Bookcast 124: Hard Re-Entry. I'm BACK!

Hey Book pals! 

I'm back after a brief hiatus with exciting updates! I’m recording from my new bedroom after successfully closing on my house July 23rd. I share the moving experience, celebrate my latest release, discuss upcoming events, and give you my current reading updates.

New Homeowner Life I closed on my house without drama and moved in immediately. I even slept on an air mattress the first night because I was so excited!  I'm working on setting up a proper recording studio in my office closet and creating a reading nook in my bedroom.

Missing Persons Release My new romantic mystery came out August 5th. This book took me forever to finish. I  finally figured out the ending thanks to a Bluesky conversation about missing persons cases. This book features Yvette Young from "Dinner at Sam's" and attorney Wesley Payne working together on a case while navigating their friends-to-lovers romance. Find this title in Ebook or print at bit.ly/missingpersonsDLWhite

Black Book Bash I'm thrilled about this conference in Jacksonville, Florida, October 1-3. Casey Kelly is organizing it with tracks for romance, general fiction, thrillers, young adult, and nonfiction.  I'll be doing panels and book signings. Preorders are open- check my links page! 

Reading Challenge Update I'm at 107 books out of my 175 goal for the year,  one book ahead of schedule! Recently loved "We Don't Talk About Carol" by Kristen Berry and "Too Old for This" by Samantha Downing. Currently obsessed with "The Devil's Advocate" by Steve cavanaugh.  

Future Projects   I'm taking August to rest my brain, then diving into Potter Lake 4: "Still I Rise". Aiming for an end-of-year release. Also considering a holiday short story if inspiration strikes. 

Social Media Updates I'm on Bluesky (my favorite), Threads (reluctantly, but that's where the book community is), TikTok, and Facebook. Never going back to X/Twitter. Find links to all my socials on my links page! 

Contact Information

• Website: booksbydlwhite.com
• Email: authordl at booksbydlwhite dot com
• Social media links: booksbydlwhite.com/linkinbio

Transcript

DL White [00:00:00]:
Foreign. Hey friends. Hi. Hello, it's me, D.L. white. I am back. I'm back y'. All.

DL White [00:00:24]:
Welcome back to the Bookcast. This is my platform for sharing short fiction and updates on life as a self publisher, published author. My headphones are screaming at me that there's low battery. So we're gonna make this quick and dirty. I don't have a rundown, I don't have a list of anything. I just was supposed to be back to the podcast last week and I completely spaced it because I was busy doing stuff and I just decided today that has to happen. I have to get on the mic and, and we'll just gonna do a hard reentry. I'll give you a little bit of an update on what I've been busy doing and then next week we'll be back on track with the podcast.

DL White [00:01:08]:
I don't know what episode this is. I'll figure it out after I'm done recording and I have this all edited and uploaded. But yay, I am here. I am back. I know it sounds like I am transmitting from the bottom of an empty orange juice can. It's because I am in my bedroom which is a bit sparse, like there's stuff but it's not quite, it's not quite as. I don't know what is the word for it. Nothing's softened in here, so it does sound very empty in here.

DL White [00:01:41]:
That will be corrected once I am in my actual recording space which is a closet in my room. But I am here in my house. I closed July 23rd. Everything went off without a hitch. Everything was beautiful. I had my final walk through in the house, got went through everything, then I closed and then I immediately came back here and moved things in. I had a blow up mattress that I slept on the first night. I was definitely sleeping in my house on the first night.

DL White [00:02:13]:
And then on that Thursday I got up and went over to the old house and went through some things to finish up the packing and got all moved. Met the movers at like 10 or 11. Took like three and a half hours. I keep kept telling myself I don't have a lot of stuff, but I actually have a lot of stuff. I have a whole house full of things that was all shoved into a bedroom because I had like my room which was sizable with you know, a queen size bed and dressers and nightstands and what have you. But I also worked in that room so I had a stand up desk and you know, a little six foot or four foot table and bookcases and Whatnot. And I had my exercise equipment. I have an exercise bike and I have a truck treadmill and a stair stepper and I have yoga stuff and I had a walk in closet.

DL White [00:03:05]:
So I have all my closet stuff and I have my own bathroom. So I had more things than I counted on having but got all moved in. So I'm here. I've been here a couple weeks. I'm extremely happy. Everything's going great. My garbage cans were delivered yesterday, which is a feat at a milestone I have. You know, I only had to buy a washer and dryer.

DL White [00:03:31]:
Everything, everything. All the other appliances came with the home. So extremely happy there. I almost had to buy a refrigerator, but ended up I didn't. Someday I will tell you all that story. It's kind of boring but also kind of funny. So I am. I'm here in my bedroom.

