Bookcast 97: Updates! What I Read, Book 15 and Project 10

This week on The Bookcast by DL White, I discuss the books I read this week and an exciting writing update as well as a few in-person events. 

I am feeling the change in seasons though it remains warm in Atlanta until October. I changed my bedroom decor to brighten my mood during these fall and winter months as I suffer from seasonal affective disorder. 

The Neverlist was featured in the Stuff Your Kindle event. I have given away over 5,000 copies and hope readers discover my other works, especially the Potter Lake series. The Never List was also reviewed on The Lit Library Podcast. I had a ball listening to this rowdy, engaging discussion of the book. 

Book Report
have read 147 books of my challenge to read 200 books in 2024. I am 10 books ahead of my challenge.

Read

1. For the Love of You - Candace Shaw 
2. When I Fell for You - Candace Shaw 
3. Then There was You - Candace Shaw 
4. Free Agent- Christina C. Jones 
5. Lowcountry Love - Rhonda McKnight 

Am Reading 

1. Another Girl Lost by Mary Burton

Books I put down

1. Break Every Rule- Brian Freeman

Writing Update
 
I talked about Book 15:  Calculated Risk and Project 10: Same Time Next Week - two writing projects I am happy to have on my plate this fall.

Same Time Next Week will be serialized on my Short Fiction Substack. There will only be a few more free chapters until subscriptions turn on. I also talked about my memories of writing this book as my first NaNoWriMo project.  This was my first project writing steamy scenes and helped develop my commercial writing skills.

Upcoming in-person events are a local book festival in November (info coming soon) and IndieLove and  and the Black Romance BookFest in 2025. 

Thank you for listening to another episode of the book cast. Please support my work through purchases, reviews and newsletter signup. 

Transcript

DL White [00:00:16]:
Greetings, everyone, and welcome back to the book cast. When I open, I always wanna say welcome back to my channel like they do on YouTube, but, no. This is a podcast. Welcome back, everyone. I am DL White. I'm an Atlanta based self published author of romantic fiction that centers black love, and this is the book cast, my indie author podcast. Today, we will talk about the winners and the losers in the books I read this week, and I have an exciting writing update. Yay.

DL White [00:00:47]:
I am feeling the oncoming change in seasons, though it's still in the high eighties here in the a. It'll be warm for us until around Halloween. So autumn is a slow roll around here. I don't I don't wait until it gets cool to change the mood, like in my bedroom. So yesterday, I pulled out my big bright orange and brown comforter and pillowcases. I've changed my bathroom and my bedroom over from a slate gray motif to a bright orange cream slash beige slash gray kind of thing. I like it a lot. It's so much brighter in here.

DL White [00:01:25]:
I do suffer from seasonal affective disorders, so I have to come at these BRER, b e r months, September, October, November, December, as well as January February with a really good attitude and a positive outlook and bright colors. I have to track myself into, like, feeling good. So, that actually was good yesterday. Got through all my laundry and fresh new sheets and new comforter and new pillowcase I slept. Kind of I I slept okay. I was gonna say I slept good, but the little that I slept, I slept okay. I do not have any books on sale. This is news because for the first time since I think June, my books are all back to status quo.

DL White [00:02:11]:
Regular price, so that's actually awesome because for every special event I have to write and send a newsletter. And unless you're new here you know I am not a big fan of writing a newsletter. I'll do it because the people need to know the things, but it's not my favorite thing to do, and that's why I have a podcast so I can just talk to you all. Even though I script out the podcast, otherwise, I will yammer for 27 minutes about nothing. So this past week, my boobs, Esme and Trey from the Neverlist got their turn in the spotlight. The Neverlist was part of the stuff your Kindle event, So you can hit up romance bookworms.com if you missed it to get on the newsletter list if you wanna know when the next event hits. I have no idea when the next event is. I try not to know until Zoe gives us the word on the date and says we can promote.

