Bookcast Episode 50: Words Complete! Now what?

DL White [00:00:01]:

You. Pop quiz. Who has two thumbs and finished writing her 12th novel? It's me. Yep, that's right. It's me. Words complete. Now what? Welcome back to The Bookcast, my platform for sharing short fiction and updates on what I'm reading and writing. This is episode 50 episodes.

DL White [00:00:37]:

I am DL. White. I am author of twelve contemporary, southern and romantic fiction novels featuring black men and women. I am also a big fan of books, so we usually begin with a book report, but we will not begin with the book report today. Then we talk about writing. We're going to talk about a whole lot of writing today and other stuff, but mostly writing. I have completed major writing on Elysium. A black diamond vacation romance.

DL White [00:01:06]:

Yay. I've been waiting all week to say those words. All week. We will get to the nitty gritty on this publishing writing process and what comes next in a bit. But if you're new here or a seasoned listener, a bibliophile, or just looking for a good read, I hope you will enjoy today's show. I am so happy to have your ears for this time. I'm excited to share my love of reading and writing books with you. If you want to show your support for this podcast or for me as an author, you are most welcome to do so.

DL White [00:01:41]:

Please visit my support [email protected], booksbydlwhite. You can offer a one time or recurring monthly gift, which is currently an attagirl show of support that does not have rewards tied to it. I'm thinking about how I want to plus up membership, but at this point in time, it's just a show of support. I don't have the bandwidth, really, to add things to that at the moment. So I super appreciate all of your support. If you cannot make a donation one time or a monthly gift, I really appreciate if people would retweet the podcast posts, retweet the episodes, listen, comment, like, share, subscribe, all that good stuff. All of that helps. Every little bit helps, and I love you already for it.

DL White [00:02:32]:

The other way you can support is to buy my books. Booksbydlwhite.com. Books has all of the good stuff, including the guy next door. This is Potter Lake, book three. I love this book. Every time I hear a Jodicy song, I think of this book, because Jodicy Stay is basically the theme song to this book. So every time I hear stay, I want to read the guy next door for no real reason. Because I wrote this book because I was inspired by the fan fiction I had just written and I had just watched the New Edition movie like three times, and I decided I wanted to write a book about black dude that used to be in a boy band, but he got sick and had to drop out.

DL White [00:03:18]:

But he does still contribute to the band in a special way. He's a former musician and then wanted to give back because he fell seriously ill and he just kind of wanted to get back. What do I want to say? He wanted to give back. What are the words I want to say here? I'm not cutting any of this out anyway. The Guy Next Door potter Lake book Three Let's Talk About It the magic of Potter Lake strikes again when Yvonne Gerard, a cosmetologist and obsessed podcast fan, meets Taj Wright, registered nurse and musician following a nasty fall in the parking lot at the Curl and Eye. There are jokes, there is flirting. Lingering stares abound, but neither thinks they'll see each other again anytime soon. When Yvonne takes a step toward adulting and moves out of her parents'home, she discovers that the cute house she's renting belongs to the handsome, sexy nurse with the eyes she can't forget.

DL White [00:04:14]:

But she's not in Potter Lake to meet a man. She is on a mission to prove to her parents that she isn't the failure that showed up on their doorstep ten years ago. I've not had enough coffee yet. Taj is delighted to rent his guest house to the pretty, snappy former patient he can't stop thinking about. Potter Lake was a place to run when his dream died, a haven to start over and give back what was given to him. When the opportunity to live that dream again rolls around, taj isn't sure that he wants it to come true. Yvonne and Taj are forced to live in close quarters during a severe storm and quickly become more than landlord and tenant. When the same storm drives them from Potter Lake to a beachside retreat, worlds collide.

DL White [00:04:57]:

One shared secret could change the trajectory of something beautiful. On a rainy night in Georgia, two hearts meet. They're never the same again. This book is available in ebook, print and [email protected]. Slash books or booksbydlwhite.com slash guy next door. You can also just head straight to Payhip. It's payhip.com booksbydlwhite. All of my books are there.

DL White [00:05:28]:

Ebook, print and audio where available. Purchasing directly from me puts the monies right into my pocket, with virtually no middleman taking 30% to 70% of the retail price. And if that matters to you, I would love it if you bought Direct. If you prefer to buy them retail, they're there. All my titles are available in ebook, wherever they're sold. Amazon, Barnes and Noble. Nook. Apple Books.

