Bad On Paper
Join Becca Freeman and Olivia Muenter every Wednesday for a dose of books and banter, along with interviews with women who inspire us.
Episodes
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
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
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!
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
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...
It’s book club day! We’re so excited to talk about our listener-selected book club pick, Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid. There’s a lot to cover in this story set during the 1980s space race. We discuss our feelings about the main characters, the aspects of the book we gravitated towards, our favorite space songs, and more!
Obsessions:
Becca - Ruby lobster roll off watercolor painting
Oli...
Our last desert island episode was so popular, we hopped a quick trip back to the island for part 2. This time we’re talking all things clothing and travel.
Jeans
Becca - Frame Le Slim Palazzo
Olivia - Gap Ultra Soft Barrel Leg Jeans
Bra
Becca & Olivia - Skims T-Shirt Bra
Underwear
Becca - Skims fits everybody thong
We are so excited to have Navessa Allen on the pod to talk about all things spicy romance!
We hear about how she got started writing romance, how she handles taboo topics, what it’s like having viral success, and her experience as self-published author who began working for a traditional publishing house.
Her books Lights Out and Caught Up are out now.
Obsessions
Read more
This week, we’re going to be sharing our desert island picks for categories from entertainment, to food, clothing, beauty, and more!
Shoutout to Hillary Kerr’s newsletter for the episode inspo!
Some of our picks
Books to read for the rest of time:
Becca - The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Olivia - Demon Copperhea...
It’s time for July Three Things! Tune in for a game, fantasy dinner parties, writing process dives, best books of the year (so far), Materialists thoughts, and more!
Becca’s Things
Materialists
Hallmark Movie Game
Dream Summer Dinner Party
Olivia’s Things
Materialists
Favorite Reads in 2025 so far (Becca’s includes One Gold...
We’re excited to dive into our June Book Club Pick: June Book Club Pick - All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman. We had a great time reading this hilarious and Scaredy Cat approved mystery, and can’t wait to hear what you think!
Watch the full interview with Sarah Harman Olivia mentioned here.
Obsessions
Becca - Milk Duds
Olivia - Vitality Leggings/Shorts...
It’s time for Part 2 of our 2025 reading preview! We invited some friends of the pod to chat about the books they’re most excited to pick up this year!
Lauren Puckett-Pope’s Picks - Katabasis by R. F. Kuang (Out August 26), Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab
Kristen L. Berry’s Picks - Greenwich by Kate Broad (Out July 22), It's Different This Time by Joss Richard (Out Sep...
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