Tomorrow marks my fifth year of blogging on the Steemit/Hive blockchain. I struggle to think of any single thing that has changed my life for the better more than doing this. Those of us that have been here since the beginning have experienced countless ups and downs. There's been so much change that to think about it for too long makes my head spin. Honestly, five years almost feels like five lifetimes.
Many of the people who made this platform amazing have left but other, equally amazing, folks have stepped into their shoes. Hive is a completely different place today than it was five years ago. Five years from now it will be indistinguishable from what it is today. The fact that Hive is constantly evolving is both the beauty and strength of a decentralized social media platform. Continuous change forces community members to either evolve with the platform or cease to be relevant on it.
I’ve been away from blogging for sixteen days (the longest break I’ve taken in five years). You know what? I’ve missed it terribly. I think this is a good sign that I’ll be around for a while longer. I'm not entirely sure in what capacity but I will figure this out when I'm meant to.
I’d like to sincerely thank the witnesses who make sure this blockchain continues to operate, my readers, mentors, and everyone who has contributed to my success. The traditional publishing world slammed the door in my face for over twenty years but blockchain and this amazing community held the door open for me and yelled, Walk on through! I’ll be forever grateful for this opportunity to share my work with the world.
Ephemera Bitcoin Easter Egg Found!
A few days ago I logged into the Bitcoin paper wallet I created for my newest book promotion and saw the coins had been claimed!
It took roughly ten days from when the book was launched for someone to claim the coins. I was thrilled someone found the private key and figured out how to sweep them into a wallet. I was beginning to worry that the contest was too complex. This promotion was more fun that even I imagined and I'll be doing more of this with future book releases. Many thanks to everyone who participated in the contest and purchased a copy of the book!
If you’ve read Ephemera could you please do me a huge favor and write an Amazon review?
Returning To My Roots
We’re visiting my family in Ohio and it’s been a wonderful, but bittersweet, break. I got to meet great nieces and a great nephew for the first time and we also celebrated my Mom’s 76th birthday. We also helped my Mom go through some of my late Father’s belongings and donate them to charity. These trips back home are bittersweet because they always remind me of how fast time passes and how deeply things change. I’m also reminded every time I come back home that the most valuable thing in the world is this time that we all get to share together. It's also very apparent that some of the things that really matter in this life, they always remain the same.
Here are some photos we’ve taken so far:
All for now.
With Gratitude Always,
Eric Vance Walton
(Gifs sourced from Giphy.com)
Poetry should move us, it should change us, it should glitch our brains, shift our moods to another frequency. Poetry should evoke feelings of melancholy, whimsy, it should remind us what it feels like to be in love, or cause us to think about something in a completely different way. I view poetry, and all art really, as a temporary and fragile bridge between our world and a more pure and refined one. This is a world we could bring into creation if enough of us believed in it. This book is ephemera, destined to end up forgotten, lingering on some dusty shelf or tucked away in a dark attic. Yet the words, they will live on in memory. I hope these words become a part of you, bubble up into your memory when you least expect them to and make you feel a little more alive.
Pick up a copy of Ephemera today on Amazon.
Most of us have experienced a moment of perfect peace at least once in our lives. In these moments we lose ourselves and feel connected to everything. I call these mindful moments. Words can’t describe how complete they make us feel.
These moments are usually fragile, evaporating in seconds. What if there was a way to train your mind to experience more of them? It’s deceptively easy and requires nothing more than a subtle shift in mindset. My new book, Mindful Moments, will teach you to be much more content despite the chaos and imperfect circumstances continuing to unfold around you. Upgrade your life experience today for only $15.99 on Amazon.com.
Let’s Keep In Touch
Hi Eric wow 5 years , I thought I was an addict. I say congrats and great work
Thanks! Yes, some days it seems like it's been five minutes and other days it feels like five centuries. Lol. Hope you and yours are well and are enjoying summer!
Congrats on your accomplishment! I can't even imagine what it would look like if I had been here from the start. I wish I had joined sooner. I guess I just have to make due with the time I have been given. It looks like you are having a great time in Ohio! I always enjoy my visits down there even though it is usually filled with softball or basketball games! I haven't been blogging in a few days either. It feels nice to get back to it, but all of the commenting I need to catch up on feels overwhelming!
Thank you my friend. Those first six months (Jul-Dec 2016) were the most life-changing for me. Thinking back to those days if I would have made just a few different decisions all of the gains would have been zeroed out but I was lucky enough to have a few excellent mentors who gave me invaluable advice. I have immense gratitude for that.
Ohio is such a fun place to be for me. I grow to like the Johnstown/New Albany area more and more with each visit. German Village had declined so much since my last visit that it was pretty shocking. The Village used to be my favorite part of the city but it's going to take a few decades to recover from this recent decline.
I know what you mean about having to catch up after a break! Oy!
I am sure I have been to many of those places. A lot of times my brother in law drives and we are just along for the ride. Mainly we do stuff in the Dublin area. Sometimes make a trip to Polaris. I ate pizza at a place down on campus once that was pretty good. I am sure I would have made a ton of mistakes if I had been on earlier than three years ago. I don't think I would have been ready for everything Blockchain had to teach me back then.
