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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

Announcement, Progress, Update

Bill Millin and D-day

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As you’ve seen from following my blog, checking in with my upcoming publishing projects page, or from my comments on Facebook or Twitter, I am busily working away on my next one … no Two, no THREE books!  While one of these is a recipe book I’m excited about, the one at the forefront is rather unique indeed.

SCUBA
Not actually me but you get the idea

Since July 2018 I have been actively working on a fundraiser project for a veterans organization I am a member of.  The goal has been to produce a book of (get ready for this…) Military & Patriotic Highland Bagpipe Tunes & Their Histories.   The original intention was to  have this book published in time for spring/summer of 2019.  Then I got some contract work as a professional SCUBA diver (no, really) and I had to adjust … well … a LOT of my time and endeavours.

William Millin Normandy Invasion 1944
Bill Millin visiting France 6 June 1944

This Highland bagpipe sheet music book has sets of tunes representing the US Military, US Civil War, WWI, WWII, along with a Scottish and American patriotic set, and two other sets of historic military themed tunes.  To give better relevance to the WWII set I realized I needed to open the section with explaining who Bill Millin was and what he did on D-day, 6 June 1944.  This launched me into a rabbit-hole of research!  This essay is nearly complete — which is GREAT because it is the largest of the remaining steps to accomplish to completing this book.  Word has gotten around as to what I’m doing with this Bill Millin essay, and something came back to me.

You might be amused to know…

JAVA JAVA JAVAOn Tuesday I met with a retired USMC military historian.  We spent 3 amazing hours talking about Bill Millin history at a local coffee bistro.  He is interested in assisting me with information gathering and being a sounding board for my understanding of it all.  This gentleman has offered to draw from his resources.  He also had some interesting points on what it takes to effectively present history to a general let alone specific audience.

Pegasus Bridge June 1944 Horsa gliders
Pegasus Bridge, 9 June 1944; Horsa gliders visible in the background.

Right now I need some enlightenment to finish my essay about Millin for the bagpipe sheet music book.  The outfit he was in was involved with the famous Pegasus (bridge) objective which was taken just after midnight by men of the 6th Airborne on 6 June 1944.  What I need to know more about is what happened after they left the bridge.  With this essay complete, the rest of my book project is downhill on roller skates while eating cake!

IN THE MEAN TIME …

Please check out my recipe book “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies“.  I published it just over a year ago — not only am I quite pleased with it, I’ve been receiving rave reviews from others!  It is available on Amazon and Smashwords — I also have some free recipes available here on my site.  If you have read it and enjoyed it — please take a few minutes and write a review — on Amazon, Smashwords, and now I’m on Goodreads.  This not only helps me get noticed as an author, it helps other readers to know what to expect.

Thank you & ENJOY! ~ Don

Book, Progress, Update

Bagpipe Book UPDATE!

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AS Most Of You Know I have been working on my next book — and it is close to DONE! The work has been going well and I am excited to debut it — but what is it?!?  Get ready, it’s a mouthful… UPDATE

SAMS Post 1889
SAMS Post 1889 — that’s me on the left, #94

While it looks to include some modern-traditional Scottish & Irish recipes, the book will in-part serve as a FUNdraiser for my Scottish American Military Society veterans Post.  The main feature of this text is military & patriotic Scottish & American bagpipe tunes & their histories. The News about this — the UPDATE — I finished writing the tune histories Sunday night! This is a major chunk of work on this project and the accomplishment feels GREAT 🙂

I sent these histories to one of my Post-mates yesterday who is formerly a copy editor.  He’ll go over my work while I keep my nose to the grindstone retouching the notation, finishing the writing in the beginning of the book, and starting to write the sales paragraphs for the back of the book.  Suffice it to say — there is still some work to go, however with this latest development I Am OPTIMISTIC that this book will be completed and that I will have copies-in-hand by or before my target end-of-June release date. 😀 UPDATE

& Updates On A Few Other Things…

Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies

While I’m EXCITED to get the Post Piper book released, completing that project paves the way for me to return to re-doing my mini freE-book.  My plan is for this project is to first go up on Smashwords with the possibility of following as a book &/or short recipe book on Amazon. A few weeks ago I did a second publication of my e-book on Smashwords — previously only available on Amazon. The cool thing with Smashwords is that they push your e-book to all the other e-book platforms — B&N, Kobo, Overdrive — EVERYONE! Go check it out — my e-book is currently lower-priced on Smashwords right now than it is on Amazon … or at least it was the last I checked 😉 UPDATE

ENJOY ~ Don UPDATE

Click here for my debut recipe book & e-book on Amazon or use the Smashwords widget to buy the e-book in your preferred format Right Here! 😀