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Tumblereads 16: A Moment of Reflection
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We cannot believe that we've been Smut Reporting for 8(!) years on the blog, and 2 years on the podcast!
Shownotes at smutreport.com/podcast.
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Transcript
Podcast and Segment Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Na na na na Smut Report! Welcome back to the Smut Report podcast. This is Tumble Reads, where we read things and then talk about them in a chaotic fashion. Chaos!
00:00:16
Speaker
I love that have a new description for it every time we say it. Well, it's not wrong. all of none None of our descriptions have been wrong yet. um challenge That's a challenge for
Host Introductions and Roles
00:00:28
Speaker
you guys. Yeah. collapse yeah um Anyway, I'm Holly. I am emceeing this week.
00:00:34
Speaker
I'm Erin. And I'm Ingrid. I just like to wait so that we see if Erin gets it.
Podcast and Blog History
00:00:38
Speaker
I
00:00:41
Speaker
anyway um so it's still january and like it's not quite the beginning of the year but i feel like january is a nice time for introspection and also we have been doing the blog at the smut report for seven years now whoa the first post was a december of 2018 Yeah. And we've been doing the podcast for two, two years, three.
00:01:11
Speaker
i think there were three. We started in, we started in January, right?
Evolving Relationship with Smut
00:01:16
Speaker
four Okay. So two years, two years of podcast. So since it's time for introspection,
00:01:23
Speaker
And January and we've been doing this for a while now I figured why not take some minutes to talk about ah how our relationships have with smut have changed or or not changed or oh like that kind of that kind of stuff.
Ingrid's ADHD Medication Experience
00:01:38
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Like, how has blogging and podcasting changed how we read or not changed? love this question, Holly, because I was literally just thinking about this last night.
00:01:48
Speaker
i love that. Yes, because, because, you know, I'm starting this, you know, romanticity, just deep dive. I'm so excited. Yes, am excited, too, because I am finishing something. Which, you know, we want to talk about changes.
00:02:03
Speaker
I love that for you. Thank you, ADHD medication for making it so that I can finish things.
Expanding Reading Preferences
00:02:08
Speaker
And anyway, but the point is, is I was thinking about it because I was I'm doing so I'm working on some stuff for the glossary. And then I'm also kind of grouping um like sub themes and romanticism that people will be able to find their books. more easily recommendations you know if you like like this type of thing versus that type of thing some people love those school settings and some people hate them you know so um anyway point being i was thinking back to my very first romanticy review which was ruby dixon yes i remember the corsairs captive yes i remember that was so hard to talk about it well science fiction but like like that was the first specific sp it weird it was the first one where there was any kind of like non real world life you know really like you hadn't read va vampires and werewolves and stuff before no not really i mean not really
00:03:01
Speaker
Maybe a little bit, but like really, really no. And um even if I it, she was traumatized by vampires as a child. She ran it way too young and scared herself.
00:03:11
Speaker
Yeah. So what I remember when I did the Ruby Dixon one was that i I had been fully up to my eyeballs committed in historicals at that point, which I think is a lot of people's entry point, especially of the millennial millennial age range.
00:03:26
Speaker
it was It was certainly for all three of us. Oh, yes, yes, yes. And so, um yeah, it was all historicals all the time. And i we were looking at trying to branch out. We wanted to, you know, be a thorough resource. I think we'd had several conversations about trying to read more variety. Right.
00:03:43
Speaker
And so I did that because I was like, how far out of my comfort zone can I get? I'll do blue alien people. and and that's what I
Erin's Evolving Taste in Romance
00:03:52
Speaker
did. and And now I'm sitting here reading books like I've read just about everything.
00:03:57
Speaker
I mean, like. hmm. Some against my will. But yeah, you're like when i I was sitting there last night thinking about the breadth of what I have read and all the different, you know, like, um what do you call them? Fixations I've had. Like I've read everything about this, everything about that. And I feel like it's just, I can't believe how many different things I've read.
00:04:18
Speaker
Considering when we started this, I had been reading for, yeah like you said, we started in high school. That was when I was what, in my thirty s That would have been like well over a decade of only reading one kind of romance, basically. Maybe two decades of reading one kind of romance.
