Category Archives: Product

Modern Publishing Blues, Vol. 01

UGG!!!
/pounds head on desk 3Xs …

TRY IT! … it feels great when you stop.

Yesterday — late in the afternoon — I jammed to the library as closing time quickly approached ….
MY MISSION:  Upload the updated manuscript for my book in preparation for the Flash Sale I plan to hold late this month.

My debut recipe book, “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies“, published on 26Oct2018.  For the past year I’ve stayed staunchly attentive for any and all errors to be found in my tome of tasty treats.  Yesterday was the big day!  Yesterday was when I fixed my inexact “exactally”.  Yesterday was when I fixed all the metric mistakes caused by my careless copy-&-pasting.  Yesterday was when I deleted the asterisk that lead*.  Yesterday was when I atoned for the flour mis-measurement in my Peanut Butter Biscotti recipe.  It was also when I changed the cover from gloss to matte, which is supposed to have better market appeal, but in the big picture that really isn’t a big deal.
*to nowhere.

What … you don’t dress like this when you go to the library?!?

The clock was ticking close to 5PM.  The lethargic upload status on my computer screen predicted completion on a Tuesday following infinity.

AND THEN IT HAPPENED!!!

I successfully uploaded my mitigated manuscript to (click here to read about The Amazon River) and skated out the doors right as the learned establishment was closing.  Oh yes, I avoided the wrath of the Library Aids who had to work on a Sunday.  Indiana Jones himself couldn’t have done better!

Returning home, I couldn’t have been more calm … cool … and collect.  I donned my Keds and cardigan sweater, and settled in for some dinner accompanied by the next DVD in my TBW stack.  As the screen flickered in front of my face I found myself content … serene … one with myself and at peace in the universe …  Fred Rogers himself couldn’t have done better!

AND THEN IT HAPPENED!!!

No good deed goes unpunished.  My phone gave a ding indicating a new email.  It was from (click here to read about The Amazon River).  Surely not a big deal, they’re just messaging me to say that my corrected manuscript had gone through and the new version of my book had launched …

NOPE!

Okay, I’m tired of this blog post — it’s been fun, but I suspect it’s dragging on for you, too — so I’ll cut to the chase…

My local tribe of Library Aids ….. what, you don’t believe me?!?

It seems (click here to read about The Amazon River) has one problem or another with my book.  I’m not clear what it is, and from their emails I’m not entirely sure that they are either.  I’m doing what I can to get my book relaunched before they said they might take it down all together.  I’ve emailed them, I’ve chatted with online help, and I’ve called them.  I’m about to go outside to launch a carrier pigeon followed by starting a smoke-signal fire while Library Aids play their tribal drums (recent photo above).  I’m doing everything I can to cooperate with (click here to read about The Amazon River) and get things back on track.  I am frustrated but optimistic that they are working to this end, too.

ALL THAT SAID …

IT IS MY SINCERE HOPE that all of this tomfoolery is worked out before the Flash Sale I’ve planned to hold — which is coming up SOON!  If you want to get in on my Flash Sale — GREATPlease Email Me ASAP 🙂  If you’re not familiar with what a Flash Sale is, it’s like this ….. I’ll message you and let you know  when the secret sale time will be.  During that limited time the price of my book will be greatly reduced.  In return, I ask that you read my book and post a review on the site you bought it from — hopefully a positive reviewIt’s that simple!

… Don …

PS — What a waste of time … I really don’t need extra headaches.  It was not my intention to start an international incident and offend The Gods Of (The Amazon River).  When this is all done I might be impeached.

PPS — According to Wikipedia “The Amazon River in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and by some definitions it is the longest.”

Bill Millin Essay #1 — COMPLETE!

At times it has felt like this ….

For the past number of weeks I have used every minute available to study a part of WWII/D-Day history for my current book project. I’ve checked out nearly everything available from my library, clicked on countless weblinks, listened to 2 audiobooks, watched videos, and worked the indexes of nearly a dozen books. It’s been a fascinating study, I’ve learned loads, and even grown to where I seriously need a break from this focus. All of this has been to write 2 short essays for my next book — which is intended to be a fundraiser for a veteran’s group I am a member of. Last night I finally had a break-through! RESEARCH

Bill Millin landing on Sword Beach.

Yesterday I must have hit a critical mass in my research — I finally completed 1 of these 2 writings! These 2 essays are on Bill Millin — a Scottish soldier who was asked by his Brigade Commander to defy the stipulations of the British Army and play his bagpipes during the Normandy invasion. The playing of bagpipes on the battlefield had been officially ceased after WWI due to the high rate of loss of these soldiers. On D-Day Bill Millin wore a kilt and carried no modern weapon short of a small traditional knife called a sgian dubh. He play near the shoreline as his fellow commandos fought. He never got shot or injured.  Later he learned from captured German snipers that they didn’t target him because they thought he had gone mad! Millin and his Brigade along with other Allied forces then moved inland. First liberating the port town of Ouistreham then relieving the 6th Airborne Division who had captured strategically important bridges over the Caen Canal and River Orne.

Glider infantry of the 2nd Battalion, Ox & Bucks Light Infantry, of the 6th Airlanding Brigade, 6th Airborne Division, in Normandy 1944.

WOW — weeks of research and I can now sum that up in one long paragraph! In any case … for the last number of things to accomplish and complete this book, this aspect has been the most daunting. I thought I would write the longer essay and then shorten it to what I wrote last night, but it seems I’ve gone the other way around — now I can build the long one off of the short one!

