S.L. Vaden Author Buy Now

Category: Life

  • The past is not your present. And your present shapes your future.

    The past is not your present. And your present shapes your future.

    For those who suffer from the pain of the past, from words that scarred, wounds that have never healed. This is for you, know that we are stronger than our pasts.

    What we do in the past can and does haunt us. But we are not who we once were. Your past self is a different version of you. Younger and inexperienced.

    Through the years, we learn, and a lot of what we learn is through our mistakes. And that’s how it should be—a learning experience.

    But many of us hold on to those mistakes and take them with us like luggage through life’s travels.
    This only weighs us down, making it hard to move forward.

    While we walk our paths, we see others moving faster, achieving their dreams, and we wonder why not us?

    The weight of the past can fog our minds and clog our hearts. Making thoughts muddled, and our hearts closed to new things.
    It’s like trying to run a race with the flu. Difficult. This doesn’t mean you won’t finish your race. It might just take longer, and things might end up being harder in the long run due to not letting go.

    I’m not saying forget. I’m saying, forgive. Forgive yourself for those past mistakes. Ones you can not take back, no matter how much you want to.

    Forgive those who hurt you and try to understand that they probably don’t even remember or think of what they did to you.
    This is hard not to pick at the scars of the past. It’s like shedding a layer of yourself. But when you do, you will be able to move more freely and breathe deeper.

    With the loss of the past brings a promising future.

    Let the present time be that—a present to yourself. One where you heal yourself and put past hurts behind. Find what brings you happiness. Concentrate on happiness, even the smallest things. Days will bring hardship but also joy, hold on to it, and never let go. Let it fill you and course through your veins.

    For your future and present self. Forgive and shed what weighs you down. You deserve a bright future. One where the past does not haunt you, but is like a history book to be visited only when needed.

  • San Diego Public Library Local Author Spotlight – Legend of Zelkova: Umbras

    Listen to a snippet from my latest in the Zelkova series, Legend of Zelkova: Umbras. From the San Diego Public Library’s local author spotlight.

    Please take a look and tell me what you think.

  • Interview with S.L. Vaden by Allauthor.com

    This interview will show a deeper side of why I write. Please check out the full interview at https://allauthor.com/interview/slvaden, comment your thoughts. Here are a few samples from the interview. I hope you enjoy it.

    Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?

    I lean towards being diverse and original. To push away from cookie-cutter and white-washed characters. To have worlds where they don’t have to follow the rules that are set for us in society. Such as how a male and female should or shouldn’t act or dress. Breaking the barriers that people set on each other, and on ourselves is what I want to break. Not just breaking the glass ceiling, but the walls that surround us all, keeping us inline to what society views us as. One of my poems even mentions something like this.

    How long did it take you to write your book, Iris Before The Storm?

    The writing process took about ten months. The editing part seemed to take almost as long but was only about four months. So, all in all, over a year. This was the shortest time span in which I had written and edited a book, and it’s also my second longest so far.

  • Privilege of the skin

    I was born into the world of white privilege. A world that without knowing back then gives me advantages and safety above others. I learned as I aged how people with skin that differs from mine had to fear what I didn’t. And were not handed advantages as I was.

    This was the life I lived. One in which I did not have to deal with hatred, stares or fear because of my tone of skin. A pigmentation that was handed down from my ancestors. This somehow entitled me in the world’s eyes.

    At a young age I started to see this world and saw the wrong in it. I never understood why others hated someone due to pigmentation. In the white world, I was scared for them, not of them. Actions, not skin is what make a person.

    This white world is one I can never escape, but I want to people to embrace each others difference, because we all bleed, we all feel.

    This was my life, and I wish for all races to feel this secure. I wish to break this world of exclusiveness. To have everyone on the same playing field. Because we are all in this world together, brothers and sisters in the human race.

    And I wish every person in the world could live without fear and feel safe in their own skin.

    So, I write. Giving my characters the diversity I see. Shining light on those who don’t tend to be written or shown as a hero or someone to take pride in.

    The world I live in is full of color and I wish to show that in the worlds I create. In hope that younger generations can find someone in my book to look up to. And to show a world where everyone can live in equality.