Bookcast Episode 58: In Search of Joy

Welcome back to the Bookcast, where we talk mostly books and writing intermingled with fandom and whatever else is happening to create a space brimming with literary joy.  Weeee!

  I talked about the following books in today's episode: 

• Motive (Waverly Beach Mystery Series) by Pamela M. Kelley
• One Last Kill (Tracy Crosswhite, #10) by Robert Dugoni
• Fiancé for Hire (Men for Hire) by Sharon C. Cooper
• Boyfriend for Hire (Men for Hire) by Delaney Diamond
• Date for Hire by Reese Ryan
• Laws of Depravity (Martyr Maker, #1) by Eriq La Salle
• My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon
• This Could be Us by Kennedy Ryan
• Curvy Girl Summer by Danielle Allen

I mentioned the fanfiction archive I own and operate. Find my profile at NSYNC-Fiction.com HERE.  I project my dessert project to be posted in serial format between October 17 and November 17.

CHAPTERS:
0:00 Bookcast Episode 58

14:30 Book Reviews and Writing Updates

21:26 Writing Thriller Fan Fiction Project

33:56 Writing Commercial Fiction and Finding Joy

Transcript

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DL White [00:00:00]:

Alright we are back I am back anyway raising up my desk a smidge I'm not even cutting that out. I am back on the mic. I am here the podcast is now recording. I just want to give a shout out to some friends of mine. I just really appreciate my friends that are listening and let me know that they are listening, and let me know that they do not Appreciate when I skip an episode and I'm a just tell y'all I don't miss it when I'm not on the mic, so Complain all you want. I like knowing that y'all are listening, so hello Raymond, Doctor. Raymond, hello Audra, host of Between the reads and Staying on Code podcasts, yesterday I started a Furi in our Discord chat because I said she was short. I didn't mean to start nothing, I'm just saying I'm short and Audra is shorter than I am and so that don't tell you how short Audra is.

DL White [00:01:09]:

She has tall Person energy she comes across like a tall woman and she is not Tiny dynamo. Hello Jessica, hello Robert. Robert did send me a message to be like I always listen and I always appreciate that. Hello Robert. Hello everybody who is listening. Welcome back to the BookCast. This is my platform for sharing short fiction And updates on what I'm reading and writing. This is episode 58.

DL White [00:01:43]:

I am D. L. White, I'm an author of contemporary southern and romantic I am back anyway. Fiction novels featuring black men and women. I am also a big fan of books so we usually begin with a book report and then we talk about writing. I am currently working on A little dessert project which I will talk about a little bit during the writing update. I would love your support of This podcast this is a 1 woman self funded show running a podcast it's not free, in case you're wondering. I mean it can be, but I'm picky.

DL White [00:02:14]:

Anyway, if you love what I'm doing here and you would like to support it head to my support site it's buymeacoffee. .Com/booksbydlwhite, there you can offer a one time or recurring monthly gift. I am already most grateful for it. I have I have an in with an audiobook narrator and, so that might be something going on for 2025 maybe late 2025, but first, Ama needs funds, so I covet your support and your additional Gifting of this podcast. The other way you can support is to buy the books. Talk about the books. Books by dlwhite.com/books has all of the good stuff. Select titles are available in ebook, Print and audio directly from me.

DL White [00:03:03]:

Now I say this every week, but I know I'm gonna keep saying because it's important. Buying direct Puts the money directly into my pocket almost right away, instead of waiting 60 days for me to get paid. So that means there's no middleman, virtually No middleman taking a percentage of the retail price, like I've said before Amazon takes 30 to 70% depending on how much your book is priced. Draft2Digital takes, I think, 10% off of, I think the 70% that retailers charge, so, it's definitely not free to be an author. They definitely take their cut. If you prefer to buy the books retail, ain't no shame in your game. Like I say all the time, my books are not for sale anywhere, I don't want them to be. If you're getting them for free and they're not from me and I haven't been talking about it, it's probably a, what do they call it? A, mhmm, pirate pirated? Yeah.

