Young Adulting

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.    To learn more about the origins of this book, check out The Shit No One Told You About Writing Interview with Deanna Raybourn   For the Art Heist Curious, check out: Fake by Erica Katz and The Lost Leonardo, and Last Seen.    Check out this NYT Article: Millions of Followers? For Book Sales, ‘It’s Unreliable.’   Obsessions  Olivia: Free People Sweater Dress Becca: Lou & Grey Signaturesoft Sweatpants   What we read this week! Becca: In My Dreams, I Hold A Knife by Ashley Winstead Olivia: Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn   This Month’s Book Club Pick:  When We Were Bright And Beautiful by Jillian Medof

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, Lakeside Morning, and Leaves. Becca recommends Brooklyn Candle Studio’s Apple Cider and Montana Forest, Le Labo’s Santal 26, Maison Louis Marie No. 4 Balincourt,  Hotel Lobby’s Signature Candle (they have a fall candle coming out at the end of September!), and Yankee Candle’s Sandal Balsam and Cedar.    We also highly recommend Chappy Wrap and Barefoot dreams Blankets     Favorite Fall Movies include Halloweentown, Hocus Pocus, Practical Magic, You’ve Got Mail, Gilmore Girls, Mermaids, and Autumn in New York if you’re having a sad girl fall.    Our Favorite Fall Reading includes City of the Lost by Kel

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, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, Emily Dickenson, Walt Whitman, Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Behold The Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue, and Antigone by Sophocles.   Caroline’s Books: Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, The Hunger Games by Susan Collins, and Harrison Burgeron by Kurt Vonnegut.   Obsessions:  Becca: Amazon Hair Clips, The Don’t Worry Darling Drama   What we read this week! Becca: The Final Gambit by Jen

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, Ten Percent, and The Bear.   Listener TV Recs: Trying, Minx, Crash Landing on You, Call your Agent!, Valeria, Minx, Everything I Know About Love, What We Do in the Shadows, Gilmore Girls, The Expanse, Love Island UK, Six Feet Under, A League Of Their Own, Abbott Elementary, The Great British Bake Off   Movie Recs Becca: Not Okay, Vengeance, and Top Gun: Maverick Olivia: Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Listeners: The Last Duel (check content warnings before watching!) and Cha Cha Real Smooth   Obsessions  Olivia: Orange Amazon dress (pleasant surprise) Becca: Sweat

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 thought about the ending.   In this conversation we bring up author Akwaeke Emezi’s interview with Elle, and To Be Black and Loved’s You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty review!    Obsessions Olivia: Cowboy boots  Becca: New desk setup - Wireless Keyboard, Laptop Stand, Magic Trackpad    What we read this week! Olivia:  All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt  Becca: Seoulmates by Susan Lee (out 9/20) If You Could See The Sun by Ann Liang (out 10/11) Now Is Not The Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson (out 11/8)   September Book Club Pick: Kill

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 stuff: from how to set and negotiate your rates, the good, the bad, and the ugly of payment timing, how we save for taxes, how we deal with health insurance, and what we’re doing for retirement planning.   Curious about Oliva’s Zero to Freelance Course and How to Pitch guide? Use code BADONPAPER for 60% off her offerings which you can learn more about here! (She’ll be shutting it down on October 1, 2022!)   Obsessions  Becca: Ceramic cosmetic scooper stick (here’s something similar on Amazon) A bonus thing we discussed today was Bug Bite Thing   Everything we read this week! Olivia: All Good People Here by Ashle

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 in her books, and the process of getting a visibly plus-size woman on book covers. We also ask Jennifer about how she decides what to write about, her newest book The Summer Place, and writing a book set in the time of COVID.   Jennifer also shares her favorite Philly bookstores and her favorite recent reads.    You can find Jennifer at @jenniferweinerwrites on Instagram, @jenweinerwrites on Tik Tok, Jennifer Weiner on Facebook, jenniferweiner.com, and get a signed copy of her books at Head House Books in Philadelphia    Books Jennifer loves right now: When We Were Bright and Beautiful by Jillian Medoff Wish You Were Here

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 of the year Becca: Every Summer After by Carley Fortune, This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin   Olivia: Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson,  Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, and Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka.   Backlist books we love Becca: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Selection Series by Kiera Cass, A Discovery of Witches series by Deborah E. Harkness, A Million Junes by Emily Henry, and Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering   Olivia: The Push by Ashley Audrain, Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller, The One by J

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 the publishing process, how publishers decide how much marketing support a book gets, what the author is responsible for when it comes to marketing and publicity, and how much input authors get on book covers. We also discuss the different marketing playbooks for an author's first book vs their following books, the importance of pre-orders, and the impact of book clubs and social media buzz.   Find Cristina at @sourcebooks and @tinamariposa on Instagram. Find Ashley at @ashleywinsteadbooks on Instagram. Obsessions  Becca - The Bear on Hulu Olivia - her niece’s obsession with dinosaurs What we read this week! Becca - Po

