Bookcast Episode 51: I Don't Know What To Do with My Hands

DL White [00:00:00]:

I don't even know if I am ready to record. Like, I was doing my prep and then I was like, you know what, we'll do it live. I'm so tired and it's like not sunny today, so I don't have the sun to bring me energy anyway. Hello. Hi. Welcome back to The Bookcast, my platform for sharing short fiction and updates on what I'm reading and writing. This is episode 51, and actually, coincidentally, as if anyone cares, the start of season four of the bookcast. I started this little venture as something to do with my time.

DL White [00:00:47]:

I'm like, I don't know what to do with my hands. And I saw other people, like, reading short fiction and talking about their process and basically creating a spot for them to talk about themselves. And I was like, hey, I like talking about me. Let me try it. And here we are, years later, episode four later. 51 episodes of me talking about me later. I actually kind of really like this. I started back with the podcast regularly because I didn't want to write a newsletter.

DL White [00:01:22]:

Can you imagine everything I talk about in a newsletter? I can't either. I'm not writing all that. So instead of being cagey and brief in written words because ain't nobody reading all that, I just decided to rev up the podcast and talk about it. I do still have a newsletter. You can join the [email protected] newsletter, but I typically am only sending it out once a quarter or when I release a new book or there's something big, huge exciting going on that I need everyone, all 1100 people on my newsletter list to know about. I've been trying to let it grow organically. I'm just not a big newsletter gal. Even the ones that I get, I like.

DL White [00:02:06]:

I look at it and I scroll through it looking for anything awesome, pick out a few things, buy books, archive it. This is episode 51, start of season four of the bookcast. Happy to be here. I am DL. White. Did I introduce myself? I'm DL. White. I'm an author of twelve contemporary, southern and romantic fiction novels featuring black men and women.

DL White [00:02:30]:

I am also a big fan of books, so we usually begin with the book report, which is going to be the most haphazard you have ever seen a book report be. And we talk about the writing. I'm not doing I'm not currently writing a darn thing. I'm trying to plan a fan fiction story, but everything sounds boring to me. We'll talk about that later. If you're new here, or a seasoned listener, a bibliophile, or just looking for a good read, I hope you'll enjoy today's show. It's always a circus. I am happy to have your ears for this time.

DL White [00:03:01]:

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, please visit my support site at buymeacoffee combooksbydlwhite, where you can offer it a one time or recurring monthly gift. I so appreciate your support. The other way you can support is to buy my books. There's twelve of them. Well, there will be twelve of them. There are eleven. And book twelve we'll talk about later.

DL White [00:03:31]:

It's on the way. So Booksbydlwhite.com Books has all of the good stuff, including this week's book, The Never List. This is a romantic comedy. I absolutely love this book. Let me tell you about it. Get ready for a slow burn romance that will make you laugh and swoon in this delightful romantic comedy. S Ma Whitaker is a successful single woman with a list of things she wants to accomplish before her next birthday, and one of them is to have sex. But the man she's interested in, Trey Pettigrew, is also the one who rubs her the wrong way.

DL White [00:04:07]:

However, fate intervenes when Trey rescues Esme from an attack and they're forced to work together on a business deal. Trey is determined to make up for his past behavior and win Esme's heart, but she's not interested in anything after hours. That is, until Trey discovers Esme's never list. As they navigate their conflicting priorities and undeniable attraction, they realize that sometimes life has its own plans. With relatable characters and witty dialogue, the Neverlist is a charming tale of two people who find love when they least expect it. I want to also issue a content advisory for this book. There is an attempted robbery and assault and references to the attempt and references to mental illness in this book. So proceed with caution and maintain self care.

DL White [00:04:59]:

I need to change one thing in here. So this morning when I pulled this book up to look at the blurb, I decided that it was boring and I kind of wanted to punch it up a little. And so I went through and did some edits. But I have a word in here that doesn't belong. And so now, because I saw something shiny, I am distracted and I have to go through and make changes on the fly. We're doing it live today, people. The Neverlist is, of course, available on my website. If you go to Booksbydlwhite.com Neverlist, it has this book available in ebook and print.