DL White [00:03:59]:

If you're getting it off of a site and you ain't paid for it and I'm not talking about it and it's not a major retailer, it's probably a pirated copy. Please don't do that. It is hard enough to publish books out here, then for people to be getting them for free. You can always get them at the library, you can always get them at Scribd or Kobo Plus for a low monthly rate, All the books you can shove into your face. All my titles are available in ebook wherever they're sold, Amazon, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple Books, Kobo Books, Google Play, if there's a site out there where you buy books and mine are not available, shout me out a holler. I'll try to get them up there I want to be widely available that's why I don't sell only at Amazon or only at Kobo I'm not exclusive to anybody. You can also buy them, like you can get them direct from my website like I've said at payhip. Payhip.com/booksbydlwhite.

DL White [00:04:52]:

They're also available via subscription sites like Scribd and Kobo Plus. They're also available to request at your local library, so hit up Libby and Hoopla, and put some books by D. L. White into your face. Speaking of book sales, if you're looking for book deals, check my PAHIP site again it's PAHIP .com/booksbydlwhite. The announcement bar up top is a blog post that I'm trying to update that with the free or discount events I am running, the fall tends to be full of these things like, there's Stuff Your Kindle, there's the All Black Book Affair that's coming up, there's the Stuff your e reader audiobook edition that's coming up in, like, November or early December, there's the Cavalcade of Authors, ebook event that's coming up, so the fall is gonna be full and I'm just gonna try to keep track of all that stuff in one place. Leslie's curl and die audio is on sale this quarter, so if you don't have it you can snatch it up for only 99¢, it's regularly like 12.99, 8.99, I don't know, I keep changing the price on it depending on, the market and demands for it, but it's typically way more than 99¢. You can grab it at Chirp, Tap the link there, you could pick it up at select retail sites.

DL White [00:06:08]:

It is not on sale in my store, so it is purposely on sale Through Findaway Voices, I think it's Chirp, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, I think those are the spots you can get it on sale. If you do not own Curl and Diane audio, you can snatch it up for 99¢. I've also set Hey Lover as a free book because I am participating in the cavalcade of authors event, mid month and it's just easier to set your book for free for the month and let it ride because Amazon is a total pain in the butt to set a book for free, so once you get it free, you just let it ride and run all your promo and then return it back to paid. Today, we will start with the book the book report as always, and then we'll catch you up on Life Lately, where I try not to turn this into an NSYNC podcast, but I mean I kind of can't help it. And we'll talk about my little dessert project which is bringing me so much joy, And that's very important to me at this time in my life. Today is Saturday, October 7, 2023, It's 8:42 AM, it is sunny, and 55 degrees with a high of 7 in the ATL. I have a mic, and I am ready to dig in. But first, let's have some coffee.

DL White [00:07:31]:

Alright. Alright. Alright. I recently heard Matthew McConaughey on a couple Full of podcasts. He was on Podcrushed, which is run by, what's his name, Penn Badgley, and he has 2 co hosts that I don't know their names and he was also on Smartlist, which is like my new favorite thing. Smartlist is like it's, it's Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes, who is such a delight oh my god Sean Hayes is such a delight I Absolutely binged all of Smartlist, like, 1 long weekend while I was traveling. Love that podcast, and, I I don't know, I can't remember if it was new or if I was listening back, but Matthew McConaughey was on it, he has such a great voice. I just really want him to do more audiobooks because he has He has a great voice, but I like how he says alright alright alright, so we're back.

