Bookcast 108: Read Fiction, Drink Water & Mind My Business

Thanks for checking out this episode of The Bookcast. Show notes for epi 108:

Book Report
I'm crushing my Goodreads challenge already! 23 books completed so far this year (18 books ahead of schedule). My initial goal is 100 books, but I'll probably increase it once I get too far ahead.  

• Playing for Keeps by AC Author - A sweet romance about online connections turning real-life
• Damage Control by Robert Dugoni (2009 audiobook)
• Hold Strong by Robert Dugoni (coming Jan 28) - A surprisingly engaging WWII historical with romance elements
• Several quick thrillers by Audrey J Cole in audio format (Fatal Deception, The Summer Nanny, Viable Hostage, and The Recipient)
• Reclaiming the Black Body by Alicia McCullough - Excellent read, especially the chapters on fatphobia in the Black community
• More or Less Maddie by Lisa Genova - Good but not quite as spectacular as her other works like Inside the O'Brien's or Still Alice

Currently Reading -  three books in progress:

• Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson (45% in, might switch to audio)
• Black and Blues: How a Color Tells a Story of My People by Imani Perry (advance audio copy)
• Out of the Ashes by Kara Thomas
• The Relationship Mechanic by Karmen Lee (releases tomorrow)
• Savings and Trust by Justine Hill Edwards - About the Freedman's Bank, reading ahead of the author talk

Writing Updates

•  Calculated Risk is with the editor, due February 28th for a spring release
• Missing Persons likely coming summer/late fall
• Book 4 in the Potter Lake series planned for fall
• Working on a Valentine's Day short story (might be fashionably late!)
• January sales at $83 so far - hoping to hit $100+ by month end

Special Offers & Updates

• Black Diamond Romance series bundle on sale for $6.99 (booksbydlwhite.com/blackdiamondromance)
• Leslie's Curl and Die (Potter Lake Book 1) free on most platforms except Amazon - Booksbydlwhite.com/potterlakeseries
• Chapter 8 of my fanfic Music of My Heart now up on NSYNCFiction.com/archive and short fiction Substack
• Same Time Next Week serial complete - 75 chapters plus epilogue available to paid Substack member

Transcript

DL White [00:00:14]:
Hello, everybody. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, whatever time you may be listening to this podcast, I am happy that you are here. I am DL White. I'm the host of this here podcast called 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 DL White. Like I said, I'm in Atlanta based author of 15, 16, 17. I've I've seriously have lost count.

DL White [00:00:46]:
I have to count. Numerous short stories. I'm actual also a fan fiction writer, but I'm a reader first. So we always talk about the books. We begin with the book report, then we talk about writing and topics of the day. I truly hope you are having a blessed day. Today is Monday, January 20th. I have the day off because we are commemorating and honoring the life and legacy of doctor Martin Luther King.

DL White [00:01:14]:
So today is, actually the celebration of his birthday, which was last week on the 15th. I am honoring doctor King by reading some books. I'm probably gonna watch some movies or something later, perhaps write a little bit, but I don't know about that. And I'm gonna make some lunch because that sounds good, which I don't think honors doctor King at all, but it does honor my stomach, and that's a thing we like to do around here. It's late in the day. I've already finished my coffee. I do have a beverage here in case I need it, but let's just get right into the business. So I'm gonna tap on over to my Goodreads account.

DL White [00:01:58]:
I am at I know I'm well ahead of my challenge, as per usual. I am at 23 books completed for the year. Of course, my initial goal for each year is always 100 books. That's a very easy goal for me to hit because I am always reading. I'm if I'm gonna do anything, I'm gonna read a book. I always have a book or 2 or 3 going. I currently have 3 books stacked up in my am reading shelf on Goodreads. So I'm 18 books ahead of schedule, which is kinda normal for me.

