87: May Wrap up and Summer Words

In this week's Bookcast, I discuss prepping for publication of THE PEARL at BLACK DIAMOND and brainstorming promotional ideas. I also talk about writing challenges at the *NSYNC-Fiction Archive, which helps keep me motivated.  The episode includes updates on upcoming events and projects, and I express my eagerness to share more fiction on the podcast, connecting with listeners over our shared love for reading and writing.
I gave a special shoutout to "Curvy Girl Summer" by Danielle Allen, which I loved. Come see me at RESIST booksellers this month to celebrate the release of this book and next year, I'll be at the Black Romance Festival in Atlanta. Early bird tix go on sale June 2nd, general admission tix go on sale June 21st. Follow them and get ready! 

All details, books I talked about and links will be in the shownotes at my website.

Chapters

• 1:56 Book Sales
• 5:28 Coffe Break & Book Chatter
• 6:28 Book Report and May Wrap
• 15:39 May Wrap Up
• 16:49 Appearances 2024 & 2025
• 18:32 Writing Update- summer challenge!
• 22:49 The Photograph, Pt 2
• 27:52 Closing

Transcript

[0:00] Hello, all my bookish friends, my boos and bros of the word.

[0:07] Welcome back to episode 87 of the book cast. This is my platform for sharing short fiction and updates on life as a self-published author of romantic fiction that centers black love. I'm so excited that you're here. I am D.L. White, Atlanta-based author of 14 and counting novels and short stories that's not counting any fan fiction that I've written, of which there are about 30 sparkling, drooling odes to my favorite boy band NSYNC. I'm a reader first, so I'm also a big fan of books. We usually begin with the book report, then we talk about writing and topics of the day. I am currently in pre-publication for The Pearl, a Black Diamond Romance. Tentative release date is scheduled for on or before July 2nd, 2024.

[0:51] Check my blog and my social media for For Goodreads and Storygraph links, as well as samples and teasers for this book, I have also created a playlist, which I love and adore. All those links are at booksbydlwhite.com slash blog. I'm so excited to bring Davis and Kari to your faces. Listen, is anybody out there interested in an advanced copy of this novel? It would be in e-book. Let a sister know. The book cast is a production of books by D.L. White, written, edited, produced, and supported by me. If you would love to back me up, I'd be most grateful. The best way to do that is to share the books, to talk about the books. By the way, shout out to all of my bookish friends who really have my heart because my name is mentioned in all kinds of rooms that I am not in. So bless y'all up and down.

[1:42] But also, you can put some dollars behind these words and buy the books. Start at booksbydlwhite.com slash books for all of the good stuff in ebook or audio. If you want print, you can grab those at my bookshop.org storefront. I'll drop a link in the show notes. But also, if you look up any of my print books in my website bookstore, I have linked those at bookshop. If you want them signed, we can arrange for that. But I'm no longer keeping a stock here at the house to ship out. I simply don't sell enough to make that a viable revenue stream. Maybe someday when I'm more popular, I'll keep an inventory here at home. But they're just books that are sitting here and then they go out of date when I change covers and whatnot. So I no longer have stock here at home. So I do not ship and sell signed books from my house.

[2:35] I've got a lot of things going on this month. We're trying to keep the Black Diamond books top of mind before the Pearl releases. And I have a couple other books that I'm putting on sale. So I'll do an update to my website with all of the summer sales. So bookmarketpayhip.com slash books by D.L. White. The bar at the top of the page always links to the latest sales I've got going on. I'm going to get my life together and update that. Yes, I am. Also, I have a newsletter coming out on June 7th. It's going to be a good one. If you're not subscribed, take care of that esapsually. Books by DLWhite.com slash newsletters. Thank you so much. And don't forget to confirm. Your mailbox will not be blessed if you do not confirm.

[3:17] As always, if you are a member at Kobo Plus, you can grab all of my ebooks and audiobooks as part of your subscription. If you're a premium subscriber at Spotify, you get 15 free hours there. My audiobooks are there, and all of them are under 15 hours. And so go forth and snatch up an audiobook by D.L. White. Your face and your ears will love them. Lastly, I'm available at your local library, so hit up Libby or Hoopla. I do believe all of my books are now available on Hoopla, and they've been adding some of my e-books too, so that's very exciting. I feel like a real author. Do you have a topic you would like me to cover on the book cast? I would love to spend 27 to 32 minutes yammering about anything in particular. Shout me out, Holler. I'm always on Instagram or Twitter at author underscore DL White, or you can visit the show notes of this here episode at booksbydlwhite.com slash bookcast slash 87. You can also drop me a voice note. It's called fan mail. You can peep the link in the show notes and send me some dulcet tones of love. I welcome your comments and questions and I'll dedicate a part of the show to answering them.

