Bookcast Episode 52: Why's It So Spicy?

Welcome back, Bookheads!   On today's show, we'll be diving into some hot topics! I talk about how my Saturdays have evolved since rebooting the podcast,  the Book report, and if I'm writing at all. 

But the Bookcast isn't only about the laughs and thrills of being an indie author— it's also about important societal issues. I talked a bit about the booktok shenanigans ,  the fear of plagiarism among authors, the significance of extensive reading for inspiration and fresh ideas, and the vital role of having a distinct voice in writing.   Grab a beverage and maybe a snack for this chatty episode.

I talked about the following books on today's episode:

Out of Nowhere - Brown, Sandra
A Perfect Pairing - Lister, Sheryl
People Like Them (Obsession collection) - Kent, Minka
A Twisted Love Story - Downing, Samantha
Winds of the Storm - Beverly Jenkins
What Never Happened - Rachel Howzell Hall
Hey Lover
Beach Thing
Brunch at Ruby's 
Dinner at Sam's
Leslie's Curl & Dye
The Guy Next Door
A Thin Line
The Never List 

Chapters

• 0:00 Author's Writing and Podcasting Discussion
• 4:10 Promoting "Hey Lover" and Buying Options
• 13:51 Birthdays, Book Reports, and Cover Updates
• 29:06 House Party Brunch and TikTok Drama
• 32:48 Racism, Plagiarism, and Reading Habits

Transcript

DL White [00:00:00]:

Well, hello friends. Hi. How are you? I'm great. I'm actually great. I'm just remembering like my my Saturdays used to be. I would wake up whenever, get up, make coffee, come back up to my bedroom, pull out my Kindle, read some books, lay around until like ten or so, then get up and get dressed and do stuff. And then I have a podcast that I'm a patron, so I get to sit in for the live taping. And so we do our taping from like twelve to about 4430.

DL White [00:00:39]:

Then my Saturday afternoon after Saturday night begins, get some dinner, watch something on Hulu or Netflix or whatever. And now my Saturdays are like I go to bed at like a reasonable hour because I want to be functional in the morning. I get up around seven, I make coffee, I come back up to my room, I get on the computer, I start prepping, go through Goodreads and look through topics. I could really do that earlier, but during the week I'm working and so I don't feel like podcast prepping. So I get up and I do about an hour of prep and then pull out my personal laptop and pull up Riverside, which is where I record through, put on my headphones, plug in my mic, raise my standing desk so that I don't have to bend over into the mic. I open up my notes app and I have pre formatted my script for the week. That's why it sounds the same every week and it shake it up a little today, but that's why it sounds the same every week, because I have a pre formatted script and I just kind of fill in the script with, this is what we're talking about, and here's my links and all that stuff. I do try to write out what I'm going to say, otherwise I will ramble for 49 minutes.

DL White [00:02:00]:

And who wants to listen to that besides me? I will listen to me multiple times a week, to be honest, because I'm vain and I like the sound of my voice. I also like my books and my podcast, so I will listen multiple times a week. But other people have other things to do and they probably don't want to listen to 49 minutes of me rambling. Here we are. Welcome back to the bookcast. This is my platform for sharing short fiction, which I haven't shared any short fiction in a while, but I'll try to dig some up and updates on what I'm reading and writing. This is episode 52. I'm DL White, author of twelve contemporary, southern, and romantic fiction novels featuring black men and women.

DL White [00:02:50]:

I'm also a big fan of books, so we usually begin with a book report. Then we talk about writing or reading or whatever is happening in the world of writing. I told my friends yesterday the author world is actually actively hilarious, but only if you're really interested in what's happening there's sometimes drama, there's sometimes just ridiculous crap that's happening. So I'm going to talk about some ridiculous crap today. I'm currently not writing a darn thing. Not a darn thing. I haven't written anything except blog posts and emails, and I rewrote a couple of blurbs. So that's it.

DL White [00:03:30]:

I need my brain to rest because I am prepping to maybe write a little short for the Fan Fiction archive. We are running awesome August August Eigth through the 31st at Nsyncfiction.com archive. If you are an NSYNC fanfiction writer and you haven't written in a minute, put down 1000 words and throw it up there between the Eigth and the 31st. We miss you. Come back. And I'm pulling out all my stuff for my late fall release. It's called still I rise. A little ode to Dr.

