Bookcast 94: Tinkering

Welcome back to a new BookCast episode! For #94, I’m tinkering. Moving things around. I’m bored, so that requires a bit of a re-tool.

Find full show notes including my thoughts on this week’s reads on my website: 

Bookcast by DL White

I'm back after a short break and ready to dig into my reads from the last few weeks, though I have hit a slump lately. I'm always on the hunt for a thriller that bites back and also gearing up for the 20k in 5 days writing challenge in September. We are fewer than 100 days to the US election. Heavy political discussions and trying to pay attention to everything I need to know before I step into the ballot box saps my energy and social media activity and spending time on other things suffers. 

I'll share some updates on my writing projects. Or… projects I started and decided I could not maintain enough interest to push them through. My rule: if it’s not a hell yes, it’s a No. 

But I am thinking about brining those projects to substack. *ponder face* 

I'm also thinking about shaking up the podcast schedule and would love your feedback! I want my Saturdays back so the thought currently is to prep Thurs/Fri, record SUNDAY and post the episode up at midnight Sunday (it’s always scheduled, I am not up posting live). That way it posts with other podcasts that run during the week. I might try it this week and see how it goes. 

I'm open to your thoughts on today’s episode, the podcast in general, and of course, I'm always grateful for your support through book purchases and newsletter sign-ups and follows. Find links to everything I do on my website- booksbydlwhite.com/linkinbio. 

Transcript

DL White [00:00:14]:
Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome back to the BookCast, my platform for sharing short fiction and updates on life as a self published author of romantic fiction that centers black love. I'm DL White, an Atlanta based author of 14 novels and numerous short stories and fan fiction works. I am back. I did take last week off because I ain't had nothing to talk about, and so I wasn't gonna shove myself out of bed at 7 AM to push out a podcast. So I I thoroughly enjoyed my day off, and I enjoyed it so much that I am thinking about revamping my recording schedule.

DL White [00:00:56]:
The podcast will still come out at the same time, but recording it will be a whole different animal. So but we're here. It's Saturday, and I am here at the desk. Got the headphones on. I got the mic plugged in. I got the coffee made. I got my rundown. And so here we are.

DL White [00:01:17]:
Today's episode is gonna be a bit short and sweet because I still don't have anything to talk about the joys of summer. But, we will be ramping up again here soon with a new book in September, so I'm just enjoying the peace and quiet for now. So we're back. I'm a reader first, so we always always always begin with a book report then we talk about writing and topics of the day. Do you have a topic you would like me to cover on the book count? Shot me out a holler. I'm always on Instagram or Twitter at author_dlwhite or you can visit the show notes of this year episode at books by dlwhite.com/bookcast/94. I welcome your comments and questions. I'll dedicate a part of the show to answering them.

DL White [00:02:01]:
This week I have no questions or answers. I didn't ask any questions. I didn't get any questions. Life's just darn good right now. So we'll jump right into our first segment. Today is Saturday, August 17th. It is 9:0:3 AM. It's super sunny in Atlanta.

DL White [00:02:19]:
It rained like heck last night. So, of course, it's super sunny. I have a mic and I am ready to dig in. But first, join me for a cup of coffee. Alright. Alright. Alright, friends. Let's head into the book report because I had some good books on the on the deck this week this last couple weeks rather.

DL White [00:03:06]:
I have read 138 books toward my goal to read, hold for reaction, 200 books this year. I did go in and edit my Goodreads goal for the year. I might back it off. We'll see how things go, but I was like over 30 books ahead and I just felt like that was ridiculous. So I increased my reading goal. I'm very excited about it. I'm still 13 books ahead of schedule with zero chance of me stopping anytime soon. I just freaking love books.

DL White [00:03:41]:
So let's talk about what I've read the past couple weeks. I am heavy into my Shay Sanders bag. I'm just letting y'all know I'm really, really into her right now. So I read prodigy series, book 12. I don't know if I'm gonna read the rest of the books in the series, but I thoroughly enjoyed books 12. Both are are really well done. I just really like her writing. I also picked up Doing the Math by Shea Sanders.

DL White [00:04:06]:
This is a small town romance that I absolutely enjoyed. Like, I just I just really like her writing. I'm just fangirling right now. I read In A League of Her Own by Kaia Alderson that came out a few weeks ago, I believe, on 16th or 9th. One of those weeks it came out. So I got that. I did that one in audio. Do love my historical fiction.