DL White [00:02:32]:
Once it gets to a ridiculous number, then I increase my goal, so it creates a little bit of an effort for me. But this is pretty normal because I've honestly been on vacation most of this month. I didn't start the month until January 6th, and we already have another day off. And I just have been off to the races with reading, so this is pretty normal for me. Last week, I read I think it was 9 books. A lot of those were audio. Let's take a look at what I got read. Playing for keeps by AC author.

DL White [00:03:07]:
I just read that yesterday. I think these are going in reverse order. Just read that yesterday. It was actually really good about, a a girl who meets a guy online and then finds out that he's, like, her best friend's brother. And they have, like, some steamy conversations. My phone's making noise over here. I'm distracted. Hush.

DL White [00:03:27]:
Damage Control by Robert Dugoni, which is an older audiobook. I think it was from, like, 2009, and it shows, but I love me some Dugoni. So I listened to that. It was interesting. It was interesting. I just read it to read it. Hold Strong by Robert Dugoni, which is an audiobook that's coming. It's actually a joint project, and I forget the other, 2 authors in the project.

DL White [00:03:47]:
I don't feel like looking it up, but this one comes out on January 28. It's actually really, really good, and I'm surprised because it's a World War 2 historical. I think I liked it because there's a little bit of romance, wrapped up in it, but it's about it's, you know, World War 2 era, guy and a girl. They're very young. That's the depression. Things are going on. The war breaks out. He enlists, and he thinks it's just gonna be like a like a 6 month like a, you know, a a actually, war war doesn't break out yet, but he enlists because he needs money to, like, go to college or whatever.

DL White [00:04:24]:
And he thinks it's just gonna be like a 6 month stint. And then war breaks out. He gets recruited. Yeah. And so all of this, meanwhile, his sweetheart is back home. All the stuff that she goes through to, like, kinda hang tight, she decides to enlist, and, so it's kind of like a dual it's not a dual timeline, but it's both of their stories together and how they, endure and how they are managed to get through their relationship while he is away. I won't give, like, the away the, like, the breadth of the story, but it was riveting. I listened to the audio.

DL White [00:04:59]:
It it was very good story to it storytelling. And, again, I'm really surprised it held my attention because it's a World War 2 historical, which is totally not my bag. But, this was really good. This is a really, really good good telling. I discovered a new author, Audrey j Cole, that has, like, these really, short thrillers in audio. And so I read through this one series that she has, Fatal Deception, The Summer Nanny, which was entirely too short. I was just I was just getting started with that one. Viable hostage and the recipient, those are all in audio.

DL White [00:05:35]:
I got those all on Evergrand. It's just like some quick quick quick shots of stories, like 2, 2 and a half hours. Though I do listen fast. I'm at, like, 1.8 to 2 x on audio, but they're, like, really quick shots. Good writing to me. Like, not outstanding spectacular, but, like, good enough to just be listening and folding laundry, etcetera. So I really enjoyed those. I kinda got through all those in one day.

DL White [00:06:00]:
And then Reclaiming the Black Body, Nourishing the Home Within by Alicia McCullough. This was a really good book. It's this is one that I would get in print and go at it with a highlighter. There's a couple of really good chapters I wanna listen to in audio, so I grabbed it in audio, chapters on fatphobia and the black community. Really good read. I enjoyed it. And then, of course, More or Less Maddie by Lisa Genova. I'm glad I listened, to this in audio.

DL White [00:06:29]:
I don't think I would have made it through print. It was good, just not Lisa Genova, spectacular as, like, Inside the O'Brien's, Still Alice, Left Neglected. A lot of her books center a lot on, she, Lisa Genova is I believe she's a doctor, is psychology neuroscientist. She studies a lot with the brain, and a lot of her books, center around diseases that affect the brain like Alzheimer's. I forget what the disease is and left neglected, but it's a person that just literally does not recognize the left side of their body. Inside the O'Brien's was, I think, about Huntington's disease. I just love her novels because they're so brainy and scientific. And so, really enjoyed this one.

