Bookcast 96: Been Here Before

I am DL White, an Atlanta based, self published author of romantic fiction that centers Black love. On this week's Bookcast, my indie author podcast, I talk about  my August reading and what I've got planned for the coming months as well as a super brief writing update and I'm feeling those 2020 vibes... and not in a good way. Tap into today's episode for a chat about finding ways to de-stress during tense times of year.

Book Report: 

• I'm at 142 / 200-books for the year - 9 books ahead of schedule (go me!)

  August Reading Wrap-Up

I managed to squeeze in 17 books but I'll be honest, I've hit a wall lately. The books just haven't been "booking" for me. Standouts:

1. "The Summer House" by James Patterson and Brendan Du Bois - My first James Patterson read, and it was a wild ride!
2. "Guide Me Home" by Attica Locke - Part of the Highway 59 series. Seriously, Attica Locke can write!

September contenders

1. Break Every Rule - Brian Freeman - Sep 10, 2024
2. The Christmas Inn - Pamela M. Kelley - Sep 24, 2024
3. Christmas in Spite of You - K.C. Mills - Sep 24, 2024
4. Lowcountry Love - Rhonda McKnight

For detail on themed Reading Months, the writing update and how I am handling the stress of an election year, go to this episode's page at Booksbydlwhite.com/bookcast/96. 

Transcript

DL White [00:00:14]:
Welcome. Welcome. Welcome back or welcome to the book cast. I'm DL White, an Atlanta based self published author of romantic fiction that centers black love. And this is my indie author podcast. Today, we'll have a quick and dirty chat about August books, the September and maybe October November outlook because your girl is a planner. And a brief super brief writing update because I haven't really been writing, and I'll talk about why. It's a holiday weekend, and my Kindle is calling.

DL White [00:00:52]:
So rather than blather on for 20 minutes about nothing, let's kick it. We'll take a quick break. So grab a drink, a snack, whatever you need, and settle in for episode 96 of the book cast by DL White. Alright, friends and lovers. Let's begin as always with the book report. And, of course, I did not copy over any of my regular information. I've been running this podcast for years, and how I skip this every week, I don't know. Looking up on my Goodreads, I have read 142 books to my challenge of reading 200 books this year.

DL White [00:01:58]:
Did I raise it to 200 or 175? Let's look. Let's take a peek. Yes. It was I raised it to 200 books. So I'm at a 142 books, and I am 9 books ahead of schedule. I have hit a bit of a wall book wise, so I am slowing down a little bit. I may have been a bit too ambitious in raising my goal to 200 books, but we'll see. We'll see.

DL White [00:02:25]:
Like, sometimes September is, like, a big release month, so maybe we'll get some really good books in there, and, I'll be ahead again. But lately, I the books have not been booking. I've been rather bored with not only new releases, but backlist books. Like, I just start reading a book and it takes, like, 35% in before anything happens, and that's just too slow for me. Let's kick it, like, get it together. As an author, I should be offended by that entire spiel. But, also, I'm a reader, and the books are not booking for me. Let's talk about August reads, though, because I did get 17 books in.

DL White [00:03:10]:
It's a smattering, a lot of romance and crime fiction, which is my usual, MO. I got in, like I said, 17 books. Last two books of the month were read Friday night, I believe. Like, Friday 30th. Didn't really get anything in on the 31st. I tried, but it just it just wasn't working for me. I got frustrated and turned on YouTube. I read in August the secrets we escaped by Sherrell Green spark A Sexy Holiday Short by Tay Rush Russ.

DL White [00:03:46]:
3rd Time's the Charm by Keanna Alexander, Smoked and Spiced by KC Mills, The Prodigy 1 and 2 by Shea Sanders, That's books 56. In a league of her own by Kaia Alderson. The light on Halsey Street by Vanessa Miller, Doing the Math by Shea Sanders. Please Tell Me by Mike Omer. Death and Her Devotion by Kendra Elliott. Something old, something new by the queen, miss Beverly Jenkins, never saw me coming by Tanya Smith, the cottage on Pelican Bay by Brenda Jackson, eagle rock, an ash cane novel book 4 by Ian k Smith. And then last week, I got in the summer house by James Patterson and Brendan Du Bois Du Bois. I think it's Du Bois.