DL White [00:04:28]:
It did not go as deep as I like my historical fictions to go, but I did not have a single clue who Effa Manley was before I read that book, and now I do. And if you really enjoy historical fiction about women, pick up Kaia's other book called oh, gosh. What is the name of that book? Oh, what is the name of it? It's about the 6 triple 8 battalion in the army. I'll remember it later. I'll put it in the show notes. I can't remember the name of it. I read The Light on Halsey Street. Actually, listened to The Light on Halsey Street by Vanessa Miller.

DL White [00:05:03]:
Last weekend, I had the extreme pleasure of meeting Vanessa Miller and Rhonda McKnight. They were here in Atlanta at Foxtail Bookstore up in Woodstock, Georgia. Very much enjoyed that chat. I bought bitter and sweet, and I bought the American queen. I've read them both thoroughly enjoyed, loved meeting them, but Vanessa said Halsey Street came out right before the American queen. It kind of got buried, and she is hoping that that book gets a resurgence and that people, find it and, fall in love with it. It's a bit of a sleeper. I mean, not not sleeper as in a boring book, but sleeper as in it's kind of just like they're waiting in the cut.

DL White [00:05:45]:
I always say beach thing was a sleeper. Like, it's there. It's really good. People don't know about it. But once people started reading it, it kind of caught fire and then, like, people really enjoy that book. Same for the light on Halsey Street. It was a bit of a slow start for me, but once the story really got going wow. I really I enjoyed this one.

DL White [00:06:08]:
I read Please Tell Me by Mike Ulmer. This this was an okay read. It was a thriller. I got it because I just I needed a a thriller, and it's in Kindle Unlimited. The ebook and the audio are in Kindle Unlimited, so I could listen to it for quote, unquote free, not free because I pay for Kindle Unlimited. But I love, an audio a book that has audio in KU because I can I can listen to it with my subscription? And then I listen to Death and Her Devotion by Kendra Elliott. This is part of the Rogue River series. I'm just kind of they're just really easy books for me to listen to when I'm, like, folding clothes or whatever.

DL White [00:06:49]:
Sometimes I'm just bored and, like, just sitting around on my bed playing games, and I'm, like, hey, let me pull up a book, and I'll be, like, listening to that for 6 hours while I'm playing games and doing random things in my bedroom. So got that one. I had already, read the second book in that series, which is by Melinda Lee. So just kind of rounding out the Rogue River series. And then I picked up something old, something new, which is bring on the blessings book 4 or book 3. I've one of the books I believe, blessings book 12 is gonna be the last book in the series says miss Bev. And, I have not read every book in the series. I have a serious desire to grow the potter lake series, so I am kind of studying the blessings series just to get some ideas and just sort of really talk about how you write about a small town that's growing.

DL White [00:07:46]:
So I got this book in, and it's on to the next one. I have until next summer to catch up with the blessings series. So those were the 8 books that I got read in the last couple weeks. I don't really have anything on the reading list. I'm kind of in a bit of a slump. Like, nothing's really hitting me. I pick up a lot and then I put it down. I picked up a book called something about the rich people.

DL White [00:08:14]:
The rich people have gone mad or something like that. I don't I don't know. And, like, the first chapter is just no. Grand opening, grand closing. No. I'm not I'm not reading this. I know. I have no desire to read this.

DL White [00:08:25]:
I was supposed to be reading Master Slave Husband Wife. No. No. We're reading that for the stacks book club this month and it no. It's, it's narrative nonfiction. I thought it was fiction and I was gonna be very excited about it, but it did just droned on and on. I was not I was not interested in it at all. So my tastes are very eclectic, I guess.

DL White [00:08:59]:
Like, I I like what I like in a lot of books that people just love are a no for me. So I got a lot of books swimming around out there that I could be reading. I picked up Swift River because I heard that was good. And One Summer in Savannah by Tara Shelton Harris. I really enjoyed Long After We're Gone, and I read the the blurb for 1 Summer in Savannah, decided I was gonna hold on that because it looked a little traumatic. But I think maybe a little bit of drama and trauma could be what I need to kick start. I'm also always on the lookout for a good thriller. I'm gonna say this, don't cancel me, but I've been dipping through Walter Mosley's books for forever, and I just don't see anything I want to read.