[4:25] Anyway, onward. Today's going to be a great show. I'm very excited about it. We will chat about May reading and writing and we'll have part two of the The Photograph. I seriously have no idea where this is going, but this week's selection is noise, if I say so myself. We will talk a little bit about that during the writing update. It's the weekend. I don't have a book to write, and I am all about the books. So we'll also talk about my reading challenge and what I've been putting into my face. Today is Saturday, June 1st. Note to self, pay rent. How is it already June? It's 8.56 a.m. It's cloudy and 63 degrees today in the ATL. I have a mic and I am ready to dig in. But first, join me for a spot of coffee.

[5:08] Music.

[5:15] All right, all right, all right. I do so love my coffee break. I do actually drink coffee during that break. So I hope that you also enjoy coffee, tea, cola, bourbon. I hope you do also enjoy a beverage during that time. We begin as always with the book report because I am a book head. If I'm going to do anything, I'm going to read a book. I have read 83 books of my challenge to read 150 books this year. I'm 21 books ahead on my Goodreads challenge. And yes, you hear laughter in my voice. I already hear Dr. Raymond laughing at me. Monthly, he does his wrap up of the books that he has read in the month and the books that he is going to read. And so it's our opportunity to talk about how many books we got in and what we're looking forward to reading. And this month, I happened to read a lot of books and Raymond could not deal with that. Let's talk about what I read this week and then let's recap.

[6:15] This week I read five books, I believe. I read Curvy Girl Summer. I listened to Curvy Girl Summer by Danielle Allen. This book is coming out June 11th. I got an audio arc read by Wesley Choban. And just let me tell you the decadence, the absolute perfection.

[6:32] They just slap you in your face goodness of this book. It is so freaking good. Get it immediately. A sapsually right. Like pause the podcast. Go find it on her website. It's I believe it's danielleallen.com or something. I don't know. Google it. Bing it.

[6:53] Internet Explorer it. Look it up. Pre-order it right now. It's so, so good. It is her first traditionally published book. She came out of the gate with her foot in this book. It's so darn good. I'm so very proud of Danielle. This book is so good. Curvy Girl Summer. It is fat positive. It is steamy. It is It's funny. It is delightful. It's about a woman about to turn 30. She wants a boyfriend for her 30th birthday. So she hops on these internets and her adventures in online dating are reminiscent of my days in dating and also hysterical at the same time, very pathetic. Oh my goodness. so so good the rest of my week was spent uh with melinda lee because i am just digging deep into her books i listened to say you're sorry which is morgan dane number one again morgan dane is the private investigator and her books kind of intertwined sort of intertwined with the brie taggart series so i also read uh cross her heart brie taggart number one and see her die brie Retagrant number two by Melinda Lee. Got those both read, listened to this week. So I'm caught up on both of those series.

[8:21] Your turn, Melinda. Let's roll. And then I just, I just, I need Raymond to leave me alone about this. I pick on him all the time because he has sworn off of John Grisham ever since. I forget the name of that book that was, I didn't like it either. It was terrible, but he's never reading Grisham again after that book. I can't, why can't, I can't remember the name of it. I'm not going to look it up. Anyway, I have this thing where I have a compulsion. I have to read a John Grisham book if it comes out. I just.

[8:58] Music.

[9:04] And he hasn't had a really, really good book in a long time. I can't help it. If it's a Grisham book, I have to buy it. I have to read it. I was the same week with Eric Jerome Dickey. If he put out a book, I would buy it. I might not read it, but I have to have it. I just sometimes it's just it's a thing. It's an illness. I don't want help. Camino Ghosts. I listened to the audio. It is read by Whoopi Goldberg. Why? I don't know. She is not the best narrator. This book would have gone so much better with a pro narrator.

[9:39] But anyway, it's all right. It was all right. It's a three star. It's a high two, three-ish, no higher than three. For me, that's okay. It was okay. It wasn't terrible. It wasn't really good either. It's just this side of boring. The underlying story is what kept me going. There's a little bit of voodoo in it, a little bit of magic going on in it. Not magic, but mostly voodoo. There is an island that a woman named Lovely claims that she owns, that her family has owned. They were enslaved, that her ancestors were previously enslaved and ended up on this island, and her ancestors have cursed this island. There is not a white man that has visited this island that has lived to tell the tale. All of them have died. This island is cursed.