DL White [00:05:51]:

Select titles in my catalog are available in ebook, print and audio directly from [email protected]. Booksbydlwhite. This puts the Monies directly into my pocket with virtually no middleman, taking 30% to 70% of the retail price. But if you prefer to buy them retail, all of my titles are available in ebook wherever they're sold. Amazon, Barnes and Noble. Nook. Apple books. Kobo books.

DL White [00:06:16]:

Google Play. They're also available in [email protected] and Resistbooksellers.com. I actually went to Resist and signed all of the stock that they had. So I imagine if you buy it now, you'll probably get a signed copy. They're also available via subscription sites like Script and Kobo Plus and they're available to request at your local library. I love to hear that my books are added to circulation at your library and you're reading via Libby or Hoopla. And I love seeing my books on your shelves, so post those pics. Sometimes you can tag me, sometimes you can't, but I'll find it.

DL White [00:06:57]:

Today we will start with the book report, as always. Then we'll talk a little bit about writing. I'm not doing much writing. I'm doing mostly thinking and planning. We'll talk about that. Today is Saturday, July 29, 2023. It is 09:16 a.m.. It is a gray day in Atlanta.

DL White [00:07:14]:

I don't know if it's raining, but it's gray. I have a mic, and I am ready to dig in. But first and I really, really need this coffee. Okay? It's so hot. Hot. I need to make it, like, drinkable so I can take, like, a healthy swallow. But it's so hot, I can only get a couple of sips in the time that I allot myself to break, breathe, reset for the next segment, et cetera. So let's start with the book report.

DL White [00:08:01]:

Because I am a bookhead, if I do anything, I'm going to read a book or listen to an audiobook I have read. Let's roll on over to the goodreads challenge. I have read 102 books of my challenge to read 150 books this year, I should take bets on whether I need to raise my challenge goal again. I recently raised it from 100 to 150, and I'm at 102. It's not even August. What do you all think? I should put up a poll somewhere. Typically what I like to do is aim for 100 and 150 and then see how far above that I can get because it's kind of funny to see, like, 152 over 100. We'll see.

DL White [00:08:46]:

I'm interested in where I end up this year. I'm writing more this year than usual, so typically that means I would be reading less, but because I work at home by myself during the day and I'm either listening to podcasts or audiobooks, I'm not really missing out on reading time because I'm not writing while I'm at work. Typically, I might edit while I'm at work, but not writing while I'm at work. So I'm 17 books ahead of schedule. It is starting to slow down for me a bit, mostly because my brain is so tired from writing the book that I just can't like, I can't really think. Nothing's really holding my attention. I definitely needed to switch genres. I was reading a lot of romance while I was writing the romance, and I'm basically very tired of romance right now.

DL White [00:09:41]:

Not that I'm not reading it, but I'm definitely reading other things more than I'm reading romance. But I'm still very much in the habit of reaching for if something sounds good, I'm just like reaching for it. I don't know where I left off, so I'm kind of just going to go through like, I know I talked about Coffee Break. I think I talked about coffee break by Navy Winters. She's a new to me, author. I don't know where I left off, so I'm just looking through my list here, actually. A Wife for Sale an Emerald City Novella by Aubrey Pin I really like Aubrey Pin's. I like her books, so I read her time Waster by Jessica Terry.

DL White [00:10:30]:

I think this book it's Mr. Time Waster by Jessica Terry. I think this book actually comes out on Tuesday. So preemptively happy book launch day, book birthday to that book. Black lace by Beverly Jenkins. I did finish this book. This is a contemporary romantic suspense featuring his fineness who is the mayor of City. I think it's Detroit.

DL White [00:10:56]:

I really, like, bev Jenkins historicals. Her contemporaries are okay, but I just really like her historical. So I'm looking forward to getting back to the historicals. I listened to the Watcher Girl by Minka Kent. I really want myself to stop reading Minka Kent. Like, in the past her books were good, but recently I'm reading it and I'm like, what is like you can tell. The book just falls off a cliff. I'm reading it.

DL White [00:11:22]:

I can hardly remember what this book was about, but it got to a certain point I was okay, okay. And then really I want to stop reading. I think I think I'm done. I read holding by Alexandria House. This is a new book in the St. Louis series. This is her black hockey romance players series. It was hecking good.