DL White [00:09:50]:
And I know that's sad, but I just reading the descriptions of the book doesn't do anything for me. It doesn't light me on fire. I was looking at, Cheryl Head. I mean, I'm a serious mood reader, so maybe I'm just not in the mood, but they just didn't sound good to me. I know Ian k Miller has a new book out, so I might try that series. I did read the 1st book in that series. The 2nd book in the series didn't hit me, but this 3rd book might. So I do have, you know, some options I could dig into.

DL White [00:10:24]:
I have a few titles in Kindle Unlimited that I wanna, get through, as BB calls it reader release. And then I have more than a few books in my Kindle in my book funnel library, but the thing about exclusive books is they're never on Goodreads. So they don't count toward my annual reading goal, and that drives me kind of nuts. Like, I can't mentally keep track of a number. If it's not in Goodreads, I I didn't read it. So I tend to avoid them until they're on Goodreads or I add them since I have liked librarian privileges on Goodreads. But if an author didn't want their book on Goodreads, like, I feel weird about adding it just so I can count it. So I try not to do that.

DL White [00:11:08]:
But also, if I if I read a 97,000 word book, I am putting it in Goodreads because I'm counting it. So we'll see what I end up reading this weekend and into next week. So we'll find out next Saturday how that worked out. I have no recommended reads this week. I've been a bit out of it and laying really low. Politics is very heavy, so I haven't been hanging out on the socials too much. So much of what's being tossed around right now is steeped in politics. Like, I'm I'm in it.

DL White [00:11:43]:
I'm reading. I'm commenting, etcetera, but I'm also not really hanging out too much, on the socials and picking up things that I think would be useful. Of course, I still have my heavy podcast listening routine. I'll try to remember again to post the list of podcasts, YouTube groups, sub stacks, and medium, posts that I'm reading every day. I'm just kind of deep into my own world. But what have you been reading that's a super good? That's not a book. Like, what would you recommend? I will toss it up into the show notes next week. Moving into our writing slash publishing update.

DL White [00:12:23]:
I have a bunch of things I started and then decided I didn't wanna do them. That's who I am as a writer. Project 10? Absolutely not. Project 10 was supposed to be so Vela was having a contest where, new serial stories, they invited authors to post a new serial story, and it was a contest. And the deadline was the 19th, and I was like, hey. Let me take one of my old stories. Like, I have same time next week that I wrote that I could put up on Vela because it's not, part of my catalog. It's interracial.

DL White [00:13:03]:
It's a white, rock star and Afro Latina heroine. Right? White rock star hero Afro Latina heroine. Afro Afro Cuban. Yeah. She's Cuban. Anyway, wow. Getting it together here. So I was gonna take that story because I unpublished it.

DL White [00:13:25]:
It wasn't a good book. I unpublished it. I was gonna rewrite it, heavily edit it, and post it as a Vela on as a serial on Kindle Vela. Decided I didn't really wanna do that because I don't wanna post on Kindle Vela. I'm I'm kinda thinking about doing it, on my substack. We'll see. It it has to be it has to be edited, so we'll see. I had a fan fiction story that I started called music of my heart about a a song singer songwriter who gets a chance to be a part of a songwriter's, retreat with her favorite songwriter of all time, JC Chasez.

DL White [00:14:12]:
I started it. I was very excited about it, and then it kind of fizzled out. I got it through the prologue and the first chapter, and then I was like, this is dumb. I don't know. I'm not writing this. So I removed it from the challenge. I may or may not finish that story. I don't know.

DL White [00:14:29]:
I don't like to leave unfinished stories on the archive, so I may remove it and try to finish it at some point. I'm just not I'm not into it. So far, we have 2 stories for the challenge that started August 8th. It ends August 31st. There's not much excitement about awesome August this year. So and the thing is, like, when the boys are active, the fandom is active. Like, they're all into it. And when the boys are away from the public light for a long time, the attention for fan fiction and the desire to write fan fiction also wanes.

DL White [00:15:10]:
Like the boys are literally the muses. So the things they say, the conversations they have, the events that they are a part of are inspirational and motivational, and they they give us ideas. They give us something to fix. And when they're not doing anything, it's very dry. Very, very dry. So I'm not pushy. The I have run challenges before where nobody submitted anything. Our January challenge was a complete dud.

DL White [00:15:40]:
Not a single person, entered a story. It happens, but it's there if they want to. So so far the challenge is kind of really dry. A bit of a dud for me as well. I just don't there's just, like, there's nothing there for me. I have been very active at substack this week. That's been a really good place to spread my wings and kind of, like, spread around. And I realized this morning while I was laying in bed scrolling, this is an entirely new audience that doesn't know me.

