DL White Interview Published on: 01, Oct 2025

I started writing because I wanted stories that felt like the people and places I knew but didn’t often see on bookstore shelves. In 2011 I began drafting scenes that kept coming back to friendship and food. Self-publishing gave me control to tell the story I wanted to tell, the way I wanted to tell it so I finished Brunch at Ruby’s and put it out there. It launched so many more stories and showed me readers were hungry for these kinds of Black-centered love, friendship and small-town stories.

That degree taught me to listen for what people don’t say. Subtext, power shifts, the tiny moves that change a conversation. I use that when I write dialogue and when I map relationships. Characters behave like real people in real systems—family, work, church, friendship circles, so I focus on motives, boundaries, and the small behaviors that reveal what's really going on under the surface.

Friendship and community are the scaffolding of life. I write about Black communities that are built on the backs of Friday Fish Fry and Sunday church picnic and weekend brunches and especially the chosen family and communal care that is fostered through the relationships we build. Those bonds create stakes, humor, a sense of belonging. I also like showing how love and care for others exists beyond romance and how friends can be the people who hold you together.

Oh I have more than one. Maxine from Brunch at Ruby's is that friend you have that says what needs to be said. Leslie from Leslie’s Curl & Dye is close to my heart because she started the Potter Lake world and brought me a small town romance series that feels like coming home. My newest heroine, Yvette Young from Missing Persons is layered, practical, and haunted in believable, relatable ways. Each favorite is tied to what the character taught me about myself while I was writing them.

Being an Executive Assistant sharpened crisis-management and observational muscles. Office dynamics, the small rituals of a workday, and the way people communicate under pressure all feed into scenes, especially the workplace scenes where power and personality collide. I've also pulled from my previous work in software development and the tech industry.

Early on I wrote by instinct and learned (and failed a lot ) on the job. Now I plan better and run drafts through tight editing passes. I brought in beta readers and an editor, I use stronger structural edits, and am more deliberate about pacing and emotional beats. The flow has to be right or the book isn't done. The work is faster and cleaner but still driven by a character-first process.

Food is shorthand for memories, comfort, and identity, especially if you belong to a rich culture. A scene at a kitchen table or a plate shared over bad news tells the reader things dialogue might not. Meal scenes give the characters "something to do" while dialog happens-- it also grounds emotions and give readers sensory entry into that character’s world.

I work a full time job, so I'm a weekend writer mostly. Thursday night, Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday... then I edit during the week during break times or in the evening. I think I am better in the morning, after I have eaten but I am not full, and I have plenty of beverages and a snack. I can go for hours.

Absolutely, from Potter Lake to Black Diamond bay, water shows up as setting repeatedly in my books.

Beverly Jenkins, Kennedy Ryan, Tayari Jones, LS Stratton, Terry McMillan, and even old-school small-town voices like Robyn Carr shaped how I think about writing, no matter the genre. I pull craft lessons from a range of writers and steal emotional honesty wherever I find it.

The most rewarding part is hearing from readers who feel seen. They can relate to my characters and feel represented...that connection is everything. I also love giving Black characters full lives—work, play, sex, sorrow, joy—without reducing them to single struggles.

Discoverability and the noise of marketing are the hardest parts and I don't think I have quite overcome it. I fight every day by being consistent with marketing, learning targeted promo, working my newsletter, and leaning into community. It doesn’t fix everything, but systems and persistence turn chaos into a manageable ball of wax.

I treat reading like fuel. Audiobooks keep me company during commutes and chores. I always have a book or two going. I read before anything, and I work pretty much alone so my coworkers are used to seeing me typing away with my earbuds in. Reading is restorative for me, rather than another task on the to-do list.

Readers can expect more from the Missing Persons line—more cases, more Yvette and Wesley, and deeper stakes. I’m also drafting another Potter Lake book and a holiday novella that leans into the "only one bed" trope. I also want to keep writing short, fun romantic books. Just have a ball out there.

I found AllAuthor through author networks and on social media. It’s a useful tool for readers to find books. It’s one part of a broader discoverability strategy.