Bookcast Episode 64: Reading, Writing and Stuffing

DL White [00:00:00]:

Hello, everybody. It is Saturday, so it is time for another episode of the book cast. Welcome to episode 64 of the book cast. This is my platform for sharing short fiction and updates on what I'm reading and writing. Happy US Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates. I don't really. I don't I don't I don't Or they do holidays or whatever, but I do enjoy having time off from work and not having to log in to the network and check email and schedule impossible to schedule meetings. So I am truly enjoying these days off.

DL White [00:00:41]:

I am d l White. I am an author of 12 contemporary southern and romantic fiction novels featuring black men and women. I'm also a fan fiction writer and a lover of books. We usually begin with the book report, then we talk bookish news, and I'll talk about the Potter Lake holiday short I am working on in the writing update. This podcast is sponsored by me my money my energy my time with your support and I thank you for it. Whether it's a message in my inbox, tweet, a comment on my YouTube channel, harassment on Instagram live. It warms my cold dead heart that you all listen to this podcast, that you pay attention to it, that you ask for it, especially when I don't feel like getting out of bed on a Saturday morning and doing it. If you would like to offer more support, head to buy me a coffee.com/booksbyd.lwhite.

DL White [00:01:33]:

There you can offer a one time or recurring monthly gift, and I would be most grateful for that. And I'm gonna go ahead and close that thing that's making noise while I'm recording. This is an extremely professional podcast. The other way you can support is to buy my books. Booksbydlwhite.com/books Has all of my titles available in whatever format I have them in: ebook, print, audio. You can purchase them directly from me at my store which puts the monies directly into my pockets and not 60 days from now. And we like that so much. It does help pay bills.

DL White [00:02:11]:

If you prefer to buy them retail, that is not a problem. My books are not on sale anywhere. I don't want them to be. All of my titles are available wherever ebooks are sold. They're also available via subscription sites like Everand, which is the new name for Scribd, Cobo Plus, and your local library through Libby or Hoopla, so snatch Them up. If they're not at your library, you can request them. And then when your library buys them, you should borrow them, read them, and then return them. Ternium.

DL White [00:02:38]:

That gives me circulation history and a little bit of clout with your library. So the next time I have a new book out, they're like, hey. People really like this book. Let's buy the next one. I also want to remind people that libraries do buy books. They often, in fact, pay more than retail price for books. So if my books are on sale retail for 4.99, my library price is like 6.99. They buy books, and we like that.

DL White [00:03:03]:

So Support your local library. Request our books at your local library. We want to be up in there. Give us some search circulation history. You can also buy my books in print at resist booksellers, or bookshop.org. Books on sale. I talked about a nice Benefit for Spotify Premium members who like audiobooks, be sure to use your 15 free hours per month courtesy of Find A Way by Spotify. I used mine up in about 1 and a half books.

DL White [00:03:31]:

I don't mind it at all. I listen to a lot of audiobooks. If I can get them included in subs some subscription, I will take it. I also do pay for credits at libro.fm and, and Audible because there are still a lot of people that only publish through Audible. And darn if I'm gonna miss out on audiobooks. So that's a nice benefit. Of course, Leslie's Carlindai is still on sale for 99¢. For the next few weeks, hit books by dlwhite.com/audiosale for links to that sale.

DL White [00:04:03]:

It is not on-site in my website bookstore. If you buy it at my website bookstore, You're gonna pay full price for that. So let's get going. I'm running a little bit behind today. Today we will start with the book report as always, and then I am talking about my dessert project. And, I'm not talking about my dessert project. My dessert project is done, honey. It's done.

DL White [00:04:24]:

Done. Snap snaps done! But I am talking about my, holiday novella which is going to be a lot of fun. Today is Saturday November 25th. It is 9:30 a. M. It is sunny in ATL. I don't know what the temperature is but it's probably cold. It is 41 degrees! In the a.

DL White [00:04:47]:

I have a microphone, and I am ready to dig in, but first Let's have a couple of gulps of hot coffee. Oh, wow. It's hot. It's hot. It's hot. We begin, as always, with the book report because I am a book head. If I'm gonna Anything, I'm gonna read a book. I have read 160 books of my challenge to read 175 This year I am 3 books ahead on my Goodreads challenge.