DL White [00:04:33]:
I'm gonna pretend it's Du Bois, like, w e b. This was actually really good, and I'm surprised to be saying that because I've never read a James Patterson book. I am assuming most of the writing is James Du Bois. This was good. It was, like, 6 books in 1, so it was very convoluted. And, like, there's a lot of what I felt was unnecessary action. Like, one character, flew 20 hours over to Afghanistan to ask some person a question when they had satellite phones. So, like, it just stuff added in to take up room and give him a reason to not be on-site.

DL White [00:05:17]:
You know? Like, that kind of stuff is but whatever. It turned out good. Very satisfying ending. Was really into it. The other book that closed out my month that I was so happy about was Guide Me Home by Attica Locke. This is book 3 in the Highway 59 series. This series is so good. All of Attica Locke's books are great.

DL White [00:05:38]:
Blackwater Rising. There's a follow-up to that. The name totally escapes me. Attica Locke is gangbusters. Like, the woman can write a book. So was not worried about this one. I was thinking about waiting for audio, but I just couldn't wait to read this. It's really, really good.

DL White [00:05:56]:
Now you do need to read the first two books in the Highway 59 series before you read Guide Me Home. Can you figure it out without reading them? Yes. It does allude to a lot of emotion, a lot of characters from the previous books, especially, the main character's mother. But the experience is heightened if you have read the first two books and you are emotionally invested. So those were the 17 books I got in in August. It was a good reading month despite the books not really be booking. It was it was a pretty good reading month. I didn't count anything I put down because I was putting down literally every other book.

DL White [00:06:38]:
So I didn't count anything that I put down, but what I'm reading next in theory for September, Break Every Rule by Brian Freeman. I do need to know guide me home releases Tuesday, September 3rd. So you do not really have time to catch up. But if you put Guide Me Home on your TBR and then go read the first two books in the Highway 59 series, Guide Me Home comes out on 3rd, and you won't be too far behind. K? Break Every Rule by Brian Freeman comes out September 10th. The Christmas Inn by Pamela Kelly comes out September 24th, and Christmas in spite of you by Casey Mills also comes out on September 24th. Those are hanging out on my NetGalley list that I need to get read and review before release day. So that is the goal here in September.

DL White [00:07:28]:
Aside from the plethora of books that I have sitting in my Kindle, I buy books like I wash my face twice a day ish. So, I have a lot of books hanging out that I need to read. I have some books in Kindle Unlimited that I need to, like, read or release. So I am not hurting really for books, but I'm very much a mood reader. So if I don't feel like reading that, it just doesn't sound good, then I start reading it and it's not what I was looking for and then I DNF it. And that's just not fair to the books or to the author. You know what I'm saying? The other thing I have is Lowcountry Love, Rhonda McKnight. This is like a little, not an epilogue, but like a little side piece to bitter and sweet.

DL White [00:08:11]:
I wanna get that read, bitter and sweet and think about home, I believe. So I wanna get that read. It's like a little 50 page, novel. I met Rhonda recently a couple of weeks ago. What a delightful person. She is just she has such a sweet spirit, and her pen is mighty. She she can write the heck out of a book. I really enjoyed bitter and sweet.

DL White [00:08:35]:
I did I couldn't I didn't finish thing about home. I probably need to get to it, but she has well, I didn't even realize a whole backlist of romance novels and indie, releases that I want to dig into as well. So I got my work cut out for me. That's what September is looking like. That's only 4 books and y'all know I'm a 10 plus book girl, so I'm definitely gonna find some books to round that out. We have 4 weeks of releases, and I'm hoping September is going to be a banger list of releases. So we'll see what's coming up. Looking ahead, I'm starting to curate books for October November.

DL White [00:09:14]:
I don't have a TBR. I do not. I don't maintain a TBR. It got to, like, 500 books and I was like, I'm not reading all of these. I know good and well I'm not gonna get to them. I have a list of books that, quote, unquote, sound good that I might want to read, and I keep track of those on Goodreads. And sometimes books come out, and they're already on my might read list. And so I added on over to, currently reading.

DL White [00:09:43]:
For the most part, they're just books that sound good, but it's not a TBR. I don't I don't really pick books off of there. I should, but I don't. So I really I'm just going by vibes. I'm very much a mood reader. I'm very much a theme month reader. So I do, though, like a theme month. So for October last year, we did glocktober, and it was really fun.

