Last evening I had a meeting with Tom Trimbath – a gentleman I consider a friend, a self-publishing mentor, and an all around good soul. This ‘meeting’ was not unlike our previous meetings – informal, creative, humorous, and inspiring. A number of things are coming up for Tom and I — it was time to check in again. We met at Toby’s Tavern in Coupeville, WA, for dinner – the same joint we were in not long after the publication of my recipe book last fall.

Now before I tell you about the meeting, let me tell you a little about Toby’s …

Before Tom’s and my meeting last year Tom suggested Toby’s and offered for me to look into other places in Coupeville. While Coupeville is about 22 square miles here on Whidbey Island, what I was inquiring about was the historic 2-block area on the waterfront overlooking Penn Cove. I know the area well – as a kid I spent summer days playing in the town and seeing the different shops when visiting my grandparents. While many of the shops have changed since then, the historic town has stayed much the same – and if you’re visiting Whidbey Island, definitely stop in and enjoy yourself in Coupeville for at least a few hours. But where was I? Oh yeah – back to Toby’s …

Last fall when I was looking at reviews for the different restaurants on the Coupeville waterfront I came up with a number of nice sounding places. When I looked up Tom’s suggestion of “Toby’s Tavern” I read some rather interesting reviews on Google and Yelp (etc). I read things that made it sound … well … TERRIBLE! Bad food, fist-fights, weirdoes galore … I hung out in my share of divey places in my 20s, but now it just didn’t sound all that appealing. When I checked with Tom he said Toby’s was nothing like that, to trust him, and to meet him there later that evening. So, trusting Tom as I often do, I did!

When meeting Tom at Toby’s late last year, I found it a bit like what I read at LonelyPlanet.com …

“A quintessential dive bar housed in a vintage mercantile building dating from the 1890s; even the polished back bar was originally shipped here from around Cape Horn in 1900. Quaff home-produced microbrews and enjoy a menu spearheaded by local classics such as fantastic mussels, clam strips, and halibut and chips, while listening to the jukebox or shooting pool.”

I haven’t been back to Toby’s since meeting Tom there last fall but in my time there I found I like Toby’s. There was something about the joint that was just … comfortable. When I have a few more things in order in my daily life I’d like to stop in for a burger, catch a window booth and write while looking out on the cove.

Locally, Toby’s is somewhat known for their burgers – I can’t say they’re particularly special – if you go there don’t expect them to be gourmet, from what I’ve seen they just make a good classic burger. So I joined Tom last night again at Toby’s – he had a plate of fish and chips and I ordered a bacon cheeseburger and lemonade. Since he was a little late for our meeting, and I was a little later, we quickly got down to business.

We started out with talking about our presentation next week at the Langley Library – titled “Self-Publishing – From Inspiration to Publication“. We gave this same presentation last October and it went well. If you don’t know about this already, it’s great for authors and folks working or thinking abut becoming authors. Writers have additional options to traditional publishing these days, and one of those is to self-publish – you do all the work to produce your book and have a press manufacture your books for you. Self-publishing is how I brought my recipe book to fruition – and one of the companies that supports this is Amazon.com – they make, sell, and provide me with copies of “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies“. Self-publishing has been growing like gangbusters over the past 20 years; it is an option that authors and to-be authors ought to know abut and consider.

Tom then brought up the topic of a writing project he invited me to a number of weeks ago – it was about this time that the juices from my burger started leaking down my hand. As for the ‘writing project’, Tom had asked that I contribute some writing to a fundraiser book about tea. This was an interesting prospect to me since I’m more of a coffee drinker. I drink tea, I just don’t drink much tea. Tea remains a new personal discovery for me – I’m still exploring the flavours and finding the moods when it best suits me. As for this tea book, I’m flattered to be asked and I’m excited to get myself further known as a writer – and I know already that I’ll be writing from the ‘new to tea’ position.

This ‘fundraiser book’ topic was timely since I brought a question for Tom on the subject to our meeting. Since publishing “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies” I have been working on two books; one of these is my next recipe book, and the next book to be published is a bagpipe sheet music book that is planned to be a fundraiser for a veteran’s organization of which I am a member. It was at this point that my burger started falling apart in my hands with a distinct immediacy. Nonetheless, Tom helped to clarify that books can be set-up through Amazon and sold for fund-raisers, and gave me a little insight on the process … and, as usual, the day after I have a number of other questions for him around this.

We went on to talk a bit about a Sci-Fi book that Tom is writing coupled with a series I’ve had in my head for 25+/- years. It was then, despite my best efforts, that my burger was really going to pieces – pickles falling out, onions falling out, juice down my hands … that otherwise tasty burger was making me look like a real SLOB! Tom’s book (actually, he said there is going to be two) could exist in the same universe as my book series and we’ve been talking about working on these cooperatively. The prospect has fed my mind – so much so, that to make his book(s) and my books work together it has given me ideas for a back-story book along with two or more books beyond the original four I had thought of – and I’ve been making notes regardless of other things I’ve been needing to focus on.

As we finished up our meeting, and I finished up the last of my broken burger, we touched on two other topics briefly before Tom had to leave. One of these is that we’re looking beyond our 1-off ‘how to self-publish’ presentations. We talked about taking our presentation ‘on the road’ and off of Whidbey Island – we’ve even talked about growing it to where it is a weekend-long workshop with additional presenters. Then, as I was wiping burger juices off of my hands, I introduced a new idea – doing podcasts to promote our writing. I have the gear and the capabilities, and between Tom and I we have plenty to talk about. Tom liked this idea, so I’m sure we’ll talk about it more soon.

Then, Tom and I wrapped our meeting. As our bill got paid we talked with one of the ladies who’s part of the Toby’s bar staff about our presentation. Tom left for an evening of dance, and I left for an evening of practicing bagpipes for a St. Patrick’s Day parade this weekend. Tom didn’t shake my hand when we departed, and after that burger I don’t blame him. And as for Toby’s – it’s dive-bar charm, tasty if sometimes greasy burgers, and view of beautiful Penn Cove – yeah … I’ll be back.

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