Bookcast Episode 118: I Watch A Lot of YouTube.

Today I'm sharing my current reading progress, talking about my YouTube problem (it’s not actually a problem), I give an update on my writing projects (I ain’t talmbout nothin’) and discussing my approach to treating writing as a real job. Despite my busy work schedule I made time to connect with you all and update you on my author journey.

Find full show notes on my website at booksbydlwhite.com/bookcast/118 .

Transcript

DL White [00:00:14]:
Good afternoon, everybody. Hello. Hello. Hello. Welcome back to the BookCast. This is episode one eighteen of the BookCast. 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 am your host, DL White.

DL White [00:00:36]:
I'm an Atlanta based author of numerous novels, short stories, fan fiction works. I think we have worked it out to 18. I have 18, not including the, the newsletter short that isn't available, anywhere else and Clover, which is only an ebook and not available outside of my website. So that's that's what we settled on, 18. So if you like this podcast and you want more of it, showing your support is super simple. The very best way to support your local independently published author is to buy the books direct. I offer ebook and audiobooks most at better than retail or pay what you want prices at booksbydlwhite.com/shop. I also offer print editions via my bookshop.org page, and I do earn affiliate fees, on that shop.

DL White [00:01:31]:
So shop to your heart's content. Books ordered from Bookshop support your local indie bookshop and me as an author and not a billionaire. And I super like that. I have been traveling for work and doing two to three day meetings and lots of stuff happening with this whole, government business and tariffs and whatnot. So work has been busy. I think we have had a tariff meeting every week since the January, so that's fun. On top of that, this is our busy season. Then we slow down a little bit for summer, because some of our partners don't like to meet in the summer, And then we jump back into it in September with, travel meetings and big two day meetings.

DL White [00:02:13]:
So busy, busy. So I have it away from the podcast, but I made a point to set aside time to prep and get on this mic today. So hi. Hello. How are you? Good to see you. I am happy you are here. Let's go ahead and dig in. Today is Sunday, 04/27/2025.

DL White [00:02:31]:
It is a sunny, sunny day in Atlanta. I have a mic, and I am ready to dig in. But first, join me for a brief beverage break. All right. All right. We are back. That was super refreshing. I actually just made my beverage right before I recorded.

DL White [00:03:05]:
It's my, it's my go to drink right now. I just take, like, a half a bottle of smart water, a little bit of crystal light, or I'll do a, like a power aid zero fruit punch or, body armor fruit punch zero or Minute Maid fruit punch zero. Add that in and then, mini can of Sprite zero, just to give it a little kick, a little, you know, a little flavor, a little bada bing, a little, you know, who's the what's it, dress it up a little bit, make a little commotion for the drink. And, that does give it just a touch of fizz, makes it more exciting going down. Apologies. If you can hear, people cars driving by, if you can hear the fan, my windows are open. It is hot up in here. So I'll try to cut out any noises that I can, but, that's what I've got going on here.

DL White [00:04:02]:
Let's get going with the book report. I am at 63 books of my goal to read 175 books in 2025. That's right. I did increase my Goodreads goal. I'm still eight books ahead of schedule, 36% to my goal. And reading has been really slow this week. So that's why I'm only eight books ahead, but, I like being ahead. I don't mind being ahead.

DL White [00:04:28]:
It gives me like a little bit of wiggle room, so I'm fine. Books I have read in the last two weeks or since we were last together, five dates by Alexandria House. That book is in the book base and HEA's giveaway that I am also in. I also read a book by Danielle, but it's not on Goodreads. And so, of course, I now can't remember. I think it's called Luxury Experiences, but it's not on Goodreads. So I can't count it. I'm very stressed out about that.

DL White [00:04:58]:
It'll be on Goodreads probably in the fall, but, so I'll catch up to it later. But, yeah, I'm very stressed out about that. And then something on the inside of poetry collection by Karen Talley. I did, finish that poetry collection. It's a really beautiful, beautiful collection, and I am not a poetry gal. So that tells you how good the collection is. Really enjoyed that. Baking bad, a sweet crumbs bakery mystery by DL White.