DL White [00:04:00]:

Maya Angelou. Still I rise is like a bakery. It's Potter Lake's answer to the Cracker Barrel. So it's a restaurant on one side, like a breakfast brunch shop on one side and like, a little spot where you buy, like, knickknacks and newspapers and random crap on the other. So I think it'll be a fun one. I always say it'll be a fun one because I don't write any boring, terrible stories. They're all fun, cute, steamy novels. This will be a Potter Lake novel.

DL White [00:04:31]:

It's, Potter. Lake Number Four. Can I just remind you people I am not a series writer? Please stop asking for follow up novels, because when you do that, they start writing themselves in my head and then I have to write it and I'm upset about it because I'm not a series writer. Then I don't know, I might have a little in me for a holiday short this year. Maybe a visit to a previous couple for the holidays. What do you all think? What do you all think? Who should I revisit for the holidays? Because I could do a little, like, five chapters short. We'll see. This podcast is brought to you by me and my books.

DL White [00:05:10]:

Buy them booksbydlwhite.com slash Books has all of the good stuff, including this week's book, hey Lover. And this week during the Friday Reads chat, it was hosted by Jersey Femme because Dee Dee Brongo Reading is on holiday somewhere in the wilds of France. So Jersey Femme did such a great job hosting this week. I had a delightful time, as always. She asked if the title of this book came from Sex and the City, because there's a scene where Carrie looks at some shoes and she's like, hey, lover. And no, I've actually not seen more than four episodes of Sex and the City. I know enough to know that Carrie did Aiden dirty. I'm mad that he's back.

DL White [00:05:56]:

I heard that he's back and I'm mad. And also, I despise big to the ends of the earth so much that I hate Chris Noth. I try not to watch stuff with Chris Noth in it because I hate big. Anyway, I'm not that deep. This obviously came to me while I was listening to Ll Cool Jace Rock The Bells radio and hey Lover came on. And I just love that song. Voila book. Sometimes I get stuck on a song and a story starts writing itself.

DL White [00:06:28]:

And when I'm writing and I'm towards the end of a book, I just turn the theme song for that book on and I just play it nonstop until I'm finished. I hear that song, I think of that book, the Beach Boys. Don't worry, baby. Beach thing. Jodeci stay. Is the guy next door? Also, any New Edition song reminds me of the guy next door. TLC. What about your friends? Is obviously brunch at Ruby's Ying Yang twins Shake is dinner at Sam's because Vanessa used to be a stripper.

DL White [00:06:57]:

Get it? Yeah. Also, Pour some sugar on me. For no reason, I listened to Bobby V anonymous, nonstop while writing that little multi culty New Year's Eve short. It's free go to slash freebies and snatch it up tote's free. Go grab it. It's fun. Of course, all my books are fun. Anyway.

DL White [00:07:19]:

Ll Cool J hey, lover. Reminds me of this book. Hey Lover, let's talk about it. Switching over to my synopsis here. Struggle isn't love. At least that's what a broken Malik Hines told himself when he walked away from the love of his life just as her career was on the rise. With any luck, he would have time and space to dig himself out of a dark hole. Healing, rebuilding, launching his game studio and writing his premiere game took time.

DL White [00:07:47]:

Suddenly, it had been nearly a decade since they last spoke. Seeing her in the media stirs up a long harbored desire to reconnect, and Malik takes the biggest chance of his life. Could that door open again? After taking over her father's company, India Parker is on the hunt for the next big thing to push her company forward. In the background of her success, there is loneliness, longing and the feeling that there's a large part of her life that's been on pause. When a surprise gift arrives at her office, it reminds her of the man she used to love and would like to love again. The choice to open that door and press play is hers. This one's a shorty. It's like maybe like 50,050.

DL White [00:08:33]:

I think it's 54,000 words. It was published in December of 2022. This was the first book that I had published since The Never List, which I published in September of 2020. I could not go into 2023 without publishing a book. And so I did the days at the beginning of December, I just hit it with the running start. I pulled out what I started in 2019, just pounded on it during twenty k and five days. That was December? Yes. Twenty k and five days was in early December.