DL White [00:05:52]:

Kobo Books. Google Play. They're also available via subscription sites like Script and Kobo Plus, and they're also available to request at your local library. I love to hear that my books are added to circulation at your library via Libby or Hoopla. And I love seeing my books on your shelves. Send me pics. Today I'm skipping the book report because my reading has honestly been trash. It really has.

DL White [00:06:16]:

I can't concentrate. I've not really been reading. I'm behind on Arcs. There's a whole lot happening over here, and I don't feel like looking back. I don't feel like it. There have been a lot of books that have mysteriously disappeared from my Goodreads page because I don't feel like reading them. I am reserving space to talk about finishing Elysium, my personal publishing process. Newsflash I don't know what I am doing.

DL White [00:06:41]:

Today is Saturday, July 22. It is nine five a. M. It's rainy in Atlanta. It's been a stormy summer, and I'm not mad at it. I have a Mic and I am ready to dig in. But first, and please, please grab yourself a beverage and join me for a few sips of coffee. It's delicious.

DL White [00:07:16]:

Today. Today I'm drinking Costa coffee. I bought, like, five bricks of Bustello, which, as we all know, is espresso. So I'm taking a break with coffee that doesn't make me see colors and smell. So I will do an update on my Goodreads challenge. Because I love the goodreads challenge. I am not at all stressed out about it. Probably because I'm ahead if you ever catch me where I'm behind.

DL White [00:07:47]:

I most certainly do stress out about the goodreads challenge, but I freaking love it. If I do one thing all year, it's going to be the goodreads challenge. I've read 99 books off my challenge to read 150 books this year, I should probably hit 100 sometime today or tomorrow. I am finishing up an audiobook by the Ms Beverly Jenkins. I'm 16 books ahead on my Goodreads challenge. I thought I might fall face first into some books when I finished writing, but the way my brain has been working, can't call it, I might take a rest. I am not worried about the goodreads challenge. I am worried about the Arcs that I have that I am behind on.

DL White [00:08:29]:

I just cannot concentrate. Like, sometimes I just wait till the book releases and grab it in audio because it's easier for me to listen to a book while I am working. I absorb it more than when I page read. But I am a little concerned about the Arcs that I have out because I have some pretty good books and I like to have them read before all the hype starts. So, yes, I am concerned about those advanced reader copies. I already hear Dr. Raymond telling me to not worry about them. People over in NetGalley, I hear it like I hear him in my brain telling me, don't worry about it.

DL White [00:09:08]:

And the thing is, I can't. I can't not worry about it. It's because I'm very spoiled and I like being able to get Arcs. And you get Arcs by reading and reviewing them. On the other hand, I have been at 56% in my NetGalley ratio for years, and I honestly don't have an issue getting Arcs. Every so often, I don't get one that I really want, but I don't have an issue getting approved for Arcs. So, anyway, let's talk about Elysium, shall we? I finished writing Elysium last week. Friday.

DL White [00:09:47]:

Whatever. Last Friday was the 18th or something. Last Friday was not the 18th. Let's look at a calendar because I'm right in front of a computer. I actually finished last Saturday. I finished the book itself and then I completed the epilogue on Saturday. Was super proud of that. I really like how the book turned out.

DL White [00:10:12]:

The difference between how the book looks when I finish writing it and how the book looks when it's published are worlds apart. It is very rough when I finish major writing what I call draft zero, which is just words on page. I love editing. I love the rewrite and polish process. I love transforming it from a hunk of words and spaces to a novel that I am proud to put my name on the COVID So typically, I like to give myself a break, but I'm up against, like, a little self imposed deadline here, so I just wanted to get it out the door. And before I send it to my Beta, I like to do a self in it, just kind of run through it, short some things up, clear some things up, and then I run it through Pro writing aid, which is like a self editing tool. It just allows you to provide a cleaner copy to your beta readers or your editors so that they are not swimming through a bunch of stuff that's easy to correct, spelling errors, using the wrong form of a word. It also tells me things like when I use cliches and words that I've overused, sentences that seem sticky, sentences that seem too complex or nonsensical, all that kind of stuff.

