Bookcast 103: I'm not okay...and that's okay

Still I write!

Hello to my new and seasoned friends!

Hopping on briefly to be honest about where I'm at - I'm not okay right now, and that's okay. Like many years, I'm dealing with seasonal affective disorder and depression. While things are stable externally (bills paid, health okay), my mental health needs some TLC-- and I meant Tionne, LeftEye and Chili, mostly. But also uninterrupted sleep and my usual comforts.

Writing helps me process when I'm stressed, so I want to share fun updates: 

I just finished a cute holiday short story called "The Festival at Evergreen Falls" that's giving total Hallmark/Lifetime movie vibes. You'll meet Thandie and Kwame in December.

"Olympia's on King Street,"  is a short about a plus-size lingerie boutique owner and her landlord. Grab it free when you subscribe to my newsletter- Booksbydlwhite.com/newsletter. I send 1-2 emails a month that are usually sales, discounts, book news. Not too much navel gazing....unless you're into that. O_o 

Atlanta metro locals!  I'll be at the Bookworm bookstore in Powder Springs, GA next Saturday (December 7th) from 2-4 PM. Would love to see you there!

My Friday, but make it Black sale is running until midnight Monday - 50% off everything in my web store. Visit the Books by DL White store HERE.

Calculated Risk is complete and with the editor for a spring release. While waiting, I'm focusing on writing fun, lighter pieces that bring me joy. I'm also being mindful about my media consumption and keeping a close circle of supportive people around me.

Stay connected!  I'm  most active on Instagram, Substack (and my short fiction publication here, BlueSky, and Facebook.  

Transcript

DL White [00:00:17]:
Hi, friends. It is I, DL White, Atlanta based author of romantic fiction that centers black love, and I am coming to you with a super quick shorty episode. The plain and simple fact is that I am not okay, and that is okay. It's, it's actually very usual for me to be having feelings at this time of year. I do regularly have bouts of a seasonal affective disorder and other types of depression. Things are rough for me right now. Not physically, like, my bills are paid and all is good, and I have health, but, my mental health is suffering a bit, and I just need to be gentle with myself and be a little bit soft and do what I need to do to be okay so that I can work because a girl needs her job. So I didn't wanna go another week without updating on the podcast.

DL White [00:01:25]:
Not that I feel obligated, but I did skip last week because of holidays, and I just did not feel like plugging in the microphone. So I'll do a quick update about, things upcoming, things ongoing, wrapping up November reading. I was supposed to be doing nonfiction November, but real life actually kicked me right in the face. And I just could not, read any nonfiction, so I jumped right back into fiction. I did get in 11 books this month, and I'm gonna say my favorite of the month is a book I just finished last night. Like, I finished it at 11:47, so I could count it for the month. It is wicked games by Bianca Sloan, and let me tell you, I I ate it up. I've real I've I started it around 6:6:30, something like that, or maybe it was earlier in the afternoon, and I read it all the way through in one gulp.

DL White [00:02:22]:
It was so good. Snatch it up if that sounds interesting, but it's a little, well, I don't wanna give too much away, but it's it's it's it's it's it's revengy. It's revengy. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Highly recommend if, thrillers and mysteries and suspense is your jam as it is mine. So, that was my November wrap up. I'll do I'll list out the books that I read, in November. I'll update that on my Instagram and my Substack.

DL White [00:02:55]:
Check into that is author dlwhite.substack.comorauthor___dlwhite@ Instagram. Don't forget, I am not really posting much to x. Most of my all author promo stuff is automatically posting there, and I'm just grabbing it, throwing it in buffer, and doling that out bit by bit on, Blue Sky and Instagram and Facebook. So if you know me at any of those places, I'm there pretty regularly, but I am not really posting on x at the moment. And that goes for also the fan fiction website. That's also now posting on Blue Sky and updates only at Twitter slash x, whatever we are calling it these days. And, I I I will not be back probably unless, the owner of that site decides to sell it or, that's what's going on book wise. I have a couple of appearances coming up.

DL White [00:03:56]:
Well, really, just one appearance coming up on December 7th, which is, next Saturday, 6 days from today, the day of recording, I will be at the Bookworm, bookstore in Powder Springs, Georgia. I will be there from 2 to 4 PM doing a little meet and greet, with readers that want to come in. I will have a few copies of some books. I am massively excited about it. I promise to show up this time. I don't know what I was thinking about doing an appearance right after the election, but I guess I thought it would turn out better than it did. So I will be at the bookworm. I'm gonna be reposting a whole bunch of stuff from the bookworm this week.

DL White [00:04:41]:
You will not miss it. Come out and see me if you're local. Come grab a book, and, you know, let me hug your neck and talk your ear off and whatnot. I will have a few books on hand, so that'll be fun. And then, the other thing I wanted to remind people about, I'm gonna try to get this up on Sunday as opposed to Monday. My Black Friday slash cyber Monday sale that I run called Friday, but make it black, ends at midnight on Monday, December 2nd. It's 50% off of everything in my web store and only at my store. My books aren't on sale anywhere else.