DL White [00:10:06]:
So we are doing glocktober again, at spooky reads and crime fiction, which is my absolute jam. I am very much a crime fiction girl. And then November is for nonfiction reads, at least 1 a week for me. I find it hard to go without fiction. I'm not going through a whole month of reading nonfiction. I just I can't do it. It sounds like punishment. I refuse.

DL White [00:10:28]:
But at least one of the books that I read a week, I want to be nonfiction. In Oprah's book club, I'll put a link in the show notes, put up a list of 29 true crime stories, and every one of them sounded really good. The first one I picked up was A Devil Went Down to Georgia. I'm gonna try to get that one in maybe before November, maybe in sometime in September, I guess. I added quite a few of those books to my list of contenders for November, and I could talk more about them once I get closer to the month. And I have them narrowed down, but they sound really good. Like, the real story of Lolita, you know, like, along that kinds of like, that vein. I like nonfiction if it's juicy, you know, like a, a a, a a scandal.

DL White [00:11:15]:
I like a medical nonfiction. I like, like, I loved, Empire of Pain, which is the story of the Sacklers and how oxicotton came to be like a big thing. Loved that book. I loved, Badley Ralco, Bradley Balco, whatever that man's name is, wrote a book about crooked coroners and how some coroners are elected, and they're not even medical doctors and how they, how they provide, like, falsified, results in certain court cases, especially in the South. I gotta find out the name of that book. I'll I'll I'll find the name of that book and put it in the show notes, but it's something like the, you know what? I'm gonna look it up because of my podcast. The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist, a true story of come on. True story of injustice in the American South.

DL White [00:12:27]:
The cap the cadaver king of the country dentist chronicles how the courts and Mississippi's death investigation sister system, a relic of the Jim Crow era, failed to deliver justice for its citizens and recounts the horrifying story of the 2 men who built successful careers on the backs of the system. So, like, I like a nonfiction that's a little juicy like that. Historical nonfiction is a little iffy for me. Narrative nonfiction's okay. Like, I I have read the 16/19 project, thought it was pretty good. I could get through that. I could not you know, there are others that are narrative nonfiction that I couldn't couldn't get through like the warmth of other sons. I never finished it.

DL White [00:13:17]:
Master, slave, husband, wife, I is narrative nonfiction could not I just couldn't get into it. So I would always rather read a true nonfiction well researched account or watch a documentary over a fictionalized version of something. The caveat to that is I do love a historical fiction novel that is based on real people. Like, Piper Hughley does that really well. Beverly Jenkins does that very well. Vanessa Riley does that very well. So, like, if I can learn something and also be entertained, there's something about that that's about a historical fiction novel, and maybe it's because they embellish some points as opposed to a narrative nonfiction. I don't know.

DL White [00:14:04]:
It's weird inside my brain. So that's what I'm looking forward to for September, October, and November, of course, sprinkling in, you know, my indie romances, which I really enjoy. They kind of really help me cleanse my palate because if I read too much crime, I can't write the kissing. So speaking of kissing, the writing update is very anemic. No real writing outside of the weekday dabbles that I do. I post usually by 10 AM, a little 100 word story. Just kinda kick starts the brain for the day. I get a prompt.

DL White [00:14:42]:
I get characters. I get a setting, and then I write a 100 word story. The one I did on Friday was really fun because my friends were having a conversation in GroupMe about trying to talk themselves out of setting up their fall decor already because it wasn't even September 1. But they love fall, and they want to set out their candles and their pumpkins and their leaves, and it's 97 degrees outside. And so I wrote a dabble about a woman who is looking for a lantern, and her son is like, why? It's 97 degrees outside. And she's like, feels like autumn. He's like, no. It feels like summer with a bright light on.

DL White [00:15:25]:
I thought it was pretty funny. So I've been doing those over on my Substack. It's short fiction by dlwhite. Substack.com. Feel free to, follow. That's always gonna be free. The fan fiction that I'm gonna be posting there is always gonna be free. I am trying to talk myself into starting a serial story over there, and I just cannot get it going.

DL White [00:15:48]:
Like, the loudest voice in my head is nobody wants to read that. Nobody's going to read that. Also, nobody is going to pay to read that. So I pull it out and I edit, and then I'm like, you know, this is dumb. Nobody wants to read this. Put it away. So I put it away, and I turn YouTube back on. So I'm struggling.