[10:42] So the state of Florida has decided that they own this island and they're going to sell it to a developer and they're going to build like a big hotel on this island. And Lovely is now embroiled in a battle to keep this developer off the island. So she has claimed rights to this island and she's suing the developer and the state of Florida like, no, you don't own this island. And besides, it's cursed. You can't build anything on it. Nobody will ever live to be on this island. So.

[11:17] Camino Island is like this, I guess, this little like summer type spot. And the main character in this Camino series is a guy named Bruce that owns a little independent bookshop. And I always I feel like Grisham exercises his demons about being an author and the publishing industry and like the literary profession with all his little jabs at writers, particularly at self-published writers. I will not be surprised if in a few years Grisham comes out with a novel he has published himself, not through his publisher, because he just takes so many jabs at self-published authors. And I'm not offended. I actually laugh at them. But his character, Bruce, owns a little indie bookshop.

[12:10] And one of the self-published authors that sells her book through his shop on commission is Lovely. And so he bought the book, he read the book, he's like, man, this is awesome. And he tells his friend, who is a traditionally published author, like, hey, this book is great. I really think that you should take this story and ask for Lovely's permission to fictionalize this and write it up and release it. And so that's sort of the story around the story. And that is the novel of Camino Ghosts. The book is good, but I feel like Grisham had the opportunity to go really deep and like make this a very exciting novel. But he took the safe route.

[12:58] And like from like, I don't know, the middle is very interesting. The middle is quite interesting. But in my opinion, there's no reason to read Past the Trial. I'm just saying that. It's not really a spoiler, but the ending is very lackluster to me. He really had the opportunity to go in with this book and have it be as good as the partner, as good as... What's the one with Samuel Jackson where everybody's sweating? He had the opportunity to make this book as good as his previous novels, but it just kind of fizzled for me. So I read it. It's like two and a half, three stars. It's better than his previous books, but he's still not the old Grisham. You know what I'm saying?

[13:55] So that's what I got read this week. This week, I am reading Bitter and Sweet by Rhonda McKnight. This book also comes out June 11th. Just Like Her, a queer romance by Fiona Zedd. Fiona is a personal friend of mine, a writing-ass writer, as we say. This book has been a long time coming, and I'm very excited about it. It released on May 30th. She ain't said nothing about it. She ain't said a thing about it, and I'm mad. But I did see that it published. So I bought it. Also, The Secret Keeper of Main Street by Tricia R. Thomas. This book comes out June 4th, and I'm going to check it out, but I might wait for audio on this one. It's a historical, and sometimes I just need to be immersed in the world, and I do that with audio. So I'm going to see who the narrators are, and I might wait on audio for that one, but I would definitely start it on June 4th because I would get it on the day it's released and probably listen to the whole thing on day one. That's how we do. And then I picked up Starcrossed, an enemies to lovers romance Jackson Brothers book two by Shea Sanders, who is one of my new favorites. The Replacements was one of my favorite books of the year. That one was a grumpy sunshine and I just absolutely, absolutely loved it. I read that one as inspiration for The Pearl. I needed some grumpy sunshine inspiration action for Davis and Kari and that book was great. So I'm really looking Looking forward to Starcrossed. So I've got that on my list for this week as well.

[15:25] Wrapping up May, I've got 22 books on my list, including The Pearl at Black Diamond by D.L. White, which I might say was a fantastic book. Some of my favorites this month was A Little Kissing Between Friends by my friend Chensia C. Higgins, Sisters with a Side of Greens by Michelle Stimson. Of course, Danielle Allen's Curvy Girl Summer was also really good. And then I think that's pretty much it for like favorites. Skin and Bones by Renee Watson. That's the one I was looking for. Really, really, really liked that book. I recommended that one also to my mom. I pay for her to have an Everand account and she just like rarely logs into it. And it just, it gets under my skin, like open it and download the book and read it. Read it. So those were my faves for May. I had 22 books read in May, which apparently is a lot. So there we go. We are already in a new month. I am already kicking it off with four books on my read list for the month. So we'll see where I end up at my next update. date. I told you guys last week that I will be at Resist Booksellers in Petersburg, Virginia on Saturday, June 22nd. We are celebrating Danielle Allen's Carvey Girl Summer. I'll be there one to three. I am a featured author.

[16:47] I don't know if I'm going to have books for sale. I ain't bringing none. So hopefully Demetrius has some. But most of all, I'm just going to be there to celebrate Danielle. I can't wait to hug her and congratulate her for her great book. There's a post on my my Instagram, my TikTok, my Facebook page. I still have not updated my website with that. I'm going to get to it. I am going to get my life together. I promise. Maybe tomorrow.