00:04:30
Speaker
We were like 14 or 15. yeah yep um yeah yeah same i because i was also i used to be like well i read romance but i'm really picky about it
00:04:46
Speaker
which is true but uh also i guess now not true but i only read romance but it has to have sex in and has to have only yeah exactly ah It has to have some weird dicks in it.
Impact of Historical Inaccuracies
00:05:01
Speaker
Yeah. ah um It's like, how weird can I get now? As opposed to then it was like, well, if it's not, it used to be that even like Victorian, if there were trains, that was like too modern for me, right? So couldn't medieval because I didn't like how dirty castles were. You love Lisa Clepas. I think I didn't really start... I didn't really start... I think that it was... Although I guess you really love the wallflower stuff, which is a little more... Still, exactly. He is... Simon is in trains,
Reading Habits and Industry Insights
00:05:33
Speaker
but it was... Yeah, some of the others. So... Anyway, sorry. I think Lisa Kleypas was more of stretch for me, too. Because also, most of her heroes are not aristocrats. And I always loved the Dukes.
00:05:46
Speaker
So, I mean, give me Bukastle any day of the week. I just want to must their hair. i love i love that. So, probably because I'm also wound really tight, but soft on the inside. um
00:06:02
Speaker
I've always done shit like Skittle. I know. So there is that. But I also have read, I i didn't track my reading before. and But I know that I did not read as many books per year. as I read now.
00:06:16
Speaker
I read yeah so much that I have noticed that the one change for me is ah i get bored of stuff that is just like super basic roman romance stuff. I'm just like, oh, this again. but you know, when you have read, read 450 last year, which might be too many. um and a lot of them were rereads and a lot of them were audiobooks because i take them with me because i like to have something in my ears while i'm doing other like i can't do one thing at a time i wish i could that well it's maybe better that you don't but uh well it's better it's that and i listen to murder podcasts which i think everybody's got you got your thing to get you through your day Right. And but I think the side side effect of that, like I said, is that I now it's like a novelty issue almost. It's like, oh give me something different that I'm not just going to be like, oh, like I wrote that one piece years ago. It's like, did you know that every single person in every single romance just can't with love ever again because they had their heart broken one time?
00:07:20
Speaker
So irritating.
00:07:24
Speaker
So anyway. Well, and interestingly, sorry, i would i know there have been on on the part where about how much you've been reading, because one of the reasons I wanted like one of the whole points of starting this for me on my end of it was that i came from publishing. and yeah like i well, it wasn't just that, though. It was that I was kind of at this point where I was like ending my career in like creative publishing and I was shifting into more like ah like resource publishing. I did medical and legal publishing. But after that, but I realized that i it was like.
00:07:59
Speaker
It's like watching watching watching the sausage get made and then being vegetarian afterwards. like i i spent all my only dream growing up was to do something with books. If I wasn't going to be an author, I wanted to work in publishing or be an editor
Love for Reading and Blog Origins
00:08:10
Speaker
or something. And i realized that like I had never read less in my life than when I was working in creative publishing. interesting I stopped reading completely. Yeah. So when I was working for the more ah like mind, body, spirit publisher that I did, um i just stopped reading. It was such a miserable time. um
00:08:30
Speaker
And it was so hard to watch because, you know, when you're, when I was growing up, I thought that it was like, Oh, if you were a really good writer, then you'd get to be an author. If you were you know really good and to realize that it really, it doesn't have anything to do with how much talent you have. There are writers out there who will never be published that have more talent than anyone we've ever seen. yeah, It's just in a shoebox in their garage or whatever. you know it's um it's It's so much more nowadays about marketing and stuff. And so when i was in a transitional time and I was like, well, I'm not doing that kind of publishing anymore, it kind of killed me. It was like an intentional thing that I wanted to just read more books. And I liked reading romance and I needed something that made me feel good after years of feeling terrible in publishing. And so that was one of the reasons why I wanted to do this is that I was about to have a baby, super pregnant, wanted free books and figured this is the way to do it. and so And now I read all the time and I love it. And I love talking about books. This has been wonderful for me personally. So, yeah. I think that's the other thing. but Well, yeah, Holly, was going say, do you have an idea? Because the other thing is how I read is different.
