Category Archives: Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies

New Year – New Endeavours!

HAPPY 2019!

New Years can be a bit funny — because what is it really?  Another 365 days and 6 hours* past and another to go … a December 31st and January 1st is just the difference of a day … and yet it is also something many of us use as an opportunity.  We look to the past to make changes or try something new with the future — and sometimes it’s not so much about the past as it is about trying something new to enjoy.  So what does 2019 hold for you?  I know a few of the things I’m looking toward…
(* Yes, 6 hours — this is how we get leap year AKA the bissextus or a or bissextile year)

It’s harder to show a picture of the e-book version…

This past October I published my first book — “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies” — then in mid-December I followed with publishing the e-book version.  I’ve had the pleasure of getting to present my book a few times during late 2018, and with the New Year I aim to get more speaking dates.  I thoroughly  ENJOY getting to talk with other people about baking — getting new-bakers turned on to the idea and talking with old-hats at baking to find out about their ideas!

On the heals of releasing Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies I was compelled to get to work on 2 new books — yes, “compelled“!  These were not the next projects I thought I would do, but they were the two that chewed on my mind the most — I was just drawn to them…

But what are they?

I both can and can’t tell you you that…

Yours truly in my other superhero persona… (you can also find me on FB as BagpiperDon BTW)

YES, 2 books, not just 1 …. because that’s how I do things.

One of these books is an ‘official’ Highland bagpipe sheet music book for the local-chapter of a Scottish military origination I’m a part of.  The aim of this is not just to create something for my group but ultimately to offer this to the national organization to become all of our ‘official’ bagpipe sheet music book ….. SO, potentially producing and publishing a book for a national (actually international) organization … it’s kind of a big deal!

As for the other book…
(I’m really excited about this project!)

As a performing musician and recording artist I have learned to play certain things close to the vest.  I have something in excess of 30 album ideas which I would LOVE to record — and have every intention to produce ….. HOWEVER … I generally don’t reveal those ideas to many if any people beforehand.  Why?  Simply because I want to make my albums — as opposed to someone hearing my idea, swiping it, and beating me to the punch.  This other book is along these lines, but I will tell you this…

  • So far as I know there is only one other recipe book at all similar to it currently on the market &/or ever before made; it involves cookies which I am developing new recipes specifically for this project.
  • I may be partnering with another writer for the content of this book.
  • To fully and correctly publish this book I will have to learn and do things that I previously have only been familiar with however have not otherwise done.
  • This will probably be a coffee table book.  I would like this book to have its own t-shirt.  I may not make an e-book version however I definitely would like to make an audiobook version.  AND it is my preference to release all of these at the same time.

AND two other things I’m working on…

Well …. not quite like this.

As an extension of being a professional musician I like to record things — and I do mean ‘things’ being not-music however are sounds I find interesting.  I do this under the project name of Archive Of Resonance.  I have been a busy boy over the last number of years — both getting things done and sometimes having to put a few things on the shelf.  One such thing …. or moreover four such things … are AOR recordings.  While there are recordings I have wanted to make*, I have captured four sets of audio which I have wanted to turn into albums …. just that finishing this work has not been a priority.  By my guesstimate, each of these need about 20 hours of work.  My aim is to work on these over the course of 2019, publish them, and make them available on Amazon.
(*mostly couldn’t because I lacked transportation — but that’s changed now!)

AND LASTLY 

With pivoting WIBC from production baking to writing and publishing books and other products, I knew that I would need to get an Author’s/Musician’s Day Job.  I got an initial start on my job search in the fall of 2018 and will be getting back at in during January 2019.  This previous start was a decent beginning — I have some leads that look interesting and a decent idea of what my skills apply to.  So the future looks …… interesting!

Going Forward!
~ Don

Guest Contributors to MYODGC

I’d like to tell you a little about my book…

What you see here is Eryn’s actual thumb!

More than that, I’d like to tell you about some great people who  supported my project along the way — they believed in me and made contributions to my book — and it goes like this….

Everyone needs good food, and people connect with others over food. This makes community and it is one of the foundations of civilization — seminal to our individual humanity.

For my first book, Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies, I asked a number of my friends — each one a unique individual — to contribute recipes and chapter openings.  Each person responded with gems — each one a true gift — and through these writings and these folks the sense of community was brought out in my book. I’ve been getting Thank You copies delivered to these wonderful folks, and yesterday I found that this copy reached the hands of my friend Eryn in Montana. contributions

Among other entries in Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies, Eryn shared how she flavours her coffee using essential oils — something I knew Absolutely Nothing About before she sent me her writing, which came as a complete surprise! Eryn’s contributions can be found in the fourth chapter of my book — which includes coffee, a throw-back to the 1960s with Russian Tea*, applesauce, and Blueberry Buckle. I’m glad to have gotten a copy of my book to Eryn to say Thank You for her contributions, and she seems to be happy with it too 😀
(*Russian Tea being one of her submissions as well!)