DL White [00:11:47]:

It's brand new, so not a whole lot is out about it yet. Can't wait to talk about it. Really liked it. I listened to Save Your Breath by Melinda Lee. I'm really trying to get into Melinda Lee and Kendra Elliott because both of them have a metric ton of thriller and romantic suspense books out. And I'm like, I'm trying to get into them because I just don't see black authors really digging into that. And the books are really hit or miss for read. I tried a Kendra Elliott.

DL White [00:12:17]:

It just was not for me. I think Melinda Lee might be more my speed. I enjoyed this book, but it's like book number six in a series. And I'm not going to go back and read the first five because now I know what happens. I managed to find a couple of Mary Burton books that I hadn't listened to. I think maybe they just weren't out in audio before hide and seek, which is criminal profiler number four. Really enjoyed this one. I actually just have had it going.

DL White [00:12:48]:

Like, I started and then I just keep going. I was doing laundry. I was doing dishes. I made myself a salad. It was just going. Just walk around the house listening to an audiobook. My roommate's like, what are you listening to? Because it's a thriller suspense novel and somebody gets kidnapped and they're trying to find the kidnapper and my roommate is like, what are you listening to? And I'm like, oh, it's a thriller. It's really good.

DL White [00:13:13]:

She's like, oh, girl. So I turned it off for a second because I was like, okay, read the room. Tough crowd. So I had to go ahead and turn that off. So I finished that one on the 27th. So a couple of days ago. Then I started a twisted love story by Samantha Downing. I like Samantha's Work, my lovely wife.

DL White [00:13:41]:

His Lovely Wife was a really good book. Then I read for your own good, which I really enjoyed. A couple of books in between. There weren't really my bag. I'm trying to like a twisted love story. I'm 40% in and it's kind of getting interesting. But the first 40%, this couple in this book, now it's billed as a thriller. I don't know that I would say thriller, but it's more than a mystery, not quite a thriller.

DL White [00:14:13]:

The timeline doesn't snap enough for me. And the thing about a thriller is, like, there has to be fear for future instances like fear for future instances of crime. The impetus to solve the crime is that the killer will kill again. Whereas in a mystery, the killer has killed and you're trying to figure out who the killer is. To me, that's the definition. So it's more than a mystery and it's not as thrilling as some of your favorite thrillers. The writing is good. I don't like these characters.

DL White [00:14:47]:

I don't care about them. They can go to jail for all I care. It's just this couple that is in a really twisted, toxic relationship that break up and get back together and break up and get back together. But there's a secret from their past that they share. And the reason that they can't split up for good is because they have to continually make sure this secret stays covered. So, yes, I'm 40% into a twisted love story. I have. Up next, by Ms.

DL White [00:15:19]:

Jenkins. Winds of the storm. I think this is a historical I'm looking super quick. It is a Levec novel. I do think it is a historical I don't know. I think it's a historical, so hopefully I will enjoy it. That's what I'm currently reading. I know I have a bunch of stuff in my Kindle unlimited stack to read, but I haven't started them yet.

DL White [00:15:46]:

I'm not writing anything. I am trying to plan a fan fiction story. I had an idea. Like, I just finished writing a vacation Romance. So I was like, oh, I could just keep going and just write a little fanfic. But the further I get away from finishing Elysium, the less I want to do that. I know I want to write something short. I want it to be fun, but I just don't know.

DL White [00:16:11]:

I was trying to have something written by the Eigth, which is the start of the fan fiction challenge on the NSIG Fiction Archive. But I don't think that's going to happen. I just told myself, just chill until August 1 and then see what comes due. And hopefully I have something to post before the end of the challenge, which is August 31. I may extend it to October eigth, I don't know. So it can run for a full month, but I don't know because we have also Poptober coming up, which begins on October 17, which is Chris Kirkpatrick's birthday. So we do our challenges based around birthdays of the men of NSYNC, typically, except for like the holiday birthdays, justin and Joey have birthdays two days apart in January, and typically we will do Secret Santa in December, so we don't do January challenges, but we'll see. I don't know, we're not going to do Secret Santa this year, so maybe we'll do something in January and then it's going to be May, which encompasses the anniversary of no Strings Attached and Lance's birthday, which is May 4.