DL White [00:09:07]:

And then I just kind of pounded through it between the end of break from work and the end of the year. Halover is available in ebook and print. I'm not saying it's a bad book. It's a good book. I don't put out trash, I don't write trash, I don't put out junk. Could I revise it in a couple of years? Maybe? But also I like how it turned out. Select titles are available in ebook and print. Oh, I'm sorry, I needed to say that.

DL White [00:09:36]:

This title is available in ebook and print@booksbydlwhite.com. Heylover, you can also go straight to payhip.com Booksbydallwhite. Pick up all of my books in ebook, printand, audio. When you buy directly from me, that puts the money directly into my pocket with virtually no middleman, taking 30% to 70% of the retail price. Let me tell you, if you buy my book for 299 at Amazon, I get like a dollar 73. If you buy my book@payhip.com booksbydowite, I get like a dollar. No, I get like 203, something like that. I don't know, the math doesn't math quite in my head, but that's the difference.

DL White [00:10:20]:

Amazon takes 70% of the retail price. Pay Hip takes like 5% on a 299 book. Amazon takes 30% of the retail price. If it's under 299, they take 70% of the retail price. So all my books are mysteriously priced at 299 and above. Except for the shorts, they are always $0.99. But anyway, that's like inside baseball. Nobody cares, right? It's me, yammering for 49 minutes.

DL White [00:10:50]:

However comma, if you prefer to buy them retail, all my titles are available out in the world. If you are looking for print and don't need it signed, shop at Resist Booksellers caveat I may still have some signed copies in store. I did go there in June and sign all of the stock Demetrius had. So unless he has refreshed his stock, there may still be some signed copies you can also shop@bookshop.org. And a little hint there when you shop at Bookshop, they donate a portion of your payment to your favorite indie. So you can also support resist booksellers. When you add Resist to your bookshop.org profile and you buy that book at Bookshop, they send a portion of that money over to Resist. Isn't that neat? Or like basically your favorite indie bookshop? That's my favorite thing.

DL White [00:11:41]:

You can also do that at Libro FM. So I shop@bookshop.org, and I think it benefits resist. And at Libro FM benefits resist. So good stuff. You can shop your titles in e book wherever you buy your ebooks. I'm a Kindle reader, so I mostly buy at Amazon. Unless the author has the books for sale at their own store. My books are not for sale anywhere that I don't want them to be sold.

DL White [00:12:06]:

So you can shop your ebooks guilt free at Amazon, barnes and Noble? Nook. Apple books. Kobo books. Google Play. If it's for sale there, I want it to be for sale there. Buy it. I will say though, they are cheaper at my store by at least one dollars, except for the shorts, which are $0.99 everywhere. The ebook, the print, the audio, it's all cheaper at my site.

DL White [00:12:29]:

So it's a little more of a hassle because they are delivered via book funnel. The print comes when I feel like sending it, which is typically within the week that you buy it. I sign it. I throw in a little swag. If I got it, I ship it out as soon as I can. You don't get it Amazon fast, but it will be signed and you get some cool stuff and all my love. My books are also available via subscription sites like Scribd and Kobo Plus. And they're also available to request at your local library.

DL White [00:13:02]:

I would love to see my books on your shelves. If you see them on any shelf, take a picture, send it to me. If you have them on your shelves, take a picture, send it to me. I want to see them. I like it. It feeds my ego. Today we will start with the book report, as always. And then I want to talk about ridiculous author stuff.

DL White [00:13:21]:

Some authors behaving badly and some readers behaving badly. Me and then some other people. The streets have been spicy this week, so let's talk a little bit about it. I don't have a book to talk about, so that's what we're talking about today. Today is Saturday, August 5. Happy, happy happiest of birthdays to my big head brother, Michael. He is owner of Headhunters Barbershop in Spokane, Washington. I love you so much and I am exceedingly proud of you.

