Speaker A [00:00:00]:
Hello. Welcome back to The Book Cast, my platform for sharing short fiction and updates on what I'm reading and writing. This is episode 46. I'm your host, D. L. White, author of contemporary, southern, and romantic fiction novels featuring black men and women. I'm also a big fan of books, so we usually begin with the book report, and then we talk about writing. I am currently writing Elysium a black diamond vacation romance.
Speaker A [00:00:27]:
That's right. I stopped calling it a novella because come on now, be so effing. For real. The l white. I can't write short. I don't know what I was thinking. This is not a novella. We'll talk about a little bit later, but I'm about halfway into the doc, and I have so much to go, and the word count is like, not looking.
Speaker A [00:00:49]:
Novella ish so let's be so for real. If you're new here or a seasoned listener, a bibliophile, or just looking for a good read, I hope you'll enjoy today's show. I am so happy to have your ears for this time, and I'm excited to share my love of reading and writing books with you. If you want to show your support for this podcast or for me as an author, you are most welcome to do so. Please visit my support site. It's bymeacoffee.com booksbydlwhite. You can offer a one time or recurring monthly gift, which is currently an attigirl show of support. It does not have rewards tied to it.
Speaker A [00:01:27]:
I thank you so much for your monetary and symbolic support. The other thing you can do is if you see my podcast posts pop up, retweet them. I like listeners. I mean, I don't be checking the stats or anything because I record the podcast to be recording it, but I would love it if more people would listen and let me know how you enjoy it. The other way you can support is to buy my books. Booksbydlwhite.com Books has all of the good stuff, including Brunch at Rubies. This is my official debut novel. It published in March of 2015.
Speaker A [00:02:01]:
And don't tell the others, but this is my favorite. I will not be taking questions at this time. Three friends, One City waning to exhale into a Brunch at Rubies is a tale of love, friendship, and unbreakable bonds between women who are like sisters. The women in Deborah Macklin's circle always compliment her on having everything they could want a successful career, a long marriage to an attentive man, and a happy child. However, none of them know the explosive secret that she keeps tucked away from everyone else. If it were to ever get out, it could shatter the perfect image she has crafted for herself, not to mention destroying both her marriage and her career. Maxine Donovan has worked tirelessly to obtain the life she believes she deserves, and she isn't sorry about it. But even with her accomplishments, maxine still searches for her significant other.
Speaker A [00:02:55]:
A breathtaking yet distant man has caught her eye, only he seems to be preoccupied with someone else. Will Maxine pursue this potential suitor the same way she's chased after everything else in her life? When Renee Gladwell left a life and a loving boyfriend to return to Atlanta, she was hoping to reinvigorate her father in Gladwell Books, a family owned bookstore. Four years later, she's mourning the diagnosis of Alzheimer's that's slowly making him forget his past, including her and the shop that's a long way from being able to sell. With her life seemingly stuck in limbo between caring for her dad and wanting something more, malcolm Brooks enters the picture and brings some light into her darkness. But it's not worth risking a friendship. Brunch at Rubies is book one in a growing series set in the heart of Decatur, Georgia. It is available in ebook, print and audio. And if you want to make me really super happy, you will go to payhip.com Booksbyd Ly and buy that book directly from me.
Speaker A [00:03:57]:
Take it from my hands. That puts the monies directly into my pocket with virtually no middleman taking 30% to 70% of the retail price. But if you prefer to buy them retail, they are there for your reading and listening pleasure. All my titles are available in ebook wherever they're sold. Amazon, Barnes and Noble. Nook. Apple books. Kobo books.
Speaker A [00:04:21]:
Google Play. They're also available via subscription sites like scribbed and Kobo. Plus, they're also available to request at your local library and online@bookshop.org. And resist booksellers. That's my little spiel that I'm trying to add into every show to talk about my books for. I would love to have a little gab session about each book, like a little book talk thing, q and A, what you call it? Yeah. At some point, maybe this summer or early fall, I would like to have a little chat about each book. I think that would be fun.