The guest writings in my book are a true gift that enhanced my book and brought out the community element — it would not be the same without these great folks! Not just Eryn but a long list of folks you can read about in the opening of my book — available now in paperback and as an e-book on Amazon.comcontributions

All the Best & Happy Holidays to you and yours
~ Don

Darn Good Cookies E-Book Publishing UPDATE

Immediately on the heals of publishing “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies” this past October I dove in to making an e-book version of this first publication.  With some tips from my friend and self-publishing coach, Tom Trimbath, along with ideas I gleaned from a few e-articles on the subject*, I made strong progress in a few week’s time.
(*this article in particular)

Bulldoggedly!

For the past couple of weeks I have been awaiting a review of my work on the e-book version — and last night I received it BACK! There were positive comments on my work along with some constructive questions — questions about things to correct and things to improve that I was unaware of.  I have worked over this list and my document doggedly since last night –I believe I have fixed everything, I have improved a number of things, and I even included a few recipe tweaks that I didn’t mention in my paper book. My understanding is that this work is or should be close to done. I would like to get one more check-over and my aim is to have the e-book published before the holidays at the end of the month — likely sooner!
(*PSST*
— I also plan to make an audiobook version of Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies.)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

In the meantime I have kept myself busy working on one of the future books I have conceived — and I have to say, I have made some SMOKIN’ PROGRESS.  The funny thing to me (/cue laugh track) is that I didn’t intend on working on this book until I had a few other works published ….. but something about it grabbed my brain and wouldn’t let it go!

^^^ It can be kinda like this ^^^

I’m having a little too much fun working on this future book idea.  New recipes have been devised, experimented with, and are taking form.  Exciting elements to this book have been added in that I didn’t think of before.  There are a few select people I have shared the details of this project with and they’ve gotten on-board to help.  This book feels like it’s writing itself!

So when will it be ready…

Perhaps ….. Fall 2019?

CORRECTIONS to MYODGC

OOPS!

It is said that there is no perfect book and that every book has an error in it somewhere.  Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies has been out for a month now and I have found a few mistakes — as follows.

If you find others, please let me know.

PEANUT BUTTER BISCOTTI

The recipe reads “4 cups – 480 ml All-Purpose Flour”.  There is a mistake in the conversion to metric and it should read “4 cups – 960 ml All-Purpose Flour”.

COOKIE SQUARES ERRORS

The conversion for 2 1/3 cups flour is frequently incorrect.  It often reads 650ml while it should be 560ml.

This can be found in the following  Cookie Square flavours – Almond Cranberry, Brunettie, Butterscotch Blondie Coffee, Cranberry Orange, Dirty Blondie, Lemon, Mint Chocolate Chip, and Strawberry Lemonade.

ASTERISKS TO NOWHERE

In “Chris & Arne’s Fabulous Cheeseburger Soup” and “Chris & Arne’s Fabulous Chicken Bacon Burger Soup” you will find asterisks (you know — these ***) next to “cheese” in the ingredients.  There is nothing below that these lead to.

My Book PUBLISHED & Shirts Available!

WHOO — WHAT A WEEKEND!!!

Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies by Donald P. ScobyNearly 3 years of work and a number of speed-bumps along the way, and my debut recipe book is finally PUBLISHED.  I finished the submission to Amazon on Friday and Saturday morning it had GONE LIVE!!!  I was part way through breakfast when I found out the news — then the web and my phone EXPLODED with activity.  Congrats on getting published, questions about my book, someone bought a copy, someone else wants 3 signed copies as Xmas gifts, keeping up with the comments, posting on Facebook and Twitter …. and about 4 or 6 hours later things calmed down and I turned to find the rest of my cold, uneaten breakfast sitting next to me.  Really, coffee shouldn’t be treated that way.

Later that day my new WIBC Logo/URL t-shirt when live on Etsy via Stitch 6 To 6.   Within the next hour the first shirts were ordered! book

Things stayed busy, and come Saturday evening I got some time to make my new Author Profile on Amazon and update my website. book

It took me a while, but I finally figured out where and how to order copies of my book.  I’m getting about 60 on this first go-around.  I have around 20 people to give copies to who contributed to the project and were amazingly supportive along the way — I am grateful to get reminders of how incredible people can be*.  There are also two people seeking around 5 copies each (WOW!) for Christmas gifts — 10 copies already sold!
* One among them is this guy — Tom Trimbath!  He also has an impressive collection of books he’s written available here.

Yeah, things started moving pretty quick — and finally, now … late Sunday evening, I’m getting to make a blog post about the highlights of what’s gone on.  It’s been an amazing ride so far — testing my stick-to-it and gumption, giving me challenges to use my resourcefulness to resolve, and numerous new things and lessons learned — I love this stuff!  And now…? book

Now I go from being a writer to being a published author. book
Now I get to work on converting the manuscript for my book into an e-book — and likely an audio-book too, narrated by yours-truly!
Now I remember that I need to get new business cards made.
Now the pivot of WIBC from being a company that makes food to being a company about good food and people connecting with people is complete. book

And now … now I go to bed and get some sleep!

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