DL White [00:02:57]:
We keep it secret under lock and key. I have given away over 5,000 copies of the never list, and I do hope it results in people discovering books by DL White and slap slap slapping snapping up, copies of other books or, like, my stand alones and my books in series. Speaking of stand alones and books and series, I'm running a teeny ad on the potter lake series. We'll see how that goes. September is a really great time because I tend to finish books in September. So I have some book anniversaries coming up, Curl and Die, for example. Their anniversary is coming up on 12th. I don't remember what year I published this book.

DL White [00:03:37]:
The last 9 years are literally a blur. All I know is I'll be published 10 years of 2025. Though, that's the only day I know for sure. I just really love Curl and I, and these books are so autumn coded for me. You can pick up all of the books in that series at booksbydlwhite.com/potterlakeseries. It's very good. You won't regret grabbing it. Low angst, a few triggers, but overall just cozy small town romances with black people flirting and kissing and loving in them.

DL White [00:04:09]:
I honestly don't know why I'm so chipper. I was literally awake until 4:45 and then my eyes popped open again at 8. So a nap is imminent, as well. I would like to get some ring in this morning, but first we have to get the podcast out. So let's kick it. Let's take a quick break. Grab a drink, a snack, whatever you need to settle in for episode 97 of the book cast by PO. Okay, friends.

DL White [00:04:56]:
I hope you enjoyed that break. Got yourself a good swallow or 2 of coffee, juice, adult beverage, whatever you're sipping on right now. Let's get into this week's episode. We begin as always with the book report because I am a book head. If I'm gonna do anything, I'm gonna read a book. I am well known for this. I be reading. I have read 147 books of my challenge to read 200 books in 2024.

DL White [00:05:23]:
I'm 10 books ahead of my challenge, which is a comfortable familiar feeling for me. I find I like being ahead because it gives me a little wiggle room to put down books I might not enjoy at the moment. I had a book to put down this week, and we'll chat about it. But first, let's talk about what I did read this week. I read 5 books this week, Low Country Love by Rhonda McKnight. This was just like a super sweet, sort of epilogue from, previous works. Rhonda's pen is mighty. The chick can write.

DL White [00:05:54]:
Of course, I enjoyed this. It was sweet, short, but kinda whets the appetite and gets you looking forward to more. Rhonda recently did a video on her back list books, and so I am actually very excited to dig into her back list. I know she has some romances in there and a few, like, women's fiction type titles. So I actually think I'm gonna look up some of her older books and dig into those. I also read, free agent Connecticut Kings 10 by Christina c Jones. This one was just okay. Just okay.

DL White [00:06:25]:
It's, you know, it's CCJ, so you know what you're gonna get when you open that book. It was alright. Then, Candice Shaw recently put her oh, lord. No. I have forgotten the name of the series. Something precious moments series in the Kindle Unlimited. This is previously, a harlequin series. I believe she got her rights back, and so she's putting these out under her own name.

DL White [00:06:52]:
So I blew through all 3 books in this series and plan to go on to the next series. Then there was you, when I fell for you, and for the love of you were just great reads, a great way to spend a a Saturday. Actually set my Kindle to, with the assistive reading function will read these aloud. You kinda have to get used to the mechanical voice, but I'm I'm used to it by now. This is how I get a lot of books in, actually, when I don't have an audiobook, Kindle Fire or your I don't know if paperwhite does this, but Kindle Fire will read it aloud to you. So sometimes if I'm sitting while I'm reading, it will read aloud as I'm reading. But yesterday, I was doing laundry and scrubbing my bathroom and changing over my bedding, and it was just, like, nice to have that going. I connect it to my, Roku soundbar, so it's reading, like, through my TV.

DL White [00:07:47]:
So my maroon is just full of sound. Really enjoyed this series. Yeah. So I got through those yesterday. Definitely going on to read the next series. These are, like, sweet, steamy romances. Enjoyed them. What I'm reading, I always say in theory because there's a lot going on.

DL White [00:08:10]:
Kindle Unlimited, I have a lot of books I picked up lately. Some books I got through the stuff your ereader event, which I'll talk about later. But, no. I did talk about that. I talked about that earlier. I picked up some books on this stuff, your ereader event. And, so I have some books I wanna get through, but I am officially reading Another Girl Lost by Mary Burton. This is an, an advanced reader copy.