Speaker A [00:05:01]:
I've never really had a listener focused book talk about each book, so I think that would be fun. And I'm like, I'm working on book twelve. That would be twelve of them. I probably wouldn't do the shorts, but we could do series, I guess, or whatever, I don't know. Still thinking it through. We're on live TV, people. So today we'll start with the book report, as always, that I want to talk about progress on Elysium and the 20K in five Days Word Makers Challenge. Fun fact hey Lover was my 1st Days Challenge book way back in the day.
Speaker A [00:05:38]:
I want to say like 2019 ish. I finally finished and published that title in December of 2022. My, how time flies. Today is Saturday, June 10. It is 09:17 a.m. I'm a little behind because I got distracted by updating my categories in all my books on Amazon. That's totally something that I should do in the morning before I need to record a podcast and get it out the door so I can get down to writing. Yeah, this is the life of an author.
Speaker A [00:06:08]:
I am always distracted by writer admin. I could spend 40 hours a week on just like moving things around on Amazon. It is a sunny and not smoky day in Atlanta. I heard the smoke was coming, but I have not seen it yet, so I don't know if we're going to see it down here. I have a mic and I am ready to dig in. But first, coffee. And I invite you to come have a sip with me. All right.
Speaker A [00:06:49]:
Like I said last week, I do actually drink coffee during that break. I take like three big fortifying hot sips of coffee and then I'm full and I hiccup through the rest of the show. Little behind the carton action. There. We begin, as always, with the book report. Because I am a book head, I don't know why you would assume it would go any differently. I am always ready to talk about books. I have read 81 books of my challenge to read 100 books this year.
Speaker A [00:07:20]:
I suppose at no point in life am I ever going to slow down. I am 38 books ahead on my goodreads challenge. Can't stop, won't stop. I feel like my lead gets further ahead every week. Eventually, I guess I'll catch up. I don't know. Even with all the writing I did this week, I still read a bit this week. I read Silver Lining a Vacation Romance by Chastlyn Hamilton.
Speaker A [00:07:45]:
Let me tell you, this book was so damn good. So damn good. Have I mentioned this book was so damn good? It was so damn good. I really enjoyed I found it by accident looking for vacation romance novels. For research reasons, I'm writing a vacation romance and I found this. It was on audio. I dug right into it. It's so good.
Speaker A [00:08:11]:
It's not too long. I don't think it's a novella, but it's not too long. But it's not like cut the story right off here. Short really good. Chaplain did such a good job. I'm a fan. I followed her on all the places and I think I'm going to start reading her backlist. I also read all the Sinners Bleed by SA Cosby.
Speaker A [00:08:32]:
Another book that was so damn good. And I mean, listen, I don't even have words. Sean Cosby is probably one of my new favorites. Razor blade tears was good. Blackjack wasteland was good. All the sinners bleed was good. I have my darkest prayer somewhere. I need to get that red.
Speaker A [00:08:59]:
I've been holding it for no real reason. Sometimes I hold things because I just need a good book to have in the cut. I'm going to get that read because it's SA Cosby book I haven't read and that's not right. All the sinners bleed was so good. Now listen, if you've read Blacked Out Wasteland and you've read Razor Blade Tears, you know how Sean do. He don't hold back anything. He doesn't cut any corners. It's vivid, it's gritty, it's grizzly.
Speaker A [00:09:31]:
You need all of the trigger warnings, all of the content warnings. If you're a sensitive person, go with read with caution, go with God, cross yourself, et cetera. It is a gripping one. It is sort of a rip from the headlines type of deal. It's very good. It's very good. Can you tell that I really liked it? I don't know if I'm coming across. I also read Cookie Dough by Bella J.