DL White [00:08:24]:

Let's start with the book report because I am a book head. If I'm a do anything, I'm a read a book. I have read 130 of my challenge to read 175 books this year. I'm done messing with my goal, it's 175, I'm gonna keep it there, I might beat it, I might not, but let's see how many books over 175 I can get. I am 3 books behind, oh my god. Oh my god, I'm 3 books behind. On my Goodreads challenge, I've had a lot of travel and multi day meetings and that really cuts into my writing time because I'd spend a lot of time, like, listening to books while I'm Working or reading on my lunch break or, I get up in the morning and I, you know, I might read some before I go to work but before I start working, but if I have to go into the office, I have to get up and shower and, you know, get dressed in real clothes and Wash out my coffee mug and fill up my water bottle and schlep my way into work when I would normally be reading during that time, So it cuts down on my reading time, but no doubt, no doubt, we're gonna work it out. I want to be caught up by the end of the week and so, I do have a I have some books I want to dig into this this week I read 4 books, which was really really good.

DL White [00:09:40]:

I read Boyfriend for Hire and Fiancee for Hire, which are part of the 3 book series, the Men for Hire series. The 3rd book is, I forget what the name of it is. Something for Hire by Rees Ryan. I love Rees. I've been saving this one for last. I'm gonna get to that one probably later day or tomorrow I need to put it on my reading list actually. Hold please. Date for Hire by Rees Ryan, I am adding that to my reading list because I'm a be on that probably tomorrow, that sounds she's always such a good Sunday afternoon read for me, like her books are just so good.

DL White [00:10:22]:

I read the first 2, Boyfriend for Hire, Fiancee for Hire. Boyfriend for Hire is by Delaney Diamond, who is a fave. Fiancee for Hire is by Sharon C. Cooper, also a fave. I always really enjoyed them those are Like, automatic automatic. And then I read One Last Kill, which is the Tracy Crosswhite number 10 by Robert Dugoni. This was pretty good. It's like standard Dugoni.

DL White [00:10:47]:

It's like when I read Karen Slaughter, I'm like, yep, that's a Karen Slaughter book. This This is Robert Dugoni book. There's so I'm ready for some changes to happen in the Tracy Crosswhite series. Robert does say the series is Going to continue, but I like I'm just, I'm tired of her fighting with her superior, with her captain, Nolasco. I do see, like, some tension happening between her and her chief Weber. Yeah. I just I'm just I'm hoping for more developments there, but I'm I'm really enjoying I'm really enjoying the series. I'm well, you can tell I'm, like, really into it when I'm I'm, like, analyzing what's happened and what's going to happen, and yeah, I'm really enjoying it.

DL White [00:11:29]:

So that was book number 10 No idea when book 11 is coming out because book number 10 just came out, but, you know, I'm I got I got my head up for it. And then I listened to a book called Motive by Pamela Kelly. It's part of the Waverly Beach Mystery series. Honestly, I just had this in my scribbed Downloaded files and I needed something short this was like a 2 to 3 hour listen. It was pretty good. It was along the mystery type Range, she has like a long series set at the beach or something like that. I I don't know. I just kind of just wanted to try her out and I had downloaded this one, so it was pretty good.

DL White [00:12:07]:

As far as reading, it's October and so the girls are doing spooky books, but I don't really do spooky. I don't like those genres really. I can't like A lot of them lean into paranormal and magical realism and speculative fiction, and my my brain can't process That I I get frustrated. I don't understand, like, why? What what why? And the answer is magic, Spirits, the occult, and what why? My brain just needs a more finite answer than that, so I just get frustrated because I don't get it. So some of my book pals decided they're kinda gonna kinda punt the spooky books and dig into our crime slash urban slash mafia fiction in October, we're calling it Gloctober, and I am deep into it. It's a perfect excuse to be in my thriller And romantic suspense bag, so I'm I'm into it. Of course, I'm reading Date For Hire by Rees Ryan. I am trying to get into I don't know if you all know but actor Eric LaSalle is an author, a crime fiction author, and he has a series that is out, it's It's really starting to gain traction.