DL White [00:05:17]:
So drop on by payhip.com/booksbydlwhite, 50% off ebook, paperback while they last, audio, go on ahead, snatch it up. If you already have all my books, please share with a friend that you know would like some, you know, warm romantic fiction that features black men and women. I mean, who doesn't? Who doesn't want that? I I tell you. Who doesn't want that? So that sale is going on. And then, in December, I know we have stuff, your Kindle, coming up. No release date or no date as of yet, but I am sure, I'm sure you won't miss that either. So just kinda looking forward to winding down the year. We actually at beverage giant mostly work the 1st 2 weeks of the year and then kinda drift off into the sunset.

DL White [00:06:11]:
So I am committed through December 11th or 12th, I believe. And then, we have, you know, a couple of things that week of 16th, and then we're out after 18th. So looking very much forward to having some extended time off to decompress and breathe and get to a point where I am doing okay. But, you know, Q4 is rough and, I just I thought I just thought that things would be better, but they're not. The other thing that's happening is I have a nice little newsletter magnet I wrote. I when I'm stressed out, I write. It's it's really weird. I just have felt like writing.

DL White [00:06:58]:
That's how I get my feelings out, and that's how I de stress and decompress. When that guy won in 2016, I started writing the never list. It took forever for it to come out, but, I I pull out the computer and I start writing because it stops my brain from spiraling. So I have been writing. I have written a little, news newsletter short story called Olympias on King Street. It's about a, plus size boutique, plus size lingerie boutique owner who sees the owner of her building out in the rain, and she invites him into her shop and, things happen. It's a cute little story. It's it's just a short it's about 5,000 words.

DL White [00:07:45]:
It's rather good if I say so myself. If you would like a free copy of it, you can sign up for my newsletter. It's books by dlwhite.com/newsletter, and you'll get it for free. So there's that, and then I wrote I did write a little, a holiday short called the festival at Evergreen Falls. It is the cutest, hallmurkiest, lifetime movie est, story I've ever written. It did turn out really great. Tandy and Kwame are my heroine and my hero. The story is really great.

DL White [00:08:22]:
I have a sample up on my substack, so go on and check that out. On Tuesday, I will post, another snip from Kwame's point of view. I think people will really enjoy it. It's currently with the editor and it will be out sometime in December, and, of course, calculated risk is coming in 2025. That is all also already complete and already with the editor, and that will be out in the spring at some point. I don't have a release date for it. It is part of a group project, which let me just tell you, I am not a patient person. So writing something and having to hold it for an entire season is not my favorite thing, but I am to hold and strong.

DL White [00:09:13]:
That book will be out in the spring. I have the opportunity to write so many other things, some shorts, some novellas, some fun things while that's coming. And then I need to think about 2025 and what releases I wanna have. I really would just like, I've been saying for the past however long, I just wanna have fun with writing. I just wanna write fun, cute things. And, I think I'm gonna I'm gonna get the chance to do that because I've been very heads down and not not really into the news and not paying attention to a whole lot just for my mental health. Like, I'm I'm keeping abreast of big important national stories, but I can't do the day to day reality show that is American politics right now. I just I can't I can't do it.

DL White [00:10:02]:
And I just I know the media is just salivating because Biden was boring, and he led the country and didn't legislate via Twitter. And they just you know, they want they want the clicks, and they want the divisive comments. And, I can't do it this time. I just I just can't do it. So I'm gonna be trying to just really get into reading, really get into writing, sling these books, write these words, exercise these emotions through my pen, and, try to, you know, keep a tight circle of people around me that know that, things are gonna be interesting for a minute. So that's pretty much all I have to update the people on. Apologize for the shortness of this episode, but I did want to hop on the mic for a quick second before I get into my coffee and my books. You know that, what was it? What show was that? I don't remember what show it was.

DL White [00:11:10]:
New Jersey something. I don't know. But the kid that his saying was gym tan laundry, I I was thinking as I was coming up the stairs instead of gym tan laundry, it's gonna be coffee, books, laundry for me today. Also need to wash my hair, and I'm just not really looking forward to it. So I hope you are all having better days than I am, and the holiday season will see your bright shining faces. I hope to feel better, and so I hope you are all feeling better. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm gonna skip the usual spiel, but do feel free to follow me wherever you may like.

DL White [00:11:52]:
Substack, Instagram, Blue Sky, Facebook, here and there on TikTok. I'm mostly just sharing things there, but I am there watching cat videos. Have the best day and the best week ever. Please take care of yourselves. Indulge in so much self care. Self care real hard in this season. I will hopefully be back next week, but if not, please do forgive me. We'll talk soon.

DL White [00:12:19]:
Bye bye.