Bookcast Episode 129: Dispatch from the Sick & Shut in List

Welcome back to The Bookcast! I’m finally on the mend from The Ankle Incident. I’m back on my feet—slowly, but surely. This week’s episode is a quick check-in to catch you up on my Glocktober reading, what I’ve been watching, and where I am with writing and audio projects.

In this episode: 

• My GLocktober reading streak continues! I’ve finished The Plea, The Accomplice, The Scammer, and The Widow, and I’m currently reading Two Kinds of Stranger by Steve Cavanagh. The man owns my TBR this month.
• On the TV side, I’ve been binging The Diplomat Season 3, Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter, Wayward, and My Father, the BTK Killer on Netflix, plus Elsbeth, Matlock, Watson, Tracker, The Rainmaker, and Brilliant Minds on network and streaming.
• Writing-wise, I wrapped up Decorative Gourd Season (my cozy fall novella) and Layover (a holiday romance novella). Both are cute, steamy, and low-angst. The perfect way to end the year.
• I talk through my upcoming audio projects: getting Home for the Holidays recorded so the whole Potter Lake series will be available in audio, plus plans for Missing Persons and maybe a re-record of The Never List.
• I’m hinting at a couple of events coming up: one in December and another mid-year. Details coming soon!

Transcript

DL White [00:00:00]:
Foreign hello. Hello everybody. My book pals, my book friends, my book hearts, book fans. Welcome back to the book cast. This is my platform for sharing short fiction and updates on reading and writing and life as a self published author. I am your host. I am DL White reporting live from the Sick and Shut in list. I'm actually feeling so much better today than I was last week.

DL White [00:00:44]:
The ankle incident, as we shall refer to it today, it's healing. It's actually kind of itchy, which I guess is a sign of healing. I'm walking fine. I'm not moving too fast. Not running any marathons anytime soon. But the swelling is pretty much gone. The bruising is fading and I do keep it wrapped just, you know, to kind of keep it still. But I'm making it.

DL White [00:01:17]:
So it's been pretty much a chill week. I was able to stay home Monday and Tuesday. I worked Wednesday and Thursday and then Friday back home again. But Friday had a dentist appointment so I had to get out and be up and on the the ankle. And so it was a little bit angry. But you know, I'm making it. Let this just be a lesson that we are not as agile as we think we are. So I spent a lot of downtime this week, kind of like staring at the computer and looking at the tv.

DL White [00:01:52]:
This is going to be another quick and dirty shot. But I didn't want to miss another week. And I do have books to talk about, a little bit of book news. So instead of doing the usual beverage break because I forgot to bring my beverage into the booth because I have to suffer, so do you. No break today. Let's hop right into the book report. I believe I have like six books I have read in October. I don't know how many I read this week, but let me roll on back.

DL White [00:02:25]:
I've had a little bit of a chaotic reading. It is Glocktober, which means I have been knee deep in cr in mystery courtroom chaos, you know, bad decisions made by smart or not very smart people. I am looking through my list here. I'm looking through my list here. That is 1-2-345-67-23456 books I have read so far in October with a long list of books I have planned to read for Glocktober. Currently reading Two Kinds of Strangers by Steve Kavanaugh. That is Eddie Flynn, number nine. To know me is to know I love me some Steve Kavanaugh.

DL White [00:03:15]:
Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh also fell for him just like I fell for Robert De Goni who is also really good in the like the legal thriller, courtroom drama type situation. He also writes the Tracy Crosswhite series who is a investig. I love me some Melinda Lee and Kendra Elliott who also write police procedurals and private investigators. It's just a little bit of an obsession of mine in case you haven't tell considering I wrote one Missing Persons. Go buy it. Read it now. Put it into your face.