DL White [00:03:49]:
I decided to just sit on my bed and record like I used to do. I could go in my office, but didn't feel like walking down the hall. I do have a little space that is set aside in my office. My closet in there. I'm gonna soundproof that and get a desk and a chair and make that my recording space. I'll use that for my podcast and also for any of my audiobooks that I plan to self narrate a la Katie Cross. If you know her, you know she's been self narrating all of her audiobooks for quite some time. And I believe that is the RO that I am going to be taking because I cannot afford Wesley, Siobhan and Nadine Relay.

DL White [00:04:36]:
So that's how it's gonna go. I'm excited to get started with that. I'm probably gonna hope to get into that maybe in September and possibly have an audiobook ready before I head out to Black Book Bash, which is a big old book conference that is put on by Casey Kelly. And you know her from the Collective Curates. They did two of the Author stage at ESSENCE Fest, which was really such a great time. Honestly, the only reason I went to ESSENCE last year was because I knew Casey and her team were putting it on and it was going to be stellar. And it was. And this year she did not do the ESSENCE stage, but she decided to bring her talents to her own book conference.

DL White [00:05:22]:
So I'm wildly, wildly excited about this because it's a whole bunch of different tracks. So not just romance authors, but we've got some general fiction authors, some thrillers, some young adult tinged authors. I'm just, I'm excited. I'm wildly, wildly excited. I think there's also a nonfiction track. So I'm excited to meet Dr. Black and Dr. Ian Kelly.

DL White [00:05:50]:
It's just going to be a wonderful, wonderful time. And another cool thing is that I got together with my cousin last night for dinner and we haven't been close in recent years, but the more we talk, the more we realize that we are so much alike. Our dads are the two remaining children in the family. And so she was in town for a training and we got together last night for dinner. Had such a wonderful, wonderful time. But I was telling her about Black Book Bash and she's like, oh, I could come to that. I'm not far. I'll fly.

DL White [00:06:25]:
And so she texted me this morning that she got her ticket and she booked her room. And I'm so excited. I'm just, I'm jacked. So, yes, I'm gonna be at Black Book bash in Jacksonville, Florida, October 1st through the 3rd. Come through if you are in the area, around the area, can get to the area, get your tickets before they sell out. It's gonna be at the Hyatt in Jacksonville. I am really, really excited. I will be there.

DL White [00:06:51]:
I will be signing books. I will be on panels. I will be there freaking out over Kelly Garrett and Brandon Massey and Rachel Howzell hall and Wanda Morris, who I've met twice already. I just love, love, love her. Rhonda McKnight, who I've met already. Love, love, love them. Like there's so many amazing authors that are going to be there and so many that I haven't met yet. And so I'll be there.

DL White [00:07:16]:
I'm totes excited. Pre orders for Black Book Bash are open. You can find them on the links page on my website. It's booksbydlwhite.com linkinbio tap there. There you can also find latest novel which just came out this week on August 5th. Thank you so much. Hold for applause. August 5th is also my little brother's 50th birthday.

DL White [00:07:39]:
So everybody wish a happy birthday to Mike White. I call him Big Head, but he is a owner of a barbershop in my hometown. I'm so ultra uber proud of him. He shares a birthday with his son, so also drop down and wish a happy birthday to my nephew Justice. You know, life's just good for everybody. And I decided to go ahead and release that on my brother's 50th birthday. So I would never forget the release day of missing persons. But missing persons is out.

DL White [00:08:09]:
It's here I am Very excited about this book, not only because I started it 700 years ago, not quite that long ago, but long ago enough that I remember talking about this book with people that I haven't been in contact with for some time. I hit a wall with it, and I put it away, and I would drag it out every year to, like, add seven words to the draft and then put it away again. And I remember I was on Blue sky doing shenanigans, as I do, and I saw someone talk about a missing person in their family and where they found the person. And I was like, I. I know now how to finish this book. And I was very excited to dig back into this. Missing Persons is a romantic mystery. It's actually.

DL White [00:09:00]:
It's a love story wrapped around a compelling mystery of a man who disappeared more than three years ago in Georgia. If you are gone more than three years with absolutely no link to you whatsoever, you can be declared dead. And the missing man is due to come into some money. And his father has declared that unless he is found, his wife and children get no money. So find him or find a body. Somebody find my son, because otherwise y' all get nothing. And so now his wife, Angelica, is. What is the word? Compelled.