[17:10] Also, as has just been announced this week, I will be at the Black Romance Festival in Atlanta, Georgia, May 30th through June 1st, 2025. I have already booked my room. At the JW Marriott in Buckhead, I'm telling you, start saving your monies because the Black Romance writers will be out here, out here. Atlanta does not play.

[17:31] Honestly, Atlanta does not play. If you tell readers that Black authors are going to be in the room, they show out. If they can get in a car and drive here and they can get on a plane and ride here, our readers don't play. So this is going to sell out early bird tickets go on sale july june 2nd get your tickets get them um and i'm just gonna say i might i might never be at my table because there are so many authors i can't wait to meet gobble up all their books hug next kiki haha let's talk about writing i can't wait to be in the room i am excited so if you were looking to see me come through black romance festival has pages everywhere so find them follow them sign up for the newsletter get ready for updates on updates on updates throughout the year. I am excite. Moving on to the writing update. I have no real update on The Pearl except that we're still in editing. I'm doing a few cosmetic updates to the novel. I'm prepping some advanced reader copies to go out perhaps maybe. These would be copies of the book after the first editing passed, but they have not been through final editing. If you're interested in reading an advanced copy, shout me out, holler. Maybe I'll do like a little form and add it to my link in bio.

[18:40] So hit me up. I am looking for people who are are excited to read The Pearl and offer up an honest, tactful, don't act a donkey opinion to let other readers know. Let them know. If you haven't read Beach Thing or Elysium, I did add a bit in the front matter some previously on Black Diamond goodness, so you can catch up without having to read both books because this book will spoil the first two, and so will my recap. I also hired author Maya to do my full rap cover and she is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. So the print edition should be ready to go as soon as the ebook edition is out. Y'all, I wish I had money for audio. This one would sound so amazing with Wesley's voice behind it someday. Should I do a Kickstarter? What do you think? So I want to do Elysium and the Pearl eventually someday, then go through my backlist that don't have audio. I read the Neverlist for the podcast, and I don't think I would cut that down to audio. It's not pro-audio. I've been very tempted to voice my own books for audio. I just don't think I have a pro-audio voice. And as annoyed as I am at Whoopi Goldberg reading John Grisham's book, I think that's.

[19:57] How readers would be annoyed at me reading my own book for audio. Like when Terry McMillan releases a book, she reads it herself. And like on the one hand, I don't mind. But on the other hand, like, can you just hire a narrator, please? Anyway, I also need to read home for the holidays for the podcast. So I'm thinking about doing a Christmas in July type situation, thinking out loud, spitballing, throwing out ideas. I've also been working on my front and back matter. So the The book will be ready to go once edits are complete. We're getting close and I'm getting very excited. I still don't have like a hooky promotion plan. I'm not really clever that way, but we're just going to put it out there. We'll do it live. I'm also doing a little, a bitty laid back challenge over at the Fiction Archive. It's an offshoot of the 1,000 Words of Summer Challenge, which is a two-week challenge to write 1,000 words a day. Our challenge will span June and July, and it would be hard to maintain that.

[20:53] Music.

[20:58] To jump into summer with words and gear up for our most popular challenge, which is Awesome August. If you've been following me for any length of time, you know we do writing challenges over at the Fiction Archive based around birthdays of the members of NSYNC. So Awesome August celebrates JC Chassé's birthday and Poptober celebrates Chris Kirkpatrick's birthday. Then we have a winter challenge that celebrates Justin and Joey's birthdays in January. And then we We typically have a May the 4th or it's going to be May challenge that celebrates Lance's birthday. We just did not get our stuff together this year to do it. But we always do Awesome August. Well, always since last year, do Awesome August and always since last year do Poptober. Both usually have high participation and I like to make sure writers are ready because I know we'll have eyes on the website. I am participating, of course, and I'll share anything that turns out well here on the podcast. I'm looking forward to writing for fun, writing just because, writing to write, and getting these thoughts out of my head. Speaking of writing, it is time for part two of the photographs, the little ditty I came up with because it had been too long since I shared some fiction on the podcast. I'll close out the show after the jump. So if you're jumping here, thanks for joining me for this week's chat. Find full show notes for this episode at booksbydlwhite.com slash book slash bookcast slash 87.

[22:25] We will talk again next week. For those of you continuing on, let's get into the photograph.