DL White [00:07:23]:
This one, is more or less Maddie was about a woman with bipolar disease and the, like, the I was viscerally stressed out when she was about to go into a manic phase. So really good listen. Really good listen. It ended kind of abruptly. I felt like the ending was abrupt. Like, because we went we went from people being so viciously against her to a whole other situation. So, of course, I always have a knit about the end. That's who I am as a person, but I did really enjoy that book.

DL White [00:07:59]:
It does make me wanna go back and, like, read more of Lisa Genova's work. So those are the 9 books that I got read between January 12th 20th. I am literally about to, sign off of the podcast and open up a book. Let's talk about what I am reading currently because I I literally have 3 books going right now. I've had more, but what I do is I take all of the I take all the, advanced reader request books that I get that I have to have read by a certain date. I just add them to my am reading shelf. That way, it reminds me I have to get that read this month. And so I've had a couple I've already, taken care of, but I have GoodDirt by Charmaine Wilkerson coming up.

DL White [00:08:43]:
I think I'm holding the rest of this for audio. I'm 45% in. I don't understand what's going on. There's a lot of characters, a lot of stories. I wanna get this straight, and I wanna give this book a fair shot. So I think I'm gonna wait for audio on this one, and then I have Black and Blues by, how color tells a story of a nation, I believe is. Let's see, black in blues. How a color tells a story of my people by Imani Perry.

DL White [00:09:09]:
I have an advance copy of that in audio, which I am very pleased about, so I'm gonna get that read. Listened to Out of the Ashes by Cara Thomas. I it this just it just jumped on me, when I was reading when I was going through my, Kindle books. And, I had the ebook, and they just let they were like, hey. You gotta get the audio of this for 199. And I was like, say less. Give that to me right now. And so I have that.

DL White [00:09:36]:
And then the relationship mechanic by Carmen Lee, which is coming up, I believe, on Tuesday, tomorrow. Is it tomorrow? I'm still fighting this cold, so apologize for sniffling into the mic. So I have that, coming up, and I'm gonna wait on audio for that because it just sounds like it's just gonna be a fun listen. But that's one that I will get on release day and listen to it right away. The other thing I am gonna read because there is a talk coming up. I'm logging into my Libro account because I just picked up the audio of it, and I don't have it on my there is a book called come on. There is a book called Savings and Trust by Justine Hill Edwards. It's the rise and betrayal of the Freedman's Bank.

DL White [00:10:20]:
And when I say, this is my kind of nonfiction, this is my kind of nonfiction. There's gonna be a talk coming up at around the end of the month put on by Resist Booksellers. You can go to their Eventbrite site, and you can, sign up to hear or listen to the livestream of this talk with the author. There's gonna be events coming up, I think, toward the end of the month with Resist Booksellers. He's gonna have a live chat with the author. He's actually got 5 coming up, and I believe most of these are going to be live streamed if you go to eventbrite.com and look up resist booksellers. He's got some author talks coming up. The one coming up with Justine Hill Edwards is March 1st, 1 to 3 PM EST.

DL White [00:11:09]:
And that's probably gonna be, coming up either he's gonna do that on Instagram live or he's gonna be gonna be live streamed on the resist booksellers Facebook channel, but go to their event website and get yourself a ticket. It's free. It'll just pop a reminder in your email and stick it on your calendar. I am going to read that book well ahead of the, event. So I'm looking forward to that. This is the this is this is my kind of nonfiction shenanigans. So I'm looking forward to that, and he has a couple of good, things coming up in his lecture series. So I am looking forward to those.

DL White [00:11:51]:
Sign up for all of those. Get those on your calendar. Get the books read ahead of time so you know what they'd be talking about. And so I have that also that I need to add to my currently reading savings and trust, the rise and betrayal of the Freedman's Bank. So I hear a lot about the Freedman's Bank about how people put a lot of money in this bank and then lost it all. And so I know I've I've already been told it's gonna make me upset, and I, I'm ready. So I'm looking forward to getting into that. Writing wise, there hasn't been a whole lot happening.