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 has a TV adaptation in the works, we talk about our casting thoughts and hear from listeners about the characters they pictured.  What the book reminds us of Where’d you go Bernadette by Maria Semple Radioactive  Julia Child HBO Series   Obsessions  Becca - Trader Joe’s Hold The Cone Mini Ice Cream Cones (also toffee bars) Olivia - Catfish (the documentary and TV Show)   What we read this week! Becca:  Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin Olivia:  Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine   August’s Book Club Pick: You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty by

We’re BACK and continuing our series about how a book gets made! This week we’re chatting with Amanda Bergeron, an executive editor at Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House, and Carley Fortune, the author of Every Summer After.    Amanda breaks down the acquisition & publication process from the editor's end, how many submissions she receives, and what leads her to choose a book to work on. Carley shares her writing process from conception to submission, how she felt when she got her initial edit letter, and how much her manuscript changed from acquisition to publishing. We also ask them about how many rounds of edits they worked through together, what happens when they disagree on a change, and what makes a successful author/editor relationship.    Find Carley Fortune at @carleyfortune on Instagram, carleyfortune.com, and get a signed copy of Every Summer After via Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston Texas.    Books Carley and Amanda are Excited about The No-Show by Beth O'Leary A Hundred Other Girls b

We’re so excited to start our summer series about how a book gets made! This week we’re talking all about book agents, from what they do to how authors find an agent in the first place. We brought on Taylor Haggerty, an agent at Root Literary representing commercial fiction for teens and adults, and Iman Hariri-Kia, writer and editor born and based in New York City whose debut novel A Hundred Others Girls will be published July 26th by Sourcebooks.   We chat with Iman about her writing process for A Hundred Other Girls and how she found, queried, and picked out an agent to work with. Taylor explains an agent’s role in the publishing process and shares her tips for choosing the right agent, how to regroup if you get passed on, and she gives us a sense of how much money an author can expect to make for a debut novel.    You can find Iman at @imanharirikia on Instagram and @imanharirikia on Tik Tok  You can find Taylor at @rootliterary on Instagram, rootliterary.com, and PublishersMarketplace.com   Related to o

It’s FINALLY time to talk about Cover Story by Susan Rigetti! Also, we recommend reading this book spoiler-free, so if you haven’t read it yet, read it then listen to this ep! This book was fun, juicy, and compulsively readable. We discuss our overall thoughts on the book, what we thought of the format, and of course, we have a much-needed discussion about the ending!    Obsessions  Becca: Fresh flowers - Peony season Olivia: The Deep End on Hulu    My Friend Anna by Rachel DeLoache Williams Imposter Syndrome by Kathy Wang   What we read this week! Olivia: Meant To Be Mine by Hannah Orenstein  The It Girl by Ruth Ware  This Is Not the Jess Show by Anna Carey Becca: A Hundred Other Girls by Iman Hariri-Kia (Out July 26!) The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand   This Month’s Book Club Pick:   Sponsors: Tradlands - go to tradlands.com/badonpaper to shop and use code BADONPAPER for 20% off your order. Olive & June: visit Oliveandjune.com/Paper for 20% off your first Mani System. Better Help: get 10% off you

We’re already halfway through the year and it’s time for a 2022 goals check-in! Both Olivia and Becca share the personal and professional goals they set for this year, give an update on their progress, and discuss what they’ve learned along the way!    Related to our convo:  Check out the journal Olivia has been using here!  Check out Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman Listen to Grace and Becca’s previous Goals episode here!   Obsessions  Olivia: Supergoop Glowstick SPF 50  Becca: Hustle on Netflix   What we read this week! Becca:  Legendborn by Tracy Deonn Reunion by Meghan Quinn Olivia: The Night Swim by Megan Goldin  Groupies by Sarah Priscus (out July 12)  Finlay Donovan is Killing it by Elle Cosimano   This Month’s Book Club Pick: Cover Story by Susan Rigetti   Sponsors: Night - take 20% off almost everything on their site at discovernight.com with code BADONPAPER ZocDoc - go to Zocdoc.com/BOP and download the Zocdoc app for FREE to start your search for a top-rated doc