DL White [00:13:22]:

His 3rd book was just named book of the month by something or other Barnes and Noble something something, So I'm trying to start with book number 1, it's called Laws of Depravity. I I'm not I'm not sure how deep I'm gonna get into this series, I'm not All that turned on by the first few chapters, like a book really needs to hook me from the beginning. I'm gonna give it a few before I move on because I did happen to mention on that I was gonna read it and he saw it and commented on it, and so now I feel like I must give it a good college try. I'm a try to get through it and if I like it move on to book 2, but yeah, Eric LaSalle is an author and it's funny because he's been memeing himself That's Peter doctor Peter Benton. If you know him from ER, he was also in Coming to America, Soul Glow dude. So We'll see we'll see how we get that how we how we like that. I am also reading My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon. She is a fave, I've read pretty much all of her books.

DL White [00:14:23]:

She tends to be a little bit spooky, that's as deep as I can go really into, like, horror or paranormal, but I love Jennifer McMahon. Like, she is more like, suspense slash Horror suspense slash literary fiction whatever. My Darling Girl, I am a few chapters in. It's really good so far, So I'm excited about digging into this. This just came out, I think, last Tuesday I tried to get an advanced reader copy and I was denied, and that made me sad. Mhmm. Yeah. There's a long list of books I can read this month.

DL White [00:14:59]:

I don't have a TBR and I'm not gonna do bingo like the other IG readers are doing, I'm gonna play it by ear I just really enjoy myself. This is like my catnip genre. This is what I read when I'm not reading romance, so I'm sure I'm not going to have any issue finding something to read. I think my issue is going to be finding black authors in this a genre, but I'm just I'm not gonna stress myself out about it. There are some people that I can read, but I also want to really enjoy the books, and some of the authors in this genre I just don't really enjoy, you know, I just I have to really enjoy the writing. Speaking of enjoying myself, That leads me into the writing update. I'm gonna go off script for a little bit so excuse any rambles, but I want to talk a little bit about my dessert project. So as of yesterday, I had sold about 113 copies of my new release, Elysium of Black Diamond Vacation Bromance.

DL White [00:15:54]:

I had a great conversation with a. K, who is my editor. She gave me a lot of levity about this book and made me feel good about this Book and a lot of people have said, like, your worth as an author is not dependent on how many people buy the book, what your sales are, popularity or anything Like that, Elysium is probably my most perfect book, and I got real deep into my feelings about this book because I put time, money, blood, sweat, and tears into this novel to make sure that when people read it, they didn't have any complaints like, needs editing, Like, formatting is off. Like, cover looks booty. Like, none of that surface criticism. If you're gonna have criticism about the book, let's talk about The plot. Let's talk about the execution. Let's talk about the writing.

DL White [00:16:45]:

Let's let's wipe away all the surface things that people usually complain about and have backhanded Comments and compliments about when it comes to my books. Let's talk about the writing. I have really really enjoyed The great reviews that I have managed to look at for this book are people that just dig the story like the writing, they like the story, they like the premise, they like the characters, they like the setting, like Black Diamond is goals. So I feel like I put my foot in this book and I presented a book and people looked at it and said, Anyway, I'm gonna go over here and read Quan Mills, so yeah I am still licking my wounds a little bit over this book, But, time marches on, and people have to get over it. I she repeated back to me The Elysium is going to find its place. It's it's a summer read, so it's gonna hit again probably in the summer. I usually start promoting Beach Thing around late spring, and now I have another late spring early summer book to promote. Hopefully, I will be working on book 3 and I can have that out in the summer, things I always say but never Put into practice.

DL White [00:18:05]:

I hope I don't release another summer vacation book in August, because that's way too late to release a summer book. I digress. Beach Thing was a sleeper, nobody was really paying attention to it until some, Instagram romance Readers decided to read it and now everybody's arguing over Wade in that book and so, you know, sometimes you just have to bide your time. Sometimes Books are sleepers sometimes, you know, you just have to wait for a book to find its time and get its traction, and so We're just gonna let Elysium ride. I want to get back to loving writing. I wanna get back to being excited about sitting down at the computer, about developing a story, about writing something new, and finding Joy in putting my fingers on that keyboard, and I haven't had that in a long time. There are stories that I love. Every book that leaves my computer, I am in love with.