DL White [00:17:29]:

Lots of opportunities coming up to write things I just haven't posted on the Archive since 2021. And the stories I did for 2000 and 22,021 were very short one shots, like maybe 1000 words. I would like to write something, but I started up the patreon and we're in the discord and we're tossing out story ideas. And more than writing, I just would like to provide a space for writers to talk and throw around ideas and support each other, pump up their stories, et cetera. Some of us haven't written in a while and it's nice to have the support of other writers while you're struggling through, which is a thing I know because I am a member at Word Makers and that's what we do. Elysium is currently officially with the editor. I sent it over yesterday. Editor is very excited to get into it.

DL White [00:18:29]:

She said she might even start immediately, which is great. I did my best to turn over a very clean copy and I guess by clean I mean no visible to me. Typos I did a good read through. I actually put it into Vellum and got it all set up typeset formatted just so I could see what it looks like. And then I sent it to my Kindle to read through and made my marks and updates and then went back and did my updates to the file, then exported that to Word and sent that updated Word document to my editor. So when I get it back, I can kind of just go through her comments one by one and update the Vellum file and we should hopefully have a nearly error free novel that flows well, that doesn't drag, that isn't boring in parts, that doesn't have parts that don't make sense, so we'll see how long it takes. It's predicted to take about four weeks to edit, so I could potentially be looking at having a release at the end of August or early September, which is on par for me, I will admit to normally not sending it through an official. A professional editor, my beta is typically very good at pointing out more than she's contracted to point out.

DL White [00:20:04]:

So spelling errors, things that don't make sense, along with her opinion of story flow, how the story goes. I also get like editor level comments from her. But I also feel like I need to level up with my work. And that means contracting an editor to make sure that the book is the best it can. Look, I did my own cover for this book because I did not find a cover that I really wanted enough that fit the motif of the book and the Black Diamond series. I like my self created covers, so we're going to stick with those. But I did get a full wrap. I did update the COVID for Beach Thing to match Elysium, and it will match the pearl coming after.

DL White [00:20:54]:

And then I did a full wrap for Beach Thing. I'm waiting on the print proof of that to come in before I can advertise it. I think I mentioned that last week that I updated the COVID for Beach Thing. The ebook cover has been updated and should be distributed amongst all the platforms. But I think you have to delete and repurchase the book if you want the new cover. So, unfortunately, or you can buy a new ebook copy of it from [email protected], Beachthing. So once the book is done, actually, I could have the full wrap cover done now since I know pretty much how long the book is going to be page wise, I should look that up because I don't honestly know by heart how many pages. Let me see print.

DL White [00:21:48]:

It's going to be five by eight. Just like beach thing. There are 224 pages in this book. I think Beach Thing is only like 158 pages or something like that. Beach thing is 180 pages. I honestly wrote my tail off on Elysium. I really hope people enjoy it. I like it a lot the more I read it.

DL White [00:22:17]:

I've read it many times now. I really like it. I think it turned out great and I hope that readers like it as well. So book is with the editor. It'll take them three to four weeks to edit. Once I get it back, actually, while it's being edited, I am prepping Vellum. I'm going to have the full wrap cover completed so that once it's done editing, I can update the file in Vellum and send it off to all of the places. So I'm just kind of thinking about how I'm going to distribute this book.

DL White [00:23:01]:

It will first go to my paid subscribers and then it will hit my website store. So I am hoping to have the ebook available. I will not have print copies. But you can do a print preorder. I think I can do a print preorder, but you will see that's the plan. The plan is to do ebook available immediately. A print preorder. I can't do a simultaneous drop unless I wait for the books to be printed and shipped to me.

DL White [00:23:35]:

It's hard for an indie author to do a simultaneous drop unless the pub date is way far off in the future. And I don't want to wait. It'll be like a summer vacation romance that comes out in November. Website. It'll be on the ebook. This book will not be in Audio anytime soon. I have to come out of pocket with audio and I don't have it. I just don't have it.

DL White [00:24:02]:

And then it will hit retail stores, I don't know, probably two weeks later. Depends on how long I can wait for that. Toying with not sending it through Book Funnel or having it available in ebook just as an EPUB that you can get from Payhip also through Bookfunnel, so you'll get it both ways. So you can just sideload it if you know how. Because I know a lot of people don't really like Bookfunnel and there just isn't really a good way to deliver ebooks unless we do it through Book Funnel. If you know how to sideload, I can absolutely just have the ebook available. You can add it to your ereader and read it that way on whichever app you like. But you won't be able to make notes and highlights or anything until it's up on Kindle.