DL White [00:03:54]:
I am at 137 of 175books read for October and I am two books behind if you can believe it. But I am going to catch up asaptually because I have a lot of books on my list that I need to get is look at the Glocktober reading challenge list. I Had Good Intentions by Brandon Massey Tall Cotton by Katherine Tucker. I don't even know what that book's about. It just looked good. So I put on the list the Cross by Steve Kavanaugh Twisted by Steve Kavanaugh the Liar by Steve Kavanaugh which I was trying to find, but I think it's either I think that one is coming soon because I can't find it. 5050 by Steve Kavanaugh Kill for Me, Kill for your by Steve Kavanaugh, which I think is coming up next for me, the Plea by Steve Kavanaug, which I read. That was so freaking good.

DL White [00:04:45]:
So freaking good. Every Steve Kavanaugh books book starts with Ain't no way bruh. Ain't no way you're getting them off. And then by the end of the book I'm like, dang it, Steve got me. Also finished the Accomplice, which was also really, really good. Did I say the. Yeah, the Plea, the Accomplice, really good. The Scammer by Tiffany D.

DL White [00:05:06]:
Jackson, which I really enjoyed. And the Widow by John Grisham which I mentioned last week. I'm surprised that it was actually very good. Color me surprised. So yes, I have already knocked out four from my Glocktober list. A really solid showing midway through the month. Especially since the Idea Flynn books are not short. Those audiobooks are like 10 hours long.

DL White [00:05:32]:
And so yes, I have sacrificed a lot of socializing and TV time to watch them, but I still got in quite a bit of screen watching and a little bit of wr. So have I left my house? No, you can tell. So this week a lot of my shows came back which made me delightfully, delightfully happy. Tonight the Tracker comes back. So I blew through. I think there's like two seasons up right now. I blew through those two seasons in just a few Days. Love the Tracker.

DL White [00:06:07]:
Really good. That's a CBS show. And then the Rainmaker, which I'm kind of watching. Kind of not like I'm just gonna like build up and bing. Same thing with Reasonable Doubt. I just need a few episodes to build up so I can watch like, you know, two, three, four episodes at one time. I cannot do a show week to week, but there are a couple of shows I am watching every week. Brilliant Minds, which I really enjoy.

DL White [00:06:32]:
Elsbeth Matlock and Watson are all back new, which just filled my heart with joy. I spent my Friday night just kind of catching up on all the new stuff that's been popping up. So really happy. Watson is immensely better than last year. I really wanted them to drop the Moriarty storyline and I won't spoil season one for you, but that did get wrapped up. But now they brought something else for season two and I'm like, this stuff is so. This is what kills this show for me. But episode one of season two was good.

DL White [00:07:08]:
I believe Watson is brand new tonight. But of course, I like to watch my Sunday night shows on Monday so I can watch them without commercials. So there's that. Also on Netflix. I'm so happy to report that the Diplomat season three is up. I have already watched all of the episodes. I think it's like six or eight episodes, y'. All.

DL White [00:07:34]:
The Diplomat is a show you've got to watch. Go back to season one because you have to watch season one and season two before you dip into season three. Season three is so freaking good. I can't wait for people to watch it so we can talk about it. All I have got to say is people are under underestimating Prime Minister Trowbridge. He is very orangey, if you know what I'm saying. Like, they keep treating him like he's normal, but he's not. He's not.

DL White [00:07:59]:
He's not. He's not. My God. Allison Janney is fantastic. What's his name from the West Wing. It's like a West Wing reunion. Bradley. Bradley something.

DL White [00:08:13]:
It starts with a W. His name will come to me at 3am Anyway, he's playing Allison Janney's husband. And just the way he brings this role to the screen is amazing. It should be a surprise to no one that Hal pisses me off. He still just does not listen. Just excellent. He's so good in this role. And of course our bae, Keri Russell, the other supporting cast.

DL White [00:08:46]:
There's like so many scandals happening in season three. Really fantastic. Really, really fantastic. So the Diplomat season Three. Of course I've watched it all. I'm just waiting for y' all to catch up. So catch up so we can talk about it. Into the fire.