00:09:30
Speaker
But what it what... Oh, yeah. Well, just like going from what er Ingrid said, like, I feel like this was Ingrid's idea and you, you guys were kind of working on it together. And then one of you was like, well, what if we ask Holly to do it Which was our best choice ever because Holly makes it happen. No, I think, I think if I recall correctly, I remember being like, Aaron, I think if just you and I do it, we're not going to be able to pull this off, which was so freaking smart.
Balancing Blogging and Personal Life
00:09:57
Speaker
Yeah. And I was like, what about Holly? And Erin was like, don't know, I'll ask her and And I was like, yeah, ah because at that point, i was like, unemployed, ah miserably job hunting.
00:10:13
Speaker
um and i was like, I have to do something. i have to do something. and um And I was like, well, this gives me like an outlet. And also had, you know, I had finished grad school.
00:10:26
Speaker
o Let's see, I finished grad school in 2015. So I was a couple years out of grad school. I wasn't teaching anymore because like I stopped when I, when we moved from my husband's job and like, and cause I had a baby and all this stuff. But was like, my brain is melting out of my ears. I need to do something with my brain. And so they asked me and I was like, all right,
00:10:49
Speaker
I'm going to write, ah I'm to write a bunch of reviews and I'm going to do, I'm going to do a Duke project where I'm going to like read all the Dukes from A to Z that like fell by the wayside very quickly. didn't do much of that um But,
00:11:02
Speaker
you know, i like went to the library and like got a bunch of books out of the library and wrote like 15 reviews and put, and like, i was like, all right, guys, i have enough reviews for one a week for like the next six months. And they were like, what? the fuck Holly like I guess we should also contribute I don't know what's happening like Ingrid had like bought the got the domain I think yeah yeah yeah and like set up the account and I'm just like all right you got you guys gave me the login credentials I'm gonna go for it yeah and And that's how it started. And but now I'm like, my brain's melted out. I like had a second kid and my brain's melted out of my ears even more. And I'm like, Oh, man, writing like long thoughtful reviews.
Blog Evolution and Community Importance
00:11:44
Speaker
but analysis That's so hard.
00:11:48
Speaker
It's so hard. Because when I first started, I was like, still an academic brain. Yeah, I'm like, ah, academic brain, but fun books. And now I'm like, my academic brain has atrophied. So i yeah every year for our resolutions, I'm like, I'm going to write more so I can bring back my academic brain. um And I never do, but maybe this year I will. We've set up a new like calendar system. So maybe. Yeah. I think it's just the, that's the other thing that I think the secret sauce here was that we have not somehow, somehow thank you universe.
00:12:25
Speaker
Each of us has had like fairly significant times of upheaval and stress and they haven't overlapped. Yeah. Let's keep that. notga wood So we've been able to kind of like keep the other two afloat, you know, at various points just by like, you know, juggling it all.
00:12:42
Speaker
But um but that's the thing, you know, because I can sit here and say like, because I remember a phase where I was like, I'm just going to have to quit. Like, I can't do this. And then now I'm out the other side and I'm like, I can think about things again. so I know it will come back. Holly, it will come back. But, you know. You just got to get through that season first. Anyway, Erin, you were saying something about how you read Changed? Changed? Changed?
00:13:03
Speaker
Yeah. Well, that was the other thing I think being... So in the before times, I would get books from the library and I would just go browse or whatever. You know, like, I don't know that I had a lot of... recommendations holly and i used to this is the other reason that holly was like the natural let's add her to the sister pair yeah was because holly and i used to talk about books so sometimes holly would be like oh aaron have you heard of this author yet like oh okay but other than that back and before we did the vlog and we would have a phone call once a year it wasn't that bad it's like every couple months uh uh
00:13:39
Speaker
but I mean, maybe there were times when we were very good about it. And then yes, times because I am terrible about staying in touch with people. And I'm glad for the people who are willing to deal with it. Except for you guys.
00:13:53
Speaker
I talk to once or twice a year, like the ones that I live far away
Influence of Culture and Education on Reading
00:13:57
Speaker
from. Yeah, that's hard, too, because when you live far away, i was telling my kids, my one kid. Sorry, this is totally tangential, but this is how it goes, guys. ah Listening, guys. Tumbleweeds. Yes. I was telling my kids about college because my middle schooler, we are already thinking about high school courses. So but thinking about college courses.