[22:36] The photograph haunted me. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the dimly lit room, the slumped figure tied to the chair, and the dark stains that look suspiciously like blood, I couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to the story behind Robin's absent husband than I'd initially thought.

[22:58] Over the next few days, I found myself increasingly preoccupied with the mystery. During my lunch breaks, I scoured the internet for any information I could find about Robin's husband, Damon. There was no mention of his disappearance, no obvious investigation, no indication that he was missing. It was like he just vanished from Robin's life without a trace. As I dug deeper, I discovered that what did exist was evidence that Damon had a criminal record. He'd been arrested several times for assault and battery, and there were rumors of his involvement in some nefarious dealings. The more I learned, the more curious I became about his absence from Robin and the children's lives. One evening, as Robin and I were finishing up a project at work, I couldn't help but bring up the subject.

[23:48] I noticed you never really talk about your husband, I said carefully, gauging her reaction. direction. Robin's shoulders tensed, and she avoided my gaze. There's not much to talk about, Jada. He's not part of our lives anymore. I mean, I see that, I said, pressing, but I'm... I know it's none of my business, but that's right, she cut in. Then her expression softened, and she added, honestly, I try not to dwell on it. He's gone. We've moved on, and we're doing just fine without him. I nodded, deciding to drop the subject for the time being, but still wildly curious. Was he just gone? Or did something more sinister happen to him? And was it too painful for Robin to talk about? Or was she not allowed to talk about it? I left work that evening unable to shake the feeling that there was more to the story than Robin was letting on.

[24:46] Over the next few weeks, I kept my investigation active, but on the low. Okay, being real, I was nosy, even asking a few of Robin's neighbors when, once again, I was babysitting her children. I wanted to piece together a clearer picture of her marriage. Most were reluctant to talk, but a few shared stories of a tumultuous relationship and a husband with a penchant for trouble. One woman, who'd lived next door to the couple for years, confided in me that she'd always suspected Damon was involved in some shady business. There were nights when I'd see strange men coming and going from their house, she said. I never knew what was going on, but it didn't seem right. The more I learned, the more my curiosity grew. I started to wonder if Damon's absence was connected to criminal activities, and if Robin knew more than she was letting on. That evening, I was helping Zuri clean up her room when I found a shoebox tucked into a back corner of her closet. It was full of old letters and cards. Most were innocuous, but one caught my eye. It was a cryptic note signed simply D. With trembling hands, I opened the note and read the message inside. I'm sorry for everything. I never meant for things to get so out of hand. I hope one day you'll understand.

[26:07] My heart raced as I read the words, my mind spinning with possibilities. Was this a message from Robin's absent husband? And if so, what did it mean?

[26:16] I drove home that night, still reeling from the discovery, my mind spinning with explanations.

[26:23] My phone buzzed with an incoming text message. It was from an unknown number. Read that last message aloud, I said, commanding my phone to read the text to me. The contents made my blood run cold. Stop digging into things that don't concern you, or you will regret it. I stared at the road in front of me, my brain doing another revolution in the tornado that was my thoughts. Who sent that message? How did they know about my investigation? And how did they get my phone number? I should be scared. I really should. I should close up my amateur investigation and mind my business. But somebody telling me to stop doing something was nothing but temptation to keep doing it.

[27:08] I was more determined than ever to uncover the truth. Maybe I needed to confront Robin again to get some answers. I was in too deep now. She wouldn't be able to avoid telling me the whole truth this time. Took a deep breath, stealing myself for what was to come. One way or another, I was going to get to the bottom of this mystery. Even if it meant stepping into a world of secrets and danger.

[27:38] That does it for part two of the photograph. Join me again, not next week, but the week after for part three of the photograph. Again, I have no clue where this is going, so we will discover it together. What do you think is happening? Let me know. Thank you so much for joining me for today's chat. I truly enjoy having you here and welcome any comments or feedback at booksbydlwhite.com slash bookcast slash 87. You'll also find full show notes with all of the books I talked about today, the links to all the things I talked about in a transcript for today's show. Please share the podcast if you enjoyed this episode. And if you listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, give a girl a rating. I'd really appreciate it. Do not forget that you can support this podcast with your book purchases by spreading the good word or by throwing some coins in the hat at bookcast.buzzsprout.com. Every little bit helps. Next Saturday, there will not be a podcast. I know I will not miss you. I'll be traveling off to visit my friends in a Midwest city ahead of a work meeting. So I will be back Saturday, June 15th. As always, please enjoy this weekend. Have a superlative week. We'll chat again.

[28:45] Music.