Category Archives: Author

Announcement, Author, Baking, Book, Cooking, e-Book, Patriotic Piper Vol 01, Product, Publication, Self-publishing

The Patriotic Piper, Vol. 1 – PUBLISHED!

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Last Sunday my latest book — The Patriotic Piper, Vol. I — LAUNCHED!!!  This newly published book is definitely different than many others you’ve seen — of that I am certain…

Here’s the short list of what’s in the first The Patriotic Piper …

  • 20 traditional Scottish American military and patriotic bagpipe compositions, arranged into 8 performance numbers
  • 15 delicious Scottish and Irish recipes
  • Numerous history and trivia writings accompanying the tunes and recipes

(Click here for a Longer Description)

Patriotic Piper Vol01 Cover
A first arrival! (Front Cover)

The Patriotic Piper is a fundraiser for the Scottish American Military Society Post #1889.  Not only am I a member, I also serve as an officer leading our small but stout Pipe & Drum corps.  This is the official music collection of the Post.  The monies raised by this book will assist Post 1889 with their projects.  S.A.M.S. is a national organization and is a Congressionally Chartered Veterans Service Organization, which is dedicated to the preservation of the contributions of the Scots to the American Military and Society.

Patriotic Piper Vol01 Cover-Back
Back Cover

Since its publishing Amazon has rated both the book and e-book as being a “#1 New Release in Military Marches“.  These two versions of the book have held this position for several days during this past week.

Among the early people to comment, several said that they liked my concept of accompanying the music notation with the history of the tunes.  Some even said that this was a deciding factor in their book purchase.  Numerous people have said that they are excited about my inclusion of traditional Scottish and Irish recipes as the second half of the book.  Certainly, there’s something for everyone in The Patriotic Piper, Vol. 01.

The Patriotic Piper is Available Now on Amazon
Print Edition — Published 22Nov2020
E-Book — Published 05Nov2020

Author, Book, Podcast, Publication, Self-publishing, WOWI

WOWI, Dan Petersen, and Final Impulse

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You know about WOWI — right?  Writing On Whidbey Island — the new writing-focused podcast I’ve co-launched with Tom Trimbath?  Tom and I were recently invited into the home of author Dan Petersen.  We had the pleasure of discussing his approach to writing and his experiences since first publishing nine-books ago!

Dan Petersen’s Latest Release!

Final Impulse
Available NOW!

This weekend Dan releases his newest book from the Shane Lindstrom detective series — “Final Impulse“.  Prior to our visit, Dan kindly saw that Tom and I received advance copies of his latest addition (or would that be edition? LOL).  This is my introduction to the Detective Lindstrom series — and I quickly found I thoroughly enjoy Dan’s writing!

Dan Petersen

Like a lot of us, I’m a busy guy.  It can be tricky to fit in daily reading time.  I frequently have to set down a book after only a few minutes or even a few pages.  When it comes to Dan’s book, many chapters are only a couple of pages long.  Personally, I appreciate this — I refer to this approach as ‘digestible chunks’.  This presentation makes for an easier transition to and from a literary adventure.

Have you seen Tom Selleck portray Jesse Stone in the TV-movie series?  I too have enjoyed these and often thought their stories could take place here on Whidbey Island.  My hope has been to discover a detective series that answers this call — and with Final Impulse I believe I’ve Finally Found IT!  Dan writes using real-life Whidbey locations; for an islander like myself, I feel-like-I’m-there as I follow the story.  The characters are are distinct and memorable.  While I have only begun to read Dan Petersen’s newest book, I am excited to follow Shane Lindstrom as he gets to the bottom of his latest mystery!

~

Dan Petersen is a former professional journalist turned book-author who is now writing for fun.  His impressive list of titles are enough to cover most coffee tables!  Our time with him was pleasant and insightful — discussing how, why, and what to write, including the seemingly counter-wisdom of what not to write.  Every Saturday morning Dan posts on his sought after blog.  And when you join us for this WOWI listen, don’t be surprised by hearing heavy breathing and clicking toenails in the background.  That’s Duncan — Dan’s dog and the cover-model for one of his books.

