Wait — WHAT — WOWI is 3 years old?!? Yeah — that’s right — 3 years ago Tom and I sat down and recorded our first Writing On Whidbey Island episode! I remember it fondly … a beach in Coupeville … with waves, and seagulls, and jets. This past Wednesday, Tom and I sat down — this time at a picnic table (we’re moving up!) — meeting for our 3 year anniversary show … with seagulls and near the water of Oak Harbor … with the potential for overhead jets … so, actually, not much has changed.
Oak Harbor’s newly remodeled Windjammer Park served as our backdrop. Our audience was a flock seagulls, while our special effects were ash and smoke that smelled like charming pipe-tobacco emanating from the southern Washington forest fire.
Tom and I discussed how the show has grown over 3 years, where it’s going, what we each have been up to in writing lately (*See Links Below*), and our upcoming From Inspiration To Publication workshop . This 1-day workshop will be co-presented in Coupeville WA October 15th 2022 by Tom and myself — See You There!
Tom has two new books recently published! Check out …
Nature photographer, author, and presenter Amy Gulick kindly took a recent afternoon for a WOWI interview with Tom and myself. Having spent time in Alaska studying the ecology and wildlife, she has made sense of the heavy sciencey-stuff and presents it in her books, such-as “Salmon In The Trees”.
Amy was great to meet with, and clearly is one of the most animated guests I can remember in our nearly three years of podcasting. The passion for her work drove this episode, and was a joy to personally experience. I have no doubt our listeners will be similar thrilled to listen to this WOWI session! ALASKA
Find out about Amy Gulick and her work everywhere online:
This past Monday I rigged-up my gear and met Tom in a video chat — our intention being to record a 1-off WOWI episode — both to see how using this medium might work and to discuss how how being in quarantine affects writers. Frankly, going into this … I didn’t expect much — and yet, what came out of it was an intriguing show running over an hour long!
“How do the adjustments we are making and disruptions we are dealing with make for opportunities, affect work and art later on, what is yet to come for the world of the day-job worker?”
The “Yellow Jack” or “Lima” signal flag is flown on ships in harbor to indicate that a vessel is under quarantine.
On Wednesday I e-met with Tom again with two purposes in mind. One was to test an improved set-up with my gear — which produced technological success. The other was to further discuss continuing the show from QuarantineVille. Our aim at this point is to try and host 1 to 2 guests each month over video chat — and we each have a few authors in mind to ask.
If you are Whidbey Island writer/author, editor, bookstore owner, graphic artist or illustrator, marketing guru — or whatever as long as your work is part of the publishing industry — and you think you’d be a fit for a WOWI episode … PLEASE CONTACT US!
Tom and I have had a few dates lined up before with Meg for this interview. Unfortunately those went through a series of reschedules because She’s A BUSY Lady! So we were pleased to finally get a date nailed down with Meg earlier this week. Since Kingfisher is closed until 28Feb2020 for renovations* the three of us were able to sit down and talk. Meg shared with us how she engages Whidbey Island authors, being a bookseller in the modern market, the books she enjoys, her experiences taking ownership of the Kingfisher Bookstore, and the new layout for her shop. (*You can hear some of the work going on in the background of the podcast … along with the creaking rocking chair Meg sat in for the session.)
What you see here is someone’s attempt at illustrating where all of Meg’s energy comes from…
I’ve known Meg for the past year — since getting my debut book “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies“ placed in Kingfisher. During our interview I got to comment on my first impression of her, and I’ve been absolutely pleased not only that she carries Whidbey Island authors’ books but how she relates to our books and us individuals. My impression from day-one is that Meg is enthusiastic about books and high-energy — through our interview I’m updating that to being passionate about books and a DYNAMO!
Kingfisher that was … and will be AGAIN!
Meg spoke about the history of Kingfisher along with her plans for the future — and if you’re a Whidbey Island author, I’m telling you now … you need to get ready! Ready to meet your readers, ready to do readings, ready for EVERYTHING! Kingfisher will be getting stairs into the basement and when it reopens around February 28th the floor space will be expanded — used books in the basement, new books on the ground floor …. and with that much more space for new books, We Are Going To Need To Write MORE BOOKS!
This is another one of those interviews where I think Tom and I could have sat with our guest and talked all day — so this session ran around 50 minutes (Good Stuff!). Reality is that we’re all busy folks, so Tom and I got out of Meg’s hair / way / renovations. I’m excited not only to see the new shop space in another week, I’m also EXCITED to see everything that’s to come in Meg’s future with Kingfisher Bookshop!
Enjoy! ~ Don
UPDATE 27Feb2020 — I stopped in at Kingfisher yesterday, a lot of nice work has gone on there. I was told that there is a good bit of work yet to go, and they are predicting being back in service in time for Musselsfest March 7th/8th. It’s going to be exciting to see the grand re-opening!
Today, Tom and I trekked out into some wild western Washington winter weather to interview David Gregor — musician, author, and proprietor of Gregor Rare Books — and what a day it was!