DL White [00:13:48]:

Happy birthday. Also to my nephew, his son justice, who is turning 22, I think. I don't know. I refuse to believe the kid is that old. He's like 9ft tall with facial hair, and I don't know how that's possible because it feels like he was seven years old last week. But apparently he has been like, I don't know, getting older and such. So yes, they share a birthday and that's fun. They're usually together.

DL White [00:14:14]:

They buy the same shirt and wear it all day and they go to lunch or whatever. But I think my brother's somewhere in Morocco. I don't know. He's somewhere overseas on an extended vacation. Last week he posted a photo of him trying to see the Mona Lisa. The closest he could get to it is like half a room away and it's tiny. I'm like, it just does not seem worth the effort. He is having a great time, and I hope he and my nephew are enjoying their birthday.

DL White [00:14:42]:

Anyway, on with the show. It is 09:26 a.m. It is gray in Atlanta. There's no sun. It's gray. I have a mic and I am ready to dig in. But first, coffee. I refilled with Bustello today.

DL White [00:15:16]:

The kick is kicking. Bustello is basically espresso, and it is espresso ing. The coffee is coffeeing. All those sayings I do so enjoy bringing this podcast to you. And if you enjoy it being brought to you and you want to show your support, you can do so with a one time or recurring donation@buymeacoffee.com. Booksbydl white speaking of coffee, your support helps to defray the cost of running this podcast and gives me a nice lift in the feels, feeds the ego. Thank you so much in advance for your support. Let's get to the book report.

DL White [00:15:58]:

Because I am a bookhead, I have read 106 of my challenge to read 150 books this year. I am 18 books ahead on my goodreads challenge. But let me tell you, I'm not even reading all that much compared to a couple of other bookheads I know. Like Nikki reads, nikki be reading the girls, they're reading print and they're annotating. I ain't doing a dang thing. I don't even want to hear it. I'm not doing a dang thing. I've been trying to change up my reading because I was reading a lot of romance while I was writing a romance and I'm basically tired.

DL White [00:16:34]:

And so I do like to bounce around genres and I want to get back into my mysteries and my thrillers. So let's see how I did this week. I listened to a twisted Love story by Samantha Downing. This is a new release for her. It was pretty good. It was actually darn good. The first 40% was slow and then I was like, oh my God. And then I could not stop listening.

DL White [00:17:01]:

Was very good. Turned out well. I like Samantha Downing. Like I think I said last week. Did I talk about this book last week? I think I talked about last week. I don't know. It overlaps. Remember when I said I was going to stop reading Minka Kent? I'm trying, but the books look so good.

DL White [00:17:18]:

But I did listen to a little short. She has a little collection, a little Amazon Originals collection. And Minka has a short in it called People Like Them. It was good. It was really good. It was just long enough. It was like 2 hours, a two hour listen. I enjoyed it.

DL White [00:17:36]:

Maybe on a little Minka can't reprieve. Maybe her full length novels aren't for me anymore. But that short was darn good. I listened or I read. A Perfect Pairing by Cheryl Lister. This book is out on Tuesday, the Eigth. I think it was good. It was more I want to say it's women's fictiony, but not really, because the romance is really the central story.

DL White [00:18:02]:

But like mine, it's about a lot more than the relationship. So it really toes the line between women's fiction and romance. But I would say the love story in this book is the central theme. So it is a big R romance. It did have some steam to it, but it was a little more wholesome than what I was looking for. I picked it up because it's Cheryl Lister, so sometimes you just have those people. I got to read that. So I read that yesterday.

DL White [00:18:35]:

It's out on Tuesday. And then I listened to out of Nowhere by Sandra Brown. This is a new mystery thriller novel. I really should have gone with my first mind on this book. There are certain themes and plot devices that I have decided I'm not reading anymore. And this one pops up relatively early in the book and I wanted to put it down but told just just keep going and see how it goes and it was just really dry to don't. I want to say I just don't enjoy Sondra Brown much anymore but I don't know if that's fair because I'm also a little bit burnt out on books. Like am I bored or is the book boring? You know what I'm saying? Because I have gone through a lot of books this week.