Speaker A [00:10:05]:
This is also another it was kind of a vacation type romance. Not bad, not bad. I listened to the list by Mika James because it looked fun. It was a short one on script. I listened to it, just wanted to read something fun, so I did. And I also listened to Started From a Selfie by Nicole Falls. Also for research reasons, because this couple met well, they didn't meet online, but their relationship sort of developed online. She sees like a hell of good looking man at the airport and gets a selfie.
Speaker A [00:10:45]:
Is it at the airport? Maybe it's on subway. It's somewhere. I thought it was at the airport. I might be mixing it up with a different book. Anyway, she sees a hell of good looking man, takes a photo of him and posts it online thinking it's not going to get attention. It picks up, it starts to go kind of viral and people get involved and try to push them together. And it was a good one. It was a good one.
Speaker A [00:11:12]:
I listened to this one and the male narrator was not my favorite. He was either yelling the text or he was super monotone and it really did not do much for the book for me. Thankfully, Nicole Falls knows how to write and the actual text saved this novel, but the audio is not my favorite. I am reading this week The Edge of dawn by Beverly Jenkins. I started this one. This is a more contemporary novel and I've been loving her historicals so much that this one, being contemporary was kind of a jolt. So I started it and I'm like three or four chapters in, but I stopped it because I was sad it wasn't historical. I'm very silly.
Speaker A [00:12:04]:
I'll probably finish that one tonight after I am done writing. I also have on deck mules and men by zora Neil Hurston. I am reading that with the black reader experience. It's our little instagram book club led by Dr. Raymond Williams, professor Graystra, Rich and Kay the reader. That's going to be a fun discussion. That comes at the end of the month. The Stacks Book Club is reading Oreo by Fran Ross and I decided to go ahead and read the book this month.
Speaker A [00:12:35]:
I don't always read the sex club book pick, but I'm going to go ahead and read that and then I am reading If Only. I'm listening to If Only For the Summer by Alexandra Warren. That is also a vacation romance that I'm reading for research. So on the writing tip, the writing update is that I am writing. I am writing so much. I am writing so much. I'm actually super happy that the 20K in five days challenge has rolled around to be in June instead of May. I think it was like, in the past few years, it's been 20K in five days in May or something like that.
Speaker A [00:13:12]:
I feel like it was in May in previous years, but this year it's in June. It fell at just the right time. I have been writing, just trying to get, like, a good running start so I could jump into this challenge and be ready to really push the book. And I have really pushed this book. I am at 33,792 words, and I kind of figure I'm about halfway, like, in my little dirty outline. I do what I call a dirty outline or a skinny outline where I just kind of lined up what needs to happen in this book. And I have added some chapters, so my outline is a little bit off. But anyway, I have I figure I'm gonna hit between 50 and 60,000 words, which is a big it's a big gap between 50 and 60,000 words.
Speaker A [00:14:07]:
That's like a 10,000 word gap. But there's a lot of scene setting and set up that you have to do when your characters go to a different location. Black diamond is a character in itself, and I really need to set the scene. And The Pearl is like a world class, five star resort. I know people don't want to read a whole lot of description, but I got to slide it in here and out. I got to set the scene. I got to paint the picture. I want you to see their suite.
Speaker A [00:14:41]:
I want you to see the ocean. I want you to hear the waves. I want you to be able to picture this resort in your mind when you read it. The Pearl is also going to be the setting for the next book, which is called The Pearl at Black Diamond Bay. And it's going to feature the general manager of The Pearl and a person that he hires to enact the plan that Vance in Elysium is going to help them set up. And so I'm bridging between Beach Thing and The Pearl kind of setting up for the next book. I feel the need to remind people I'm not a series writer. We're writing a book in real time, and this is just my thought process.
Speaker A [00:15:23]:
So I have to set the scene. And so that takes up word count. Also, sex takes up a lot of word count. Good, meaningful intimacy. That's not just the old in and out and grunting and moaning and panting takes word count. It takes up space. I wrote their first, so let me just tell you all I just need to warn you all, this book opens with sex. Yes.