DL White [00:05:30]:

She's back. Can't stop. Won't stop. This week I read I haven't even counted how many books I read this week. One, 2, 3, 4, 6 books. Most of them were audio, so it's really easy for me to blow through an audiobook. I just If I have something I absolutely have to do and, like, my hands have to be busy, the best way to get me to do that is to put on an audiobook because I can listen while I work, and it makes work go by quickly. So, this week, I read 2 Kendra Elliott books.

DL White [00:06:02]:

She's like a mystery thriller author. I read A Merciful Truth, which is Mercy Kilpatrick number 2, and I read a merciful death, which is mercy Kilpatrick number 1. I also listened to 2 books by Melinda Lee, more in the Bree Taggart series, John, her sorrows, and right behind her, Bree Taggart, is a female sheriff, which I am really into. I actually Talked to you this week a little bit about a fan fiction story that I wrote where my pop star is riding like a vintage Motorcycle and he crashes his bike in this small town in New Mexico. The best mechanic in town is a woman named Tori, and the sheriff is a female. She's like a like a b Arthur type boy, like, very tall, Short, blunt haircut, take no mess attitude. I love that kind of thing, so I'm all about it if I can find it in a book that I didn't have to write. So Really enjoying the Bree Taggart series and I I think I'm caught up on that but I don't know.

DL White [00:07:05]:

I keep finding books I haven't read yet. I also listened to Coming Home by Kennedy Ryan. This was a Audible original. It was good. It was, like, 2 hours, So the perfect life, it was just what I needed to, like, kick off my day. You know, y'all know I love Kennedy Ryan's writing. I quit writing every time I read one of her books because I'm, like, I'm just I'm I'm never gonna write that good, so I may as well just give up. But then Kennedy's light girl stopped, and I go back to writing.

DL White [00:07:34]:

So I also finished double mocha blues, which is, the Joss Miller mysteries series book 1 by Tayorra Moody. This is her new cozy mystery series. It's a spin off of the Eugenia Patterson series. There are a couple of cameos in this book, that I was really happy to see. This book was a delight. It was it was quite good. It was actually very like, a lot of A lot of drama in it, more than I would expect from a cozy mystery. So go on with your bad self, miss Tayora.

DL White [00:08:06]:

Can't wait for book 2. I think I don't remember when book 2 was coming out, but I think it's relatively soon. Would love for it to be in audio, So there's that. I'm not reading anything. I'm not reading the darn thing. I actually finished a book late yesterday. I think I finished Something late yesterday, one of those Kendra Elliott, Melinda Lee books. And, I didn't pick out a new book because I can't decide what I I wanna read.

DL White [00:08:34]:

Like, I I'm I'm finding it really hard to concentrate on romance right now. I'm writing a romance, so I would like to read some romance. I did pick up a freebie from Aubrey Penn, so I might read that. I know I have a couple of books in here. My Kindle is right here, so let me is anybody else's Kindle, Like, either the app or the device moving real slow, my fire is like I feel like it's Just barely hanging on. I think it's my Wi Fi. So I have a new I have remember the time from Aubrey Penn I need to read. I have Spontaneous soulmates from Chassel and Hamilton that I need to read.

DL White [00:09:19]:

I have a new Brandy Bush that I want to read. I have I have an arc from Kennedy Ryan, actually, called This Could Be Us. But the thing is, I don't wanna read that while I'm writing because, I will internally feel like I have to compete with her to write better than her, and that's not humanly possible for me. So I'm gonna wait on this could be us and use it as dessert for when I finish the short I'm working on, but I'm a try to get up in that. And I do have a couple of thrillers that I have out here, but, like, for a thriller, I just prefer to listen to it. So I've been picking up a lot of books that have that have audible narration that are in Kindle Unlimited. So I have one from Anne Fraser called The Night I Died. And I did pick out a couple of Freda McFadden books to listen to because Kay the reader is a big fan of her.

DL White [00:10:13]:

So we'll See what I get into today and tomorrow. That's what's going on with the reading update in author business. If you're an author and you would like to participate in the stuff your e reader event, it is back December 27th. That is it's it's a one day event, but it usually encompasses 3 days because it's international. So it has to honestly start December 25th to December 26th to, like, to be open for international readers. And then, December 27th is the actual stuff your ereader event. But it's always gonna spill over to the next day because international, West Coast, etcetera and so on. So if you would like to participate and you are not a member of the Romance Bookworms cross promotion group that's run by Zoey York.