DL White [00:11:43]:

I get through pro writing aid. A pro writing aid. Edit typically takes me all day. This book was 64,000 words. I think it ended up as I'll have to look it up. It takes me all day. So you can imagine that if I had a long, long book, how long it would take to get me through. I have coincidentally sent most of my books through Pro Writing Aid after I bought it just to kind of shore up the grammar, et cetera.

DL White [00:12:18]:

They are not perfect because they have not all been professionally edited. That's right. I'm admitting that they have not all been professionally edited, but Elysium will be. We're moving into a new era. So I sent it through Pro Writing Aid and the next step in my process is to send it to my beta reader. I currently only use one beta. I don't need a committee. I don't need twelve people telling me what they think.

DL White [00:12:46]:

I need one very astute person who reads a whole lot of books to let me know what they think. And the level of beta read that I get from her is worth five people reading it and being like, yes, it's good. There is nothing I dislike more than a cursory surface read with no comments. I don't need a person that's going to look at it and try to make up things that are wrong. I don't need you to invent things that are wrong, but I need to know what's glaring, what is really standing out to you. This doesn't make sense. This is kind of long, and I'm not really interested in this as a reader or the parts that you really love, what's cute, what is swoony, what is like, oh, I love that part because those are the parts that I'm going to pull out when I promo this book. It's difficult to promo a book without spoiling the book.

DL White [00:13:52]:

And so I use a lot of those kinds of comments, the things that people say they really like, the things that are highlighted a lot. I'm going to use that in promo to try to sell the book. So I have one Beta. I kind of go by her schedule. She reads and comments when she's available. Like I said, the level of feedback that I get from this beta is well worth however long it takes her to get through it once I get her comments back. Lately we have had a voice conversation about the book, like a good deep discussion about the book, things that don't work that might need a change. We toss around some ideas like, well, it could be this or you could try to do that.

DL White [00:14:48]:

Why don't you cut this and move it here or pull that back and put it in a different spot. So that's kind of what the process is, where we are right now. I'm waiting on beta feedback. Once I get her feedback, I will do another edit or another revision, another draft. And then I actually booked an editor for this book, which is I have only booked an editor for one other book. It was a good experience. I just find I can't always afford an editor. And so I do the best I can with my beta and pro writing aid.

DL White [00:15:31]:

And I'll tell you, every time a teacher reads my debut brunch at Ruby's, I get an email about that book. And I'm sorry, but I'm just not going back to an almost eight year old book to correct things. I took the contact form off of my website because I was just tired of getting email about that book. I'm not editing it. It's good. I really enjoy that book. It's still my favorite. It is not perfect.

DL White [00:15:58]:

I'm not editing that book again. Once I get that book over to my editor, it's going to take her about four to five weeks to edit. I'm very excited about the editing process. So she'll go through that and send it back to me and then I will complete the final draft. Might send it then through a proofreader, might not. I don't know. It depends on how tired I am of these people. I am very anxious.

DL White [00:16:30]:

I am ready to release this book. So I don't want to drag out the process just to be pedantic about things. So once I get my edits back, I'll probably do another read through for Typos and send her on through. In the meantime, I have background work that I am doing. I'm twelve books in. I finally have developed a checklist of how to launch a book. So I'm just looking at my checklist and let's see where I'm at in this process. There's the pre publication process, which of course is to write the Dang book, your outline, your 1st, 2nd, 3rd draft, your self edit phase, beta phase, edit phase, a professional edit phase, then coming that back, completing the draft and then we are moving into prelaunch.

DL White [00:17:25]:

I am currently in prelaunch at the finishing the key publishing tasks. So you got your final draft, write and finalize the blurb which is complete the beta, read, the edit and revision, creating the back cover or finalizing I guess the back cover copy. Getting my front and back matter together. Format and typeset. Once I get the book back, I use Vellum to format and typeset my book. It just makes it so easy. And Vellum actually just did an update with more options for formatting, which is how the book appears in your ereader and then typeset is like font, spacing, indent, et cetera. How the book looks on the page, whether it's in print or in ebook.

DL White [00:18:22]:

So that's kind of where we are in that process. Next is kind of creating a budget for any promotional materials, any ads I want to run. I will usually do bookblub has a new release blast, so that's free. I always do that. There's Fussy Librarian, there's E news reader today I forget the name of the company, but they do free booksee and bargain Book C. I probably won't do any of those because those are typically sites I would use for a sale. People aren't looking for full price books with those email blasts. But I will also do a newsletter and a post on my site.

