One of the topics I speak about in my Texas Mantra speech is change. One of the most profound things I ever heard in college came from (one of what I thought at the time was) one my most ineffective professors. The moment he spoke the words, I knew I had just heard something that was going to stick with me for the rest of my life. He said, "Everybody wants improvement but no one wants change." For me that is one of life's absolutes. If you just think about it for a moment, you know that's right. What's more, you can't have one without the other.

  Life is all about change. It's how we learn, it's how we grow. Change is one of life's constants. The changes I've endured since I last made an entry into this blog have been life changing for me. The unexpected success of Texas In Her Own Words has completely changed my business model; I dare say for the good. From the beginning I knew public speaking and selling books in the 'back of the room' (BOR) was going to be a cornerstone of my marketing plan. What has surprised me is how well that has been accepted and how much it has impacted the success curve of the book.  

  It came as a surprise when after a speaking gig at a civic club in town someone came up and asked me how much I would charge to give a "talk" to their organization. After the deer left my headlights, I started asking questions about the group, it's size, the purpose of the talk, etc.  I set a fee and got the gig without so much as a blink from the other party. At that precise moment in time, my business model changed from the author selling books in the back of the room to the speaker selling books in the back of the room. and as Robert Frost said in his poem, "...and for me that has made all the difference."  Lots more to come. Talk to you soon.  T

Texas Independence Day, March 2nd, is always a special day for me. It always begins by going to the memorial ceremony at the Texas State Cemetery. There state dignitaries, Texas Revolutionary Era reeactors, interested visitors and downright patriotic citizens show up for the speeches and musket fire. It is a time to honor the men & women who created Texas and those who have continued to make Texas what it is. It's always a moving ceremony and well worth your time. Mark it on your calendar for next year.

Saturday was the Texas parade put on by the Celebrate Texas organization. this is a great group of people who stage several events in the hopes of keeping the memory and spirit alive. They are to be commended in the face of so much apathy. Texas Independence Day used to be a big deal in Texas years ago. As more and more people have moved to Texas from other places, the real possibility of the dilution and the watering down of the Texas spirit and Texas traditions is a reality. Celebrate Texas tries to keep Texas in the front of our minds. Marsha Johnson, Harvey Ford and Roger Moore and a host of others work on this throughout the year. These are special people to me. Thank you for all you do to remind us of what a special place this is we call home.

These events have become traditions for me. Every Texas Independence Day you'll find me in the thick of the various Texas celebrations. I may not have been born here but I could not be any prouder of the heritage that is Texas.

L8R. Check back soon. There's lots going on...

Hi just a quick update on the World Wellness speech. I can say this. It's done. I was looking forward to the speech with a great deal of anticipation. I bet I did about 5 or 6 rewrites until I got it right where I wanted it.  I didn't want to leave anything to chance so I asked Lolis Baab of News Talk 1370 to introduce me. She is the host of a radio broadcast called 'In the Ladies room with Lolis.' They were broadcasting from the event. She had asked me to appear on her radio show shortly after the conclusion of my speech.

My speech was delivered in the main ballroom of the Austin Convention Center. It would have been intimidating if I had let it. The ballroom was cavernous, huge...really big. Unless you put at least 300 people in it, it still would have looked empty.  My crowd, I'm told was between 50 & 100. I've got to take their word for it. Although we encouraged people to move toward the front, they mostly chose to spread out.  So the room still had that empty look to it. hey, i'm happy for the folks who came out.To be honest, it was the largest room I have ever worked and I have worked other ballrooms before.

   The crowd was friendly and appeared to be into the speech. If I had one criticism of myself was that I relied on my notes too much. What's weird is that I wrote the speech and I am completely familiar with the material. I figure it is a lesson learned and something to build on. That will never happen again. Hey, if you're not learning and getting better each time out, why are you doing it? I do want to thank, Jud Schwartz, the event organizer and Tonya Hofmann with Your Local City for giving me this opportunity to practice my craft another time.  It is a craft. One that is always a work in progress. I'll check back soon. Thanks for reading my blog. In the meantime, take care of your precious selves. 