DL White [00:19:36]:

Like I pick up something and I start reading like no this isn't it. It could be that the book is not bad. It just is not what I want to be reading right now. And I just feel like it's not fair to blame that author or blame that book for the state of my brain, right? You know, Sandra Brown was at some point an auto buy for me. So at one point I was trying to read through her backlist but it also felt like I was just reading the same book over and over and so I stopped out of nowhere. Saunder Brown I did get to the end. I got to the end. I think I gave it three.

DL White [00:20:16]:

So still reading winds of the Storm by Beverly Jenkins. Like it's Miss Bev. So it's a given that I should enjoy this. Just I'm just at a point where I'm like I can't get through anything. I really need to just give romances a break because I'm just tired. But I am going to finish this one. I do need to finish this book this week because it is a borrow from hoopla so they will take it whether I am done or not. So I got to finish that one this week and then I am going to start What Never Happened by Rachel Hausel Hall.

DL White [00:20:55]:

She is an autobio author for me. I haven't enjoyed all of her novels. I really miss the Lou Norton Detective series. Her standalones have not been as good as the Lou Norton series but it's Rachel. So I'm going to buy it, I'm going to read it. So I'm starting that one probably today or tomorrow. So that's what I'm reading this week. I'm sure some other books will pop up.

DL White [00:21:20]:

I have like twelve books on my Kindle Unlimited list that I need to get to but I honestly just throw those in there in case I get bored and need something to do author stuff super quick. I'm not writing anything. I am trying to rest my brain so I can write a new book in September. My brain does not know how to rest. I kind of maybe got an idea for the fan fiction short. I think I mentioned that earlier. It'll be a short, a one shot, maybe 1000 words. It'll be cute.

DL White [00:21:50]:

No intimacy, probably, but it could be ready on day one of the awesome August challenge, which is all I want. I'm also kind of going through my books and deciding which covers I want to update. I want to update my covers, like, every couple of years. I have a few books that I've never changed the COVID on, like The Guy Next Door, A Thin Line, I republished in 2020 with a different cover. So it's been about three years with that same cover. The Guy Next Door, it's been about four years with that same cover. I redid the COVID to Curl and Die, I think in 2020 as well. I want to just do a little refresh and I want the Potter Lake books to look like a series, so I'm just kind of going through.

DL White [00:22:35]:

I also found someone that can do full wrap covers, so I'm just kind of going through my books. I was threatened this week to never, ever change the COVID to Never List. I don't have any plans on changing the COVID to Never List. That cover is perfect. I could not find a more perfect cover for that book, but I do want to do a full wrap for that, so I just think they look more professional and they're way more gorgeous. So I'm going to do a full wrap for Never List. I want to change the COVID to a thin line. I am testing the new cover for Curl and Dye, and then I really want the Powder Lake series to match, to look like a series.

DL White [00:23:20]:

I want to also redo the shorts covers and then I will probably round out Brunch at Rubies, the Rubies series cover. Like, if I have another Rubies come up, I might redo the covers for those, but for now, they're fine. Dinner at Sam's. I mean, I have changed the COVID for Ruby's like twelve times, so I'm tired of messing with that book. I'm going to leave it. Dinner at Sam's has had a couple of changes. I had to change that cover because I could not run ads on that book with the previous cover. The two people, the couple on the front were almost kissing and that was just a little too scintillating for Amazon and not I could not run ads on that book with that cover.

DL White [00:24:04]:

Like, even if I didn't show the COVID in the ad because the link led to the book with that cover, they would turn off my ads because of the COVID of the book. So I changed it and I like the new cover. I don't even know how old that cover is. It's at least three years old. I think I changed all my covers in 2020 because I was bored, but we'll see. I do really love a professional cover, but I look at premades that could just be formatted, and I don't see anything that I can't recreate in Canva. And I'm not paying $99 for something I could make myself. And sometimes I see really nice covers, but there's not a series concept.

DL White [00:24:51]:

And I have twelve books. I don't have the money to professionally recover all my books. So I'm doing the best I can. Sometimes I do them myself. Sometimes like, hey, lover, I might buy a cover. I bought a full wrap cover for that book. I think it turned out great. The others, I'm just doing the best I can.

