Tag Archives: podcast

WOWI gets interviewed by Pen To Print

PenToPrint.org

Soooo…. you know that Tom Trimbath and I have co-founded, co-produce, and co-host a writing themed podcast called Writing On Whidbey Island*, right?  Last weekend we recorded our 1-year-anniversary broadcast for the show.  What great timing …
(*aka WOWI)

GOOD MORNING, CLAIRE!

A few months ago I responded to a comment online from a delightful lady in England — Claire Buss.  She was looking for people who produce podcasts — I didn’t think that what Tom and I offer with WOWI was quite her thing, but it never hurts to try … right?

To my surprise Clair sent me a personal message soon after, asking that Tom and I each fill out a written interview for her site PenToPrint.org.  We took to our trusty keyboards and — not so long story made even shorter — have been featured this month!

Check out PenToPrint.org and our interview … NOW!

November WOWI – Dan Petersen

Dan Pedersen
Meet Dan Pedersen

Earlier this year my friend, Tom Trimbath, and I started a new endeavour — Writing On Whidbey Island!  WOWI is our podcast looking at writing as it relates to the island we love.  We talk about our experiences, hold interviews, and are looking to connect with graphic artists, bookstore owners — EVERYONE!

Tomorrow we are meeting with south Whidbey author and blogger, Dan Pedersen.  A former Pacific Northwest journalist and magazine manager, he has since discovered writing for fun.

Dan started with the topics of nature and rural living and evolved to writing mysteries.  Six of these focus on his Whidbey Island detective character, Shane Lindstrom … who occasionally leaves the island to further fight crime!

Our podcast with Dan should be posted by the end of this week — watch for it!

Find Dan at his blogAmazon, and on Goodreads.

October 2019 Podcast Topics

Want to know a secret? … PODCAST

Okay, we’ve been keeping this kind of quiet, but here it is … PODCAST

Tom Trimbath and I have started a PODCAST!

It’s TRUE — Tom and I have started a PODCAST.  Take 1-part portable recording gear and add 2 guys energetic about writing,  and mix with a look at all-things-writing as it pertains to Whidbey … and you get “Writing On Whidbey Island“* — or WOWI!
(*Present web location, subject to change)

Our show is new — presently we have about half-a-dozen recordings, each around 40 minutes long.  Three of these have been interviews with Whidbey Island authors.  Our show is not a hard Q&A, it’s a conversation about the topic we pick — a guest talking about their book, a bookstore owner discussing their approach to the book business, online marketing, you name it!  This month Tom and I have 2 recordings tentatively scheduled — here’s what’s coming up! PODCAST

October 12th — Maribeth Crandell’s Latest Book

Maribeth CrandellThe 14Sep2019 copy of the Whidbey News-Times presented an article on Maribeth Crandell and her second book “Hiking Close to Home“.  In her latest book, Maribeth presents all the hikes here on Whidbey Island.  Her approach has included not only features of the hikes, which ones are wheelchair accessible, and also which ones you get reach using the local bus service — which is free by the way!  That Saturday she was presenting her book at the Coupeville library — she and her book sounded interesting so I attended!  Maribeth was passionate about her topic and full of character — and at the end of the presentation I invited her on WOWI.  She will be holding another release party a few weeks following in Anacortes — if you’re local, don’t miss it! PODCAST

October 28th — 1st Year Publishing Lessons Learned

Make Your Own Darn Good CookiesOur guest for our October 28th recording will be ….. ME!  A week ago Tom pointed out that my first book “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies” was published one year ago on Amazon. Since then I’ve presented my book, published the Amazon and Smashwords e-book versions, started my next book projects, and learned more than a few things I didn’t know before.  Tom suggested that we discuss the experiences, lessons, and tips of a writer (me) the first year into being a self-published author.  *Stammer*Stammer* … uh … now that I think about it, YEAH, there are things that I can share.  I’m looking forward to talking with Tom about it and sharing with our listeners! PODCAST