DL White [00:19:10]:

Choose a release date. I won't know that until editing is complete. But it is a summer, it's a vacation romance, so I want to capitalize on the season. So I do hope for it to be out very late August or early September. We'll have to see. I'm not trying to rush anybody, so we'll see what happens when I get the draft back. That's another reason why I want to turn over a very clean copy to my editors so that they are not spending time swimming through spelling errors and things I can easily check on my own. I want her to concentrate on major problems with the draft.

DL White [00:19:50]:

Hopefully that lessens editing time. Add the book to Goodreads, which I have done. Cover design is done. I did my own cover for this book. I know people advise not to do this. I'm just never not going to do my own cover. I did commission a cover or I bought a premade cover for hey Lover. It fit the book perfectly, and I might change the COVID out for that in a couple of years, but for right now, it works.

DL White [00:20:18]:

As long as my name is across the top, it fits my aesthetic for my books, so it works. Hey Lover. It's a throwback novel, and I saw that cover, and I just felt like it fit the book better than what I could do on my own. But for Beach Thing and for Elysium, I already had a concept in mind. I didn't find a pre made that fit that concept, so I did it myself. I actually also revamped the COVID to Beach Thing to match Elysium. I think it's very pretty. I am super excited about it.

DL White [00:20:57]:

And then the next book that comes out in the Black Diamond series will be called The Pearl, and I have already completed that cover as well. So I guess that means I have to write that next book. Probably won't see that one until 2024 because I don't want to write another Black Diamond book. Book influencers arc readers street team. I haven't been so much into the arc reader street team process with recent releases. Being honest and vulnerable, I don't feel like my books garner excitement. I don't feel like it garners enough excitement to go through that kind of rigmarole. It's just more stress for me and unnecessary steps.

DL White [00:21:47]:

That said, if you would like an early copy, I'm happy to slide one over to you with the understanding that I would love it if you would post a review. I will never know if you don't, because I don't be reading my reviews. But I would love it if you're very excited about reading this book and you want an early copy, shout me out a holla. I will slide one over to you. I love it. So then I choose a price, set up pre orders, order a proof copy, proofread the physical book, and upload final files for release. I use Drafted Digital to release most of my books. I go direct to Amazon and then use Drafted Digital for most everywhere else except for Google Play, which I also upload direct to.

DL White [00:22:34]:

So with Drafted Digital, your final copy has to be in like, ten days before your release date. So ten days between when you release it and when it comes out. And then I think that's when you do a preorder. If you do a preorder, it has to be in ten days. Or you can just drop it. You can absolutely just drop it. It takes a while to release through Drafted Digital, but you can absolutely just drop it. Then check your links on all the vendors to make sure they're working and bookmark them.

DL White [00:23:05]:

I guess once the book is ready for pre order, create a universal book link, which I get through Drafted Digital. That's the books to read link. I have also used Genius and then establish your copyright, which is another process that I have not ever done. I really should, I just haven't. I think I can maybe copyright all twelve of them at once. So I'm going to look into that. But it's just a thing where I have been of the mind that I don't know, I'm like these are these little books that I put out as like a lucrative side gig is what I call my writing. It pays for vacations and shiny things.

DL White [00:23:55]:

It doesn't make me money. And so putting a lot of money towards something that's like a thing I do in my spare time, it's hard to convince myself that I need to do that. I'm like, oh, I don't know if I want to copyright the books. They're like cute, fun little novels. But again, that's me telling myself that my books aren't good enough or aren't important enough to have a copyright, and that's not accurate. And I would yell at somebody for saying that to me about their books, but it's different when I say it to me. So that is a thing that I should do. I'm going to look into maybe copywriting all twelve of them at once.

DL White [00:24:38]:

So that's where we're at with the pre release process. Like I said, I had the COVID redone for beach things so that it matches Elysium. I actually had a brand new wrap cover designed and created, and I have an author copy coming to me so that I can see what it looks like before I actually put it up for sale and advertise it as available. But it will be available on Ingram. Demetrius Frazier with Resist Booksellers just asked me if it would be available in print. And yes, it will. Ingram will get it as soon as it's available. Website work.