00:14:20
Speaker
It starts this early. oh and oh And we're talking about credits and kiddo said like, oh, so I could finish high school early so I could finish college early. And i was like, don't do it. I did it.
00:14:35
Speaker
Don't do it. You don't get the time back. And that is also like my friends, you know, throughout time, like we're all, I said, we're all spread out. We're all over the country now. It's hard to stay in touch. And it's so fun to just like hang out with your people and talk about your stuff. um So I'm glad that we got to do that. Like this is that for us bookishly, right? Like we get to have our little meetings or whatever. These these podcasts, we like get to geek out about books and stay in touch with each other. Yeah.
00:15:02
Speaker
adulting is not so hard maybe but anyway and my poor husband doesn't have to hear about like all of your all of my books yeah just 50 percent of them exactly but yes the reading changed because um the way we're plugged in is different like I said it was like I would get very few recommendations and just pick up some stuff based on like whatever Yeah.
00:15:33
Speaker
with a blog comes having to promote yourself and get out there so that you're visible enough so that you have enough followers so that you can get the arcrks that you want or you're not just like shouting into the void or whatever And that work that we did early on um created a lot I mean, in some ways it was really awesome because it expanded my worldview in broader ways than just bookishly. Right. Yeah, definitely there are lots of cultural conversations that come along with being in the online space. But also I forget now that I have conversations in the bookish space that the average person who is not very much online is simply unaware of like this author is super sketch and they're like why they never would have had that like they you know or whatever um whatever type of thing you're like oh that's not that's i i would prefer not to read that because i know something that you don't know or something Like that, that's definitely one thing that happens now. You're saying just that basically, i just want to rephrase this because I think you went into shorthand, but just basically that what because from what I've seen is that because you are more aware of like what you are consuming, especially in today's day and age, that you're more intentional. You're able, you have more background information that helps you be more intentionable about the choices that you're making with your literature. Yes, that is correct. But also coming with that is more guilt about when I don't read perfectly. Ah. All the time. that It's like ah the flip side of that coin. I didn't have that before. And like I said, in some ways, it has expanded my worldview. So I'm thankful for it. and On the other hand, ignorance is There's a weight to that responsibility. Yeah. ah Yeah.
00:17:18
Speaker
ah But so there's that. And also the variety and the depth of reading has shifted how I interpret books. So I was saying before we logged on, um Holly was talking about how she finally read Heated Rivalry. And it is not her most favoritist book, which is fine.
00:17:37
Speaker
I can live with it. But it's your car but but but i was saying it's been interesting to see some of the people who've picked up the book because of the show yeah and who maybe haven't been romance readers and the comments that they make in these online forums, which is fine. Like I have part of emotional growth also is not taking on other people's feelings. Yeah.
00:18:04
Speaker
And um I notice now also that the way that I read has a level of understanding of the genre that is not for a novice or casual reader. So I'm probably coming at a lot of our topics with, like Ingrid just said, the shorthand and people don't necessarily know what I'm always talking about because I forget that people don't know what I know.
00:18:31
Speaker
Right. Well, it's like, okay. You know, it's like, if you're an English major in college, you have to read. I wasn't. I know you weren't, but like. so tell me what it's like. Well, okay. You you have to read the canon, right? Right.
00:18:43
Speaker
You know, like you, like where I went to school, it was mostly electives, but we had, you know, there was literature in history, one, two, and three. Right. And so, you know, there was like,
00:18:55
Speaker
ah before 1800 and like 1800 to 1900 1900 the present we'll say right and you had to come and you had to take two of the three so you understood the canon mm-hmm and And it's like, and then you read these classics. And if you are well read in the stuff that the people who are writing the classics were reading, then you get all of these other allusions, right? Or like, I mean, i ah I was also a religion major. And I remember in my like, Bible 101 class was more than half English majors who were like, I am taking this class so I can understand the books that I am reading better. Yeah. yeah Especially the people who are interested in like the older, the older literature stuff. Yeah.