Dublin is a great part of town! The OSU Campus area was one of my haunts during high school and college. We used to go to a lot of the parties on fraternity and sorority row. It could get pretty wild during the 80's and early 90's but I think it's a little more tame now. I wouldn't have known where to begin in 2016 if I didn't have guidance. People were very generous with their time and knowledge back then.
That always helps! Most of the people that got me up and running on here are gone now.
It's been a wild few years. I will hit five years next month. Great to see so many of the old guard still around.
Have fun.
You can say that again! I thought you joined at roughly the same time as I did. Thank you!
happy 5th anniversary dear friend @ericvancewalton
Undoubtedly it has been a great journey of emotions and disappointments for all of us who have started almost from the beginning, the good thing about it is that we know where we are going, until then many emotions will continue to happen.
Glad they've already claimed the prize for your book, that's great.
Spending time with family is the best thing that can happen to us, my happy birthday to your mother.
May happiness and success be with you always dear friend
Thank you @jlufer! I remember you from nearly the beginning. I'm very happy our paths crossed. Maybe one day we'll meet in person.
That would be great dear friend @ericvancewalton, I have high expectations of traveling, with my wife we want to know other places outside of Argentina.
Enjoy a beautiful afternoon
What are your top three destinations?
My wife's grandparents are from Italy, that would be one of the destinations, another would be Greece and I would love to know Las Vegas and Miami.
In the Spanish-speaking part, Mexico, Panama, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia and without a doubt Brazil
I take this opportunity to wish you a splendid afternoon
Eric! Congratulations on your book!
I love the cover. There’s a sign there... it’s connected to esoteric magic... some good, healing symbol!
Good luck with your creative work!
And don’t leave Hive!
I really appreciate your friendship!
Thank you very much! Yes, that symbol is pretty amazing. I love how the artist overlaid it with that wild splash of color. I want to have it printed on canvas to hang on my wall. I don't think I'll be leaving Hive anytime soon, I just may not put as much work into promoting my books here anymore. Thanks for being here @bartolomee, you are appreciated!
Congratulations on your fifth Hivesary Eric, that is an amazing achievement having stayed through the good and the bad times!
Thank you for sharing your visit and for introducing us to some of your family. The sadness of losing your Dad is still visible looking at your Mom, but I'm sure she must have really enjoyed having you there to share in her birthday celebrations! Thank goodness you were able to have a get together now that you're all vaccinated!
You are one precious presence here on Hive, thank you so much for always encouraging one and all!
Thank you, thank you! We've had some really tough times but also some moments of euphoria to offset them. I remember the winter of 2017 most vividly. We were coming off the highs of SteemFest2 and the bottom just seemed to drop out of the price. We lost a LOT of good content creators during that time. Yes, my Mom is still figuring out her path forward after losing my Dad. They were together over fifty years. She's doing incredibly well though considering all she's been through. We tried our best to make her birthday extra special this year. I really appreciate your presence here as well my friend. You've grown to be an extremely powerful and valuable voice here on Hive!
I do believe that generation were made of stronger material; just looking at my Mom who's so determined to walk again! Losing a partner who's been by one's side for over 50 years must be an extremely difficult adjustment.
I joined on 13 July 2017 so will soon be celebrating my 4th year; I was all starry eyed about being able to write so did not focus too much on the crypto side.
Thank you for always being there for me, I really treasure your friendship!
They are, without a doubt, stronger. I think a certain amount of struggle was expected by them. Technology has made everything so convenient now and people rarely need to defer gratification in any circumstance.
You joined at a great time. The excitement of SF2 was building and so were the token values. There was still a very bright spark of the original mission of the platform as well.
You're very welcome and likewise to you! I'm very happy to have met you!
Congratulations! I think it is indeed great to be on a platform which continuously challenges you to be better and better.
I liked this part
every time I come back home that the most valuable thing in the world is this time that we all get to share together.
I also realize as days and years pass by that time and energy are the most important resources that we have
Thank you! I've been away from my family now for over 25 years so when we get together we REALLY try to make it quality time. Sometimes I wonder how different my life would have been if I stayed there in Columbus. Moving 800 miles to another city where I knew only one person forced me out of my shell and to take risks that I wouldn't have normally taken.
I think that is is a great thing that you went out of your confort zone. It made you grow as a person, it helped you build character. I always admired people who had the courage to move away from home and start new lives. You should feel proud!
Thank you Mary. Like everything in life, taking that leap of faith had its tradeoffs. It definitely forced me out of my shell and made me grow in ways I otherwise wouldn't have. The move also brought many years of financial struggle and I missed most of the childhoods of my older niece and nephew so it's a bit of a doubled-edged sword. I always had such a strong desire to be able to make a living as a writer and achieving this goal after working towards it for decades definitely makes me proud. That wouldn't have happened without this community.
Congratulations, it is admirable!
Thank you!