DL White [00:05:27]:
You might have heard of her. This was a pretty cute, like, five chapter 10,000 word little ditty. It's, it's probably closer to a thriller than a mystery, but there's no dead people in it. So I'm just calling it a mystery. It's probably like a cozy thriller, if that makes sense at all. It should probably doesn't, but I'm I'm averse to calling this a thriller, even though it's it's it's it's closer it's closer to a thriller than a mystery, but I'm calling it a mystery. And then I read or listened to Biblio Therapy in the Bronx by Emily Rumble. I had an audio book, an audio arc of this book, and it was really good, as far I mean, I'm I'm not a big I'm not big on nonfiction.

DL White [00:06:16]:
It was a little memoir, a little bit of nonfiction, but mostly about how we use books to heal trauma. And it was super good. It was just very well informed. It had great, you know, examples and, also exercises at the end of each chapter to sort of guide you along to the work. Super good book. I think, I think Emily should create a workbook to go along with this book. It would be great to, like, work through the examples that she is talking about, the, the the approaches and the theories. And then she talks about them, and then she's like, okay.

DL White [00:06:49]:
Now do this. She could definitely have a workbook to go along with it. So I think that would be a great idea. I am currently reading People of Means by Nancy Johnson. I don't know why it sounded good, so I put it on my Libby list, and it came up. And I was like, hey. Let's go ahead and borrow this and read it. And so I have that audiobook.

DL White [00:07:07]:
I have about 60% through Ignacio, which is family ties book five by Delaney Diamond. You guys know I'm a big Delaney Diamond fan. If she puts out a book, I am going to read it. I also have an arc of her next novel. It's a harlequin suspense harlequin romantic suspense novel. I have forgotten the name, but I I will later look it up. But, I'm looking forward to getting to that one. I just wanna it's out, at the end of, like, May, I think.

DL White [00:07:33]:
And so, I wanna wait until a little bit closer to release date before I dig into that one. Same goes with August Lane by Regina Black. I have this, but it's not out until July. So I'm not in a huge hurry to read it, but I do have it, so I won't forget about it, and then it'll sneak up on me. And then I'll have to read it in a hurry to get the the review out. So those are the three I have on my plate. Of course, I have, you know, 43 other books to read in the book base and AGAs giveaway. A lot of them aren't on Goodreads, so I'm not gonna be able to count them until later this year.

DL White [00:08:07]:
But I know I have Rhys Ryan has one that I wanna read, and, I saw a couple really good ones today. I was putting together a promo for that, for that giveaway, and I saw a couple more other ones that, I want to download and put into my face, and I shall. So I titled this episode, I watch a lot of YouTube because I do. I and you just never know what I'm watching, but I mostly I don't really watch TV. I watch specific shows on streaming after they have aired, so I don't have to watch commercials, and I watch YouTube. So I just went through, like, my history, and let's just talk about what it is I've been watching. Scott Evans runs a show, not Chris Evans' brother, Scott Evans, the black Scott Evans. You know what I'm saying? He runs, we talked I talked about this, the House Guest, interview podcast.

DL White [00:08:57]:
I really, really enjoy it. And, it the show won a Webby, which is really fun. So I watched she did a little announcement, a fun announcement that the show won a Webby. 10 books, I swear I'm reading very soon by a new YouTuber like within the last few years. His name is five, and his channel is called Lit Vibes with Five. And today he talks about 10 books that he is looking forward to reading, and he swears he's gonna read them, very soon. Then I watched a couple of episodes. I love, like, how it's made, like, how things are done, how does this happen? I told y'all the other week, I watched, like, an hour long documentary on the Atlanta Airport.

DL White [00:09:37]:
I was absolutely I was enthralled by the entire thing. So I watched a couple of things like how Domino's became the world's biggest pizza chain, spoiler, automation, how Qatar Qatar Airways prepares slow down. How Qatar Airways prepares 200,000 meals from scratch every day. Those are both on the business insider, YouTube channel. That is a thing that I watch. I also love the fifth estate YouTube channel. They're like a Canadian. It's like, Canadian twenty twenty.

