Meet Amy Wise - Author of "Sewer Candy Store"

The first thing I have to say before I even get started is, thank you!  Thank you to Zetta and Nicky for gathering such an amazing group of writers and for bringing our beautiful book to life.  Fabulous! 

When I was asked to be part of Oil and Water and Other Things That Don't Mix, I laughed, I cried, I smiled from ear to ear.  The irony of being part of a book that deals with things that don't mix and even better, helps those dealing with one of the worst water tragedies of all time....well it renders me speechless, and trust me that is difficult to do!  Why is this such an emotional experience for me?  Well, my story, Sewer Candy Store, isn't just a story, it's my life as we speak. 

Here's a little history....no spoiler alert...just a tidbit.....Four years ago we lost our business to water department negligence.  We were all sick and financially devastated.  I'm sure you can get an idea of what I'm talking about, when you read the title Sewer Candy Store.  Long story short.....the Otay Water Department, City of Chula Vista, Bremco Corp, Eastlake Development, Seymour Lewis Development and more, got us all sick, destroyed businesses, and now four years later we are still fighting for our rights!  We are now set to go to trial in March.  We are the victims yet we have to fight?  How is this possible?

Flash forward to Oil and Water.   After we lost everything,  I wanted to write a book about our experience.  However,  it was too raw and too fresh at the time, and I didn't want to concentrate on the negative.  My husband suggested that I write about our family.  We are an interracial couple and have been through so much during our 19 years together, that I could write 20 books about it all!  So a few years ago I created my blog, The Many Shades of Love, and have been writing about our family ever since.   After a period of time, I was contacted by the marketing manager of The Next Family who asked if I would be a weekly contributing writer to their interracial family category.  It's a great site for non-traditional families and I truly enjoy writing for them.  Shortly thereafter I was also contacted by adaptu.com and asked to write about the financially hard times that we have been going through because of our water issue.  Those stories are about starting over, saving when there appears to be nothing to save, and how to still have fun as a family on a shoe string budget.  

Then along came Zetta Brown (the publisher of O&W) who found my blog and my water story on She Writes, a site filled with thousands of inspirational and talented writers.  Zetta asked if I would like to contribute my water story to Oil and Water and share even more about what we are going through.  Hmmmm, let me think about it for a minute.....um, YES!!!!!    I promised myself after we got sick and lost everything to our very own water tragedy, that I would do whatever I could to help those dealing with water issues of their own.  Oil and Water and Other Things That Don't Mix is my way of speaking up, shouting out, and helping others all in the same breath.   I will never stop fighting for what's right.  Ever.  The BP oil spill broke my heart and I can relate to the victims of this tragedy deep down to my soul.  So to be an author in this special book is heart warming and surreal all at the same time.  As so many have been there for my family.....now it's my turn to be there for others.  I am in the middle of the fight of my life, with our trial just around the corner in March, but I am thankful, I am determined, and I will never give up. 


I'm back to writing my book, "This is Me.....Coming Out of the Darkness," because even though the emotions are still raw, I'm a fighter and I'm a talker, so what better way to combine the two?  Words can do wonders. 

Amy Wise is an author, writer, blogger, ghost writer and editor. She is the author of "Believe in Yourself, Inspire Others, Spread Joy" (Spring, 2012). You can read her story, “Sewer Candy Store,” in the anthology, “Oil and Water and Other Things That Don’t Mix,” (LL-Publications, 2010). She is also a contributing author in the anthology "Dancing at the Shame Prom," (Fall, 2012). Additionally she is the creator of The Many Shades of Love blog, where she writes about the ups and downs of being in an interracial marriage and family. She is a contributing writer for EmbraceUS Multicultural Magazine, TheNextFamily.com online magazine, and the Oil and Water blog, which is a companion blog to the book.  Previously she wrote for Adaptu.com where her stories were about making it through financially hard times.  She also writes as a guest writer on various websites and blogs, and is a ghost writer and editor for all genres of writers.  Currently Amy is writing her memoir, “This is Me….Coming Out of the Darkness,” while also working on a movie that will be based on the same book.  She lives in sunny San Diego with her husband Jamie and daughter Tatiana.