DL White [00:11:11]:

Head yourself on over to Romance Bookworms .com and tap on that for authors tab. There's Every bit of information that you need to participate, there's a bunch of stuff you need to know before you sign up. You need to be in the Facebook group that runs it. It's just easier to coordinate that way. If you're an author and you wanna join, you need an invite to the Facebook group, hit me up. I am author d l white pretty much everywhere. If we are friends on Facebook, I am happy to send you an invite to get you into the group. I can't think of anything else I need to really announce about that, but, sign ups are open, and they closed December 1st.

DL White [00:11:48]:

Listen, people. I'm a say this, and I know it's falling on deaf ears. I I don't want to hear about complaining about how many black books are not in this event because We talk about it. The sign ups are out there. The stuff's out there. If y'all don't wanna go through the steps to sign up, that's cool. This is not a curated event. Nobody searches the Internet for links for books to add.

DL White [00:12:18]:

Authors submit their books to this event. If you wanna be in, fill out the form, price your books appropriately on December 27th, Send out a newsletter. You're in. Ain't nobody trying to gatekeep this event. So if I see a bunch of mess about this event I am definitely gonna have things to say about it. That said, the All Black Book Affair is also happening at the end of December. I don't know the date. It's like December 18th or something like that.

DL White [00:12:50]:

So If you have not already signed up for that, look up the I think it's Black AF Book Club is running that. I don't I don't have details on that. I know I've I've signed up, but, the same book that's gonna be free for stuff your e reader is gonna be free for the All Black Book Affair. Find the link to that. There'll be information about that from the Black AF Book Club. Moving on to the writing update, as I mentioned, my dessert project, It's called the story of Kate. It is a fan fiction thriller, which means it's white people. Just letting y'all know it is complete.

DL White [00:13:26]:

I have linked it on books by dlwhite.com/freeemies. I have a bunch of my fan fiction stories that I, I pulled a copy off of The archive and formatted them in ebook format so they are delivered by BookFunnel, and you can add them to your Kindle or read them through book funnel, which is a whole lot easier than sitting on the archive and trying to read it that way. The story that I mentioned before about the female sheriff, etcetera, that's also on there. It's called The Misadventure in Cloudcroft. The Story of Kate is up there. All I Wanna Do, which is my magnum opus, is up there and a couple of, like, really fun stories are also linked at books by d l y dot com slash freebies. I also have extended samples of my audiobooks there, and a couple of free stories, are also available there. So snatch those up.

DL White [00:14:16]:

I don't often have free materials, so if it's there, take it. My post thanksgiving, pre Christmas, novella is in process. I have a title. It's called Home for the Holidays, a Potter Lake small town romance novella. I do have a cover which I'm going to be revealing tomorrow on my blog, So bookmark books by dlwhite.com. I'm also, going to have a little sample sundae to go with it. So I'm very excited about it because, it's super cute so far. My goal is 25,000 words.

DL White [00:14:49]:

My current word count is about 12,000, and I just started chapter 5. So I think I am on course to have about 10 to 12 chapters max. We're really trying to keep this story Nice and tight, and short, but also, sweet and steamy. So, I always say when I publish a book, I always get upset because it doesn't get the attention that other books get when they have a lot of intimate activity, we'll call it, and I always say, man, I'm just not that kind of author, but I I am. I actually am. Like, I don't mind writing sex in a book. Like, if I write a romance, like, my mind automatically goes there because I wanna write that that intimate special connection between my characters. And I think it's a natural part of dating and relationships, and it it I feel like it brings a whole new level and element to, to characters.

DL White [00:15:57]:

It it ramps up the story. Their life is different after they have been together for the 1st time, and I want to write that. I think my issue is that The steam in my stories don't get the same attention as the steam in other stories, and I just It gets under my skin and I know Delaney Dime is gonna be like, you say this all the time and your scenes are Fine, and those aren't your readers, and I know that. Like, in my mind, I know that, but also I just feel like I feel like my scenes are good, and I feel like they deserve to get the attention that other stories get. I'm just I'm just saying, like, y'all could drool over my scenes too. I mean, they not swinging from the chandeliers or nothing, but I feel like they're very good. Anyhow, my male main character is Reid Gallagher. He's in his late forties.