DL White [00:10:11]:
I watch all that stuff. Then I watched, Living in Japan on a Low Salary, by Chatting Japan, that channel. And What is Hospital Food Really Like by NYT cooking? And then, of course, on Friday, I tune in live to the Friday Reads live, broadcast that's by Didi, other known otherwise known as Brown Girl Reading on YouTube. Then I watched Kearney, Caring Through Chaos, a journey with frontal temporal dementia by Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver. This is a podcast I typically listen to, but I've been watching it on YouTube lately because they have, their guests are on camera, which I really like. And I am, for some reason, very, interested in, all kinds of dementia. So I'm usually watching stuff on, like, Alzheimer's, frontal temporal dementia, all that kind of stuff. And so this was a really good episode on it's a it's a caregiver podcast about a woman who has been taking care of her her loved one with dementia.

DL White [00:11:16]:
And then I listened to I watched part of, Taryn and Tiffany were your girls. It's also a visual podcast, but it was a book club episode of a book I haven't read and I'm not going to read. And frankly, I just can't I'm not doing podcasts anymore where they just talk about white books because I'm not reading them. I don't I don't read them. I don't have much interest in them. You're not going to entice me to read them. So I haven't really been, like, listening to podcasts about those books. So, depending on what they read, I'm not gonna be tuning into the book club episodes because I don't be reading them books.

DL White [00:11:53]:
Then, author Rain, I forget his last name, but his channel is called Reading, Writing, and Rain. He finished his, book that he was working on, the lover boy series book one, and he's waiting on proof copy. So he was just talking about that. He did just get his proof in. That's a very exciting feeling. Like it never ever gets old to get a box and open it and see stacks and stacks of your books inside that box. Like, I really like that. So then I watched Scott Evans episode with miss Tina Knowles, who is Beyonce's mother.

DL White [00:12:28]:
She is on talking about her new book and telling a couple of fun stories about Solange and Beyonce when they were younger. It's a fun episode. Probably, I feel like Scott was trying to be respectful, to miss Tina and also, like, really kind of fangirling. So it I feel like it was much different than previous episodes, but still really good, a cute episode. And then, there's a channel that I had been watching for a few years, and then they stopped updating, and they have only updated, like, twice in the last, like, year or so, but the Frey Life with, Mary and Peter Fry. Anyway, Mary has cystic fibrosis, and she has been on this medication called Trikafta. And before she got on Trikafta, she they had moved to North Carolina near, I believe, Duke Hospital for her to be close in case she had to have a, lung transplant. And then she got on Trikafta, and her lung function has improved so much that she like, I don't know if she's not on the transplant list anymore.

DL White [00:13:32]:
But, anyway, Aleftrac, Aleftrac something, I don't know how to pronounce this medication, is the next sort of the next iteration of Trikafta, which is still on the market, but this is like Trikafta plus. And so she is going on that because her lung function started to drop a little, and she was on IV antibiotics for the first time in, like, five years. And so she's on this new drug, and she is talking about the last three weeks of test results. And then I watched two episodes of Honey Child podcast, which is, a podcast for women over 40, Reagan Gomez talking about reclaiming life and joy after 40, and then Stephanie Perry and Rashida on how to retire early, move abroad, and take back your life. So two people basically giving, advice on how to, how to set out that goal and how they did it. I watched an episode of IMO, in my opinion, with Michelle and Craig Obama, which I'm really enjoying. I'm very annoyed by the comments on each episode by the Michelle Obama is a man contingent, but I do see that they're sort of starting to taper off. So hopefully they will go the hell away.

DL White [00:14:48]:
Anyway, Taraji b Henson is on this week's episode. She opens up about burnout, boundaries, and healing, and, missus Obama talks about why she skipped the inauguration. Newsflash, because she can. Her job is no longer in the public eye, and so she don't have to do stuff she don't wanna do no more. And that's the thing she's not doing. And then Dabble is a writing software, and they have a podcast. I was listening to, an author talk about turning Vampire Diaries fan fiction into a career because as you all know, I am a fan fiction writer, and I have taken a few of my books and turned them into commercial fiction. So, that was interesting to me.

