Tag Archives: Facebook

Books & E-book Projects Moving Right Along

Updates On A Few Things I’m Working On!

Lately I have been busily working on a number of book projects.  A few of these have bumped into obstacles, and a few of these have had some  exciting break-throughs!

Here’s the latest…

Bagpipe Sheet Music & Tune History Book

As many of you know I am producing a bagpipe sheet music book. This will serve as a fundraiser item for a veteran’s organization I am a member of along with being the music collection for our small pipe band.  The project features military and patriotic Highland bagpipe sheet music and the history behind the tunes.  The work is going well and I am optimistic about publishing this June.

2 New Things About This Book…
Scotch Eggs
Scotch Eggs — YUM!

To increase the page count I am planning to include some Scottish and Irish recipes.  While I’m already familiar with a few of these, others have required some experimenting. Getting to try new things in the kitchen has been a culinary joy for me!  As for the book … the inclusion of Celtic recipes is great because it furthers the cultural education element of the organization!

Bill Millin WWII D-Day Invasion Sword Beach
Bill Millin landing on Sword Beach during the WWII D-Day invasion — armed only with a set of Highland bagpipes

One section of this book draws on the music played Bill Millin during the WWII D-Day Invasion.  Private Millin played a unique role in D-Day history; I am writing both further his story and to express the significance of this section in the book.  Over the past few days I have connected with his son and grandson online.  Both gentlemen are accomplished bagpipers and they are generously willing to check the accuracy of my writing*. As a Highland bagpiper it is an absolute honor to be writing about the famous D-Day piper — getting to connect with his son and grandson makes it just that much more real.
(*the facts — not the grammar, spelling, etc)

My Recipe E-Book on Smashwords & Etc

SmashwordsI’ve been working to get my e-book — already published on Amazon — additionally published on SmashwordsSmashwords is interesting in-that they will publish an author’s e-book not only on their site but on that of other e-book companies — Barns & Nobel, Kobo, etc.

Make your Own Darn Good CookiesFor this to take place, Smashwords is quite particular as to how an e-manuscript is formatted. Frankly, I prefer to learn how to do things and do them myself, however right now I have Way Too Much To Do … so I’m looking for the services offered by one of the folks on Fiverr.  My preference at this time is to move this project along and do-so at a price my little baking-biz can afford.

A few nights ago I looked at the Smashword instructions anyway.  I quickly sorted out how to re-format the pictures in my e-book.  That alone shrunk the size of my manuscript file down to half of the Smashword’s maximum! I’m checking with a number of Fiverr folks and waiting for them to get back to me about taking this on.  With all the font characteristics in a recipe book, they tend to take more work than novels … so fingers-crossed that I’ll gain their support.

THE ADDITIONAL GOOD NEWS ABOUT THIS IS …

Once I have my manuscript back from whomever re-formats it for me I should be able to post that on Smashwords — obviously — and also copy that MSWord doc and re-work it into the free little recipe e-book I nearly had completed and published lately.  So, while I’ve had to restart this little free e-book project having already completed it …

… Things Are Moving Right Along!

Gotta go ~ Keep an eye here along with my Facebook and Twitter profiles for announcements ~ Don

One Way Not To Drink Coffee

I <3 Coffee … This is pretty well known.

I’ve done the math …

I had an amusing revelation about my coffee-of-late — frankly it was also kind of gross …. so of course I had to share about it here!  And it is cookie related by the way …..

I recently got on a crinkle kick. Growing up, my mom made chocolate crinkles as one of our Xmas cookies, and they were AMAZING! I’m not clear if crinkles are considered strictly-Xmas cookies, however going toward my next recipe book I’ve been developing an assortment of flavours — Lemon Crinkles, Orange Crinkles, Ginger Molasses Crinkles, modifications on the classic Chocolate Crinkle… Only one problem — the powdered sugar keeps cooking into my cookies and disappearing.

Chocolate Crinkles

I made mention of this problem on my personal Facebook profile and received a remark back — that if you mix a little cornstarch into your powdered sugar it won’t melt into the cookies. So the last time I experimented with with a crinkle recipe I gave this cornstarch trick a try — and had No Luck. In fact, it seemed like it melted in MORE.  At best I had spots of powered sugar on the cookies. The worse part was that I had made up a cereal bowl size mixture of powdered sugar and cornstarch and had a TON left over!

Image result for dalmatian
My cookies kinda looked like this fella and — aside from the blotchy sugar — about as happy!
Just so we’re clear, powered sugar is also know as confectioners sugar….
Not my actual bowl of confectioners sugar, but doesn’t the picture look nice with my blog post?

Lately, to use this bowl of corn-starched powered-sugar up I’ve been putting it in my coffee. Big deal, right — it’s sugar, and the cornstarch won’t hurt me — so what?!?

What happens when you put cornstarch into something hot — like hot water? It clumps, it thickens still but it thickens to itself — I didn’t even think of that! Yeah … if you don’t want dubious coffee-tasting sludge in your coffee …. this is not a way to use up the bowl of corn-starched powdered-sugar.

Image result for Duh!

Lesson learned & laughing at myself,
Don

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!

Links You’re Going To Want To Know About