Bad On Paper

It's time for our first book club of 2023! This month we're talking about The Villa by Rachel Hawkins . We've heard a lot from our listeners about this book, and we're so excited to talk about it finally!   We share our thoughts about the two timelines, our theories about the ending, and play amazing listener voicemails with thoughts and theories about the book. We also discuss what sets The Villa...

It's time for a 2023 book preview! We brought on some of our favorite book people on the internet to share 2 books they're excited about this year, and boy has our TBRs grown! We also ask the age-old question: If you had to bring a book character to a chain restaurant, who are you picking and where are you going?   Follow our guests! Megan Prokott - @the_spines Traci Thomas - @thestackspod Taylor...

Time for our first Three Things in 2023! We have a fun grab bag of things to discuss! P.S. Does Anybody else want to crawl into a hole for the rest of the year already?     Olivia's Three Things WFH wardrobe philosophies  Journal Prompts Embarrassing Stories    Becca's Three Things Purchased Movies on Amazon Prime Realistic Dream Trip for 2023  Emily in Paris   Becca's Movie Purchases: Love and Ba...

For our first episode of the new year, we're talking about our 2023 goals! We reflect on what we achieved and what didn't pan out in 2022, and we're giddy to share our personal and professional goals for 2023!   If you want to catch up on the 2022 goal lore, check out our 2022 Goals Setting Episode Becca recorded with Grace in January, and our 2022 Goals Mid Year Check-in we recorded in June where...

We're finishing 2022 on a strong note by talking about our favorite books of 2022! We cover our favorite reads spanning 6 different categories, and play voicemails from YOU about your favorite books! Favorite Book Club Pick Olivia: Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson , Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus Becca: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir , You Made a Fool Of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke E...

It's time for us to look back on our best of 2022! We're talking about our personal best moments and also our best purchases, entertainment favorites, and more! Tune in for our favorite episodes of the podcast, hard-boiled eggs, and Temperature by Sean Paul of course!   Personal Best Best Day - Olivia: Her Umbria Road Trip! | Becca: The Day she sold her book!  Best Meal - Olivia: at Zahav in Phila...

It's our final book club of the year! Today we're talking about The Cloisters by Katy Hays . We chat about which plot twists we saw coming in this atmospheric mystery (and which surprised us!), and also dive into our love for the historical mystery embedded in this book, which led us to talk about our feelings on historical fiction in general. Plus, we're sharing our own personal clairvoyant exper...

This week we're catching up with friend of the pod (and former co-host) Grace Atwood ! Grace shares everything she's been up to from buying a house to creating a shoe with Sarah Flint! We also share a few gift ideas for besties, coworkers, and more!  Follow Grace on Instagram , thestripe.com , and her newsletter!    Gift Guide For your work bestie - $20 Grace - A fun ornament from furbish studio o...

This week on the podcast we're chatting with Nora McInerny! Nora is the host of the podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking and the author of five books, most recently Bad Vibes Only , a collection of essays that came out in October. With Nora, we take a walk down Tumblr memory lane and talk about how she decided to be so candid in her memoirs (and why she's done writing them) the difficulty of writin...

This week, we're sharing our reviews on products that have gotten a lot of internet hype and answering the question: IS! IT! WORTH IT! Our listeners requested items in various categories they wanted our opinions on, and we're breaking down our thoughts from the cost of the item, how long we've used it, what we like/don't like about it, and how it compares to alternatives!   We'd also like to stres...

We're back with this month's three things—hopefully a new monthly-ish tradition. We each brought something fun, something productive, and we both wanted to talk about an album we've had on repeat.    Becca's Three Things -Making a plan to vote: Go to vote.org to check your registration , find early voting locations , see what's on your ballot , and more! And for if you live in the state of  New Yo...

This week we're discussing our October Book Club Pick: When We Were Bright and Beautiful by Jillian Medoff . We talk about the theories we had while reading this book, what we did and didn't like, our thoughts on the ending, and play two calls from listeners sharing their thoughts.  Content Warning: In this episode, we discuss the book's plotlines surrounding sexual assault & pedophilia, so if the...