DL White [00:19:12]:

I absolutely adore it. I think it's the best thing ever. I want everyone to read it and love it and give it 3, 4, 5 stars and gush about it endlessly. I don't have any books out there, I don't have any stories out there that I'm ashamed of, I don't have anything out there that I'm like, Oh God, don't read that. Like, I'm always like, Oh God, don't read that, mostly because I really like it and I'm nervous that people won't. I'm not like, oh god, don't read that because it's bad because if it's bad, I took it down. Shout out to same time next week. It was bad.

DL White [00:19:49]:

So I I don't have that feeling unless my writing is purely for me and purely for enjoyment. When I am worried about how much it's going to sell and how much money I spent putting it out and how Perfect, I made it and it just didn't hit I that I that depresses me. That's not writing for enjoyment, so I am dipping back into my fanfic bag. Yeah. Mhmm. So your girl is back In her Miss M Era, which is my username at the fan fiction archive that I own and operate over at NSYNC Fiction, by the way Have you seen that my boys are still awesome even after a 20 plus year break? I I just love them. I just love them. This is not an NSYNC podcast, but if this if it was not for this group and for writing fanfic, I would not be a commercially published Author, so we're getting into it.

DL White [00:20:47]:

Last Friday they released their 1st single since 2002 It's been over 20 years since NSYNC had a new hit on the charts. They are they have had like the highest Something. I don't know. Highest charting new single in history, something like that. I don't know. I'm getting it all Wrong, but anyway the news is very good about the new single. It's called Better Place. It is in support of the Trolls Band Together movie.

DL White [00:21:18]:

The storyline of the movie is absolutely NSYNC. I feel like this was written for Justin in an effort to get him to reach out the other guys in NSYNC to record a song. It's it is about a troll who used to be in a boy band, and they kind of all fell out, and he has to then, like, Put his band back together. So the song released last Friday, it's been very steadily climbing the charts. It entered top 40, and AC at like 55, and it just has been climbing. The fans are very excited, the group can't really promote the song because most of them are members of the Screen Actors Guild, and SAG AFTRA is on strike. So they can't promote the movie, they can't promote the song really because it's tied to the movie, So basically it's been the fans mostly promoting the song, and let me tell you the fans understood the assignment, and So it's been a fun week and I have had a lot of fun like dipping back into fandom and like just really enjoying it and also letting Current events get my mind rolling about writing and being creative and, like, taking current events and turning them into Fiction or fan fiction. So my dessert project is something I started probably 10 years ago, like 2012.

DL White [00:22:47]:

I was I was writing this story and it's not a romance. It's it's thriller ish. What I I really wanna venture a little bit outside of romance, like, do a a romance subgenre, like, maybe a romantic thriller, a romantic suspense, something like that. I'm I'm always gonna have Romance in my books because I think that's a natural part of being alive, and being a person, but I kind of I want to branch out a little bit. I won't say that I'm getting bored with romance, but I'm just I'm tired I'm just I'm tired. I don't wanna I don't wanna write the same thing over and over, and I feel like I'm just getting to a point where I am just writing the same story Over and over, I am not I am not that girl. I'm not like, I can I can write a lot of the same, but I need to take a break, And I need to venture into something new? I need something exciting. I need something that's, like, gonna, like, challenge me and get my brain moving in a different direction.