DL White [00:09:45]:
Energized, I guess, to find him. Because, no, nobody really believes that Edward's dead. But also, nobody knows where Edward is. And so Yvette Young, who is a private investigator that I introduced in Dinner at Sam's, comes back with her investigative agency, and she's hired by Wesley Payne, who is an attorney. And he hires Wesley to look for Edward or to figure out where he's at or, I guess, I don't know, find out is he dead or what. The thing with Edward. Not with Edward, with Yvette and Wesley, is that they served in the army together, along with Yvette's former fiance, Jason, who died in Afghanistan. And it was something that really tore her apart, and she was just really having a difficult time healing.

DL White [00:10:42]:
And you know how it is with a Friends to Lovers romance. One is always kind of hanging out in the wings and. And kind of, you know, hanging out in the cut, waiting for their opportunity, which I don't normally do. Friends to Lovers. But for me, the only way Friends to Lovers works is if one of them has always been in love with the other. My issue with Friends to Lovers is these two people who are practically dating anyway, pretending they are just friends. Like, we're just friends, but we have sex. Sometimes we're just friends, but we kiss.

DL White [00:11:18]:
We're just friends. But we live together. We're just friends, but we have keys to each other's apartments. We're just friends, but we can finish each other's sentences. Like the whole the subterfuge of we're just friends but bothers me about friends to lovers romance. Like, either you are friends, friends. Like friends don't kiss, friends don't have sex. Friends aren't like, parasocially close to one another, or one has always been in love with the other and the other knows it, but they're keeping that other person at arm's length.

DL White [00:11:55]:
And so one of them is kind of hanging out in the friend zone, and the other is keeping that other person in the friend zone. And so Yvette has been keeping Wesley in the friend zone, but mostly because she feels guilty about leaving her former fiance behind. And none of this is a spoiler. This is stuff that has been, like, talked about and it's kind of part of the romance trope. But anyhow, it's a friends to lovers. It's a workplace romance. These two have to work on this missing person's case. And the more they dig into this case, the more corruption they find and just the more complicated the case becomes, not only because where the heck is Edward? But also what the heck is going on between Wesley and Yvette.

DL White [00:12:50]:
And it's kind of one of those things where everybody knows except the two people involved that they belong together. Which I always like. That kind of dynamic when your whole orbit is like, thank God you guys finally woke up. That's the kind of thing that I really love. So Missing Persons is out. I will talk about first week sales, or first couple week sales, et cetera, next week. But I do know that it's out in ebook just about everywhere. I need to check all of my links, but the majors are up.

DL White [00:13:23]:
Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google Play. My store. It's all up in ebook. And then I just discovered this morning that it is out in paperback. Barnes and Noble has it. The cover's not quite up yet, but it is available for order via Bookshelf, which means you can go to bookshop.org and you can order it up and your favorite local indie can snatch that up and send it out to you, because it is up on Ingram. So I always publish my print and most of my ebook through Draft 2 Digital, and they get everything up lickety split and then I get links and all is good. So if you head to booksbydlwhite.com missing person, you can get that book in ebook or print.

DL White [00:14:15]:
You can also add it to your storygraph or your Goodreads and you can read a sample if you need a little taste of Wesley and Yvette. I am wildly, wildly excited and happy that this is out. And I'm trying to just give my brain a breast, a breast, a rest for August. And then in September, probably, like, I don't know, mid September, ish, I'm going to be jumping right into Powder Lake 4. I have some of that written. I kind of don't like what I have, but, you know, I would rather have something on paper. Like my old. One of my old bosses used to say, give me something to hate.

DL White [00:14:50]:
And I don't necessarily hate it, but I just, you know, as I go through things and I set them down and I pull them back up later, I have more distance and more perspective on the work. And I know now what needs to happen for it to level up and for it to be what I want it to be. And so I have to get through Powder Lake 4, which is called Still I Rise. And I'm excited about that one because it's gonna be like a real, like, late fall, early winter feel. I think the goal is to have it done by early November or the end of October at the very least, so it can go into editing in November and be out by the end of the year. And I do need to think about, am I gonna do a holiday short this year? Like I want to, but I have zero. So if there is something that is burning in your spirit and you think I can write it, shout me out A Holler author DL@booksbydlwhite.com or hit me up on the socials. You know, I be out there.

DL White [00:15:55]:
I am on Blue Sky. I am on. I was really trying not to be on Threads. I was really trying hard not to be on Threads. But all of the book festivals that I am joining, they are all only updating on threads, like Threads in Instagram. Nobody's at Blue Sky. I love Blue Sky. It's so calm and peaceful.