This is going to be fairly short post because I am so busy right now. I'm getting ready for Saturday. Why Saturday? I merely want to tell you I will be speaking at the Austin World Wellness Fair this Saturday, February 24th at the Austin Convention Center.  It's being sponsored by www.YourLocalCity.com a virtual chamber of commerce owned and operated in Austin by Tonya & Michael Hofmann. They're doing great things for small businesses by helping them compete on an equal footing with the 'big boys.' They're passionate about their work and helping small businesses grow.

  At the World Wellness Fair, there are going to be dozens upon dozens of booths, displays and speakers to address virtually every aspect of life on this planet. The event is going on both Saturday and Sunday.  I'll be speaking in the main ballroom on Saturday at 2 o'clock. I'd like to invite you to come on out and listen to my inspirational speech, Texas Mantra: No is NOT an Option!  I'll be talking about the Texas attitude and what you can take from it to improve your life. If you'd like more information  just check out www.worldwellness.org. Click on the Austin link and that's it. I'll look forward to seeing you there.  Check back soon!

This is going to be fairly short post because I am so busy right now. I'm getting ready for Saturday. Why Saturday? I merely want to tell you I will be speaking at the Austin World Wellness Fair this Saturday, February 24th at the Austin Convention Center.  It's being sponsored by www.YourLocalCity.com a virtual chamber of commerce owned and operated in Austin by Tonya & Michael Hofmann. They're doing great things for small businesses by helping them compete on an equal footing with the 'big boys.' They're passionate about their work and helping small businesses grow.

  At the World Wellness Fair, there are going to be dozens upon dozens of booths, displays and speakers to address virtually every aspect of life on this planet. The event is going on both Saturday and Sunday.  I'll be speaking in the main ballroom on Saturday at 2 o'clock. I'd like to invite you to come on out and listen to my inspirational speech, Texas Mantra: No is NOT an Option!  I'll be talking about the Texas attitude and what you can take from it to improve your life. If you'd like more information  just check out www.worldwellness.org. Click on the Austin link and that's it. I'll look forward to seeing you there.  Check back soon!

   I need you to stay on me!  Yeah! Life has gone so fast this past year, there is no way I could keep you up to snuff with everything that's going on. Here is the ‘Cliff Notes’ version. First, Texas In Her Own Words, has been phenomenal. I now call it ‘The Little Book That Could.’ As you already know, it took off right out of the blocks. The Alamo called and asked to put it in their gift shop, from that point on…doors flew open everywhere.

  From the beginning, I knew that for us to really move books, we were going to have to get out and do a bunch of public speaking and that’s exactly what I’ve done. I don’t have a firm count on the number of speeches I’ve given in the past year but it has been a bunch.

  Along the way, I kept thinking about what direction all this activity was taking me.  The success of the book did have one serious drawback, with me being on the road so much (and that’s another story) the book’s success has killed my writing business. So over the holidays I had to do some serious thinking. What to do about writing another book? Can I salvage my copywriting business? How do I maximize my speaking possibilities? All this and more was constantly running through my mind.

  I kept asking myself the same question my former business coach asked me several times. Are you a writer who speaks or a speaker who writes. Either answer would carry profound effects.  As I reflected over my 30+ years in radio, I knew in my heart, I am a speaker who writes.

   The gut check was over and the planning began in earnest. Almost immediately, more speaking opportunities came my way. So I have moved the focus of Tejas Communications into the public speaking realm.

  Now having said that, I’ll tell you, I have also begun work on the next book. The working title is Texas 50 Over 50. I’ll let you think about what that might be for awhile.

  Now, why do I need to have you stay on me?  I need to you read my blog and if I don’t update it at least once a week…get on me. Email me and tell me to get on the stick and make contact with you. OK, fair enough?  Tweed@TejasCommunications.com   

Texas Forever! 