DL White [00:16:16]:
They've never heard of me. They don't know my books. They don't know me as a person. They don't know me as an author. So I am my favorite subject. Me, personally, myself, I like to talk about me, especially about writing and about books and about fan fiction. And I'm I'm a little bit fixated on it right now just kinda trying to lay the land, lay out the land, and roll it out without abandoning all the other work that I have done to get my newsletter up, to get my website, you know, in a a a perfect form. I do have, books by dlwhite.com/substack has a listing of my substack posts.

DL White [00:17:01]:
So if you're looking for my post on my main substack, not my short fiction substack because I can't figure out how to post them both, but you can find those on my website. If you are looking for what I am writing on there. There's also the notes for the like, the notes function, which is like it's like Twitter for writers. So there's only writers at substack, and notes is like these just quick, you know, one hit things that you could just post that aren't part of your regular publication, and you can follow people. So that's also enjoyable. Still really looking for fiction writers. They're looking for black fiction writers. I have found some romance writers there but they are not black writers.

DL White [00:17:52]:
So I there are a lot of black writers on Substack, unfortunately, not unfortunately, but most of them are essayists. They write a lot of essays, a lot of personal posts, and not for nothing, but I'm a fiction girl. So I will bounce here and there around people's personal posts. Here's my story about x. Here's my lock journey. Here's my, you know, post about my relationship with my mom, but that's I'm not that's not really what I'm into reading. So I would I mean, I'm looking for fiction writers, black fiction writers that are on substack. And I found some.

DL White [00:18:35]:
Again, a lot of them are sci fi fantasy. I don't read either of those. So, it's hard out here for a black romance fiction writer, but I'm having a good time kind of spreading out there and slowly bringing my work over there, introducing my work to people. I do have, a little subsection called short fiction by dlwhite.substack.com where I have posted some fan fiction, and I also posted the photograph which I read live here on the book cast. I posted that short serial, and so what I'm thinking about doing is taking the story that I was thinking about doing for project 10, and doing that as a serial story on my substack. So that could be an option. That that could be an option. So coming up in September, we have our word makers quarterly 20 k in 5 days challenge.

DL White [00:19:39]:
Talking myself into doing this. Am I ready for it? No. Do I need to do it? Yes. Because I have to I really have to kick off book 15, and the way that it has worked best for me is to start writing, like, start writing, like, September 1 since I have I have a long Labor Day weekend. Get in a glut of writing, like, get my foundation, and then during the 20 k in 5 days challenge, just pound words. 20,000 words, just pound words to get through the major portion of the story. Again, this only has to be 45,000 words, so I can knock that out in 8 weeks. No problem.

DL White [00:20:21]:
Again, I need to have this to my editor by at least early November, so I really only have September October to write it, edit, get it good. I do have an idea that I'm interested in. Try not to think about it too much. Otherwise, I'll be bored. So I do want to just I really need to get going on book 15. It doesn't have a title yet, kinda just has an idea, and so, I gotta get going on it. And so I'm gonna use 20 k in 5 days to push me forward. So the title of this post is called tinkering because I'm gonna be tinkering a little bit.

DL White [00:21:05]:
I like to, like, move things around and shake things up as it were. I did do a little, website revamp, so I have made a series page for all my series including the standalone novels. Every book has its own splash page. Now the original splash pages I was using are gone. So last week, I got up and I was, like, I just don't I don't wanna I don't wanna record. I miss when my Saturday mornings were for reading, drinking coffee, hanging out online, like, I'll I wanna, like, gently ease into a weekend and not get up at 7 AM and make my coffee and my water and sit at this desk and work for 5 hours on this podcast. I get up at 7. I do my research.

DL White [00:21:51]:
I pull up my rundown. I pull the books I've read. I do all my counting, all my formatting, and then I do, I do this this rundown in Notion according to the segments that I also do. I I kind of script out what I'm gonna say, otherwise, I will ramble for forever as I'm doing now because I did not script any of this. So I'm generally working from 7 to about noon because I record and then I edit and then I post and then I work on the social media post that have to go with the episode, and then those are posted at, you know, however many social media sites I have. It's 5 hours of work for a half hour of talking, so I'm thinking about revamping my recording schedule. Not now not my posting schedule, but the episode will still post at noon on Saturdays or earlier. It's been earlier because if I send it to post at 11:30, it'll show up on YouTube around noon, and that's that's what I like.