DL White [00:25:17]:

I added the book to my website and to Book Funnel and to Goodreads and my website store. So it's all over but the release. So I just need the book. I can't add it to BookBub until I have a release date, but they will do a new release blast when the book is live. So I am now in the throes of promo promoting this book, asking people to add it to their goodreads and to pump interest in the book. I'm very excited about it, but I am conscious of not giving too much away. There's a lot of good stuff in the book that I don't want to mention because I want people to discover it as they read it. I think it turned out good, and I'm just excited for people to open this book and start reading chapter one, because this book opens so differently than any of my other books.

DL White [00:26:20]:

And I am nervous, excited, nervous sided about that. So what's my release strategy? Well, I don't know. I don't think I'm going to do anything hugely different than I've done before. I don't have an inkling or a desire to do anything hugely special for this book. There won't be like, I'm not doing a book box. That's not my ministry. I don't have a hook. I don't have a trick.

DL White [00:26:45]:

The book is done. It's going to be released. I am absolutely going to sell it first at my website store. It'll be available at my store first before anywhere because it's instantly available. I'll put it up at Google Play, I will put it up at Amazon and I will release it through Draft to Digital. I am not doing a special release date price. I don't have the bandwidth to manage when I should change the price on that. So it's going to release at probably 399.

DL White [00:27:21]:

It's about 64,000 words. That could change depending on what I add or delete, but about 64,000 words. They're brand new release. It is a very good book. So 399 sounds like a good price point to me. Really just waiting to get through this whole process so that I can release the book. Hopefully before the end of September we will have a new book and you guys have sat through this entire process with me from about April until it's currently endish of July of writing and publishing a new book. And we will just start the whole thing all over again very soon, actually.

DL White [00:28:04]:

Very soon. The next Word Makers Twenty K and Five Days is in September and I will start on my fall early winter release then talk about that in a second. What else is happening? I'm super excited about the new afterglow line. A couple of my writer booze from Wordmakers have books coming in the next year on Harlequin's new sexy line. I believe it is replacing Dare or Desire. I don't know. I don't know much about Harlequin's lines, but we'll see what else is coming from that imprint. I was asked if I plan to submit.

DL White [00:28:40]:

Probably not. I think my work is a little too something for Harlequin. It would depend on the story. I find Trad Pub timelines to be insufferable. I just saw a book the other day that doesn't pub until 2026. Like, the world might not be here in 2026. The temperature of the ocean is rising and it snows in Texas. We might not be here in 2026.

DL White [00:29:06]:

But anyway, I do have a friend who asks occasionally if I ever plan to submit to Trad Pub and Never Say Never. I could develop an idea that I just really want to publish Trad Never Say Never, but I don't currently have plans. But I do have a couple of dessert projects I'm thinking about that might be better suited for a traditional release. Don't know. On the writing front, I am toying with a fan fiction short for the awesome August writing challenge I'm running. Fan fiction is like a thing I do for fun. I have gotten away from writing just for fun. If I write something and I finish it, I am going to put it up for sale because I had to drag myself through this process and everyone needs to come along with me.

DL White [00:29:57]:

And you will purchase it. I do not write just to be writing, and fan fiction is very plainly and purely writing to be writing. So I need to actually hunker down, put words on the page. Day one of posting begins. Opens August Eigth, and the stories have to be complete by August 31. These are very serial in nature. We kind of drip the story week to week, chapter by chapter. So I would typically back in my fan fiction days, I would write Thursday.

DL White [00:30:31]:

Well, kind of the way I write now. I would write Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, edit early during the week, post like Thursday or Friday morning, and then while people are reading and feedbacking that chapter, I am writing the next one. And so every week I would be uploading one or two chapters for people to read. While I'm writing for this story, I think I'm going to write it all at once and drip it week to week. So we'll see how that goes. It's very weird to be back in fan fiction land. I've not written a fan fiction story since 2021, and the last one I wrote was a short, like a one chapter short. The last two I think I have written have been one chapter shorts just because I wanted to post something.

DL White [00:31:20]:

The last chapter drip story that I wrote was a really good one that I felt like didn't get the attention it deserved. So I want to give myself plenty of time to settle back into fanfic mode. It's much different than original fiction, much different than black fiction. I'm very used to writing black people. It's going to be different getting back into fan fiction because, again, it needs to be believable. And I only ever wrote JC, and he does not date interracially. Well, he does, actually. He does.