DL White [00:08:36]:
I actually have an audio copy of this book, and it's, I'm struggling. I'm struggling with it. I feel like there was there was a period of time where I was just reading Mary Burton back after back after back because the books were good. I feel like her writing has changed. I feel like she is a different writer now, and I'm not I'm not really into this style. There's something about it. I can't really put my finger on it, but just her style has changed. Just get into the story.

DL White [00:09:10]:
Tell me about the murders and solving the murders. I feel like she's trying to be way more literary with these books. I think she is on a different publisher now. She was on an Amazon imprint, and, honestly, I just really enjoyed the books before. It's not terrible, but I'm just I'm not enjoying it. They don't read like Mary Burton to me. It feels to me like she's trying to be these domestic suspense authors, like, Mary Kubica. It honestly feels a lot to me like she's trying to be very Karen Slaughter, and there ain't no Karen Slaughter like Karen Slaughter.

DL White [00:09:49]:
I just I wanna get through it because I have an audio arc, but I I, it's it's a struggle. And, also, it's a thriller, and I'm writing a romance. So if I read this, it has to be after I have read for the day and by the time I am done, after I have written for the day, now that I am writing hint to the next, subject, I just I can't read a thriller and write a romance, so I treat thrillers as dessert. After I've read for the day, after I've written for the day, then I can dig into a thriller. But, we'll see if I can get through this one today just to have it just for it to be done. I don't even know what this book is about. Something about, a girl was, like, kidnapped, like, 10 years ago and she escaped, and the police think that she was a part of the escape. And so now every time a girl disappears, the police come bother this girl.

DL White [00:10:44]:
And it's like PTSD over and over and over again. So, like, that premise should really draw a person in, but it's just not working for me. So we'll see if I make it through. We'll find out next week. I put down Break Over Roll by Brian Freeman. I really enjoy Brian's work, but lately his books are just not hitting it for me. This book just did not do a single thing for me. I put it down.

DL White [00:11:10]:
I don't I don't know what it's about. I tried it in print. I tried having Alexa read it aloud to me. I tried the I got a audio arc of it. Just a no go. I don't I don't I I don't I don't get it. I know something about a girl disappearing and something I'm I don't know. Not a clue.

DL White [00:11:31]:
Not a good look for me. So those were the books I got through this week. Of course, as I said, I have a ton of books sitting in my Kindle that I need to get read. So I am not hurting for material. I just have to be in the mood for them. And now I'm in the mood to read romance since I'm writing romance. So all the romance to the front of the line, please. Moving on to the writing slash publishing update, I actually have an update.

DL White [00:11:59]:
I am so excited to announce that book 15 is officially underway after ruminating on it and talking about it for weeks on weeks on weeks. I have finally put words on the page. I have a tentative chapter 1. I got about 1400 words in yesterday. I'm pleased so far with where it's going. Chapter 1, 1 chapter in. I'm I'm I'm real happy with it right now. I will be working on chapter 2 tonight so I can go into the week with words behind me and then hopefully pick up a few good sessions with the word makers as they go into their, q 3 20 k in 5 days challenge.

DL White [00:12:36]:
I always need a running start before that challenge, and I'm working on keeping the story simple so it can stay out of 45,000 maximum words, which if you've been around me live writing a book since 2019, that's hard for me. It's really difficult. I am wordy, and I like to paint a picture and use all my words. So I'm keeping it real, but keeping it brief. The official title of this book is calculated risk. My characters are Emani and Desmond. That's all I wanna share right now, but, you know, I'm working on a cute little Pinterest board with character inspirations and pulling these people out of my brain to sort of make them real well rounded people for me. I got a bit of an outline.