DL White [00:16:16]:
I'm never going back to X, formerly known as Twitter. But I need to be around my peoples. And Threads is hopping a little bit. So I've been on there, really, just trying to duplicate what I'm doing at other places. Just trying to be in a place where the readers are, where the authors are. So threads a little bit on TikTok and Facebook. So if you need me, that is where you can find me. Of course.

DL White [00:16:43]:
Do you know where you can find the links to all of those booksbydlwhite.com linkinbio I was gonna. I'm not gonna go through and review all of the books that I read in June and July because I don't feel like it. I am doing pretty good for August. I'm just looking at my Goodreads here so I can give a quick book report on where I'm at with my chall challenge, what I'm reading, what I'm gonna be reading, where I've been. I am at 107 of 175 books I plan to read in 2025. I'm one book ahead of schedule. So life is really good. In August I have hold please.

DL White [00:17:29]:
In August I have read Icing on the Murder by Valerie Burns. I got that in ebook. I. I think I'm done with this series. Like she might, she might put out more and I will buy them but not read them. I'll hold them for like when I just need like a cozy. But I. I think I'm done with the series.

DL White [00:17:52]:
We Don't Talk About Carol by Kristen Berry. This is really, really good. This was a debut and it was really good. It was pertinent to my missing person's interests and it's just super good. I'm not even gonna tell you a lot about it. It is super good. And I talked to my cousin last night and she had just listened to this one and also agreed that it was really good. And then Missing Persons, a young A Young Investigations novel.

DL White [00:18:17]:
You may have heard of that one. I heard it was really good. Early reviews are quite good for this novel, so I am pleased. And then I listened to Too Old for this by Samantha Downing. I love, love Samantha Downing's work and this book is just too good. It's just, it's just too good. It's about like a retired serial killer. And I love any book that throws a trope on its head.

DL White [00:18:46]:
Just like Danielle Allen's the Cask, in which you think the villain is one person, but the villain is actually the other person in this novel, you are very surprised at who the serial killer actually turns out to be. I thought it was very well done. And then Something in the Water by Phyllis Dixon. I saw her on Black Girls Collective. They have a book club that airs on YouTube and really enjoyed the episode. So I picked this up. The book is all right. It jumped around a lot.

DL White [00:19:21]:
I wasn't too big of a fan of the narrator, but it, I got through it and it was, it was an interesting Read. Yeah. And so I'm currently reading where is my Phone? I'm currently reading the Devil's Advocate by Steve Kavanaugh. This is a legal thriller read by Adam Sims, and it's darn freaking good. My goodness. My God. I, like. I really.

DL White [00:19:49]:
I just need to finish recording this podcast and get it up so I can get back to my audiobook, because holy crap, it is really good. It is book six in a series, and so I already know that I have to go back and read the first five in this series. So I'm really excited about it. The tagline to this book is he's won every trial because he's planned every murder. And that hooked me hook, line, and sinker. I'm in, like, Flynn in there, like, swimwear. That's what I'm doing right now. I am actually just waiting on a delivery of some things because I'm turning part of my room here into a reading nook, and I'm quite excited about that.

DL White [00:20:40]:
So I have my. I got my little bookshelf, I got some art up on the walls, and I'm just waiting for, like, my chair and my little table and my rug. And we're gonna have, like, a cute little reading nook in my bedroom. I'll be sure to post pictures on the socials me there. I think that's all I have for today. I just needed to do a hard re entry episode to sort of catch people up on all the wonderful things happening in my life. I am in my house. I'm quite, quite happy.

DL White [00:21:15]:
Most of the rooms. I mean, downstairs I don't have any furniture, so it's just basically boxes and things packed everywhere. But the kitchen looks okay. My bedroom set up. My office is set up. My exercise room is set up. Just. We don't talk about the closets.

DL White [00:21:32]:
Don't. Don't ask me about my closet. It. It needs. I'm gonna take the winter to get the closet together. You know what I'm saying? So I'm gonna take some time and put things together and get things exactly the way I want them over the winter. And then come spring, maybe I'll have a little shindig or I'll do a little, you know, virtual tour of the place. But I'm very, very happy, and this is just the best situation I could ever, ever be in.

DL White [00:22:02]:
And I'm. I'm just very happy to share it with everyone. So that is all I have for today. Thank you so much for joining me for today's episode. Apologies for the abbreviated nature. Abbreviated. Abbreviated nature of this episode. It was kind of all over the place.

DL White [00:22:21]:
I don't have a rundown. I have no idea what episode this is. I'll figure it out. But hopefully we will be back on track for next week. So I will see you then. Thank you everyone for joining. Thank you everyone for your support and for your forthcoming well wishes. And we'll talk to you next week.

DL White [00:22:43]:
Bye. Bye, Sam.