This week we're talking about the books we loved when we were growing up! We highlight our favorite books from Elementary, Middle, and High School, and hear from listeners about their favorites!    Elementary School Olivia: Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt , Nancy Drew , The Dear America Series , Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery Becca: Bridge to Terabithia , Island of the Blue Dolphins , Walk Two...

It's time for Three Things: our new series where we each bring three miscellaneous topics that we want to talk about, but don't need a full podcast episode to break down. This month's things include fall clothes shopping, walking desks, celebrity heights, and more!  Becca's Three Things: Fall Clothes Shopping - @anindigoday on IG is great for how to apply new trends to your wardrobe, and Hillary K...

It's time for an advice episode! We're excited to answer your questions about staying motivated while writing a book, maintaining long-distance friendships, learning how to stop holding yourself back from dating, making big career changes, and more!  Obsessions Becca: Custom legal pad Olivia: We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman (out Nov. 8) What we read this week ! Becca: In My Dream...

We're so excited to finally discuss our delightful and surprising September Book Club Pick: Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn ! We share what we loved about this book, our thoughts on the rotating POV, which character we identified with the most, and our love for how the book addressed ageism. We also discuss our mixed feelings about the ending and if we could become CIA operatives.    T...

This week we're releasing our inner foliage sluts and soup fiends to talk about all things FALL! We discuss our favorite things about fall, and our favorite fall activities from weekends away to cozying up at home.   We also had to share a robust list of candle recommendations. Olivia recommends Bath & Body Works candles in the scents Hometown Sugar Cookies Autumn Chai , White Pumpkin , Flannel ,...

This week we're excited to interview two English teachers about what books are taught in High School English classes right now. We chat about what books are in their current curriculum, how books get chosen, what books students get excited about, and what books outside the curriculum are popular with high school students right now.    Mary's Books: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver , Fran...

We're preparing for indoor time this fall and talking TV and Movie recommendations! Becca and Olivia share their recommendations, and our listeners call in to share their favorite shows and hidden gems!   Olivia's TV Recs: Scripted: Yellowjackets , Severance , Under the Banner of Heaven , Starstruck , and Fleabag .   Becca's TV Recs: Partner Track , Loot , Never Have I Ever , Tell Me Lies , Hacks...

So excited to discuss our August book club pick: You Made A Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi . This lush romantic drama sparked a lot of conversation in our Facebook Group, and we share our differing feelings about the book as well! We also discuss why we think this book was so divisive, our thoughts on the characters' chemistry, how the theme of grief is explored, and what we thoug...

This week we're talking about all things freelancing. We share when, why & how we made the decision to go freelance, what our work entails, and if we ever see ourselves going back to a full-time job. We also answer YOUR questions about freelance life including how much experience you need, how to find clients, and how we structure our schedules and stay motivated.    We also get into all the money...

We're taking body diversity in books with Jennifer Weiner , the #1 New York Times bestselling author of nineteen books, including That Summer , Big Summer , Mrs. Everything , Good in Bed , and an essay collection, Hungry Heart: Adventures in Life, Love, and Writing .    Jennifer talks about her journey to becoming a best-selling author, what motivated her to feature women with different body types...

It's finally time for another Q&A! We answer some quick questions about how we found our voices as writers, advice for balancing creative projects and a day job, how we answer the question "so what do you do for work?" We also dive into lengthier questions about our favorite books of the year, the backlist books we love, the best & worst parts of hosting a podcast, and more!    Our favorite books...

For the final episode of our series about how a book gets made, we're talking all things marketing and publicity with Cristina Arreola, the senior marketing manager at Sourcebooks Landmark, and Ashley Winstead, the author of In My Dreams I Hold A Knife , Fool Me Once , and the forthcoming The Last Housewife .  Cristina and Ashley answer our questions about at what point marketing gets involved in...

It's finally time to discuss our listener-picked Book Club selection: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus !  We talk about our general feelings about the book, how we reacted to the moments of sexism in the 1960s setting, our thoughts on the main character, and the differing perspectives of the three key women in the book. We also discuss how we felt about the ending and since this book already...