DL White [00:13:17]:
Y'all know my deal with outlines. I don't like knowing too much or I get bored if I plan too deep. I feel like I've already written the book, and then I am have no interest in actually writing the book. I do have my romancing the beat sheet as well, which I fill out before I write every romance. I I like to have an external plot that drives the story, and my characters are falling in love and learning to trust each other and themselves along the way as well as dealing with this external problem that's just making life difficult. So romancing the beat helps me keep the romance front and center because believe it or not, I love love, but I am as romantic as cardboard. I am a very blunt, sarcastic, straightforward person. I see a lot of stuff in books and I'm like, who talks like that? Who? What situation is this? Why would he ever say that? Why would she ever do that? I know there's so much criticism for how much I put my heroes through and how long it takes my heroines to, like, to, like, curl over and come around, but come on.

DL White [00:14:24]:
Come on. Sometimes I read books and I'm like so in chapter 2, she was like, nope. No way. And then chapter 3, she's like, I love you forever. I can't live without you. Come on. Show your work. Show the work.

DL White [00:14:37]:
So romancing the beat helps me keep the romance front and center, so fingers crossed. Calculated risk is officially underway. I'm also futzing with the cover. I do like to do my own covers. I might actually purchase a cover for this book if I find one I really like, but so far, I kinda like what I'm coming up with. I'll do a cover reveal at some point down the line. This book is gonna be a special release as part of a project with other books, and it won't be coming until 2025. So there are per per parameters parameters around this release.

DL White [00:15:09]:
I don't know what I can talk about and what I can release early if that's in my own timing or whatever, but I do know that this book has to be done and turned in by the end of the year. So we've got to get moving. Also underway is project 10, and let me tell you, I I don't know why I'm so nervous about this. I don't I just it's been out as a fanfic for, like, 10 years. It was the 2nd book I ever released actually, but I unpublished it because it didn't do well. It was interracial and interracial was hot back then. I really thought this book is gonna just kick. This book is gonna slap.

DL White [00:15:44]:
This book is gonna slam, this book is gonna do so well, and it did not. It it did it didn't. It didn't. It was long and rambling. It didn't do well as a commercial project, as a serial though. I think it could do really well. I am talking, of course, about same time next week, a title that will sound familiar to my seasoned readers and book pals. I am cutting it down.

DL White [00:16:08]:
I am punching it up. I am putting the past nearly 10 years of writing experience behind putting this title out as a serial project. Allow me to share the blurb with you. I did say last week that, I know on the podcast last week, I was, like, a little bit about it, and I got a DM from doctor Raymond Williams. And he said, I wanna read it, put it up. And I said, I'm gonna bully myself to put this up, and he's like, me too. Let me tell y'all something. Doctor Raymond is a very sweet person.

DL White [00:16:43]:
He is one of my dearest book friends. I truly adore him, but you don't wanna be on the I'm a bother you until you do this end of doctor Raymond because if he says he gonna be on your behind about it, he gonna be on your behind about it. I don't want the smoke. So I'm finally posting this as a serial story. Of course, if you've been around me for a long time, you know the story. It was fan fiction, then original fiction. It's interracial. I was like, no.

DL White [00:17:14]:
I'm all about black on black love. It didn't fit my catalog. I unpublished it. Now serial fiction is a thing. So why not start out this new venture, which is very exciting with something I've already written? It needs editing. It needs rewriting. That is not a thing that has ever scared me. So chapter by chapter, it'll go up on my Substack.

DL White [00:17:33]:
This will be my short fiction Substack. It's short fiction by dlwhite. Substack.com, and, if you tap on serial, it will bring you up to same time next week. Let's talk about the blurb. Jackson Sweeney is ready for a fresh start. As a former member of the iconic pop group Boy Wonder, he's now navigating the music scene in Orlando producing for a rock star at the height of fame, but a chance encounter at a grocery store at 3 AM changes everything. Enter Shelby Morris, a stunning enigmatic Afro Latina with secrets as deep as her allure. Shelby's on the run, escaping a shadowy past in Miami.