This week we’re discussing a topic we always get requests to cover, imposter syndrome! To help break things down, we brought on Dr. Lisa Orbé-Austin, a licensed psychologist, executive coach, organizational consultant, and speaker. She recently gave a Ted X Talk about The Imposter Syndrome Parado, and is the co-author of Own Your Greatness: Overcome Impostor Syndrome, Beat Self-Doubt, and Succeed in Life and the upcoming book, Your Unstoppable Greatness: Break Free From Imposter Syndrome, Cultivate Your Agency, and Achieve Your Ultimate Career Goals (out October 4)!    We discuss how imposter syndrome became her area of focus, the imposter cycle, and how to deal with imposter syndrome throughout your career. Lisa also discusses why she’s staunchly anti-‘fake it til you make it.’   You can find Dr. Lisa Orbé-Austin on Linkedin at @drorbeaustin on Instagram and learn more about her course, masterclass, and more at dynamictransitionsllp.com.    Obsessions  Olivia: Vick’s VapoCOOL Severe Cough Drops Becca: Boden

This week we’re (figuratively) ripping our skin off and talking about the books we’re writing! This is an appetizer to a series we’re planning to do this summer all about how a book gets made. We give a mini preview about what our books are about, and break down what our book writing process was like, from what made us finally start writing to what we wish we knew before we wrote our books. We also share the resources that helped us along our process and talk about what’s coming next for our books!   We also recap our long weekend trips and our feelings about hot dogs

This week we’re helping you build your summer reading list with recommendations from some of our favorite bookstagrammers! They each share two books they recommend we read this summer and answer a pressing question: If you could have a meal with any book character at any chain restaurant, which character and restaurant would you choose?   Sarah’s Picks:  Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett (esp for fans of Nothing To See Here)  The Displacements by Bruce Holsinger (Out July 5) Find Sarah at @sarahsbookshelves   Amber’s Picks Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola (Out July 5) Hope and Glory by Jendella Benson Find Amber at @byamberburns and www.byamberburns.com   Pheobe’s Picks Every Summer After by Carley Fortune  A Hundred Other Girls by Iman Hariri-Kia (Out July 26) Find Phoebe at @readandwright    Morgan’s Picks You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li Find Morgan at @nycbookgirl (and check out our last ep with morgan here!)   Ashley’s Picks Tomorrow, and T

It's finally time to talk about Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman! We loved this book and we’re so excited to talk about it. We share our feelings and respond to listener calls about the book, its characters, its two timelines, and if we think the book accurately reflects how Hollywood operates today.  We also talk about the celebs we pictured as Gabe Parker, Olivia shares her celebrity interview stories, and we defend our celebrity crushes.  Obsessions  Becca: Pineapple Spindrift Olivia: Birkenstock EVA Sandals (Becca also loves these foam faux Birkenstocks!)  What we read this week! Olivia:  This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins  Cover Story by Susan Rigetti Becca: Flying Solo by Linda Holmes This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub Mad About You by Mhairi McFarlane June's Book Club Pick: Cover Story by Susan Rigetti Sponsors: Night: Go to discovernight.com and use code BADONPAPER for 20% off almost everything on the site, including all of their pillowcases. Tradlands: go to tr

This week we’re chatting with New York Times bestselling author and owner of Books are Magic, Emma Straub! She’s the author of five novels, including This Time Tomorrow, which came out on May 17. We ask her about her path to becoming an author, and chat about the process of writing This Time Tomorrow. And as the first bookseller on the podcast, we ask Emma about how Books are Magic came into her life and she shares the surprises that come with owning a bookstore!    Find Emma at @emmastraub on IG, @emmastraub on Twitter, and at emmastraub.net   Emma’s Book recs By the Book by Jasmine Guillory  The Dead Romantics Ashley Poston (Out June 28)  Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (Out July 5)    What we read this week! Olivia - Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel  Becca - Flying Solo by Linda Holmes   Obsessions Becca - Anthropologie Mini Latte Bowls Olivia - Free People (generally)   This Month’s Book Club Pick: Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman   Sponsors: Daily harvest - G

This week, we’re together in person to talk about TRAVEL! Specifically, travel planning. We have travel on the brain, and thought you might, too. We discuss how we choose our destinations, how far in advance we plan our trips, if we like to plan ourselves or let someone else take over, the trips we have coming up, and MORE!    Our Travel Must-Haves Olivia - AQUIS Rapid Dry Lisse Hair Wrap Towel Becca - Sleeping Eye Mask, Megababe Thigh Rescue   Our Obsessions Becca - Hotel Lobby Spa Candle Olivia - Severance   What we read this week: Becca - The Impossible Us by Sarah Lotz Olivia - The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead   This Month’s Book Club Pick: Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman   Sponsors: Night - take 20% off almost everything on discovernight.com with code BADONPAPER Olive & June - visit OliveandJune.com/paper for 20% off your first Mani System Zocdoc - go to Zocdoc.com/BOP to download the Zocdoc and start your search for a top-rated doctor today.   Join our Facebook group for amazing book re