DL White [00:25:13]:

I thought the Recover to beach thing turned out really nice. And then I did the COVID to Elysium, and I did the COVID to The Pearl, which will come after that. I redid the covers to Potter Lake. I'm just kind of testing them out. I want to see how they look. Can I find something that looks better at a more reasonable price? Looking around, I do look at cover designers and just I don't see anything that really suits me. My books aren't like the type that get the fancy, steamy, romantic covers. They really lean more toward women's fiction than spicy romance.

DL White [00:25:54]:

And a lot of the covers give the indication that there's a whole lot more spice in there than you're going to find. I want to have black people on my covers. I would prefer to have black couples on my covers. But I'll be honest. The stock photos that I can find, that I can't afford, the people just aren't all that attractive just coming out and saying it. The people aren't all that attractive. The really nice looking people are on the stock sites where I can't afford to buy $120 for a photo of a very handsome black man. I ain't got it.

DL White [00:26:35]:

I mean, like, I got it, but I'm not spending that. I'm just not. So I do the best I can with what I got. And until I'm at a point where I'm not coming out of pocket for this because my books don't make that much money, I will just be trying to find the best images I can find where I can afford to get them. And sometimes they have to be just concept covers. They have to be abstract. I can't find the kind of good looking people that I want on the COVID of my book. Looking for stock images sometimes makes me cry because searing, sizzling photos of every kind of man and then the photos of black men are, like, goofy.

DL White [00:27:27]:

They're all, like, smiling. They all have their hands up, and the poses are so ridiculous. What am I supposed to do with that image? Why is this image here? Why would anyone use this as a stock image? Could I just get a regular photo of a good looking black man where he is looking into the camera and his hands aren't up by his face and he isn't making a goofy face and he doesn't look it's like they don't want to upload photos of black men looking serious or pensive because they feel like those images are scary. And I feel like that's a little bit racist. Like, how come I can look at this smoldering image of this white guy with blue eyes and dark hair and he is like squinting at the camera and he's just like, the image is hot. It's hot. But I can't find that equivalent for a black man. Like there are very few of them and when you find them, you have seen that man on the last 50 book covers that have come out because there are so few of them.

DL White [00:28:36]:

So that's my little rant about stock photos. That's what's happening in my world. I am looking at images of people and crying because a, I can't afford it or b, that looks terrible. Why are you here? Why is this even here? What am I supposed to do with this? Anyway? Last weekend I attended the House party brunch. I told you all that. I skipped the actual author signing day. I didn't go to the mixer. I didn't go to the passion play.

DL White [00:29:04]:

None of that is my bag. I didn't go to the signing day because I could not afford it. But I did go to the brunch. I had a great time. I met a few people for the first time and I'm so glad people just walked up to me and said hi. Because I'll be honest, I don't know who you people are by your faces. I only know names, so a few people introduced themselves to me. I was so happy to meet everyone.

DL White [00:29:29]:

I said hi to people I have met before, like Mo flames. I had to roll up and say hi to the host, Alex House. It was a good loud time. I saw someone say if the music is too loud, you're too old and I am too old. My head was kicking by the time I left. It was loud. I sat with Crystal Forte, who is Melanated reader on the Instagram, the TikToks, the Twitters, and she had two of her friends with her. I had a darn good time dishing with my friends from DMs Diamonds.

DL White [00:30:05]:

I thought I said mo flames. I met Isota. Dear Bee. Love me, Jess Reeds. I think her name is Jess Reeds. Hey friends. That gal, I met her I think I saw her also at Indie Love, but just in passing. And then I met the Sip sisters, which was such a joy.

DL White [00:30:21]:

I am five foot two and I was towering over them. I'm like, how the heck tall are you? Like 4ft tall? They are tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny people. I had a good old time. The music was good. It. Was just loud, and I'm old. Food was darn good. The drinks were good.

DL White [00:30:40]:

I could have just grabbed that picture of I can't remember what kind of juice I had, but it was so good. Little goodie bags at the table. Super good. I had a really good time. She did her thing. She outdid herself. The art there was like a live drawing that was being done, and then she had three larger than life art depictions from her Rome U covers that you could stand in front of and take pictures. Just a fabulous time.