DL White [00:17:01]:

He's a partner in a real estate development firm called Sterling Gallagher. And, Reed Hedtle Predicament, His partner is duelling over land available in Powder Lake for development. If you remember this story line from book 1, Pottery Lake was kinda caught in a little, tug of war between the old side of Pottery Lake and the new side of Pottery Lake. There's a lot of gentrification. There's a lot of Putting people out of business and my 2 main characters were going kind of head to head, for the affections of this small town. Someone wanted to stick with the businesses on the alt side of Potter Lake. Some wanted to move the town into a a new era. Let's bring in new businesses.

DL White [00:17:41]:

Let's Sell off this land. Let's, you know, move into the new, you know, let's move into the new millennium. So that's a story line from book 1, and this is gonna kinda tease and play on that story line. Reid is from Powder Lake. He left after he graduated from Healy University. Now he is quite a bit older than Leslie and Cade, so, he would have been like, when he graduated from Healy, Leslie would have been, like, in high school, but he knows KC from his NBA career. Followed KC in the NBA and was super proud because Casey was drafted from Healy University. He swore he would never be back because Powder Lake is just It's just too small.

DL White [00:18:26]:

There's not enough going on. But he has come back now to try to stave off his partner from doing what Sterling Gallagher does, which is they blow into, You know, a small town and they plant something big and stupid and ugly and it takes business businesses away from locally owned community members. So that's Read. My female main character is Sabrina Ward. She's in her mid to late forties. She's married to a banking executive, and they both work for Aegis Financial in Atlanta. Adrienne Moore got caught stepping out on his wife when his mistress' His husband found them and beat his behind. Mhmm.

DL White [00:19:05]:

Roll tape. So Sabrina took a leave of absence from work because, of course, her husband is an executive, and she also works for the bank, and it's just super embarrassing. She, of course, can't really concentrate on Anything going on at work. So she took a leave of absence, and she is hiding out in Potter Lake visiting her aunt Kara Isaacs. So So Adrienne's philandering is not a surprise, but she wasn't planning on ending her marriage so publicly. She's Happy to move on from the man that hadn't treated her right in some time, but this just isn't how she planned on her marriage ending. If you are a Potter Lake fan, you know missus Isaacs loves a good bit of gossip. She will sit in the salon at the Curl and Die Listening, pretending to read a magazine, but, you know, listening to what everyone else is saying, what everyone else is doing.

DL White [00:19:55]:

She knows everybody in her neighborhood. She knows all of all of their business. In my mind, she's very Clary from Steel Magnolias. Sweet, Southern silver haired, a little bit spicy. Aunt Cara is very supportive of Sabrina moving on from her husband, Adrian, and she wants Sabrina to engage in some rebound activities. So aunt Cara lives next door to the Gallaghers who own Pinkney's Grocery in Potter Lake. That's Potter Lake's version of the Piggly Wiggly. It's most where most people in town shop.

DL White [00:20:28]:

Since Pink Me's is locally owned and operated, they're also a little wary of Reed blowing into town because they know what Reed's business does. And there's always the concern about some developer moving through to snatch up land and build something big and impersonal that takes business away from them like the mom and pop shops around town. So I've got my characters. I've got my storyline. I've got my stakes, and they are high. I wanna do a little more planning now that I am 4 chapters in, I wanna get to Reid's emotional wound, Sabrina's emotional wound. I wanna talk about what they can do for each Other to heal that wound or to maybe, you know, create a little salve that softens a couple of blows. And I want to think about what is a realistic happily ever after for this couple.

DL White [00:21:19]:

I am not too much on weddings and babies happily ever after, but I do try to craft something that works for the couple that I'm writing about. Sabrina and Reed currently live in different cities. You know, I have a couple of books where that is a storyline. They do always end up together, but I have to be creative about how I work that out. So Stay tuned on that. Like I said tomorrow I will be doing a sample Sunday and I'll do a cover reveal. Hint it's super cute. It's super cute.

DL White [00:21:54]:

So be on the lookout on my blog at booksbydlwhite.com for that. I don't believe I have anything else to share with you all, so that brings this week's episode to close. Thank you for joining me for another episode of the book cast. I will be back next week with a reading and a writing update. I might be closer to a release date, but depends on if I can get a super quick edit on this piece before publication. I don't think my regular editor will have time, but I might reach out to her today to see if her schedule has any wiggle room and if I can get, like, a super quick, like, grammar Check cursory edit on this when I'm done. In the meantime, please enjoy your weekend. Have a superlative week, and we'll chat again soon.