DL White [00:23:01]:
So, especially now since I have a substack where I'm also posting my podcast, it's just like one more place to post things. I just create a lot of work for myself. Anyway, so I'm thinking about revamping my recording schedule, which would mean doing it Thursday night or Friday night. So I think what I could do, which is gonna really mess with my writing schedule when I'm writing, but we'll see, I could do all my prep on Thursday night, pull up my Goodreads, count the books I've read except, like, I really be reading, like, into the last minute on Friday night, so I can count all those books for the week. So I don't I don't know. I don't know. But, I need to do, like, you know, gather my research, all my links, all all the other good stuff I post up, Maybe record Friday afternoon and do all my editing and get the post up, and then on Saturday, do my social media posts, all that other good stuff, and then go right into reading or whatever it is I wanna do on Saturday so I can do all of that on Friday. Like, where do I wanna spend 5 hours? You know? Like, what do I wanna spend 5 hours doing? Or I can move the podcast to Sundays.

DL White [00:24:30]:
I mean, I don't think it matters to most people, like, they're gonna listen when they're gonna listen. Nobody's, like, nobody's hanging out at, like, noon waiting for this podcast to post. It could also post at midnight. I mean, you know, I I I don't know. So I've got some thinking to do and some tinkering with the recording schedule and how I wanna run it. I do miss, you know, my Saturday mornings being just for me, just me and books and coffee and, like, relaxing and not having an alarm. I've been doing this Saturday morning thing for quite some time, and it may be time for a little change. It'll also change how I run the segments, like, I'm a creature of habit.

DL White [00:25:19]:
We have there's a flow to this podcast. Like, it runs a certain way. In my mind, it runs a certain way. In this template, it runs a certain way. Otherwise, I will yap nonstop forever about nothing. So it may change how the segments run a little bit. Like, I'm concerned about not capturing all the books I've read per week, because I read, like, from the minute I shut off this microphone Saturday until Friday at midnight to count all the books I have read for the week. You know? So, well, you know, we'll we'll see.

DL White [00:25:55]:
I may have to edit also the the coffee break. I might keep the break and instead of coffee, we insert whatever beverage we're having. If I record on Sunday, I'll keep the coffee break. Like, I don't I don't I don't know, but something has to something has to change because the Saturday morning getting up early thing is just starting to wane on me. Like, I can't do anything on Saturdays because I have to get the podcast out. It, of course, does not make me a dime, so, you know, I get to do whatever I want to do with it. The podcast is still gonna run because this is my outlet. This is what I do instead of writing a weekly newsletter, except I still write a weekly newsletter.

DL White [00:26:38]:
But we'll, you know, we'll see. Do you have any ideas? What do you think I should do? I'm genuinely asking. I never ask for advice because I don't care, but I'm genuinely asking what do you think I should do? And with that, let's go ahead and close it out. That brings us to the end of today's show. So I will bid you adieu, but not before thanking you so much for joining me for today's chat. I really enjoy having you all here. Thank you for the comments and the questions. Well, the questions that don't come, but thank you for the comments.

DL White [00:27:15]:
And, I welcome any comments or feedbacks feedbacks. I do that every week. Why? Comments or feedback at books by d I white dot com slash book cast slash 94. You can also comment on the YouTube channel. I'm honestly more likely to see them on YouTube. You'll also find full show notes, links to all the things I talked about if relevant, and a transcript for today's show on my website. Please share the podcast if you enjoyed this episode and if you listen to any of the audio only venues like Apple Podcasts or Spotify or Now Substack, give a girl a rating. I'd really appreciate it.

DL White [00:27:54]:
Do not forget that you can support this podcast with your book purchases at payhip.com/booksbydlwhite, by spreading the good word, by joining the newsletter at books by dlwhite.com/newsletterorthe substack. Links are in my bio at books by dlwhite.com/linkinbioorthrowinsomecoinsinthehat@bookcast.busssprout.com. Thank you so much to my monthly supporters. Their gift covers my folks. Buzzsprout subscription, and I really like that. Every little bit really does help. The book cast is written, produced, and edited by me, DL White. Our theme music and any sound effects are provided by Pixabay.

DL White [00:28:34]:
I will be back next week in theory. Until then, please enjoy this weekend. Have a superlative week, and we'll chat again soon. I still yapped for 30 minutes. Short and sweet wear.