DL White [00:09:01]:
The Lost Daughter is a documentary on Netflix. It's in two episodes. My God, it's so freaking good. It's produced by Charlize Theron, who I want. I want her to, like, produce more movies and more documentaries. It was just so well done. Had me on the edge of my seat. Just look it up.

DL White [00:09:24]:
Put it on your calendar. Just set aside some time. It is two episodes. One episode. One's like an hour or something, and episode two is 90 minutes, and it is worth every single second of your time. It is about a woman who discovers a child that she gave up for adoption turns up missing. And she had been missing 21 years when police contacted her because they needed her DNA to see if a body they found is actually her daughter. Water.

DL White [00:09:53]:
And then it just opens up a big old can of worms. My God, it's so good. It is so, so freaking good. Trust me on this. Very, very good. And then I started Wayward, which is a limited series on Netflix, because I saw my girl. What? Oh, what the heck is her name? Not Tandy Newton. Good gracious.

DL White [00:10:16]:
Oh, I'm gonna have to look this up, aren't I? Wayward TV series. It's a thriller series on Netflix starring my girl. Like, I love her, but why can't I remember her name? Toni Collette. Absolutely. Just good. But I'm only, like, four episodes in, so, like, don't take my word for it, but I love me some Toni Collette. Why? Why she doesn't have more awards, I don't know. But I love me some Toni Collette.

DL White [00:10:49]:
And then my father, that BTK kill, which was. Okay, you know, I'm kind of a little bit obsessed with serial killers, so if a new documentary pops up about, like, you know, Ted Bundy or, like, BTK or John Wayne Gacy or Dahmer. I did not watch the Dahmer series because I don't. I don't need to watch a drama about Dahmer, but this was a documentary about the daughter of btk. It was good. Not amazing, but, you know, it was good. I feel like, you know, I learned a lot about her and, like, her in relation to the notoriety of her father and the work that she's doing with, you know, victims and research. It was a good watch.

DL White [00:11:32]:
It was. It's worth your time. I wouldn't put it in front of into the Fire, though. I Would definitely slap that at the top of the list. So that's kind of where I've been TV wise again. You guys know what I say? This is what keeps me from doom scrolling. It keeps my mind busy. And so I just really kind of enjoy like putting the phone away, closing the laptop, turning something on, occupying my mind.

DL White [00:11:58]:
Plus, it keeps me sort of, you know, sharp in the mind of a person that wants to eventually write more suspense. I do not watch a whole lot of romance because I read a whole lot of romance. So I don't know, it just kind of, you know, it keeps my mind fresh, I guess. I don't know. On the writing front, I have finished my two shorts that I wanted to put out toward the end of the year. Both of them are like seasonal. One is, I'm calling it a Harvest Festival novella. It's four chapters and an epilogue.

DL White [00:12:39]:
It turned out super cute. It is pickleball related and I thought about changing the title is called Decorative Gourd Season. But no, I got the idea because I was listening to Smart Bitches podcast and she had mentioned how this one book should have been called Decorative Gourd Season. And immediately something started writing itself in my head and I said, I'm gonna write that and I'm gonna call it Decorative Gourd Season. And so I have. It's. It's, you know, it's words complete, but needs editing and finessing. I need to leave it alone for a minute.

DL White [00:13:14]:
I've already opened it up today and like futzed with the words a little bit and I had like a copy paste era error. So I had like two chapter ones, whatever. So I'm just gonna leave it for a minute and probably pick it up like midweek. Ish. And kind of dig into it. I need a little bit of distance. So I know what sounds good, what doesn't. That sounds really stupid.

DL White [00:13:37]:
Change that. So that. And then I have layover, which I completed. And that's more of a like a Christmas holiday. And I've been letting that sit while I worked on Decorative Gourd Season and going to come probably later November, like right after Thanksgiving. And so those two will close out the year. I'm very excited about them. They're going to be like, short, fluffy, nothing too dramatic, not a whole lot of angst, just a cute situation and sex.