The rest of the project is downhill from here — last night’s development was a big relief & an IMPORTANT Step Toward Completion! RESEARCH

~ Don

Click-click … click clack click

Back to WORK – Bill Millin and D-Day

Bill Millin plays bagpipes for soldiers, 1944
Bill Millin plays his pipes for fellow soldiers in 1944.

This past summer got BUSY … and interesting!  As many of you know I had a few adventures as a professional SCUBA diver, working at various locations around western Washington.  While it was great to get back in the water and blow bubbles, it also required me to shift my priorities.  Big among those priorities was the completion of my second bookAs many of you ALSO know this project is a Highland bagpipe sheet music & tune history book I am writing as a fundraiser for a veteran’s organization I am a member of.  There are a few chunky tasks remaining before publication.  The most challenging of these is writing about Bill Millin, a bagpiper who played on D-Day.

The legend of Bill Millin is well-known in the Highland bagpipe community.  The short story that everyone knows is that “Piper Bill” went ashore on Sword Beach* — he carried no firearm, wore a kilt, played bagpipes, and never got shot by German forces because they thought he had gone insane.  While all of this is true and I already knew from lore, I have been formally researching the whole story and it is far more detailed.
(*Queen Red, the furthest east section of the invasion)

Bill Millin, Highland bagpipes, landing, Queen Red, Sword Beach.
Bill Millin with his bagpipes landing on the Queen Red section of Sword Beach.

It is an honor to be writing about this man’s role in the June 6, 1944, Normandy invasion and it is important to me that I get it right.  I have reached out for every information source I can locate.  Presently I have a considerable stack of library books on D-Day, audiobooks and e-books, media on order, one film, along with articles and interviews I’ve found online.  Something I am particularly excited about is that I have made contact with Bill Millin’s son and grandson online and they have agreed to review my work once complete.  Also, it seems that each time I stop by the library to pick up another piece of media I’ve ordered, I find and buy a D-Day or WWII book from their used book rack.  Apparently I’m building my own D-Day/WWII library $3 at a time!

The bronze life-size statue of Piper Bill Millin unveiled on 8 June 2013 at Colleville-Montgomery, near Sword, in France.

As I review these history sources I have found some problems in the information.  Generally speaking I have books written by historians and articles written by journalists.  Some of the errors I have identified due to my Highland bagpipe playing career.  Some of the errors seem to be words and concepts the previous writers did not fully understand.  The biggest problem I have been finding is historical inconsistencies.  Generally the greater collection of errors come from the journalists — these individuals tend to work at a faster pace with less study than historians.  Usually I can sift through the historical inconsistencies by applying information from military documents along with identifying the details that are consistent in history books and interviews from Bill Millin himself.

As said it is an honor to be writing about this man.  It is an honor as a bagpiper and as the grandson of WWII veterans.  My aim is to help clean up some of the history mistakes that have developed and promote the greater story of Bill Millin’s role in D-Day among my piping peers along with my non-piping readers.  I am sure that you too will be impressed by this one aspect of The Greatest Generation and the greatest invasion in the history of the world.

Books and Other Media

Middle-grade and Youth-oriented Books
  • D-Day by Charlie Samuels – Part of the “Turning Points In US Military History” collection, for its target audience this book looked excellent!
  • D-Day / A True Book by Peter Benoit – This book is similar to the Charlie Samuels’ text … only that I’m uncomfortable with a history book that says it is a ‘true’ history book.
  • D-Day / The Invasion of Normandy 1944 by Rick Atkinson – I plowed through the Atkinson book looking for information on my subject.  In my opinion based on the other books I have studied, the author glosses over details and frequently presents them with gross mistakes.
  • D-Day / The WWII Invasion That Changed History by Deborah Hopkinson – I’m frankly disappointed by this book.  Picking it up it appears to be on-par with the work of Cornelius Ryan and Stephen Ambrose (ETC) — the book is large and thick — but that is a first impression only.  Upon closer inspection, as an author I can tell you there are a few tricks that have been used to make the book appear more impressive.  The two main tricks is that the book is not single-spaced and it is loaded with pictures; take out the photos, make it single spaced, and it is half the length at best.  This 2018 publication does not appear to present anything new on the topic and is possibly written in such a manner as to not ‘offend’ the Politically Correct (ETC) crowd &/or to spoon-feed D-Day to the delicate middle-grade blue-ribbon crowd.  The good thing I can say about the book is that it is worth it for accessing the D-Day related pictures … other than that, other books are in my opinion better information sources whereas this one is comparatively watered-down.  And for my uses … no apparent mention of Bill Millin on Sword Beach or at Pegasus Bridge.

If you would like to support my writing endeavours today, please find my book “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies” on Amazon, Smashwords and their affiliates4 Free Recipes are available if you would like to try before you buy.

Adventures in Authordom – 2nd Book Edition

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

MYODGC is on GoodReads!

My book — Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies — has made it on GoodReads!

As you will recall I published in October 2018 — and Jacki Dilley was on it early, posting that December.  She kindly gave me a 5-star review — according to GoodReads 5-stars means “It was amazing!So, Jacki, if you’re reading this — THANK YOU. 🙂

Writing reviews for authors you like is important.  If you found you enjoyed a book or e-book do the author a favor by leaving your kind review on Amazon, Smashwords, GoodReads and anywhere else. Sharing your experience helps other shoppers to know what they can look forward to and supports the endeavors of the author.

^^^ click the graphic ^^^

If you haven’t read my book yet, please download these FOUR FREE SAMPLE RECIPES.  If you like them, I would appreciate it if you would share the recipes, pick up a copy of my book or e-book, and leave a review on the sites mentioned above.

All the Best, Don