00:19:48
Speaker
Makes a huge difference. well and and i difference and And so then like now that I read in romance all the time, it's like I can see all this intertextuality. And yeah, and it's and it's also fun when you're like when you read someone and you're like, I can tell who your influences were. Yes, yes, yes. I English major experience was i had a focus in creative writing. So i a lot of the classes that you're talking about where it was like the kind of of the more literary analysis part, I. took some of that, less of that. And I took more of like the construction classes, you know, but, um, I have to tell you that I thought publishing was going to be a lot more of what I studied in college. And it was almost none of that. It was like marketing, like might as well have not have even had an English major. This, um I have had way more fun. The stuff that I have pulled dusted off the shelf and pulled out of my education to do this, it's all the time. It's all the time. This being the blog. Yes, the blog. yeah Just because, yeah, like looking at how people, the choices that authors are making when they're crafting stuff is really, really fun for me.
Creative Writing and Publishing Realities
00:21:05
Speaker
And I've done it a lot more than I ever did it professionally. Mm-hmm. And now, to be fair, I wasn't working. i wasn't editing fiction, you know, um so that could be part of it. But even then, I think the editors that I worked with, it was a lot of marketing and numbers and stuff. So this is like this is this is the fun part for me. This is like all the good stuff that I liked about my education here. So, yeah.
00:21:30
Speaker
I don't know. Yeah. And I this. And just like, oh, I get to, I see, I loved, I took like one creative writing class. my Where I went to school did not have a strong creative writing program, but I took one, but I did a lot of literary analysis classes. And now I'm like, ooh, I get to look at motifs. And Erin is like, stab my eyeballs out. I'm like, yes. Yes.
00:21:51
Speaker
yes themes but so I was a history person so I did a fair bit of writing but it's all like you know technical writing well not technical technical writing but uh and not creative or yeah but you know I guess the history version of literary analysis and now I get to draw history like I'll read a non-fiction book and be like oh man look at what's happening here or or as we talked about in a recent podcast was it on our um superlatives was like ruined the book for me because i had too much historical content yes yeah right yes yes when i read that book where their hea was they like finally got in good with louis the 16th oh yeah like 10 years but before the french revolution i'm just like oh my god hope you like it before you have to leave yeah it's plan you're gonna get beheaded
00:22:44
Speaker
It's stressful for like the, you know, 10% of people who actually understand
Confidence in Book Critiquing
00:22:48
Speaker
history. um Yeah. ah The other thing that I would say is this. In the beginning of all this, I feel like when I um i was very, very scared as i was equally thrilled about having people read it, read what we wrote, as I was terrified of it. And that... um I had a really hard time being critical.
00:23:07
Speaker
And I think of the... have a really hard time being I don't like it. I don't like it. But I have written several very critical reviews. That's true. Growth.
00:23:18
Speaker
We love that. It is growth. It is just really good at being diplomatic I am diplomatic. Well, you know what? Here's the thing. It's two things here. On the one hand, I think I've gotten a lot better at when I am confident, confident that I have textual evidence for why a book has weak points. I am much more confident about being like, here's the specific reasons why I think this book didn't hit, right? Which I didn't have before.
00:23:42
Speaker
I would have the evidence and I would still be like, well, but you could be wrong. And so now i feel like i I have enough experience under my belt that I'm pretty confident about when things aren't going right in a book. On the other hand, i also feel like i one thing that maybe will never change for me is that I am always so damn grateful when authors give us books to review. And if authors give us books to review, I'm going to be kind about it. You know what I mean? um There have only been a couple where it's been an author has given us a book to review and I've been like, dude, i this is not going to work for me. um And I've been critical about it. But um so, yeah, what I'm always going to be as diplomatic as possible when someone takes their handcrafted baby and asks us, like, will you please review my book? I'm always going to be nice about it because that's a vulnerability thing. I'm just to be respectful. I'm still going to tell the truth, but I'm going to do it nicely. On the flip side, if I just find a book in the wild, I'm going to take it down like a cheetah.
00:24:36
Speaker
Like, what was this? City of Gods and Monsters? Yes, it was I'm sorry. No, that one that one that one, it was fair game for a takedown, and I did it. So um anyway, but i I did that. I didn't lose any sleep about it. I was perfectly fine with it, and that was a huge change. I would be like crippled with anxiety for days back in the day if I posted a critical review.