DL White [00:14:09]:
So I know y' all will like that and be looking forward to it. I'm also going to try to get in this booth and do so. I did the audio for Calculated Risk earlier this Year, which I'm very happy with. I'm happy with how it turned out. So I would like to get missing persons out of the way and then possibly festival at Evergreen Falls. I think it is long enough for audio, but before that I was thinking I might do Home for the Holidays, which is like eight chapters or seven chapters in an epilogue. That way all of the Potter Lake series can be out in some form of audio. I do have, I have books one and three are out in audio.

DL White [00:14:55]:
Book two I read for the podcast so it would be available free. So book, I call it three and a half, but it may as well be four is Home for the holidays. And I think I might just kind of sit down and get that one knocked out. So I can say the Potter Lake series is all in audio and then I can do missing persons and then kind of work my way through the backlist. Deeply considering rerecording the never list for audio. I can take the audio from the I recorded it for the book cast and I can take the audio out of that and cut it. But I feel like I'm, I'm a better reader now and I do, I do a little bit better with the voice acting now and so I may, I may just go ahead and record that for audio. That way people don't have to dig through the podcast.

DL White [00:15:50]:
And as, as always when I'm doing these self narrated projects, they're very, they're cheap, they're under $10, they've been like $5. Because I'm still practicing at being a narrator. But I do want to get these in audio. Audio is more popular now than ever and so I don't want to wait until I have $20,000 to put my books in audio. I want them out now. And you know, my voice will work. Some people are like, if you're the type of person that will let you know your echo or whatever Alexa read to you, you're gonna want to pick up one of my audiobooks because it's a human voice reading it. So that's kind of how I'm planning on closing out the year.

DL White [00:16:38]:
I'm very excited. I may have one event coming in December that I last minute signed up on and then one event coming mid year after Black Roman Fest that is coming up. It's just popped up. No details on it right now, not at all ready to announce or talk about it. But I'm super excited about it. So heads up, ears open, eyes, you know, looking and I will have details on both of those events when I Am free to announce. So that is all the haps and excitement over here because I am a very food motivated person. I set up my dinner to arrive in like 45 minutes.

DL White [00:17:27]:
And I said, you get in that booth and you record a podcast and you get it edited and get it up before your dinner gets here. And so because I had a real quick and dirty update, I figured that would keep me busy. So. And it did. That is all I have for you today. I super, super thank you for dropping in to listen to me talk and navel gaze and hear the story about my ankle again and talk about TV shows and books. I'm honestly, life is very good. I'm enjoying, I'm enjoying the house.

DL White [00:18:03]:
Fourth quarter is very busy at work, which makes the time go by super, super fast. So I'm just, I'm just, I'm at the point where like, I'm just trying to find joy and create joy in my life and like, you know, whatever I have control all over. I'm just making sure to not make me miserable, you know. So that brings us to the end of today's show. Again, thank you so much for joining me. Thank you so much to my supporters over at Bookcast Buzzsprout. Is it Buzzsprout Bookcast? I think it's buzzsprout.bookcast.com Anyway, thanks for your support there. I so appreciate you.

DL White [00:18:42]:
You keep the lights on and that mic open. Anybody looking for books, please hit booksbydlwhite.com link in bio. You'll find links to almost every gosh darn thing I'm doing there. I do try to update that as often as possible. So if you're looking for something, check out my links page and follow me on the socials. I'm @instagram authordlwhite. Also on threads at under author underscore. DL White.

DL White [00:19:11]:
I am @blue sky @author DL White or no blue sky, I'm@booksbydlwhite.com and also Facebook @books by DL White. I do have like a little like an, like a author account and author page. So I am DL White on Facebook as an account. Books by DL White on Facebook as a page. I am on TikTok. I don't really post much there, just mostly reposts from Instagram. So I don't do much there but look at videos of cats. So that'll do me.

DL White [00:19:46]:
Thank you for dropping in and I do believe I will be back next week. Until then, find something good to read and put it in your face. Bye. Free audio post production by alphonic.com but.