Congratulations on your 5 years, it is said easy, but for us it was not so. Congratulations to your mom on her birthday, beautiful your mom. You, like me, meet close to our mom. I will meet on Wednesday the 7th and my mother will meet tomorrow Tuesday the 6th, great.
Thank you @isabelpena! Have a wonderful time with your Mom!
I registered on the Steem/Hive blockchain on 2017.05.17 (more than 4 years ago), and I can say that most people experienced only the downs. Nowadays I have more than 1200 followers, but most of them are inactive nowadays. They left the platform long months/years ago.
I feel your pain, @xplosive. I still am getting a large amount of votes (which I'm thankful for) but a sizeable amount of my followers are now inactive accounts. The response to my recent book launch was so dismal here on Hive I shifted my efforts to other social media platforms to promote the launch. I really miss all of that genuine interaction.
I've realized recently that Hive has changed and I simply haven't changed with it. I just keep doing what I've done since the beginning because it worked for me in the past. I'm contemplating my future role here. I think most of the real interaction on Hive now takes place in communities so I may shift my attention towards a handful of good communities like Hive Silver Bloggers.
As I see it, other social media platforms (for example YouTube) are much better in terms of real human interaction.
Even the smallest YouTubers are receiving real human comments. The Hive blockchain is different. At least nowadays. Nowadays the average number of comments per post is 2-3, and most of those comments are bot comments. I have seen a post with 5 bot comments and 0 human comments. This platform is very disappointing from the social aspect.
I've noticed more consistent engagement on other platforms and I think the direct monetary component (vs. revenue from embedded ads) is the driver.
In my five years on the blockchain I've noticed a direct correlation between the prices of the Hive/HBD (Steem/SBD) tokens and the level of real engagement. When the prices are high a majority of people put forth a lot of effort to gain the attention of big accountholders to gain their votes. There are exceptions of course.
Those who read and engage with your content consistently and genuinely are your core readership. For most people they constitute maybe 1-3% of their followers. Even during the height of my popularity here 2016/7 I would say that number wasn't much higher than 25%.
I like the idea of being able to directly reward good content creators with votes but the situation we find ourselves in now (low engagement) is the negative side of being able to do that.
I really do feel that communities are the best path forward and possibly the only way Hive will survive. Smaller pools of people with like-minded interests who are genuinely engaging with other people in their communities. In this next year I'll be shifting towards this direction.
Couple more months and I'll be right there with you, thinking about five full years. Where the hell did all that time go...
Oh man, it goes so fast but when you really delve into the memories you've made it seems like we've been here for several lifetimes, doesn't it? Blockchain time compression. Lol.
Congrats on your anniversary! I just hit 4 years myself yesterday, I think.
Thanks and congratulations to you!
Thanks!
SO many beautiful memories you have, I turned 4 years a few days ago and I got to tell you its been a wild ride.My life has changes so much. Congrats
Thank you very much! Happy anniversary to you!
It's a great milestone. I really wonder what it's going to look like in 5 more.
It's difficult to say what Hive will be in five years BUT the beauty of it is the community will decide.
Wow 5 years, I can't believe you've been here for quite a while and sincerely you've been one of the people that I have made acquaintances with and it has been a beautiful journey. Although I will complete 4 years on the chain in September, it feels like yesterday when we actually remember that we have been here for a really long time. From the pictures, Ohio seems like quite homely and beautiful and then you know that change is actually constant and it surprises us ho it actually happens and everything seems to be different from what we know it to be. Congratulations to your mum too, she looks very strong and I wish her a whole lot of years ahead, you're a man for the milestones and your blog is always as colourful as ever.
Let me have the Amazon link to your book.
You should probably use proofofbrain in your tags, to have more ways to incentivize your contents.
It's crazy to think about how much has happened in those five years! I remember you from very early on. You joined during those golden years when the payouts were unbelievable and many of the original content creators were still around. Thanks for the many years of support @josediccus and I appreciate the tag suggestion! I've added it.
P.S. the Amazon link to the book is above, just click on the book cover.
Congrats on 5 years, I’m new to the block chain but am always impressed with people who have seen all the ups and downs. This truly is an impressive community.
Thank you! I've sprouted a few gray hairs in those five years!
It's my own 3rd year on steemit/hive . I joined January 2018,i wish I have known steemit before that year. Yes there are ups and downs and despite that, these sites have impacted my life as they did to your
Happy birthday to your Mom
Thanks! Three years is quite an accomplishment. Congrats to you!
It's amazing how users stay consistent in the community for so long! I'm just starting out and it's hard sometimes to keep up with everything that's going on in the Hive ecosystem.
It's been a great motivator for me to keep writing, even when I don't particularly feel like it. This community is second to none!
that's exactly what I'm trying to do with my blog, every day publish at least 1000 words even if I don't feel like it or I'm tired because of work, I think it's the only way to advance and improve my writing.
That's awesome. What you're doing is the only true way to get better at it. Even if I miss a few days of writing I can see a difference not only in the quality of my content but how I feel as well.
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