DL White [00:12:31]:
I've got, of course, things in the fire, which I've been talking about. Calculated risk is with the editor. I spoke to her yesterday, as she was listening to the podcast and I was talking about this. I sent her a reminder that that's due to be turned in, as part of a group release, a group project. It's due February 28th. So we have a little bit of time, but we do 2 rounds of editing. And so round 1 is coming up at some point this week probably, and then she'll she'll send it to me. I'll send initial edits and then send it back, and then we do another round, which takes a couple of weeks to then get the final edit back.

DL White [00:13:13]:
And so the cover and the final draft are due, February 28th, and then I believe April 1 is when this project begins. I don't have exact details on release dates for all of the books in the project, but as soon as I'll know, I will release it first to my newsletter list. So you wanna get on that books by dlwhite.com/newsletter. Don't forget to confirm because if you do not confirm, you don't get anything. And also, if you're not yet on my newsletter, you will get a free copy of the story that I wrote that is exclusive to newsletter subscribers, Olympias on King Street. It's a really steamy steamy short. It's like a one chapter, one shot, featuring Olympia Douglas and her lover, Pierce. So you'll get a free, short story that's only available to my newsletter subscribers when you subscribe to my newsletters books by dlwhite.com/newsletter.

DL White [00:14:22]:
As soon as I know a release date for calculated risk, I will let my newsletter know, and then I will announce it far and wide, most likely as well here on the podcast. And then I have I have missing persons, which is probably going to be a summer release depending on when calculated risk comes out. It could be summer late fall, and then I'm gonna be working on book 4 in the Powder Lake series, and that'll probably be a late fall release. I am trying to work on a little Valentine's Day short. It's not really coming together very well. I keep just messing with the first two chapters, and, I just I just get to a point where I'm just tired of messing with it and now I'm bored. So, we'll see if I can pull it together. It's probably not gonna go through editing.

DL White [00:15:13]:
It's just gonna be a little a quick little something I throw up for 99¢, and, you guys will just deal with it. Like, the idea is cute and if I can pull it off, it'll be like a, you know, like a really a good story. It, like, if I can't get the first two chapters to work the rest of it, it's just not gonna work. So what I can do is just stop messing with it and just try to get through the end because I do love editing. Like, just get it down, get the story down, and then go back and work with it. But, like, Valentine's Day is in, like, 3 weeks ish. So, you know, we'll see. It could be late for Valentine's Day.

DL White [00:15:51]:
It could come, like, after Valentine's Day. But it's gonna be Valentine's Day themed. I do wanna, like, you know, I I'm gonna aim for it to be out before the end of February. It'll be Valentine's Day themed, but you know how we do with these holiday shorts. I wanna do something for more holidays than just Christmas. I wanna, like, write short things. I wanna write more. I wanna publish more stories and, like, unclench and, you know, just have some more have some more stuff out there.

DL White [00:16:21]:
So that's the plan. We'll see how that works. I did not look at my sales today. Sales are very anemic for January. I don't even know if that's normal for January. I think I'm normally coming off of December sales in January, and it's usually a little more robust than this. I am at, I believe, $83 for the month. I like to be at if I can hit, you know, 50 to a $100 before 15th, I think I'm doing pretty good.

DL White [00:16:53]:
I'm at $83 for the month. If I can make 20 more dollars before the end of January, that would be awesome. So I have, like, a week and a half to make that happen. So we'll see. Currently, the special that I am trying to push right now is the Black Diamond romance series. I have a series bundle on sale right now for 699. Booksbydiawhite.com/blackdiamondromance has, all 3 books. If you tap on that link there, it will take you to the bundle, or you can buy the individual books if you already have 1 or 2 of them and you're only missing 1, you can just buy the individual books.