DL White [00:23:54]:

And The other day I was sitting we have a we have a private Discord chat for the authors that write fan fiction, that are part of the archive. I've been so pleased with how many authors have come back to post stories especially since, like, all this started on, JC's birthday on JC's birthday Justin posted just like a little 7 second snippet of them 2 in the studio. Like they haven't really been seen together in many many years, and they haven't been in the studio together since NSYNC really. Like I think Justin helped JC with his album that released in 2004, but it's been it's been many many years. So that kind of started a little Flurry, a little spark that built into a flame, which we now No. It was a surprise that NSYNC had, reunited, and they had recorded a song for this Trolls movie, and they were supposed to be able to fully promote it but they can't because of the SAG strike, etc. So I forgot where I was going with that, but I had a story I was sitting yes I was sitting talking to the writers in Discord, and we're kind of talking about projects that we want to write for the upcoming Challenge, we write challenges as I've said before based around birthdays of the members of InSync. Our next challenge starts October 17th which Chris Kirkpatrick's birthday.

DL White [00:25:31]:

He is the founder of NSYNC. If it wasn't of course, we'd not we would not have a group. He is the guy that you've always seen with the pineapple hair. He used to have braids That he would like pull up into a ponytail on top of his head and, they were multicolor and we we call him Pineapple. So I call him Fineapple because that's me that's who I am As a person so our next challenge is called Poptober, and Chris is a very up pop Energetic person, and so the stories should pop. So up fun Stories, but the story that I kind of have in mind is something I started maybe 10 years ago. It's a thriller, it is a JC focused story and, one of the longest, fics that I wrote It was called All I Wanna Do, and it's the basically the fan fantasy of meeting a pop star and getting to know him in real life and, like, trying to Meld your life together as you fall in love with this person and fold your regular life into his life as a celebrity. I really enjoyed writing that story and I think at the time I just wasn't done writing JC and Serena, And so I had continued their story, but years into the future and I made it into a thriller where JC has to battle an obsessed fan, and I as we do, I wrote a bit And then I hit a wall and I kind of gave up on it, and I don't like to have unfinished stories up on the archive, and so I saved what I had and then I deleted it.

DL White [00:27:23]:

And 10 years later, I'm sitting in the Discord with my other You know my writer pals from the archive, and I was like, you know, A 1000000 years ago I started writing this story, so I'm telling them the story and they're like oh my god I need it. Are you writing it? Are you gonna finish it? I'm like In my mind I'm like I feel like I I feel like I I wanna work on that story maybe for a Poptober. So I am digging through my Google Docs. It's not in my Google Docs. It's not in my email. I have had, like, 3 computers since I wrote that story, so, like, there's no telling where it's at. I asked my beta, she doesn't have it, So I am like trying to remember where I saved this, and I have an Old old old, like, 2003, 2005 Dell computer that I used to write on before I moved over to Mac so that I could use Velum and Scrivener, and I said let me let me dig up that DEL and see if it will start up. So y'all She's on her last leg.

DL White [00:28:50]:

This I this this computer is Old, like the keyboard doesn't work, the screen doesn't work, so I connected it to my external keyboard and my external screen, and it took like Almost an hour, but I was able to get on Wi Fi and open it up, and I look at my documents and the first thing I see is this Story that I forgot about. This one and another one that I had started that I forgot about, and so then the next trick was getting it off the Dell and into, like, my new computer, and so I had I had to update Chrome so I could log into email so I could send it to myself. It was an ordeal it took all afternoon, but I was able to break into my old computer and pull out that old document, Pull it into Dabble, kind of mess with it a little bit, update it a little bit, and so I've been working on that this week And I'm I'm really excited. I'm kind of I'm excited to dig into it. It's new, it's, you know, of course I'm gonna have my love scenes in it. I have Already written, one love scene, but in the previous iteration of this story, I didn't have a second point of view. I didn't have a point of view of the fan, And so because I have been reading so much, crime fiction, like, in the last few years, I now have, Like a a trickle of inspiration for the fan side of the story. There's the there's The JC and Serena point of view, like, here's what's happening blah blah blah, and then the fan side of the story is her interpretation, which is like almost the exact opposite of what's actually happening.