Now, a few more things about WOWI

Tom and I live on opposite ends of Whidbey Island.  For our WOWI podcast this is a blessing and a curse.  The ‘curse‘ is that it is inconvenient to get together, so our recordings don’t take place on a regular schedule. The ‘blessing‘ is that we have to coordinate our schedules when we are going to be at the same end of the island.  This helps us to meet with myriad authors, writers groups, bookstore owners, ETC here on Whidbey Island.  We’ve worked this into the character of the show — recording in different places, featuring some of the audioscape of our beloved island in the background.  So far we have recorded outdoors, and the weather is beginning to turn on us.  We will soon be looking for indoor locations that will host us.  If you are a business this may work to your favour because we always say where we are recording from — for the use of a warm room, a little bit of electricity, and perhaps a few other comforts, we will GLADLY plug your Whidbey Island business! PODCAST

Coming Soon … Whidbey Island Writing Podcast?

Tom E. Trimbath, author
Tom E. Trimbath

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 map
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.

Stay Tuned!
~ Don

Just Another Magic Monday

Let’s face it — most days are just …. well …. days.  Some good stuff happens, some bad stuff happens … rinse, wash, repeat … not a big deal.  Occasionally there are days when it seems like nothing can go right — UGG! — chin up, do your best to keep moving forward.  And then, every once in a while, there are days where Everything Just Seems To Go RIGHT!  For me, last Monday was one of those days …

Here’s how it went… with a little back-story

Pirate Lance English
Lance English …. Pirate! (he’s actually a nice guy)

Saturday I braved going into downtown Seattle.  In the morning I was going to participate in the St. Patrick’s parade with my S.A.M.S. Post.  The plan for the afternoon was to visit my two friends at the Emerald City Comic Convention who are moving to Toronto at the end of the month — not to mention seeing our mutual friend who’s the current Captain of the SeaFair Pirates.

Yes, it’s true … I know a pirate.

Seattle Center Monorail Space Needle
The Seattle Monorail with the Space Needle in the background

The drive down the island and into Seattle was nice.  Once at the Seattle Center, instead of taking the Monorail as I had originally planned, I opted to walk to the parade staging grounds at the other end of the city located near Pioneer Square.  The slightly-cool and slightly-warm sunny pre-Spring day begged for a walk, and it was lovely!  To be frank, as far as I’m concerned the parade was a poorly planned bust — however it was great to spend time with my fellow S.A.M.S. members and the two ladies who lead us in carrying our banner.  After the parade I was surprise-treated to lunch …

Wow, Cool, Thank You!

Emerald City Comic Con 2019

Catching up with my Canadian friends at ECCC involved crossing a number of fingers.  The convention annually attracts around 95,000 fans* of geek-culture — some of my people — many of whom are wearing impressive costumes that they have personally crafted.  This includes my two friends, so they blended in amid all the heroes, villains, elves, Jedi, and … well, everyone.  Also, the three of us were working with limited electronic communications that day.  Fortunately, everything worked out!  I connected with my friends in the terraced park next to the Washington State Convention Center.  By further luck and happenstance I ran into Chad — an absolute gent, a heckuva photographer, and the man who has taken among my favourite pictures of my Celtic-rock band, Nae Regrets.  As evening neared Christina, Martin, and myself hiked a few blocks away from the convention where we enjoyed dinner together before saying our fond goodbyes.  As opportunity presents, I look forward to visiting them in Toronto.
(* 2018 ECCC attendance according to Wikipedia)

But onto Monday …

The previous week I got my book, Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies, placed in its very first bookstore — The Kingfisher Bookstore in Coupeville, Washington.  That felt great — the beginning of the next state of being a published author!  Also, the owner of Kingfisher — Meg — is an absolute JOY of a person.

Coupeville Public Library
Coupeville Public Library

After a relaxing start to my Monday — delicious in part because we tell ourselves that’s not what a weekday morning is supposed to be like, especially a Monday.  Just before noon I popped over to the Coupeville Public Library.  I wanted to check the status of scheduling the presentation I’ve done with Tom Trimbath on how to self-publish books and e-books. Monday

This is when all the neat stuff began!