DL White [00:31:59]:

He has a type, but that type is not typically a black woman and I don't feel like dancing that line. And so I'm going to write a very typical JC heroine. And I do have a story idea, so I just need to get to it. But while I am trying to get this current book out, I am not quite in the mind yet to start reading, or start writing rather, but need to get to it. Am I maybe getting ready to write the next book? Maybe. I usually take a long break between books, but I want to capitalize on momentum. I have about four chapters of the next Potter Lake novel written and I would love to have it out by the end of the year, plus have time to write a little sappy short for the holiday season. My annual goal is usually two and a possible.

DL White [00:32:56]:

So two full releases and a possible, which is a holiday short. This. Would be the first year since like 2020, maybe 2019 that I have actually hit my annual goal. So I will feel great if I got one more in me and a little holiday short. So I pulled out what I have written already, and I'm trying to assess where I am, where do I want to go, do I need to back up? What's the plan for this book? I need to really go through the same planning process I went through with Elysium, kind of send it through the Gamut and do all my pre writing prep, identify my characters, what are their characteristics, their strengths, their weaknesses, the goal, motivation, conflict, all that stuff. I need to send it through the same gauntlet. It served me very well for Elysium. Also got to go through my Romancing the beat sheet.

DL White [00:34:01]:

So I got a lot of work to do before the next twenty K and Five Days Write In, which comes up in September. So I don't have a desire to write another 97,000 word book like Curl and Die, The Never List, those are both like 95, 97,000 words. It's a long book. It's a long book. A thin line is 110,000. Brunch at Rubies is 119,000 words. I don't have the desire to write books that long anymore. And I tried to make Elysium a novella.

DL White [00:34:38]:

I wanted it to be around, like, under 50,000 words, and I ended up like, 14K words over, but I think the guy next door is about 65,000. Beach thing is under 50,000. I'm pretty sure it might be my sweet spot. Like around 65,000 might be a good sweet spot for me, but we'll see. Of course I want to do a little short for the holidays. I would like to do a new couple for me, it's just easier to start brand new, and it's more fun for me to explore new people, so we'll see who comes to sit down in my brain between now and then. Looking into 2024 already, I think it's going to be a busy year of writing. I have like a dessert project, if you will, that I am teeing myself up for.

DL White [00:35:24]:

That's going to be more of a contemporary women's fiction with romantic elements. Bend it's a three book series featuring sisters. Then I had the idea to add a prequel and an epilogue, but I'm probably not going to write those until after I have the bulk of the three book series written. It's really five books, right? But I'm not looking for these to be long. Like, seriously novella length. Nobody laugh. I mean, it novella, like, 30 to 50,000 words per book. For serious stop laughing.

DL White [00:35:58]:

For serious novella. So this idea has been sitting in my brain for a minute, like, years. In fact, the couple that inspired it have since divorced, but I'm still using the idea. The other day, I didn't know what to do with my hands, so I planned out major beats in each book. So I have some good stuff to start from. I did already start writing book one of that project years ago and put it away as I do. So I've already got a good start. I'm thinking maybe I should spend some time this year getting each of them like a little four chapter head start just to prime my brain for it.

DL White [00:36:35]:

I also really want to write a romantic suspense. I have had an idea for another book in the Rubies series, The Rubies Universe. If you have read Dinner at Sam's, we met Yvette, who is a private investigator. I have a whole backstory for her and I started a book for her, kind of put it away. The idea that I have is not very suspenseful, so it needs development. I might need to book somebody to talk through that and how to play that book out. People do still ask if I have another Ruby's novel in me, and the hopeful answer is yes. The realistic answer is I don't like it's always yes until I have to sit down and write it and then it becomes a big old maybe.

DL White [00:37:24]:

So I do have an actual real life follow up to Brunch at Ruby's. I have like maybe six, eight chapters. I think it could be a banger if I could finish it. So I do want to try to work on that if I get the inspiration. But also the romantic suspense novel is also a Ruby's novel. And then, like I said, we have the Pearl, which would be book three in the Black Diamond series. I am not a series writer. What is happening to me, I don't know.