DL White [00:17:35]:
If you need all 3 books, you can get the entire bundle for 6.99. I believe they are $9 if you buy them individually. So that's a pretty good deal and you get Beach Thing, Elysium, which is a steamy vacation romance about 2 people who meet online and, begin a tawdry affair that turns into real world love. And then, the pearl, which is a workplace romance, turned out super cute. I really, really like the pearl, and so you'll get all 3 of those in the bundle, and that's exciting. I've also I'm working on getting Leslie's curl and die, the ebook edition. I want that to be my next free offering for the foreseeable future for me to just be able to offer that book for free at any point in time. And so if you look that up, it's not free on Amazon yet, but, most other platforms, Google, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, ebook version of Leslie's curl and die, that's Powder Lake Small Town Romance.

DL White [00:18:41]:
Book number 1 should be free. If you have not read that book and you would like to snatch it up, go forth. Go grab it. I am excited to introduce Cade and Leslie to you. Let me know if you enjoy it. If you don't enjoy it, I don't know what to tell you. I'm not gonna rewrite it. So there we go.

DL White [00:19:05]:
It's 3:21 PM. I had breakfast many hours ago. I am going to make myself some food. I am gonna get into an audio book. I am going to watch things on the television, and I'm going to enjoy the rest of what has been a an enjoyably long weekend. I took Friday off. I did some writing. Oh, I did do an update to my fan fiction story called music of My Heart.

DL White [00:19:32]:
I might change the title of it. I don't I don't know. But so chapter 8 is now up on the fan fiction art fan fiction archive. It's NSYNCFiction.com/archive. It's also up on my short fiction substack, short fiction by dlwhite.substack.com. I did a sample sundae from calculated risk yesterday on my main substack. That's author dlwhite.substack.com. Tap into that.

DL White [00:20:00]:
That's something no one else but my editor has seen, so I'm excited to slip a little exclusive over to you. I'm trying to think of anything else I have posted up, but I think that's about it. I did a teaser Tuesday last week from hey lover, which was fun. So if you haven't been on my substack in a minute, roll on over there, author dlwhite.substack.com. I finished up my serial on the short fiction substack. Same time next week is all done. 75 chapters plus an epilogue. They're all up.

DL White [00:20:36]:
If you're a paid member of the short fiction substack, that's available for you to dig in. It's all done. It's all up. At some point, I'm gonna copy all the chapters into ebook format and have that available as just one shot for people to just kinda read all at once in their ereader instead of reading it on the website. No ETA on that. Don't bother me about it, but, eventually, it'll it'll get done. So lots going on. I'm sure I'll have more coming up on, the short fiction substack and the main substack.

DL White [00:21:12]:
Today started a different era for this country, and my goal in in getting through it is read fiction, write fiction, drink water, mind my business. That brings us to the end of today's podcast. Thank you so much for joining me. I do so enjoy having you here and that that ain't no lie. I was gonna say it, but I'm not going to. I will bid you adieu here. Thank you so much for joining me for today's chat. I do enjoy having you here.

DL White [00:21:46]:
I welcome any comments or feedback you might have at books by dlwhite.com/bookcast/108. You will find full show notes, links to all of

DL White [00:21:57]:
the things I talked about if

DL White [00:21:58]:
they're relevant, and a transcript for today's show at my website. Please share this podcast if you enjoyed it. And if you listen on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or Substack, please give a girl a rating. I would really appreciate it. Don't forget, you can support this podcast with your book purchases at payhip.com/booksbydlwhite by spreading the good word or joining the newsletter or the Substack. Links are all on my website atbooks by dlwhite.com/linkinbio. You can also, lastly, but so much so much more importantly, throw some coins in the hat at bookcast.busroute.com. You can also subscribe to the short fiction substack.

DL White [00:22:38]:
It's short fiction by dealwhite.substack.com. Either way, it supports me. It supports the podcast. Thank you so much to my monthly supporters there at buzzsprout. I really appreciate you all because every little bit really, really does help. This book cast is written, produced, and edited by me, d l White. Our theme music and any sound effects are provided by Pixabay. I will be back next week.

DL White [00:23:04]:
I cannot tell you what day

DL White [00:23:06]:
I will be back, but I

DL White [00:23:06]:
will be back. Until then, please enjoy your week. We'll chat again soon.