I was directed to speak with Debbie, whom I had already understood handled most of the presentation scheduling.  After introducing myself and explaining Tom’s and my workshop she said that she remembered reading my previous submission and wanted to get us in soon.  Somehow it came up that I m currently working on another book, and she asked what that was about.  I explained that it is a collection of Highland bagpipe sheet music featuring military and patriotic tunes and their history.  Debbie immediately asked if I would be willing to present this book.  What she didn’t know was that I had already been thinking about it but hadn’t quite broken the ice on How.  She suggested that this presentation would fit in well at the Oak Harbor library, being close to the Navy base, and that she’d like to host me at the Coupeville library around the 4th of July this year.  I am absolutely flattered to be asked — so now, all the more, I’m pushing to complete this book! Monday

As I went to leave the library — the first time — I saw one of the fellows who works at the library.  I hadn’t really seen him before, but I have heard about him — moreover, I’ve heard about what his wife and he are doing… Monday

Gabriel and Sarah Chrisman
This is one of the many great pictures on the Seattle Times article, I felt this one was the best…

Behind the library help desk sat one Mr. Gabriel Chrisman.  I had heard about his wife, Sarah, who writes books about the Victorian era.  The amazing thing is that they live their lives — not completely — much in keeping with 1880/1890s period.  I stopped to pass on to Gabriel that I was aware of his wife’s writing and that I admire what they’re doing (sadly some people don’t understand while other’s have been regrettably worse).  Our conversation turned to asking Gabriel if he might help further research a bagpipe tune I need information on for my military & patriotic music & history book.  Gabriel was intrigued by my query and asked me to send him my notes.  He was also interested in the book I’m working on and apparently can get behind hosting my presentation.  While I left at this time, we spoke into the afternoon — but that happened later … Monday

Kingfisher Bookstore Coupeville
Meg at Kingfisher Bookstore in Coupeville

When I left the library — this time around 1230 — I saw a notice about an event I had forgotten about.  Meg, the owner of The Kingfisher Bookstore was presenting a book-related topic starting an hour later.  I raced home — I needed lunch and more-presentable clothes — and I raced back!  Making it through the door just before her presentation started, I was able to let Meg know I was there to support her topic — and she met me with her immutable smile just as I had found it the week before. Monday

Meg’s presentation was fun and enlightening — and part way through took a walk a few blocks over to her bookshop.  The weather was warm and bright; we got to see more of her shop and the historic building it’s in.  I spoke with Gabriel more and also stuck around after the presentation.  Meg and I spoke about a number of upcoming things.  There’s an arts and crafts festival in Coupeville during the summer and we discussed how she might bring people into her shop.  She said she would like to host book readings and possibly small music performances and would like to feature me (see “Tom” below).  I told her that Tom Trimbath and I have talked a bit about starting to do podcasts about all-things having to do with writing, authors, bookshops (etc) on Whidbey Island.  Meg said she’d like to start a small book publishing company on Whidbey and I said that I’d like to be a part of that. Monday

Tom & Jerry, pinch
By the time I left Meg’s shop I was pretty much dancing and pinching myself just like Tom here…

Monday was MAGNIFICENT — and there’s more to come!  And since then…

  • Wednesday March 20th I received a call from Robert, a college friend of mine.  He’s in his 4th round in higher-ed, part of his foci is marketing, and he wants to do a project on my Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies book.
  • Over this past weekend I got in touch with my friend, Rick.  He loves history and is involved with curation of local early settlers with the Doc Maynard Society.  When he found out about the bagpipe sheet music and tune-history book I’m working on he said he would be interested in that and that people from his historic society would be, too.  Do I hear another presentation date in the works?

Loads of good things in the works!  Some of which has to do with presentations I’ll possibly be doing.  So that in mind, if you’d like me to present or my bagpipe sheet music and history book once it’s ready, maybe you’d do well to get on my calendar now — contact me.