A little backstory here…
Shortly after Tom and I recorded and posted the first few WOWI episodes, Tom forwarded an e-mail he had received from the owner of Gregor Rare Books. These were introduced with how Tom knows David, and that he has a cozy and unique shop located in Langley on First Street. This baffled me — I used to live at the south end of the island and would typically romp through Langley twice a week — and yet I had no idea where this “Gregor bookshop” was! I looked it up on GoogleMaps and sure-enough there it was!
I believe unbeknownst to David, his e-mails couldn’t have reached Tom and myself any better. In short, he said that he liked what we had started doing with the show and if there was anything he could do to help support it to let him know. Well THANKS — that’s a fast way to get on our radar! Why — we appreciate that sort of reception and because most of the year Tom and I need to find indoor places to record our shows. Anyway, a few more e-mails went back & forth and I easily formed the opinion that this Gregor was a nice guy!
What’s it like inside?
Entering David’s shop you see shelves, books, display cases, a guitar and amp — normal bookstore stuff, right? Until you look closer at his offerings…. Major books, major authors, valuable copies, signed copies, books that David has expertly assessed for their condition. Yeah, when you realize that you’re looking at a Hemingway tome worth more than your checking account, you take notice! These are the books that David has a passion to bring to his customers.
Tom and I got to spend the better part of an hour with David today. To say that he is a pleasant and fascinating gentleman would be putting it lightly. He is an accomplished blues musician and composer. He has five book titles to his own name. He is the owner of a bookshop that caters to customers with particular tastes, whom he connects with rare books both in his store and online. David talked with us about travel, music, his writing, his writing process, the Whidbey writing community, the books he deals in, the customers he meets — I wanted this WOWI session to never end!
But alas, all good things must come to a close, and now you too may enjoy this interview with David Gregor — along with visiting his shop “Gregor Rare Books”, located at 220 1st Street in Langley, WA.
On a personal note, the adventure with my mic stand … Goes On!
I start to think Tom and I need to pose a photo for WOWI where we’re fishing off of the Coupeville warf using my two telescoping tripod mic sands as fishing rods — along with my third stand holding my Zoom’s H2n recording unit.
Do you know from his Saturday morning blog, his extensive library of recently written books, or as the guy who goes for walks with Duncan (his dog who is also the cover model for one of the books)? Dan was nice enough to invite us to his house for his interview. Duncan was there, too. You can hear his toenails clicking around the room at the start – before he wondered off to some favorite spot to sleep until we were done.
Final Impulse by author Dan Pedersen
Dan is the author of several books, and their arc is a study in the progression of a career from professional journalist, to blogger, to writer-for-hire of a non-fiction nature book, to traditional self-publishing in non-fiction, and now to modern self-publishing a somewhat accidental mystery series based on Whidbey Island. His list of productions is enough to cover a table, and represents several perspectives on how, why, and what to write. He also discusses what not to write, which can counter the conventional wisdom of everything being material.
It isn’t always about the money. Blogging is gratifying. Novel writing is fun and an escape. Yet, the mechanics and economics matter there, too, because time is precious and irreplaceable. He describes how he writes, how he advertises, and how he sells – with a bit of a commentary on dealing with publishers, printers, and whatever Amazon has become. Self-publishing provides control, which also requires working every aspect from cover design, page numbering, and how to store a few thousand copies – or paying nothing and only buying what is immediately needed.
Listen in as a gracious man displays a sense of humor as we tried to capture as much of his insights as we could in less than an hour.
The main floor of Kingfisher — the steps to the basement are behind the red velvet rope …
This past Monday afternoon Tom and I previewed the future expanded floor space at Kingerfisher Bookstore. Proprietor and all-around-awesome-lady, Meg, gave us permission to record our first indoor-off-season at-a-business podcast in the basement of her historic building in Coupeville, WA.
The upcoming additional space is going to double the display space for Meg and Kingfisher — and as a fellow book-lover I couldn’t be more EXCITED! Meg also has vision of using this space for author readings. There is a giant door that opens to the cove on the back wall of the basement, and Meg has even imagined these readings to include audience members listening in on the bows of their boats.
So why were Tom and I spending time in the basement? To record the latest podcast, of course!
Available on LuLu, Amazon, and Smashwords
This past Monday Tom and I returned to our roots — just as with our first two WOWI episodes it was a discussion between Tom and myself. Our focus was around my experiences now being one year into being a self-published author. I’ve learned much — largely based on Tom’s knowledgeable coaching — and this is a topic that could easily supply a number of episodes …. which might explain why this turned out to be our longest recording to date (oops). Maybe it wouldn’t have been as long had I been operating on a full night’s sleep and didn’t keep repeating myself …
Looking further into the future … it appears that Tom and I will be interviewing author and blogger Dan Pedersen. With a new book soon to be released, talking with Dan promises to be interesting indeed! Location TBA, recording on November 20th.
Nature photographer, author, and presenter Amy Gulick kindly took a recent afternoon for a WOWI interview with Tom and myself. Having spent time in Alaska studying the ecology and wildlife, she has made sense of the heavy sciencey-stuff and presents it in her books, such-as “Salmon In The Trees”.
