How the Universe Works and A Few Other Small Things

Quick things first...
Did I ever tell you the feedback I got on Zombie Wife.  My first reader a.k.a. Brittany said that she loved Zombie Wife. That it was my best work yet. Although she recognized that it has a long way to go, it is a first draft after all, that she was most excited about it.  Quite frankly, I'm very motivated to get Speaker of the Winds done and out just so that I can dive into revisions and edits for Zombie Wife.

Speaker of the Winds progress bar has been updated to 65%. That last 10% or so was slow because I've added three scene's that I didn't have before.  It was necessary and will make the story better.  You'll see. Their will probably be more of that also.

I've updated a couple video's into my YouTube channel.  I attended the the Salt Lake City library's Worlds of Fantasy lecture with Brandon Sanderson. I actually got good enough seats to record the session. There were a few minor disruptions, but I managed to upload the video and it's decent enough.
Brandon Sanderson, Worlds of Fantasy, Lecture

How the Universe Works.
Quirky, I know, however I'm going to hit this anyway.
The more I pay attention the more I see this to be true.
If our life was a canvas, we are the painters and the paint is our spent energies. It's the remnant or residue of our actions. When we desire more in our painting or if we're dissatisfied with the work we have, the solution is entirely controllable.  Think, decide, and take action. Then of course we must evaluate our progress, think, decide and take action again. Like the pilot, we know our destination, but if we don't continually sample our progress, check our bearings and adjust our course we'll forever overshoot or miss our target. For those who are not even trying... well they're in the airport still.
So my point is, we can accomplish anything if we apply effort.
We shape the universe around us, not the other way around.
I think it's long been assumed my most people, my self included, that there is this conglomerate of a thing that we'll call our environment, family, government, laws, rules and other pre-determined orders that's for the most part managed by god, nature and other much more powerful governing bodies. There is little to nothing we can do about any of that, but exist within the boundaries that has been created for us. Weather we follow the rules or break them, we so often believe that the options before us are the ones presented.
Imagine, if you will, the scenario where a hero is put against a bad guy. He's been cornered and the enemy gives him two options. Either option, of course, lets the villain win in one way or another and the hero loses. The surprise ending is when the hero realizes that he is in control of his own destiny and creates his own option which saves the day.
Don't take the world around you as a set thing. You control and shape it. If you can wrap your mind around that, things will start to change and you'll notice them. Why? Because you changed them and that's not supposed to happen. Or is it?
Test it. Think of one thing that is odd or doesn't come up. Make it a strange word or concept. Focus on that, make it important, then pay attention. I've no doubt that soon you'll see it show up in your world in ways that had you not placed it there it would not have shown up.
No, really, do it right now. Meditate on it for a few minutes. Yes, like 120 or more seconds. Really, honestly focus on it. Remember it through out the day. Subconsciously you'll be wide wave broadcasting this and the supposedly set universe will bring that back to you in ways you couldn't have imagined. It's not serendipitous   it's not coincidence. It's not that you were just not paying attention to it before and it was always there. You made it happen. You put it there by telling the order around you what to put there.
So for those of you who imagined a pile of cash and it didn't just show up, you're kind of missing the point and like the novice who's just started studying Kung Fu, you're not a master yet. Give yourself time to develop the skill.
Next, you'll learn that if you apply yourself fervently enough, you can change big things in your life. This can be stuff like eliminating negative things or people from your life to acquiring that thing you always wanted, but for some reason never did.  But that's all together rather shallow, this truth goes much deeper.
Think about it. Authors do all the time. What if you could take your life and change anything about it. Anything. Is the sun red? Is the grass crystalline .. ok, that's not very useful, but it should get your mind working on something less than obvious or shallow as your individual wants or needs. Your influence is much broader than what is right before you. Reach out into the world around you and draw in greater resources.
Decide what you want in your life and the world/universe/god around us will start to present opportunities. We have to apply the energy to make it happen, but once we do, it's not as hard as we would think. And once you've established that flow or path for the universe, then it's energy will start to pass along your path making it happen. It still takes work, for sure, but it's you who is in control. You're not just floating around, a speck on a sea of turbulence waiting for the universe to sink you. You form everything.
You've heard the natural law of flow, right?  Things or intelligence without stubborn intelligence (that's us),  will always flow in the path of least resistance.  That's how energy bounces and creates light, it's how water flow creates rivers, it's how matter and energy pool and vibrate creating this earth and nature around us. When you redirect that flow of matter and energy into new paths, you're reshaping what's already been done around you into what you prefer to have.
As the artist shapes clay into beautiful sculptures, you have the same ability to affect the world around you. Because you are both intelligent and aware you control the other intelligences around you.
Will you be bending rivers or water and wavelengths of light around you?  Well, maybe not today, but if it's important to you then, yes you can. Nothing is withheld from you. You must simply make the decision and act and in time all things can be as you would have them.
Do not let seeming failures stop your efforts. Like you and the world around you, both are imperfect. There is more than one force trying to shape the same thing. The broader the influence you demand the broader your impact and the greater the effort you will have to apply. This place you work on influencing will rarely be the same now as it will be moments or even years later. But if you persist eventually success will be yours. What ever that may be.