Speaker A [00:15:58]:
I have never done that before. I reached out to my friends and I said, hey, listen, help. Because I don't typically open my books with sex. I am a slow burn writer. I like to set your little status quo. Here's my heroine, here's my hero. And then they meet somewhere around the end of chapter two. And then they have to flirt and really like each other or not like each other, and they have to get over that hump.
Speaker A [00:16:29]:
And that's the usual cadence of a book by DL. White. This book is different because I don't want to write nine months of these two flirting with each other on Instagram. I'm not doing it. And so the book starts where they have already known each other, and they have to establish the relationship between Vans and Athena. This is what they do. They became friends and they started talking and they started emailing, then they started texting, and then they started FaceTiming, then they started zooming. And in all of this, they've become attracted to each other and they like to play, and they have been playing, and they're very comfortable with each other.
Speaker A [00:17:12]:
And so I need to set the scene that the relationship starts at a point and these two want to move it to a different point. And the course of the book is moving this relationship to a different point. And I've got to define where they're at so that I can define where they end up and the meaning behind where they end up and show how they got there. I like to show my work. So this is the first Word Makers challenge where I've actually covered a lot of ground. We are going into day four. We try to write 4000 words a day. That's the goal.
Speaker A [00:17:59]:
I mean, it's win or don't win. The goal is to write words and write words. I have I have about 8000, 8100 words, 8400 words, something like that. Right now, I should be over 10,000 words. But Thursday absolutely kicked my behind and I wrote 475 words that day before I passed out. So working and writing is not an ideal combination for you, girl. So that day was kind of a wash. And then I spent yesterday making up for Thursday, and now I need to spend today making up for yesterday.
Speaker A [00:18:35]:
I am really hoping to hit the because the overachiever in me wants that. And I will type until my fingers bleed to hit it, but if I don't, it's fine. The goal is to write words. So the Days challenge is a challenge that we do, I think, four times a year or three times a year. I think it's like the quarterly challenge, I think. I don't know. I log into the Word Makers website, like, maybe once a week. Don't hurt me, Tasha.
Speaker A [00:19:06]:
It is led by the great, great Tasha L. Harrison. You all know her because I never shut up about her books. They're awesome. You should read them. She's amazing. So the word makers is a writing group. It is encouragement.
Speaker A [00:19:21]:
It is accountability. It is writers talking about writing. We have this challenge where we just settle in and we gather twice a day to write together and then we talk about what we've written. Like I said, it's the first challenge where I'm actually covering a lot of ground and making words. Thursday I had a long full day. It beat my behind. I got in 475 words that day. I've been trying to make up ever since.
Speaker A [00:19:48]:
So I think I'm going to end up with about 15,000 words for this challenge, which is fine, but we're going for 20. So I'm going to make a do what it do, baby. I'm going to make a do what it do. Word to Jamie Fox point in time. I finally made it to black diamond. My couple have made it to black diamond. It was so amazing. And like I said, I'm working to set up the scene at the pearl.
Speaker A [00:20:14]:
It's taking a lot of word count. Also sex is making a lot of word count. I have written the first live together in the same room sex scene. You all it was fun. It was fun. I normally leave sex to the second draft because I just want to get the story out and then I can go back in and plus things up and remove that and move this and all that. But I'm just writing, just kind of writing right now. I don't think I'm going to be writing any sex today.
Speaker A [00:20:48]:
If the scene leads to a point where we need it, I'm going to just leave it for the next draft. Because while I need the word count, I more want to get to I just want to get the story on the page so I can then go back in revisions and add my particulars and plus up the scene and polish it and do my usual neurotic going over it and over it and over it. Like I said, good, meaningful intimacy takes word count, especially their first time in the same room. It can't be a drive by. I could not just cheap out on that scene. So I did go ahead and write that one. I did write a second one. They did just arrive on the island and they got to their beautiful suite and the scene wrote itself.