LINKS

Outdoorsy Male
Duncan the Dog

WOWI episode 8 – Dan Pedersen, Final Impulse

Dan Petersen’s popular blog, including — to our surprise — his posting about the WOWI interview!

Find Dan at his Amazon and Goodreads profiles

Listen to WOWI podcasts

And, last but not least, my recent WOWI blog post leading up to our interview with Dan

You can find Dan’s books on Whidbey Island at

Author, Review, Self-publishing, Tip

Eldritch Black and Weirdbey Island

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Eldritch Black
This fellow …

Exactly ten days ago, as you will recall from my recent blog post, I met at a local coffee shop with one Mr. Eldritch Black.  A rather curious gentlemen and fellow author here on Whidbey Island, Mr. Black writes creepy books for the purpose of scaring youngsters.  We’ve asked him not to do this terrible thing, however the children seem to enjoy these tomes of his, so I guess it’s all for the better. Weirdbey Island

Since becoming an author myself just over a year ago with “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies“, I’ve had the blessing (and sometimes curse) of connecting with numerous other authors.  Quite a few have kindly shared their works, most often in the form of e-books — some with audiobooks.  Over the past year I have received so many of each I can’t keep up with them.  Mr. Black generously foisted some of his upon me — two from his Weirdbey Island series along with The Book of Kindly Deaths.

Pirates of Penn CoveA few months ago I had the opportunity to listen to the first of the Weirdbey Island books — The Pirates of Penn Cove.  Despite Mr. Black’s purpose of scaring children, I being an adult found I rather enjoyed the story.  His story of Island newcomer, Dylan, was unsettling at every turn — and the locations were written much as they are in real life right here on Whidbey!  For his generosity, and whatever possibly twisted reasoning behind it, I wanted to return Mr. Black’s courtesy with my online review.

The Day of the JackalopeToday I started Weirdbey Island book #2 — The Day of the Jackalope — and it’s already off to a bizarre and unnerving start.  Dylan is with his friends leading their own investigations into the mysterious going-ons on Whidbey Island.  These books have been a delight for the sheer sake that they remind me of the creepy books I read as a kid.  It is a nostalgia-blast that takes me back to the first two books of the Bunnicula series.

As time permits I will listen to the audiobook copy of The Book of Kindly Deaths … not that I really want to, I just want to make sure the children out there are safe. Weirdbey Island

This has been an attempt to write in similar style to the story-telling you will find in these first few Weirdbey Island books.  Frankly, they’re a lot of fun, and I hope you and the children in your life will enjoy them as much as I have.  Both of the Weirdbey Island books above are delightfully narrated by J. Scott Bennett.
~ Best, Don

Eldritch Black ~ Links

Homepage – Amazon – Goodreads
Twitter – Facebook – Instagram

J. Scott Bennett ~ Links

Audible works – Goodreads – Twitter – Facebook

Announcement, Author, Baking, Cooking, Self-publishing

Great Tips From a Fellow Author

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coffeeEarly this week I met with a fellow Whidbey Island author at a local coffee shop — a curious individual we will call Eldritch Black.  We wrote, we caught up, laughed, and — unsurprisingly enough — did what two like-minded people do, we talked shop.  Eldritch has about a dozen kids-book titles under his belt long with others under a sobriquet, his nom de plume … or in simple terms a pen name.  He shared with me from his wealth of knowledge and gave me more than a few invaluable tips!  Two of these have occupied my mind NON-STOP … really, I should be charging them rent.

I’m considering starting an e-mail newsletter including a recipe-of-the-month. TIPS

MailerLiteEldritch gave me the suggestion of starting an email newsletter and using MailerLite to handle the list.  Their features and prices look good.  I’m still weighing my options and what I might do with this.  What I know is that when I start I want to begin with a plan.  Sure, this may get modified as I go but I won’t be winging-it.  If you are interested now in joining my future mailing list, please drop me a line and say “Please add me to your mailing list!” TIPS

Recipe of the Month

Also suggested among Eldritch’s ideas was that I start doing a recipe-a-month — DUH — that’s big!  I’ve had this idea but it was put into a different perspective when it was suggested in an e-mail list.  It’s also where I want to have a plan-in-place — figuring out which recipes to present in advance.  I’d also love to get recipes from my readers to feature along with giving kitchen tips.  All of this could also lead to its own book!  (Here are a few free recipes in the mean time.)