DL White [00:30:41]:

This fan is is hopelessly devoted To a music artist that she's been following since maybe she was a teenager, she's not mentally well, she believes this music artist Just talking to her through his songs and lately she feels like this music artist wants to be rescued from his Current relationship. And so, her thinking and her mind is becoming more and more unstable As time goes on, meanwhile JC and Serena are just living their best like newlywed life. This is fun because it's a continuation of a story that I spent years writing. All I want to do is like my magnum opus It's my epic, like, fan fiction story, it's my it's my hero story, it's my my origin story, not the 1st story I I wrote but certainly the longest, and, I'm not gonna say the best but I really really really enjoyed writing that story. So it lets me continue that story but give it a little twist. It also fan fiction was always my practice. Like, even when I began writing commercial fiction, I was always practicing with fan fiction. Okay? I wanna work on description and so In this new chapter of All I Wanna Do, I just wanna make sure that I am vivid in my descriptions.

DL White [00:32:10]:

K. I wanna work on dialogue, So in this next chapter of all I wanna do, I wanna make sure my dialogue is on point. If I can't hear the character saying it in my mind, it doesn't go on the page, And so, a lot of what I feel like I do well in commercial fiction came from practicing with fanfic, And I've been thinking about venturing outside of romantic fiction for some time, and It just, like, literally smacked me in my face. Like, why aren't you practicing with fan fiction? Like, you wanna get back into it. I hadn't written a story at the archive really Since 2019, I think. I haven't written a full chapter story at the archive since well before in law, like maybe 2018 ish. So let's get back into practice let's get back into developing a story, Writing something new and practicing with fan fiction, and when I tell you like the synapses in my brain, They're they're they're firing, they're shooting off, like I'm I'm just constantly thinking about the story now and different angles and how how do I make this chapter Snap and like what do I need to think about now? I'm just I'm excited about writing again, and I'm excited about it because This is not a thing that can be sold. I am not thinking about it needs to be this and I need 7.5 sex scenes that's what readers want to see.

DL White [00:33:42]:

I am not thinking about the writing being beautiful or catchy or anything, you know, like that. It doesn't have to sound like a random house novel, which is what I always worry about when I'm writing Commercial fiction doesn't sound beautiful. You know, does it does it sound, you know, like a does it sound like a professional author wrote? I am not worried about sounding like professional author, I am worried about telling a good story, and that's where it has to start for me. I have to get back to that. I have to get right Get back to writing because I love writing the story, writing because I love bringing that out and Drawing that out and writing because it's what the people want to see. Like, fan fiction readers are just way Way different from commercial fiction readers. I feel like commercial fiction readers open a book and they're looking they want to be critical They wanna complain about something, and so they're reading looking for something to complain about, which isn't a slight to any of my readers or anything, I just like it's a different it's just a different attitude. Fan fiction readers read it to read it and to enjoy.

DL White [00:34:56]:

They want to enjoy it, and they're just so excited for anything new. In a perfect world, they give feedback and they're very excited, oh, when's the next chapter? When's the next chapter? And because it's Stereo, you bring them along with the story. So what I want to do with this is the challenge Starts October 17th, so I wanna begin posting the story on on October 17th and kind of drag it out Posting, like, every few days a few chapters, but I definitely wanna stay ahead of the story. I would love to have it done before we even start Poptober, but that's that's probably not gonna happen. In order for it to be a part of the challenge, the story has to be complete by the end of the challenge, so I have to be done writing by November 17th. I wanna say that's not gonna be a problem, but I did send what I have so far over to my beta because I need to think in terms of story structure and how this plays out and kind of plot things out because I'm not really a plotter, but I wanna see where I am, where I need to go, and then how I need to get there. I think this is gonna be about Twenty chapters I usually aim for about 20, 22 chapters but, you know, we'll see what happens. I'm bouncing back between point of view, between My hero and heroine and then the antagonist I have an actual antagonist in this book, so I would love to read some craft books on writing thrillers and mysteries, but I also just wanna have fun with it.

