Bad On Paper

The year is coming to a close, and you know what that means! It's time to look back at our highs of 2025. We reminisce on work wins, new hobbies, mantras, and more! 

Best New Artist Discovery of The Year (Author, Artist, Filmmaker, Dancer, etc.) 

Olivia - Allegra Goodman, Joshua Burnside

Becca - Francis Featherstone, Anna Kwan, Sarah Martinez, Barbara Bourland

Bes...

It's time for our final book club episode of 2025! We're discussing a book we've been seeing everywhere, The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. We talk about why we think this book has become so popular, if we've read epistolary novels before, our thoughts on the novelty of the mother/daughter relationship, how it brought up feelings about retirement for us both, and more!

Also, the Wall Street Journal's ...

It's time for this year's Bad on Paper Gift Guide! We're so excited to dive into our picks that are very us-coded. 

Becca-Coded Picks

Gifts for People Who Love NYC 

Katie Kime NYC Toile Tea Towels ($58)

Chefanie - I Love NY cocktail napkins ($48)

All the restaurants prints (5x7 $55) - John Donahue - also Paris, London, DC, Philly, Chicago, Napa

This week, we're talking all about portfolio careers! We discuss the current iteration of our own careers and then chat with Leigh Stein and Ali LaBelle—two other professionals with portfolio careers—to break down the work they do, time management, and advice for people interested in transitioning to a portfolio career. 

Obsessions

Becca - West End Girl

Olivia - Beth's Dead

November Things are coming in HOT! Keep listening for podcast recs, supernatural talk, guessing games, and more!

Also, donate to your local foodbank! Find one local to you here.

Olivia's Things

Emma Straub's newsletter about David Harbor's pseudonym

Do you believe in ghosts?

1 new habit we like, 1 that we want to kick to the curb

Becca'...

We can't wait to discuss our October Book Club Pick, Heart The Lover by Lily King! We're talking about Lily King's favorite shape (the triangle!), the surprising crossover with Writers & Lovers, crying on airplanes, male friendship, and so much more.

Obsessions

Becca - The Diplomat Season Three

Olivia - Twinless

What we read this week

O...

This week, we're chatting with 4 debut authors about their experience bringing a book into the world in 2025! They share the pitch for their book and what surprised them about their debut experience.

Our debut authors & their books! 

Katie Yee - Maggie; Or A Man and A Woman Walk Into A Bar

Natalie Guerrero - My Train Leaves at Three

Laura Leffler  - Tell Them You Li...

We're so excited for you to hear our conversation with Nic Stone! We chat with Nic about her author origin story, why she made the jump from YA to adult with her (very!) adult debut Boom Town, writing off her strip club visits for research, and more! 

Obsessions

Becca - Shonda Rhimes on Call Her Daddy

Olivia - Floor lamp from Wayfair

What we read thi...

This week, we're sharing an inside look at our reading habits! We dive into how we choose what to read, our favorite times to read, who we talk about books with IRL, our rules of thumb for DNF-ing, and more! 

Becca's TBR - The Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers, Daddy Issues by Kate Goldbeck, Anatomy of an Alibi by Ashley Elston 

What we read this week

Becca - Boom To...

Time for another round of three things! And this one's very bookish: we're talking about 2025 books that flew under the radar, plot twists, mood writing, what we want to learn about this fall, and more!

Becca's Things

Underrated Books of 2025 Becca's - Any Trope But You by Victoria Lavine, Loved One by Aisha Muharrar | Olivia's - Tilt by Emma Pattee, Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild.

September is coming to a close, and you know what that means! Time to talk about this month's book club pick, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach. We discuss our expectations going into this book based on the cover, how it balanced its dark themes with humor, what we thought of the relationships, and more!  

Obsessions

Olivia - One Trick Pony Peanut Butter

Becca...

We are SO excited to chat with Elin Hilderbrand and her daughter, Shelby Cunningham, about their new book, The Academy! We ask how their collaborative writing process worked, about Shelby's boarding school experience that inspired the book, and Elin's feelings on venturing into a new world outside Nantucket. We also have adaptation updates and some exclusive behind the scenes gossip!

These days, Shelby i...

What do we want? Things! When do we want them? Now! It's time to talk about big pop culture moments, focus tools, and what we're excited about for fall. 

Olivia's Things

Taylor Swift getting engaged

What's on our Q4 Radar

Our Fall TBR (Olivia's are The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild, What a Time to Be Alive by Jade Chang, Bec...

People who judge books by their covers, this ep is for you! This week, we brought on Art Director and Book Cover Designer Molly von Borstel to talk about how book covers come to life. She shares how she got into book design, the surprising parts of the job, how she deals with feedback, cover trends, and more! 

Obsessions

Olivia - Sorel Roam'n Clogs

Becca - Travel mahjong set fro...

It's Book Club day! We're excited to chat about The Knight and The Moth by Rachel Gillig. We discuss the book's setting and world-building, the main characters (and their romance), how this fits into the romantacy genre overall, and more!  

Obsessions

Olivia - Night Moves by Bob Seger

Becca - J.Crew yellow suede bucket bag

This Month's Book Club Pick ...

We are SO excited for this week's conversation with journalist E. Jean Carroll! We chat with her about why she decided to write her book about her experience in court against Donald Trump, her 30-year tenure as an advice columnist, and more!  

E. Jean Carroll is the author of five books, including a biography of Hunter S. Thompson, and the New York Times bestselling book NOT MY TYPE: One Woman vs. a Pres...

It's time for the most August 2025 Three Things to Ever Three Things. From AI to face shapewear to Labubus, and more, there's so much to discuss! Let's get into it.

Olivia's Things

DNF-ing

Skims Face Shapewear

Labubus

Becca's Things

The articles "I Teach Creative Writing. This Is What A.I. Is Doing to Students" by Meghan O'Rourke [gift l...

As a bonus to our episode discussing comparison and competition, we invited Chelsea Bieker to continue the conversation, and how comparison and competition manifest for her, specifically within her publishing career and the strategies she's learned to quiet these emotions.

Read more from Chelsea in her newsletter Make Up Your Life, fountainpractice.com, and her latest book Madwoman is out no...

We've been trying to make an episode about comparison and competition (an Olivia Muenter favorite topic!) happen for a while, and it's finally here! We're discussing our personal histories with comparison and competition and how it manifests in our personal and professional lives. We're even diving into whether we ever compare ourselves to each other.

We're talking about if we define ourselves as competi...