DL White [00:37:58]:

So that's kind of what's floating around in my brain. But also, do I really want to write another Ruby's book? Yes, but we've been talking in Word Makers a bit about when it's time to let it go. SIS. Like if you can't drag your butt to the seat to write that book, there might be a reason. But I also mostly want to break out of romance a bit. Like I say, I write romantic fiction because I think my books are a good combo of upmarket women's fiction and romantic elements, though it's very heavy on the romantic element. I love a happy story, but I also love the journey, like the heroine's journey. Those are all my books.

DL White [00:38:41]:

I find I write a lot of themes of second chances and redemption and starting over and reinventing yourself, and maybe that's kind of where I am in my life, but my brain just automatically goes there. I want to capitalize on what's coming out of my brain at this time, and I kind of want to get away from the standard Big R romance and kind of venture into these subgenres over here. Let's not focus so much on what happens between the sheets. Let's focus a little bit on these external conflicts and overarching plot. The three book series is really more of a women's fiction bend. There will be a love story in each of the book, but it's really more of a women's fiction plus a love story than it is a romance or a women's fiction with romantic elements. I want to spread my wings a little and I'm excited about that. So lots of projects on the black back burner, dessert projects that might pop up from time to time.

DL White [00:39:57]:

I love a new couple, so I might actually challenge myself to do just some short story writing, think up new people. I haven't actively thought this much about writing in a long time, so it is very good to be back in this creative space. There's peaks and valleys for me right now. I'm hiking to the peak and I like it here. Who knows what 2024 or 2025 will mean, but we're just going with it. We're just very much going with the flow. So that's where I'm at. I hope that by next week I will be sending this book out to my editor.

DL White [00:40:40]:

I did book her for early August. Editor tells me it'll take approximately four weeks to give it a really good edit and get notes back to me. So I will have some time before I can get this book out. So I'm super excited. I'm very excited to be here. I'm glad the book is done. I do want to take a little bit of a break, really put my nose in some books. I have missed thrillers like you wouldn't believe.

DL White [00:41:07]:

I make myself read romance when I'm writing romance. But now that I am done writing romance, I can get back into thrillers and cleanse. I just need to expunge my brain of romance, thoughts and concepts, except for the fan fiction I'm going to write. But between now and the next 20K, in five days, I need to clear my brain because the issue with me from going book to book to book is in my brain. The story keeps going and then I find that I'm writing the same book over and over. I don't know how people can go from one book to the other because I need a break. I need a clean slate so that I can think of new people, new conflicts, new background, new personal interpersonal relationships, new families. It all needs to be shiny, all needs to be brand new.

DL White [00:42:08]:

I don't want to recycle anything. And that's why I'm not a series writer, because it's hard for me to pick up that story where I left off and carry it over to another book. So me continuing the story of the ladies from Rubies is difficult because I already wrote those people. I already finished that story. I already put it to bed. Can I think of new stories for them? Yes, absolutely. I have new stories for each of them, great new conflicts for each of them. So the chances that I could actually put out another Ruby's book are high.

DL White [00:42:47]:

But also it's been like a break. I released that book in 2015, I believe. Yeah, 2015. So it's been a good seven years. I've had a break. My mind is clear. So, yes, I could actually go back and write it. But is it time to let it go? I don't know.

DL White [00:43:10]:

This is the conversation inside my head right now. Oh, goodness gracious. I have talked for some time and told myself to not look at the clock, just talk it out, and so I did that. But now it is time to close today's episode so I could edit this and get it up. It is a Saturday. It is a rainy day. If you think I am not about to crawl back over to the bed with my kindle and my coffee and enjoy the heck out of this gloomy weather, you don't even know me. You don't even know me if you don't think that's what I'm about to do right now.

DL White [00:43:53]:

Also, I need to wash my hair. I need to detangle my hair and do something different with it. So that is going to be on my to do list for the day. I'm going to pick out a really good audiobook and go at my hair like crazy. That brings us to the end of today's episode. Thank you for joining me for this rambly talk about me and my books. I'll be back next week with a reading update, maybe, I don't know. Am I reading? I don't know.

DL White [00:44:24]:

Something? I don't know. And well, probably not a writing update, but I could possibly have an update on the fan fiction story. Whether or not I start it, I don't know. I might give myself another week week and not start writing until actually August 1. But please enjoy the weekend. Have a superlative week. Let's chat again next weekend. Be right back.

DL White [00:44:49]:

Bye.