DL White [00:18:15]:
Orlando offers a new beginning and when she literally collides with music's most eligible bachelor, chemistry is undeniable. Their weekly tryst quickly becomes ritual filled with sweet wine, gourmet chocolate, and stolen moments, but Shelby's secrets loom large and as she lets Jackson closer her defenses crumble. 8 seconds shatters her tenuous new life drawing a dangerous enemy from the shadows and thrusting Jackson into a storm of intrigue and whispers of an accidental or perhaps intentional death. As Jackson unravels Shelby's past, the stakes have never been higher. Her old life threatens to destroy the love she's found, and this time, the cost of her mistakes could be devastating. Content warnings for this book include death of an intimate partner, a motor vehicle accident, insomnia, and depression. So the first four chapters of this story are already up. It's up on my Substack.

DL White [00:19:14]:
They are free. Chapters will be free until about, I think, like, chapter 7 or 8 until we, like, really get into the nitty gritty, and then I'm gonna turn on subscriptions. The lowest amount I can charge on Substack is $5 a month. So for $5 a month, you get a chapter in email, or you can turn that off and visit my Substack when you have time, or let the chapters build up and read it all in one fell swoop. I do believe that at the end of this, I'll put it all in one, like, document and put it up on BookFunnel. People who subscribe will get access to that, that BookFunnel copy. This won't be on Amazon. This won't be for sale anywhere except perhaps my website and book funnel.

DL White [00:19:59]:
So something new, something different. I like new. I like different. I like exciting. I welcome comments, speculation, accolades, encouragement. Like, I know I'm a good writer, but it doesn't hurt to hear it a few times a day. You know what I'm saying? So head on over there. Again, reading is free until about chapter 8.

DL White [00:20:14]:
I'm slow rolling my way into the story. Subscriptions will be set as low as I can set them. I think I'll be posting around 2 times a week. Again, 4 chapters are already up for your reading pleasure, and so I'm so as to, like, stagger my regular blog posts on my main sub stack, which is Sundays Tuesdays, I think I'll publish serial chapters on Wednesday Friday. So I it's not like I'm in people's inboxes, twice a day. So chapter 5 will post on Wednesday. It's already pending, and then a new post on Friday, and we'll see how that goes. No matter no idea no idea how long it'll take to get to the end.

DL White [00:20:52]:
I literally forget how many chapters are in this book, but we have a lot of fun steamy story to get to. And this book in particular brings back some fun memories for me. This was my first NaNoWriMo project, and I wrote it because I wanted to get comfortable writing steamy scenes, writing sex scenes. I had a beta reader that would challenge me to be more forward, more direct. Don't take stuff out just because you feel like you're uncomfortable with it. Before this project, I would never use words that I feel comfortable using in intimate scenes today. I was never vivid. I was never graphic.

DL White [00:21:26]:
I just sort of smoothed over it, which was fine for a while, but it also kept my books kinda tame, kinda Disney, kinda meh. Like, still titillating, but, like, sometimes you just gotta use the word. Sometimes you just gotta put the word in there. You know what I'm saying? I wanted to write grown folks romance. So when I set out to write this, I just wanted freedom. I wanted to feel free enough to write what was in my head, but I didn't feel like my fingers could type those words. This book was, I wanna say, about a 100000 words. So over the course of the story, I got very comfortable with writing intimacy and when I say I owe my writing career to fan fiction, this is what I mean.

DL White [00:22:07]:
I would never be able to write the books that I write the way that I write them with the comfort and the ease that I feel in bringing you into an intimate scene without fan fiction because it gave me a comfortable space to write, to practice, to grow up my writing so that I could get these love stories off. I'm very excited to have these two projects on my plate this fall. Of course, I will take all my seasoned listeners, my friends, my book pals here at the book cast along for the ride. As usual, we'll celebrate the highs. We'll commiserate on the lows. You know, we we go make it do what it do. It's just gonna be done. Events wise, I do have a few in person events coming up, 1 in 2024.

DL White [00:22:51]:
I'll be a part of a local book festival in early November. I think it's in Snellville. I don't know. I gotta look it up. But I will put some information up on my website pretty soon. If you're in the area and wanna come out, I think I will have the Pottery Lake series, hey lover, and maybe the Never List out for purchase, and I'll do some online things so people who aren't local can participate. What I don't sell at the book festival in print, I will sell on my website. Reminder that the Pot O' Lake series has all new covers.