Speaker A [00:21:39]:
But it's really good. I got to think about real people at my age. Would they be RIT to go as soon as they meet each other because they're wildly attracted to each other? Yes, they would. So I had to go ahead and make that happen. I had to be so effing for real while I'm writing this. I love it so far. I really love it so far. And I am hoping that my audience loves it, too.
Speaker A [00:22:06]:
I did post a little sneaky. Sneak. It has already changed in the book. That scene has already changed. And so it is a very rough, unedited chapter. It's not chapter one, it's actually chapter three. Because chapters one and two is some fun. I'm very concerned about the sample that's going to post on this book.
Speaker A [00:22:30]:
Oh my God. Because chapters one and two are so much oh my God. I just thought about that. Oh God. Can I edit how long my sample can be? Y'all, I'm stressing out. I'm stressing out. I literally just thought about the sample because the sample is usually like the first few chapters. Oh Lord.
Speaker A [00:23:04]:
Oh Lord. I might have to stuff my front matter like all the stuff that comes before chapter one. Oh God. But you'll get a real sample. Like if you buy the book through book funnel, you can see the real sample. Oh God, I'm staring at my bobbleheads like they can help me and they can't help me. Oh God. Remember when I said I wanted to write like an adult gay? Wow.
Speaker A [00:23:41]:
Okay, moving on. Appearances next weekend. Next weekend. It's Juneteenth weekend. I will be at Resist Bookseller's grand opening in Petersburg, Virginia. If you've been following them, you know it's going to be a time I could not be more excited. I can't wait to see some of my favorite people and hug some of my favorite necks. I hope you all have your hugging arms on.
Speaker A [00:24:07]:
Just got mine out the shop. Yes. I use that joke again because it's funny. I will be signing books, I think around 01:00. So please come out. Come say hi. Stay for the fun. I think Demetrius said there's going to be some food and some music.
Speaker A [00:24:23]:
He got approval to shut down the street. So, y'all, it might be a party. It's going to be a party. I am very excited. I don't know if you can tell. I know I tend to be very monotone and unemotional. I just want you guys to know I'm really excited. So I ordered a few things and I unpacked my box day and I've got it.
Speaker A [00:24:48]:
I got them all set out in outfits. It's like the first day of school. It's very ridiculous. So I got to work on my hair. I don't know what to do with it. I'm so tired of hair. So that's my next goal, get my hair in order. So it's going to be a great time.
Speaker A [00:25:07]:
If you are anywhere near the area, please do come out. I would love to see you. I would love to give you a hug and sell you a book and sign it. Yes. So I have got a lot of writing to do and some reading. Yes. So I'm going to go ahead and shut my mouth. Ask your doctor if shutting up is right for you.
Speaker A [00:25:33]:
That brings us to the end of today's episode. I have so much writing to do. And I have to think about the sample of this book. Really? Chapters one and two are it's a lot for me. Like if you regularly read Alexandria house, it's not going to be a shock to you, but me, as far as I'm concerned, the way I'm set up yeah. Okay. I'm going to stop worrying. I'm going to do some writing.
Speaker A [00:26:12]:
I'm wearing my badass romance writer t shirt thanks to the inclusive romance project. I'll post a photo. Fingers crossed that it gives me words. Thank you so much for joining me for this very silly episode of the book cast. I will not be back next week because I will be meeting you because you're going to be at resist booksellers in Petersburg. Petersburg. Petersburg, Virginia. I'll be back the week after that with a reading update, maybe.
Speaker A [00:26:44]:
I have no idea if I will have time to read, but it will be a writing update because I will be writing today and tomorrow at least. Please enjoy your weekend. If you are in New York, stay your butt inside. Because the air quality I heard is a little bit better, but it's still real bad. Real bad. Get yo buttonhouse, but have a superlative week. We'll chat again weekend after next. I will not be here next week.
Speaker A [00:27:13]:
Weekend after. Bye.