DL White [00:24:59]:

That is the route that I plan to take. I do certainly hope to get a lot of sales from my website. Having it available at the Books by DL white store first, and then it will roll through all of the retail sites. It'll probably be up at like Google Play almost immediately, and then it'll roll through the other sites. It'll probably be up at Amazon the Quickest. It does take a while for books to distribute through Draft to Digital. It will also be available on Kobo Plus. If you are a subscriber, it will not be available on Kindle Unlimited.

DL White [00:25:37]:

But if you are a member of Kobo Plus, it's like Kindle Unlimited except I don't have to be exclusive to Kobo. So you can borrow it, read it, return it. I get paid for time spent in the novel. I don't get paid by the page. I get paid for however long you spend in that book. That's how they guarantee that people aren't scamming the system. So if you read the book, I get paid for that. It'll also be available at Scribd.

DL White [00:26:10]:

It will eventually hit scribd whenever they decide to put it up. So if you are a member at any of those sites, that's where it'll be sometime late August, early September. So I'm really looking forward to this book coming out. I think it's a really good book, but I say that with every book because I'm very proud of my work. I don't know what else to talk about. I don't have any appearances coming up, but I was talking to Mo Flames at Indie Love and we might put a little something together. I want to do an event out at the library, which is like a wine shop bookstore. I know there's an event coming up there that wordmakers is doing.

DL White [00:26:51]:

I don't know if I'm going, but Mo Flames and I were talking about doing a little joint project, and I'm wondering if maybe I can get my friend Nikki Blair to hop on. I don't know. That is not even yet in the works. We were just kind of talking about maybe doing something this fall, and I said I wanted to wait until I have this book out, and since it's coming, we'll see maybe what we can put together. I'm not interested in putting together a big multi author event. I'm not that girl. But I would like to get out with the people and see some people, sling some books, hug some necks, et cetera. So we'll see what pops up.

DL White [00:27:34]:

I am scheduled to be at the brunch tomorrow. This weekend is the Alexander house party. Today is the big book event. I did not get tickets to that because it was just too expensive for me, because I know me, I will stand in a corner and be quiet and not talk to people and it was too much money for me to not socialize the way I feel like I would need to to get my money's worth. I'm just tired, man. I'm so tired. I did buy tickets to the brunch. I do plan to be there, but I don't feel like going anywhere lately.

DL White [00:28:18]:

So if I show up, come find me. I do plan to go, though. I do plan to go. I'm sure it will be a great time. I'm feeling very tired, antisocial. I don't feel like going anywhere lately, so this too shall pass. I think. I'm tired and I'm burnt.

DL White [00:28:40]:

I don't know what to do with my hands. I don't know how authors go from book to book to book to book. Maybe if they stop, they know they won't get started again and so they just keep going. Because if I stop, I will most certainly stop for a while. But I also know I have my next book in the Potto Lake series on deck, and we have a 20K in five days coming up in September, which will kick start that book for me. So I think my new process has been just take the longest laziest break possible between books because we're going to do 20K in five days once a quarter, and that is the start of the next book for me. I get like a good 19, 1820K into a book. Well, I have to get a head start, which I have, and then I spend five days, like, deep in the world and then use that as a jumping off point to finish the book.

DL White [00:29:40]:

I think that has to be my next process. Otherwise books don't get written. I'm not a person that gets in this chair every day and writes 1000 words and then goes about my day. I have a concentrated amount of time where I write and then I have to put it down and step away and get back into books and all that. I can't think of anything else that I need to share. I was thinking this might be a short episode, but of course it's not. It's not ever a short episode. I can yammer for 38 straight minutes.

DL White [00:30:20]:

I'm talking about me. That brings us to the end of today's episode. Thank you for joining me for another episode of the bookcast. I'll be back next week with a reading update. Perhaps a writing update. I don't know. Will I start writing that fan fiction story or will I not? My bets are on not. But we'll see.

DL White [00:30:43]:

Please enjoy the weekend, have a superlative week, and we will chat again next weekend. Bye.