You will of course remember my friend, Tom Trimbath — the gent who helped coach me through getting my first recipe book published on Amazon. Tom is a great guy and we have continued to talk about various creative ideas to produce together. One of these is a collaborative writing project, another is to present a series of self-publishing workshops, and we’ve talked about starting a podcast!
A podcast — that’s neat! What’s the plan, Don?
Whidbey Island – We are here!
Our plan so far is to keep things fairly open — we want to talk about all-things-writing as it relates to Whidbey Island. Self-publishing, marketing, writing groups on Whidbey, local authors, visiting authors, you name it. I have portable recording gear, so one of our ideas too is to produce our podcast recordings at different locations on Whidbey including local business who would be interested in hosting us and in turn receive a plug on our show.
COOL! When can I tune-in?
My book available on Amazon, Smashwords, and …. EVERYWHERE!
Last month Tom and I set a goal — to record 1-2 podcast episodes by the end of June. As summer has switched on, this has been a bit of a juggle — and if you look at the calendar … yeah … time is drawing near. We are currently working to schedule our first recording tomorrow morning OR during next week. With launching our show we also have the recordings from the how-to self-publish workshops we have presented — so we should have a decent collection to start with out of the gate.
Summer is coming, and one of the things that comes with summer is vacation in all its forms. Whether you call it vacation, holiday, break, or retreat, it’s a great time to dust off your daily routine and exercise your sense of tourism. Take off to that place you always wanted to go to, attend that annual festival you never miss, visit those friends and relations you’ve been meaning to spend some time with, or escape to that quiet out-of-the-way place you’ve heard about. Take a book, and get a souvenir — or better yet, buy a book as a souvenir!
Pulling over and blocking the road just to take pictures of cows …. that we don’t appreciate quite so much. Seriously folks … it’s just a cow.
Here on Whidbey Island we know tourism — at a certain point in spring it turns on like a fire hose! Suddenly we go from being a rural island to having people EVERYWHERE! We appreciate that you want to come to this somewhat out-of-the-way rock of ours — we are off the beaten-path, so it’s flattering that you thought to come here and visit little-ol’-us. With any luck, about now you might be asking yourself, “Well, if I visited Whidbey Island, what would I do — where would I go, what would I see???”
The historic Deception Pass Bridge located at the north end of Whidbey Island
Of course, I’m biased — I’m going to tell you that if you are visiting Whidbey Island to go drop by one of the shops carrying my book. Frankly though, that’s not just a plug for my book — I’m suggesting these shops because they’re in great locations that I believe you will enjoy, and these shops are are operated by delightful people.
If you take the ferry from Mukilteo to get on the island at the south end in Clinton, just go a little ways up Highway 525 and you’ll see Goose Grocery on the right in Bayview.
Kingfisher Bookstore
A curvy-road-ways after Highway 525 turns into Highway 20, you’ll come to an intersection with a foot-bridge crosswalk, a gas station, and our hospital. Turn north to visit historic Coupeville and find The Kingfisher Bookstore located overlooking Penn Cove on Front Street. They have a local-authors table that includes my book. Ask for Meg or Brad and tell them I sent you.
(Read my recent blog post about Kingfisher Bookstore.)
I AM PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE …
Yes, it’s formerly a firehouse
Last and certainly not least … As of Today I am once-again doing business with The 3 Sisters Farm Market, located at 779 N Holbrook Rd, Coupeville, WA 98239 — that’s on the north side of Penn Cove on the south side of Highway 20 — red building, you can’t miss it. Visit the 3 Sisters Market — their farm is the biggest producer of food here on the island and everything in their market is local-Local-LOCAL! Pick up a copy of my book, show it to the clerk at the register, and tell them that “Don The Author sent me!” You’ll probably also want to tell them that they have a great shop … why … Because They Do, hands down.
I’ve wanted to get my book carried by various stores here on Whidbey Island and I was told that Kingfisher LOVES local authors. When I called the shop on Wednesday I was told to bring my books by any time. My response to being asked if I was local, I gave a little local-flavour and replied that I was so close I could paddle a canoe across Penn Cove to get there. I opted to drive instead. (PSST! I actually got it in the Oak Harbor Ace Hardware, too — they’re at 150 SE Pioneer Way, Oak Harbor, WA 98277.)
Hey everybody — meet Meg!
Kingfisher Bookstore is located in one of the historic water-side buildings on the middle of NW Front Street in Coupeville here on Whidbey Island. When I went in I was immediately greeted by Meg Olsen — she couldn’t be more friendly, and she is Full of ENERGY! Soon following I met her husband, Brad — also a nice guy. Speaking of ‘also’ — he’s also a merchant sailor and a captain with Royal Caribbean International … yeah, remember when I suggested canoeing across Penn Cove? I wonder if I scored points with him by talking nautical-stuff …
Meg and Brad started their shop in 2018. Formerly a liquor store, together they have made it over into a cozy and delightful bookstore. In between talking with Meg about my book she welcomed and assisted visiting customers — during that time I had a bit of my own look around. I was pleased to see unfamiliar books I would love to purchase and read along with authors I already enjoy (she had a hardbound Dick Francis book!). While I was there Meg even invited a customer’s labradoodle into the shop — in fact, she laughingly demanded that he bring his dog in so she could meet it and give it scritches.
I hope Meg and Brad do well with their wonderful neighborhood bookstore and I am happy to have my book carried at Kingfisher Bookstore!