DL White [00:15:29]:
And then lastly, I watched sitting with the griots hosted by Sean Polidore featuring my friend, author Karen Talley. So that's like a literally just a smattering of what I was watching on YouTube in the past week. And then on Netflix, I watched American terror, the Oklahoma City bombing. That was actually really good, not better than the OJ Simpson episode, but was a good watch. TV stuff, kinda in and out with it because some shows are done for the year, like the pit, and some are on a hiatus, but I did catch up on Watson, the equalizer. There was no new irrational, Will Trent. I caught up on the last two weeks, Elspeth, and then there's no I think Matlock Matlock is done for the year. But I did catch up on the double episode last week, so that was fun.

DL White [00:16:30]:
Elspeth, I think that was the season finale, and the pit is done. I think the irrational has one more episode. I think equalizer has one more episode. I think Watson has one more episode before they're done for the year. And I also caught up on Papa's House, which was not renewed for the next year, which makes me sad because I think I think it's a better show than Watson, quite frankly. That's it on TV. And not really a whole bunch going on podcast wise. I didn't really pick up anything new.

DL White [00:17:02]:
Just the use, my regulars. I'm I've had a hard time keeping up with podcast this week because I have been out of town, and I just haven't had time to, like, do busy work and read podcasts. On the writing and publishing front, let's talk about anything new. Of course, baking bad is out. This is just a shorty. I felt like writing. I don't wanna call it a thriller, so I'm calling it a mystery even though it's closer to a thriller with no dead people. Is it, like, cozy thriller? Is that a thing? You can grab that at my store or at your favorite retailer.

DL White [00:17:32]:
Pick up the links at booksbydlwhite.com/bakingbad, or you can search dlwhite on your favorite retailer, and it should pop up. I did finally join crime writers of color. I know Robert, is jumping with joy, just rejoicing all over the place. Although I've been a little shy about talking in there because I am not a crime writer, I'm mostly just fangirling, but I every day, I get a digest of whatever they're talking about in there, and, it's good times. It's good times. Preorders for Black Romance Book Fest have closed. I am gathering my list of books I need to order. And when the payment from Stripe lands in my account, I will be ordering what I need to fulfill those preorders than what I hope to, sell.

DL White [00:18:18]:
So I'm gonna order extra, and that's what I'll be bringing to the conference. I only have two hours of bookselling time each day, Saturday and Sunday. So I'm not gonna bring a ton of orders because I gotta I have to set up my table, sell for, like, two hours or one hour and forty minutes, and then bust down my table. So it's not gonna be complicated at all. Preorders for Indie Love, which happened in mid June are still open. Preorders for that event will close in late May, so I have time to order more books if I need to. The Ruby's hardcover that I did at lulu.com was rejected for global distribution, which means you will not see it at Amazon or Bookshop unless I figure out how to get the version I really like over to Ingram. The version I really like, which was done by On Press Printing, includes a printed, case wrap, so the actual book and the printed dust jacket.

DL White [00:19:13]:
And I can't figure out who I need to approach to make that happen for retailers or do retailers not do that. So, I think that for retailers, you can have one or the other, either printed case wrap or printed dust jacket, but you can't do both, which sucks. So I think I'm just gonna save the special edition to send out extra, send out direct from me, and I'll let people order a plain hard copy from Lulu if you don't care about the case wrap being printed. That one is cheaper, and I'll just restock on an irregular basis. So long as people keep ordering them, I'll find a way to get the very special edition up on Bookshop. I haven't touched anything else really except for fan fiction because I've been traveling and doing a lot of life stuff, but I have, updated the fan fiction project. It's been neglected. And, it was calling to me.

DL White [00:20:02]:
So chapters seventeen and eighteen of the music of my heart have been updated. I'm really happy with what's going on so far in that story. I'm not ready for it to end. So the ups and downs of singer songwriter Zoe Chapman and her former pop star mentor, JC Chasez, shall continue. Right now, I have her at this little, exclusive development retreat with Kelly Clarkson, which is a lot of fun. And then JC just showed up. So fun times. So today's episode won't be too long.