DL White [00:36:29]:

Like, I don't wanna I don't wanna get all, like, deep and educational into it. I just I kind of I just want to have fun writing it and then go back into the mechanics and, all that kind of stuff. That's where I'm at, with my writing. Once I finish this, I might dip into something short to have like a little holiday Short for the year, but it really depends on when I finish this and how burnt out I am. I may not have a short for this year, and I'm just not gonna worry about it because, it's like me and 89 people, and so 89 people might get a January short. You know what I'm saying? But I am so thankful for those 89 people. So I am excited. I will, of course, continue to update.

DL White [00:37:21]:

I know y'all don't read fan fiction, and you don't care about instant especially since these characters are white it's just kind of how it works out. This is my practice and I really wanna practice writing, stepping a little bit outside of romance and not getting so deep into the relationship, but That external conflict has to be strong. It has to really drive the story, and it has to, like, bring motivation in for these, You know, for these characters to act around, so I'm I am very, very excited. In my brain, I know how this ends and so I have to have to get from where I am to where it ends in a logical manner where it doesn't drag I'm very much looking forward to That, I have a write in tonight with the, writers from the archive so I am hoping to dig a little A bit into the plot and get some ideas and, we'll do a little bit of a little bit of chat and a little bit of writing, so it's going to be fun. And I This is something that I really need right now, I need some joy, and this brings me joy. The music brings me joy, the fandom brings me joy, the Writing brings me joy and having that kind of camaraderie with the other writers that understand, also brings me joy. Fall and winter are really difficult times for me emotionally. I do Suffer from seasonal affective disorder, and I already feel, like, my mood dipping down into the doldrums.

DL White [00:38:58]:

So sunlight is important, Finding joy in things is important and Sync could not have reunited at a better time for me personally, so I'm just gonna really enjoy this time and not worry about what I'm selling and not worry about writing, you know, something to sell and not worry about my, you know, my author bank account, you know, which I frequently have to supplement with my own money. I'm just gonna I'm, you know, I'm just gonna ride it and Ride it, and see where it takes me. I will of course, you know, keep everybody posted on how that's going, and if you are interested in I will definitely link you up if you want to read it. That concludes the writing update. A couple of shoutouts Kennedy Ryan recently. I did a cover reveal on my blog recently, like yesterday. I did a cover reveal on my blog for her March 2024 release called This Could Be Us. This is the follow-up to, before I let go, roll on by the blog if you're interested in reading the blurb.

DL White [00:39:57]:

I also linked to a sneak peek that I think is Alt 10 Magazine, so fun. Check it out. It's books by dlwhite.com/blog. I just love me some Kennedy Ryan. She is an absolute delight. Another shout out to my good good friend Danielle Allen. She has a June 2024 release coming. It's her 1st traditionally published novel.

DL White [00:40:19]:

Hey. It's called Curvy Girl Summer. The cover looks so cute, so cute, And, I am looking forward to reading it. It's coming through Macmillan. Preorders are open. Head to authordanielleallen.com/curvy girldash Summer, snatch it up. I am very much looking forward to reading this. I just adore Danielle.

DL White [00:40:41]:

She is truly deserving. She has put in her time and paid her dues. I'm very excited, so look out for those as well. There's a lot of stuff going on, So watch the blog, watch my Twitter, watch my Instagram. I'll be talking about all of it and, I'll I'll share what I can as I get it. That brings us to the end of today's episode. Thank you so much for joining me for another episode of the book cast. I will be back next week Doctor.

DL White [00:41:07]:

Raymond, Audra, Jessica, Robert, I'll be back with the reading update, and I hope a writing update. Please enjoy this weekend. Have a superlative week, And we'll chat again soon.