your soul yearns for. And if you’re anything like me, it helps you suspend your disbelief about the wonder you’re surrounded by.
Your goal isn’t to become a perfect spiritual being that is separate from the dense, physical ego. You already are a perfect spiritual being. If there was no value in the self-deprecating, insecure chatter of the mind then we wouldn’t have agreed to be a part of this thick fog that is physical life.
For me, if I can validate it, then I can intellectualize it. If I can intellectualize it, then I can understand it. And if I can understand it, I can believe it. And once I can believe it, I can be at peace with it.
I don’t know about you, but my spiritual awakening was like a sudden jolt to the gut when I was thirty. Before that I wasn’t exactly deep in slumber – I always did have some vague awareness of a connection with something higher – but I was stumbling around in a drowsy state of groggy incoherence. Mostly because I was drunk. (And I was mostly drunk because I was desperately searching, but that’s another story altogether!)
I had my feet firmly planted in proud agnosticism, comfortable in not having to commit to anything (a philosophy I still stand by). I declared that any sort of God-force, whatever it was, couldn’t be defined so it was folly to even try.
Then, when I came into the understanding that there are fundamental universal laws, primarily the law of vibration, that alarm clock went off and I woke up with a start. Everything changed. These laws, once understood as far as is individually possible, cannot define God but do provide the framework that starts making sense of it all.
It is not through blind faith that we get to truly understand things. Feelers may be able to better process their spirituality through their sensing and emotional tools, and that is also validation. But for thinking types, the intellect is incredibly important in providing substance to faith.
So “feel it and believe it” doesn’t work for me. It’s not how I build my faith. It is through the duality of recognizing doubt, processing it, understanding how the element I’m questioning fits in with a bigger picture, and then either accepting it as a part of a universal truth, or discarding it. I have to continuously refine my faith as I learn, whether that learning takes place in meditation, prayer, study, observing life or gaining wisdom through experience. I suspect I’ll always be unable to settle on a belief system and say: “There, that’s the Truth. It’s written here in this old book and it’s infallible.”
Because it is in the contrasts of life that I can better know God.
E.A.A Wilson is an author, minister of metaphysics, mom and reluctant bureaucrat. Her comic fantasy novel “Ascension Denied” is set in purgatory but is nonetheless available to the living, now, online, at all major retailers. Stay in touch through:
Goodreads
Amazon
August 11, 2015
Children and Choices (and a free gift for you)
Ok, I admit I’ve complained about pregnancy. The swollen sausage fingers and the endlessly expanding dimensions have contributed to my life one of the shittiest mornings ever. I’m also looking forward to my giant boobs not being so sweaty all the the time, and for the silver daggers of sciatica to cease stabbing my left hip with the fervor of Norma Bates.
But pregnancy brings a promise: of new life, renewal, potential and growth. Today it’s only a month until my baby girl arrives! What excites me the most is definitely the adventure of getting to know her. She has a lifetime of moments ahead of her, full of choices and split-second flashes of creation – her life unfolding with every fleeting millisecond that gets her attention.
Many parents tell me they only want the very best for their children – to protect them from harm and for the younglets to grow up with everything they had to live without. But I don’t agree. Shadow is as much a part of life as Light – it brings great lessons and helps us shape our perspectives, our vision and our impulses to act. I want my daughters to experience the richness of making choices, good ones and bad ones, and to live the renewal that comes with wisdom. I know I’ll anguish over their pain when they hurt, but I also know that in every decision they make they are growing and expanding into the soul path they’ve chosen. The girls are not mine, they are theirs, and I celebrate them wholeheartedly knowing all is well with their souls. My mission is not to tell them which choices are the right ones, but to equip them with the tools to understand how to make decisions in alignment with their goals, to understand the laws of cause and effect, and to have the confidence and grace to deal with consequences.
I’m celebrating being a month away from meeting this fascinating new person, my tiny little baby girl who will add so much depth and love to our lives. Please, enjoy this little children’s story about renewal. It’s free on Kindle apps and it’s my gift to you.
E.A.A Wilson is an author, minister of metaphysics, mom and reluctant bureaucrat. Her comic fantasy novel “Ascension Denied” is set in purgatory but is nonetheless available to the living, now, online, at all major retailers. Stay in touch through:
Goodreads
Amazon
June 30, 2015
Alicia’s Story #AuthorsAgainstBullying
My cousin Alicia is extraordinarily beautiful. She has the sort of spark that ignites the air you breathe and makes you gasp with confused awe. With eyes fizzing like neutron stars and hair like a Caribbean sunset, her cheeky yet beguiling laugh is enough to send you dizzy. 
But that’s not what she sees. Tormented by friends, bullied by her peers, ignored by teachers and abandoned by her father, Alicia sees someone who isn’t beautiful at all. Or wanted.
The real risk of bullying isn’t the bruises, or the intimidation or even the isolation. The most dangerous and profound effect of bullying is the way it shapes the way you see yourself. It’s the way it convinces you, after a while, that they’re right. It creates a mindset that perpetuates the bullying, long after the bullies have grown bored and moved on.
My beautiful cousin Alicia has struggled with depression, self-harm and panic attacks. She has nightmares. She isolates herself. Her perception of herself dwindled to the point where she tried to kill herself. Such an incredible and unique spark of the divine – reduced in her own eyes to worthlessness.
How can that be?? How can children and young people find themselves so far from hope that they believe there’s no choice to but to evacuate? Death – more tempting than life? It takes profound hopelessness and sorrow to justify.
Alicia spoke out publicly for the first time a few days ago in a demonstration of courage perfectly befitting her character. If you’re against bullying, please read Alicia’s Story here and leave her a comment of love and support. I know there’s enough love out there to go round.
E.A.A Wilson is an author, minister of metaphysics, mom and reluctant bureaucrat. Stay in touch through:
Goodreads
Amazon