  T

What a month this has been.  It took a couple of days to come down off the high of the book signing.  But as I've said before, I'm pretty much a realist and recognize it for what it is. It was fun but now the real work starts. I remember reading very early in my research of the publishing business a quote from something I read. It simply said, an author spends 6% of his or her time writing their book and 94% selling it.  Well, that's where we are today.

  I have made a few forays into retail land to see if some stores would carry Texas In Her Own Words on their shelves. So far, you can purchase the book in Fredricksburg at the Admiral Nimitz Museum gift shop. It is also across the street at the Main Book Shop. At this point, I have people considering it in Johnson City and  here in Austin...When the book becomes available, I will have the locations listed here on the web site.

 I have two book signing events coming up very quickly.  I will be at the Hastings in Wolflin Village in Amarillo on Saturday, April 22, from 2 to 4.  This is a really interesting promotion. It's complicated and involved but to put it on the short order menu--We currently have two billboards up promoting the event. These were the brain child of J.C. Eslinger. He is one of the people I interviewed in the book. I made the statement, "If there is a more interesting man in Texas, I haven't met him yet." He truly is an interesting man.  So that is what the billboards say beside his picture--Meet the most interesting man in Texas (at Hastings in Wolflin Village) We are also scheduled for two radio interviews, a possible speaking engagment, a related newspaper story based on the people I interview from that area, and a TV interview working up to the actual book signing. It's shaping up to be a large time. I'm really looking forward to it. I'll let you know how all that works out.

I will leave directly after the event to head for home because I have another book signing event at my church--The Manchaca United Methodist Church. Sunday the 23rd is the church picnic. I'm going sell book there. My portion of the profits will go to the church.  Just my way of giving back.  God has been very good to me.

Then the following Wednesday, I'm off to Houston for the Texas Library Association. I'll be signing books on Thursday and Friday. So for about ten days, I figure to meet myself coming back. And I haven't even told you about the various speaking engagements I have coming up---We'll talk about that part of my marketing strategy in another post.  I've taken up more of your time than I expected. I just wanted to bring you up to speed in the life of Texas In Her Own Words.  I do appreciate you spending time with me. In the meantime, take care of your precious selves.

Wow! Where do I begin? The last several weeks have been busy, writing, editing, proofreading and making final decisons about content and some of the other features you'll see in the book. Most of the Christmas holiday was spent with my head down working on the book. Let's get to it...

First of all, I got the manuscript back from Mindy Lee. she did a wonderful job of editing the book.  From there I made a few changes and adjustments that gave the book more of the "feel" I was seeking. She was awesome. If you need an editor...call her first!

The next stage of the process was turning the  manuscript over to TLC Graphics, my book designers, Tami & Erin.  In a short time, they sent me a sample of the overall look of the book. I was absolutely blown away.  Not only is this book going to have a ton of information and interesting people in it, it's going to be a fun read. The interior design is beautiful. As I have told them, you the reader, will be able to enjoy this book on several different levels--you can browse it, take a quick read or just hunker down with it. I always had high expectations for the book itself. The designers have outdone themselves.

At this point, we're close to being able to determine the retail price of the book. We actually sold 10 copies already through a special deal I'm offering. I'm selling the book for $19.95 and I will pay the tax until we announce the actual retail price. I can tell you now, it will not be less than 19.95. If you're interested, email me at Tweed@TejasCommunications.com and we'll work out the details.

I have since received the complete PDF file with all the content and layout features. It rolls in at about 257 pages but it is a thing of beauty. I have shown it to several people and everyone has been quite complimentary. Frankly, I think you'll like it too. As it all stands now, the book will be soft cover with French flaps and the interior design will be printed with brown ink.  You may ask why but you will understand when you see the book.

Check back often, this story is constantly developing. We're also working on the marketing side. That is when the really hard work begins. It's a fact, you spend 6% of your time writing the book and 94% trying to sell it. I'm always trying to think of other places to sell it.  Talk to you soon. You can reach me at the email above.  L8r