DL White [00:20:36]:
But I did wanna talk super briefly about treating your author business like it's a job. Like these past few weeks, a lot has been happening personally, and it has really opened my eyes to making this a thing I do not just in my spare time, but something I wanna do to make extra money. So I am talking to myself here about the principles of making your author business a real job. You I mean, first you have to show up, right? You have to show up for yourself, just like you wouldn't skip your day job because you don't feel like it. You show up for your author job as well. And I would say I have a pretty good I'm pretty good at showing up. Like I, you know, I sit at this desk and I do author stuff and I write when pretty much when I need to, except for this weekend, I didn't just didn't get to it. But your writing business should have the same level of commitment as your day job.

DL White [00:21:26]:
I started I have blocking time on my calendar, like an actual time with myself where my only job is to write or to edit or to handle the business side of things. It still tends to be on the weekends, but I have a list of things I have to get done today. No social media outside of, like, author stuff. No, like, a quick email thing. Just I just need to focus on the books. The pages do not write themselves. I I can't stress this enough. The books don't write themselves and royalties don't generate from good intentions.

DL White [00:21:58]:
They don't you don't you don't sell anything by, I meant to finish that book or I meant to finish that chapter. Nothing gets sold from that. So show up for yourself. Next is having a, specified place where you work, where your body knows once you get to that place where you work. And here's the weird thing is sometimes I write at my desk, but a lot of times I write on my bed. So I'm not saying you need a fancy office, but you need somewhere that signals to your brain that this is where the work happens. I have written almost every one of my books or shorts sitting on my bed or on a patio at Starbucks. It clearly does not matter where I write so long as I have a place and a time and a routine that tells my brain we're about to get to work.

DL White [00:22:43]:
Maybe it's a corner of your kitchen table that you clear off every night. Maybe it's a desk in your bedroom where I am. Maybe it's a spot at your local coffee shop where you're you're likely to find me. The Starbucks at Paesys Ferry Road has a patio with plugs. Now I haven't been there since before COVID because they were shutting that down through COVID. So I haven't been over there in a minute, but wherever it is, make it sacred. When you're there, you're working. And that's that on that.

DL White [00:23:12]:
Structure matters too. I find that treating my writing, like shift work helps a lot. I know like from a certain time I am writing, so I have a routine for my weekends. My weekends aren't really structured, but I do know that at some point, I'm going to read a little and then I'm gonna write a little. So whatever I'm doing during the day, I get it done. But, like, around 04:00, I need to be in a book, and then my laptop needs to be open because I'm gonna be writing until probably about 8PM. Evenings might be for editing or marketing tasks. I I typically like to do my editing during the week because I can edit easier than I can write new words.

DL White [00:23:49]:
And then I save my energy for writing on the weekends. And then I do marketing mostly in the morning because I wake up with ideas about how to oh, let me do a video about this, and then I might actually lay in bed and do it before I even get up. Sunday afternoons could be for planning your week ahead. I like to do that in my bookish planner. I have space where I plan what I'm gonna read, what needs to be reviewed on Tuesday, when I'm gonna record the podcast, depending on what's going on at work, when I'm gonna edit, when I have to write, what my due dates are, when do I wanna have a certain thing done? The specific schedule matters less than actually having one, because without structure, it's too easy to let your author business become something you do when you feel inspired or when, I mean, which usually, for me means like never. Last part is to invest in your business. Real jobs require training and tools and resources, and your author business is not any different from that. That might mean buying writer software or paying for writer software.

DL White [00:24:53]:
I pay for Dabble, and I pay for what else? What is it? I pay for Dabble. I bought Vellum. It just sets me up for success, hiring an editor. I hired an editor last year, and that has absolutely changed, a, how I schedule, how to get my work done. Because if I'm gonna get it to her if I'm gonna get it to her to finish and have it released by a certain time, I have to I gotta count back from when I think I'm gonna get it back. So if I if I need it back to publish by July, I have to have it to her by May because she needs June to edit. So I need to know from her, are you available in June? Oh, you're not you're not available in June, but I could get you something either in July or May. Okay.

