End of Year Review - 2015

2015 was a tough year us. While that may not be an excuse, hopefully it helps to explain why I was only able to interview 6 out 12 fabulous authors this year. But I mean it when I say fabulous. These guys, and lady, couldn't have been friendlier, more willing to share, or knowledgeable in their particular fields.

Ed Vela was my first guinea pig. I chose him on purpose because of our twenty year friendship and experience in writing plays and screenplays. He was able to introduce me to fellow playwrights Fernando Dovalina and Carl L. Williams. Teri Mathis and her husband have been friends of ours for more than ten years. She and Tom Scanlon are both non-fiction writers. I met Tom and Gibson Michaels in a writing group. Gibson rounded out my novelists as a sci-fi/fantasy writer.

I had plans on asking other friends of mine that have published plays, cookbooks, are technical writers, and even reaching out to forming professors for interviews but I never got the chance. In August I had another seizure and went on driving restriction for three months. In September I had another seizure so I had to start the three month count all over again. I have just been released. It kind of puts a damper on interviews when you can never go out and actually interview people. So I decided to put it on hold.

What I decided not to put on hold any longer was finally finishing my education. This has been nearly a ten year process, longer if you count the first time I started college right out of high school and dropped out. I started earnestly in 2006, when my son started kindergarten, and I will be finishing his sophomore year of high school.

I made the transition from forensic science to creative writing and couldn't be happier. With one semester in the bag and three more to go, I feel like I am finally on my way to accomplishing a life long goal. Thanks to my incredibly supportive family for putting up with all my craziness. Just today I was so distracted I made a cup a coffee but forgot to put my cup underneath my coffee machine to catch the stream of coffee... Thank goodness for drip trays, right? And this was at the end of the semester...

Thank you again, Ed, Fernando, Carl, Teri, Gibson and Tom for sharing with me everything you learned about creating, brainstorming, publishing and most importantly, how to just keep writing.

Good luck to everything you do in the new year.

Merry Christmas Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from my family to yours.

Teri Mathis: The Interview

After reading Teri Mathis' first published book, Notes From Faraway Inn, I was convinced I would have to go and take an extended vacation down to her beloved Cedar Key, Florida. After our conversation, I am even more convinced. I want nothing more than to relax on the Gulf, watching dolphins and walking through their quaint town to buy some local treasures.

Notes From Faraway Inn gives you a glimpse of what innkeepers Oliver and Doreen have created on the tiny island of Cedar Key. Teri Mathis read through many of the journals that guests have written their experiences in and turned it into a book for everyone to enjoy.

This busy Jill-of-all-trades doesn't stop there. She is hard at work on her second book, The Oxygen Theory, which is a compilation of many years worth of research into how increasing your oxygen intake is beneficial for the body. She is also a successful business owner, patent holder and member of the Fort Bend Photography Club (which she encourages anyone to join).

Teri and her husband, Lee Mathis, own and operate Oxygen Orchard, Inc. where they sell Teri's invention, The Big Pitcher. The pitcher is a small counter-top device that is designed to saturate your drinking water with oxygen. For more information, please visit their site, OxygenOrchard.com. Teri is also the proud owner of Vendale Publishing, which she used to self-publish her first book and hopefully many more.

Blogger Laura Romero and Writer Teri Mathis
Photo Property of Laura Romero

To purchase Notes from Faraway Inn, you can contact Teri at vendalepublishingco@gmail.com or call or her at 713-446-5337 or 1-877-347-7770.

Proceeds from Notes From Faraway Inn go to assist the Trap Neuter Release program on Cedar Key.

**The first 10 people to donate to the TNR program will receive a free copy of Teri's book!** 

Please contact her for more information!

Also, look for a possible book signing this summer in Cedar Key!

Please enjoy listening to my interview with Teri Mathis! (click on her name to listen to the interview)