DL White [00:31:11]:

I had a really good time. I'm glad that I went. Dr. Raymond said he was about to message me that I better go to that brunch, because I had said I wasn't sure if I was going to go. And he's like, I was about to message you. You better go to the brunch. I went because I knew I was going to hear it. So let's talk about the spice in the author reader world, because what had happened this week, a TikTok creator was basically shunned over her reaction to the wife of a hockey player that she had been sexually harassing, asking her to have some goddang decorum about herself.

DL White [00:31:48]:

So I haven't followed this too closely, but the fallout has been kind of interesting. Lots of opinions, lots of think pieces, lots of I don't have much to say about this and then going on about it for five minutes. But anyway, it's traveled all the way out to major magazines. Can I just say that I will be 50 in March? And the way my mother would beat my behind over the behavior that I have seen from this creator on TikTok, really, some of it's really embarrassing, extremely inappropriate. Like, some of us are big fans, but we don't all act like that. And the loudest of the bunch really makes a bad name for the rest of us. There's some talk of racism because she feels like she was singled out because she is a black creator and she is following a hockey team. I will say also, the hockey team is not without fault because they played a lot into it.

DL White [00:32:49]:

There is a point where it becomes too much and they have to cut it off. And so they have removed all of their book talk fan content from their account. They are now just strictly hockey. And I get it because at a certain point, then you become complicit, and it's like you agree with what's being said and how your players are being treated, and they had to draw a line. This creator is like, Why aren't black creators supporting me? But we ain't new to her. We know from back in the day when she declared that she don't read our books because, and I'm paraphrasing here, she don't want to read Struggle. So we said, SIS, go on with your bad self, and kind of wrote her off and she just keeps popping up with these controversies. It used to be like a country music singer that she was harassing, and now she has moved on to sports teams like this Seattle hockey.

DL White [00:33:50]:

But this is what we mean when we say keep that same energy. When those people that you aligned yourself with, that you thought supported you, turn on you, and now you want us to come up behind you after you insulted us to our face, after you came in our house and said, I don't like any of this. I don't read you because I don't like struggle. I don't read black books because I don't want to read struggle. I don't want to read ghetto books. No, keep that same energy. Stay right over there. You didn't want us before and now that you could use our support, you want us to come up behind you.

DL White [00:34:30]:

No, ma'am, stay right over there. Keep that same energy. I also saw two creators this week accused of plagiarism. I don't have too much to say on this because honestly, I haven't really dug too much into it. I have seen a lot while scrolling through my For You page. One was embarrassingly obvious, and she has removed herself from the paint. The other was like one creator was saying, this author took phrases from her book. And I just think maybe you both overuse phrases that I have read in the last 99 spicy romance books that I've read and also porn videos that I have watched.

DL White [00:35:19]:

I'm just saying I'm just saying, like, the phrases that one creator claims the other creator took are like general phrases you will see in every spicy romance book. I want to talk about the frequent excuse that people give for not reading other authors, which is that they are afraid that this will happen, that they will plagiarize another author's work. I am just going to come right out and say, I think that is bull crap. If you write romance and don't want to read romance, you got to just come out and come out and say, I don't want to read romance. I don't want to read romance and say it with your chest. Because if you write romance and you're like, well, I don't read it because I'm writing it and I just feel like I will accidentally plagiarize somebody. How do you accidentally read something and then word for word write that mess in your book. That's an excuse to not read if you are always writing.

DL White [00:36:16]:

So you never read people. To me, it's like a chef that never eats anybody else's food. It's a musician that never listens to anybody else's music. An author that never reads anybody else, it's an echo chamber. How are you fed? How do you as a chef not see new techniques, new combinations, new recipes, new tastes? If you are only eating your own food, it's a snake eating its own tail dog chasing its own tail. I write romance, but I like to read thrillers and mysteries and some literary fiction and some nonfiction. I read pretty widely. I don't feel like I'm ever in danger of plagiarizing somebody because I have my own distinctive voice.

DL White [00:37:13]:

I love to read a Tasha L. Harrison book while I'm writing romance because it's delicious, it puts me in a mood, and it puts me in a mind. I read a NIA Forrester book because I want to know what good writing looks like. I pull out a Tiara Jones book when I want to read a really good literary fiction, a story that's steeped in Atlanta, in feeling, in emotion, in depth, in warmth, but I have never opened a document and typed something and be, AHA, I just read that in a novel. Ha ha. Hee hee. Delete. I just accidentally plagiarized somebody.