DL White [00:16:13]:
I'm struggling. The plan for this weekend is to start my next release. It doesn't yet had a have a title, which if you know me, that almost always comes first for me, so that gives you a hint to my mental state right now. I don't I don't quite have it all together. Election years are very stressful for me. I always feel like so much is at stake. And when you live a life that is directly affected by how the laws are interpreted in this country, the the leader of this country sends out kind of a an imperceptible signal to people. When the leader of this country was a person whose values and ideals don't align with mine, certain people picked up that signal, and a lot of, emotion and crime and happenings were exacerbated by that.

DL White [00:17:18]:
So for me, knowing in 2020 that so much was on the line, I it was very stressful. Plus, we're like in a pandemic, and there's so much unrest. It's it's very stressful for me, and it's really feeling very 2020 inside my head right now. And no matter how much I try to prep for that, because I know it's coming like it, like, nothing feels like when it's sitting right on top of you. I'm having a difficult time de stressing, and I see it in, like, how much I'm reading. Like, I in 2020, I read over 200 books. I always had my face in a book. I always had my earbuds in listening to a book or I was watching something on YouTube or I was, like, writing a book or editing an audio book or releasing a book or marketing a book.

DL White [00:18:17]:
I just I had to fill every space with something. Otherwise, it leaves me room to worry. It leaves my brain time and space to invent scenarios where things aren't gonna go so well. I'm having a difficult time distressing. I'm feeling that familiar feeling of having to fill every crack and crevice and quiet moment with something. A movie, a YouTube video, 200 books. Reading is how I relieve stress, and I I needing needing to intake more to calm the voice in my head and to calm the fears and to fill the empty space tells me a lot about my anxiety levels. And it's nothing but whatever is inside my head because, like, work is fine.

DL White [00:19:04]:
I'm not behind on anything. I have a great working relationship with my boss, with the people that I I work with. Everything's good. Personal life is okay. Bills are paid, money and savings, food in the fridge, hot coffee in my belly. There is nothing to stress about but these books. You know? What's gonna happen is what's gonna happen. I just need somebody to tell my body this because my nerves is bad.

DL White [00:19:32]:
So that's what's up. Keep all the phalanges crossed for a little writing sprint for me to be able to, like, escape for a minute because I wanna start writing the next book this week. I have been thinking about it, but not really planning because once I start planning, then I know the full story, And then I'm bored and I don't wanna write it. I don't wanna get to that point, so I've been lightly lightly thinking about it. I need to, like, really start putting my characters together and getting their goal, motivation, conflict together and, like, just figuring out, like, the light thread through the story. What's the theme? What's the end result? What's his wound? What's her wound? What all is happening here? So, today, I wanna really just chill and read and, like, get into the books and, like, create some sense of calm. So tomorrow, I have the day off and I just really wanna get into a document and just start pounding out some words, like start somewhere. Give me something to hate, my old boss used to say.

DL White [00:20:41]:
So that's what's going on. Like I said, keep your fingers crossed for me. I do appreciate your, your thoughts, your prayers, your good opinion. And that brings us to the end of today's show. Sam told you, quick and dirty. I bid you, I do, but not before in thanking you so much for joining me for today's chat. I do enjoy having you here. I welcome any comments or feedback.

DL White [00:21:04]:
I said it right this time, feedback at books by dlwhite.com/bookcast/96. This podcast is also, posted on my Substack. If you are a subscriber, please feel free to leave a comment there. They are free to read, feel free to listen to. You'll also find show notes, with links to all the things I talked about if relevant and a transcript for today's show. Please share the podcast if you enjoyed this episode. And if you listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, please rate and review the show. I would really appreciate it.

DL White [00:21:42]:
If you love this podcast or my work and want to support, I welcome that. Show your support with book purchases at payhip.com/booksbydlwhite by spreading the good word by joining the newsletter or the substack. Links are on my website atbooksbydlwhite.com/linkinbioor by throwing some coins in the hat at bookcast.buzzsprout.com. Thanks so much to my monthly supporters. Their gift covers my buzzsprout buzzsprout subscription, and I really appreciate that support. Every little bit does help. The book cast is written, produced, and edited by me, d l White. Our theme music and any sound effects are provided by Pixabay.

DL White [00:22:26]:
I will be back next week. Until then, have a superlative week, and we'll chat again soon.