Draft2DigitalLastly, Eldritch showed me Draft2Digital.  I was told interesting things about what this company offers — after learning more, I may publish my e-book with Draft2Digital, too! TIPS
(PSST — I’ve also started looking into a company that can manufacture my book with colour photos!)

Keep your eyes here — updates as they come!

~ Don

Eldritch Black ~ Links

Eldritch Black
Eldritch did not wear the top hat when we met for coffee — which is good … that’d have been distracting.

Homepage – Amazon – Goodreads
Twitter – Facebook – Instagram

Kid’s Book Titles

The Pirates of Penn Cove (Weirdbey Island Book 1)

The Day of the Jackalope (Weirdbey Island Book 2)

Krampus and The Thief of Christmas: A Christmas Novel

The Night of the Christmas Letter Getters

One Dark Hallow’s Eve: A Lost Tale from The Book of Kindly Deaths

The Book of Kindly Deaths

The Ghosts of The Tattered Crow

The Clockwork Magician

The Festival of Bad Tidings: A tale of magic and unrequited love

The Mysterious Case of Spring-Heeled Jack

Three Curses for Trixie Moon

Author, Book, Progress, Self-publishing, Update

Adventures in Authordom – 2nd Book Edition

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To Preface …

Not my truck — this one’s a beaut by comparison!

During the last number of months (or years?) I have been writing blog posts here and on my BagpiperDon.com site about things going on in my personal life.  This started with writing about a used truck I bought that needed attention (as-in repairs) and finally put me in the kind of vehicle I’ve dreamed of owning — I called these posts “Adventures in Truckdom”.  When I started doing contract SCUBA diving work this past summer I wrote about those experiences, too —  titled “Adventures in Divingdom”.  Each of these have no shortage of sharing what has gone on and includes me laughing at myself.  Today it seemed appropriate to write a different sort of episode — today I’m writing … book

ADVENTURES IN AUTHORDOM

Which goes like this …

MYODGC being my first book

For the past number of months I’ve been close to finishing my 2nd book — this being the Scottish & American military & patriotic Highland bagpipe tunes & tune histories book. For the most part I had to put it aside this summer — things just got too busy to give it the time and focus needed. The diving work (which was great!) took time, working on my day-job search takes time, juggling everything else takes time — priorities. I knew that once summer started winding down I could get back at it.

Bill Millin plays his pipes for fellow soldiers in 1944

The project is nearly complete however there are some chunks to go. Chief among these are writing a chapter opening — in this case, history around a bagpiper who landed on Sword Beach on D-Day, unarmed, and played pipes in traditional military fashion to lead his fellow invaders ….. and even though he as under heavy German fire he never got shot.

I have gathered a good bit of information around this historic gent — I’ve even made contact with his son and grandson on Facebook. This piper holds a special place in the piping community, and it’s important to me that I get this writing right. The kicker though is this …..

Landing on Queen Red Beach, Sword; Millin is in the foreground at the right with his bagpipes and backpack.

Of the various information sources available, some of them have mixed degrees of inaccuracies.  Part of my job is to sift through the minutia — do my best to separate the dubious bits from what appears to be the truth. To accomplish this I’m leaning toward the information that is consistent, the information that comes from cited sources, sources that are military record, and interviews that were from the man himself.  Part of the reason why I want to get my writing right is to honor the man.  Part of the reason is because of his importance to the Highland bagpipe community, and it is a HUGE honor to be writing about him.  And part of the importance is to help keep history accurate — some of these sources are muddying-up the facts.

So last night I got my first real opportunity to dive-back-in.  I reviewed all of this information, which includes these odd sections.  It’s a bit overwhelming but I can see the work ahead.  The long and short of it I know is this — once I have this bit of D-Day history written for the WWII chapter …. the rest of the work to complete the book project is all downhill eating cake wearing roller skates.

When will this be done?  Well … soon enough!  Besides, I have 2 other part-done book projects that are looking for me to get back to …

Keep an eye here! ~ Don