DL White [00:25:35]:
Well, that book needs to be done then in February because I need March to do my edits, and then I get it to her in, well, I need I need the book has to be done in April because I need April to do my edits, and then I send it to her. She has from May to June to edit that book because she needs four weeks, and then I get it back in June. And then from then on, I can I can publish it whenever I want? But it has helped me figure out what I'm gonna write during the year and when I have to get it to my editor, and it definitely wasn't like that before. I was definitely doing things all willy nilly. I, you know, I finish it. I run it through pro writing aid a couple times. I do my own editing, and then I let it fly, not on any kind of schedule or anything. So it does give me a little bit of, you know, a little a little a little kick, a little swift kick in the behind, a little get up and go about getting things done because I need to fit into somebody else's calendar.

DL White [00:26:31]:
You might have to invest in covers. I recently, had to think well ahead of time for the brunch out Ruby's tenth anniversary cover because I knew I wanted that to be special. And at the very last minute, I got a referral for an artist, and I commissioned a custom cover for that book in January. And that book did not come out until March. So you had those are things that you have to think about. For Home for the Holidays, I bought a cover for that book. For Hey Lover, I bought a cover for that book, and those are things that I often have them squared away before I even start writing the book, because I need I need something to spur me on. I need something to, like, give me ideas and give me energy and, like that kind of thing.

DL White [00:27:17]:
So you can bootstrap a lot in publishing, but if you're serious about growing as a business and as an author, you have to put some money about growing as a business and as an author, you have to put some money in to get money out. You have to think of it as investing in a business and not as an expense. All of my trips that I take, I treat them as as as, writing retreats. So I take my laptop, I take my iPad, I take all my notes, and I plan to spend a few hours a day looking at what I am what I'm gonna write, what I'm writing, try to do some brainstorming, what comes next in this story, how do I want it to end, all that kind of stuff, because it just is so much easier for me to concentrate when I'm not at home. The most successful authors I know aren't just talented writers. They are disciplined professionals who approach their work with intention and consistency. Consistency. Let me say it one more time.

DL White [00:28:12]:
Consistency. That's exactly what I wanna do and what I am planning to do moving forward. So I'll be able to share more about exciting things coming up that necessitate this change in outlook in the coming weeks. I'm so sorry to be this person, but I can't spill those beans quite yet, but they are literally coming, in like a month of like six weeks or so. I think that's it. So, yay. What I need to do now is, edit this chapter and get off of this microphone so that I can read a little and write a little. So I thank you for joining me for today's chat.

DL White [00:28:52]:
It's always a joy to open the laptop and turn on the microphone and share with you about what I'm reading and writing and watching and what I'm working on, what's coming up, what's going out. I welcome any comments or feedback you have at booksbydlwhite.com/bookcast/118 or on my Substack at authordlwhite.substack.com. You will find full show notes and the links to all other things I'll talk about if they're relevant and a transcript for today's show. Please share this podcast if you enjoyed it. If you listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or YouTube or Substack, give a girl a rating. Drop a comment. Let me know you're listening. I would really appreciate that.

DL White [00:29:32]:
Do not forget that you can support this podcast with your book purchases at payhip.com/booksbydlwhite or on my shelf at bookshop.org by spreading the good word to your friends and family, joining the newsletter or the sub stack. Links are on my website at booksbydlwhite.com/linkinbio, or you can throw some coins in the hat at book cast dot buzzsprout dot com, or buy me at coffee.com/booksbydlwhite. Thank you so much to those who are personally donating to the betterment of this podcast. And for me as a person, I really like that. I know that is a ton of links, but never worry. Never fear. All the links will be in the show notes. Thank you so much to my monthly supporters at buzzsprout and at, buy me a coffee.

DL White [00:30:19]:
I love you all so dearly. I do appreciate your support. The the book cast by DL White is written, produced, and edited by me. Our theme music and any sound effects are provided by Pixabay. I will be back next week in theory, but until then, please have a superlative week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, however short it may be, and we'll chat again soon. Bye bye.