DL White [00:23:18]:
So if you're one of those people that have to have the latest covers or you don't have these books, hold off on ordering any because I have not yet updated the print covers. I was supposed to do that over Labor Day weekend, and instead I watched a lot of homicide life on the street and YouTube. So, anyway, I've gotta get on that. I will also participate in the Black Romance Fest in late May 2025 and Indie Love's 10 year anniversary book festival in mid June 2025. Those are both in Atlanta. Black Romance Book Fest is sold out, but I do believe Indie Love Tickets are now on sale, so run on over to Indie Love. That's Indie with 2 e's, indelove.com, and snatch up those tickets. I'll include links in the show notes, so pop on over and snatch them up.

DL White [00:24:07]:
I do want to give a huge shout out and a thank you to the Lit Library podcast for reading and reviewing the Neverlist. I thoroughly enjoyed that episode. I'll try to put a link to that episode in the show notes. It was so much fun. I really enjoyed the host talking about this book, getting into the nitty gritty of Esme and Trey and Saul. I loved all their perspective on Saul. Missy, the sisters, O'Neil with his hoe ass. I just really loved the conversation.

DL White [00:24:42]:
I know not everybody is gonna love my books, and I really like to think that I am evolved as an author, and I'm like, hey. I've been out here, like, 10 years. Like it or don't. I don't care. But when it comes to, like, people talking about the books, like, having an extended conversation about the books, I do get a little nervous because, like, these are my babies, and I want y'all to love them. I absolutely do not have a problem with people just not liking my books, but, like, I don't need it in my face. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? But I truly enjoyed this conversation. Even the criticisms, like, you know, Esme taking way too long to come on over to the good side of love and Esme's attitude and how, like, stoic and and how she was just like, these dudes need to get on up out my face, especially this handsome, tall drink of water over here needs to leave me alone.

DL White [00:25:34]:
Y'all was picking up what I was putting down. I just I gotta say it. Like, when people read brunch at Ruby's and they hate Maxine, I say thank you because I wrote her to be hated. But what I also also also hope that you get is that, like, maybe you don't like Maxine, but you get her. You understand why she is the way that she is and why that woman is so lucky to still have friends. You know what I'm saying? Anyway, that brings us to the end of today's show. Have I thanked you for listening lately? Let me do that again. Thank you so much for joining me for today's chat.

DL White [00:26:05]:
I truly, truly enjoy bringing this show to your ears, mostly for me. Do I listen to my own podcast? Yes. I do. Do I like the sound of my own voice? Yes. I do. Do I lock in about do I like talking about me? Mhmm. Sure do. But also for you because people be like, what are you reading? What are you writing? What's going on? How do you write this? All that kind of stuff.

DL White [00:26:27]:
Where are you gonna be? It's all here in the podcast, and I like opening my life and my mind up a little and showing the folks what it takes to make the biscuits. I welcome any questions, any comments, any feedback you have at books by dlwhite.com/bookcast slash 97. You can also find this podcast at substack if you subscribe there, and you can offer comments there as well as any of my socials. Hit me up. Hit a sister up. I would love to talk books with you. Full show notes and links to all the things I talked about if relevant, and a transcript for today's show will be on my website and on my substack. If you love this podcast or just really like the work I do and wanna show support, who am I to stand in the way of that? Who am I to stand in the way of that? Share the podcast with anyone you think would like to hear it.

DL White [00:27:13]:
You can also support my work with book purchases at payhip.com/booksbydlwhite by spreading the good word with reviews and word-of-mouth by joining the newsletter or the Substack. The links are gonna be on my website at books by dlwhite.com/linkinbioorbythrowingsomecoinsinthehat@bookcast.bussprout.com. That directly supports this here podcast. Thank you so much to my monthly supporters. Your gift covers my subscription that allows me to bring this show, my voice to your ears, and I really appreciate that support. Every little bit really, really 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 [00:27:55]:
I will be back next week with a reading and a writing update. Until then, please have a superlative week. I mean, really kick it in the behind, and we'll chat again soon. Bye bye.