DL White [00:37:53]:

Come the heck on. If you don't want to read while you're writing, you need to just say, I don't read while I'm writing because I don't want to, or I don't have time. Don't email me, don't Im me, don't whatever. But if you are writing and you are not reading, sometimes I wonder. Sometimes I wonder. I also feel like some writers get in a rut and they are just writing the same book over and over and over. They're not getting any new ideas. They're not seeing an old plot played out in a different way.

DL White [00:38:34]:

They're not seeing the same trope written in a new way. They're not seeing a writer with a beautiful voice pull a story from the depths of their soul and spit it out on paper. I also like, I write romance, but I read mystery because sometimes I just need to see the steps of a story play out. If you read a mystery or you read a thriller, you never read a thriller where they don't catch the killer. I like to open a book and see, okay, new case. Thing happens. And then they call the police and then the detective gets the case. And then, like, point by point by point by point, they solve that case, they chase that killer.

DL White [00:39:22]:

This happens, and then this happens, and then this happens, and then there's a twist, of course, but you see the story play out. I need to see that finality. I need to see that process. I need to see that play out over and over and over. And the thing about romance is sometimes people skip steps, sometimes people skip beats or they try to be innovative with it. Like, there's not people out here writing thrillers where they never catch the killer. That's so anticlimactic. It's like listening to unsolved Mysteries.

DL White [00:39:57]:

Why would I watch that? That's a thriller in which they do not catch the killer. What is the point of that anyway? It's an excuse to not read other people. I do feel like sometimes I can get so mired in my own work where I'm kind of in love with my own stuff, and I get to smelling myself, and I get to feeling like, oh, I'm better than her. Oh, I'm better than him. I write better than that. I'd rather just read my own work. I don't want to be that person. I just don't.

DL White [00:40:41]:

I don't want to be that person where I look at people and I look down my nose at other writers because I personally write better than that. Have I been that person in the past? Absolutely. I'm human. Absolutely. But I'm trying to be at a point where I'm keeping that to myself. Sometimes a book just doesn't work. The book might work because I feel like I need higher caliber writing. The book might not work because I feel like I don't like that author's voice.

DL White [00:41:17]:

I don't like that author's level of skill. I don't like the language. I don't like the formatting. I don't like the editing. I need to come out with any excuse except, oh, I didn't read her because I write better than that. That makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Don't at me, though. I'm just speaking my truth.

DL White [00:41:42]:

So it was a spicy, spicy week. I'm sure, like, some other stuff happened, but I can't keep track of it. Like the stuff that pops up over and over and over and over until you're like, man, I really wish people were talking about books on book talk on bookstagram, on book Twitter. I really wish we were talking about books over here. The stuff that kind of gets in the way and stands in front of the books you really want to see and talk about. I'm just done. I'm ready to be done with the hockey girl. I'm ready to be done with plagiarism people.

DL White [00:42:19]:

Let's go back to talking about books. I'm just here for books and shenanigans. It's Saturday. I have this coffee that I need to drink, and I need to load up this podcast that I now do not want to edit. I bought some everything bagel fins because I was craving bagels last week, so I bought, like, a little package of bagel thins. So I have some toasted bagel halves here that I'm going to eat while I edit. Listen to podcasts, maybe listen to I might start that. Rachel House.

DL White [00:42:52]:

No. I need to finish. Winds of the storm. I'm, like 30% in. I desperately need to finish Winds of the Storm today. I'm going to get into it. I'm going to edit this podcast. I'm going to upload this podcast.

DL White [00:43:05]:

So it's up by at least, like, 12:00. I'm going to enjoy my Saturday, and I hope that you enjoy your Saturday as well. Thank you so much for joining me for the bookcast. I'll be back next week with a reading update, maybe a writing a little bit. I don't know. It depends. I don't know. Please enjoy the weekend.

DL White [00:43:26]:

Have a superlative week and we'll chat again next weekend. Bye.