00:24:56
Speaker
terrible Yeah, it's been an interesting change that way, too, where it's like, what if I say or do the wrong thing? um And I can't. Yeah. And it's just out there. But i yeah, just growing. It's been personal growth. too This has been a personal growth experience in addition to so many other things. It's like, no, i I'll do the best I can. Apologize when needed and not take on other people's feelings. Yeah.
Personal Growth and Blog's Future
00:25:23
Speaker
See, I feel like I'm the opposite is from the grade because in the beginning i was writing like rant after rant after rant. I was so mean. i was so mean. And it was like basically all books that I'd gotten from the library, right?
00:25:36
Speaker
But I was writing like mean review after mean review after mean review. and now I'm like, if I read five pages and ah or 50 pages and I'm like, this is going mean review. i just don't read it.
00:25:49
Speaker
Unless it's really egregious. Well, and one thing I've thought about. I should a hate read. Sorry, Ingergo. One thing I've thought about with our, because we do, we did kind of shift into that policy. I think the combination of the world being a dumpster fire and then all of us have, you know, significant responsibilities and concerns in our personal lives as well. And so one of the things recently we kind of were like, all right, if we just don't, we're not into a book, we're just going to DNF it. And that's fine. Yeah. And I one part of recently, actually, I was thinking about it now. And I thought, you know, I do feel like it is important also for readers to be able to see if there are books that we don't think were great. Because, you know, some people really do listen. And they're like, I all the books Holly likes, like, I like those books, too. You know, so if if Holly says the book doesn't hit, like I want to know about that, too. So it might be one those things where like maybe we just say like these are the books I DNFed this month or whatever. You know what I mean? Yeah. People can have the, you know, more holistic view of what we're
Maintaining Honesty and Integrity
00:26:42
Speaker
reading. But these are the things, too, that we I think it's so fun that we've been able to sit and evolve it together. Like, but we're very clear. We've always been very clear. And I think we're lucky. It just kind of happened this way of naturally that we've always been very aligned with like why we're doing what we're doing.
00:26:57
Speaker
um we're doing we the point is to just keep going so if something doesn't feel right or if we don't like it we just don't do it you know um if something feels gross like pandering on social media in a way that we don't feel comfortable with we don't do it you know yeah and yeah does that cost us some readers probably probably yeah we could probably be a lot more successful if we tried cared but we're doing this because we love it and And we also care a lot. I think we all really care about the neutrality of it. We want to be honest and yeah we don't want to do anything that will compromise our very carefully honed opinions about the
Emphasis on Fun and Passion
00:27:35
Speaker
books we read. So right now we can just say whatever we want.
00:27:38
Speaker
Yeah. um And we do. Well, I think I, yeah, I was thinking about this recently that this is a hobby, not a hustle for us. Yeah. Right. Yeah. so That does give us a little more flexibility. Yeah. yeah like we've been Keep it fun. it's not fun, yeah not going to do it. yeah yeah Not that every step of it is fun.
00:27:58
Speaker
There is work associated with it. but yeah That's what Ingrid was saying. we keep We've been aligned if it's not fun or if it's not yeah it doesn't feel right. And I feel like if listeners took anything from this, it would be that you should just do things that make you feel uncomfortable, especially if it's uncomfortable, but also kind of a thrill, right?
00:28:18
Speaker
And, um and also that you should make space like prioritize time and space for doing things that don't necessarily make you a ton of money, or are like, you know, socially applauded, you know, like if it feels really, really good, but it's not to impress your neighbor, that's probably something that you should do.
Encouragement to Pursue Joyful Activities
00:28:40
Speaker
Yeah, you know, yeah yeah just do it yeah because it's really fun it's really fun and that is what we're doing so uh that's our time and i feel like that's a great stopping point because we just want everyone to keep it smutty just like we do in your own way in your own way ah brand of smuttiness your unique brand even if it's your brand is non-smuttiness yes that's okay too you do your level absolutely okay Where are we going with this? I don't know. and I don't know. We're signing off.
Podcast Conclusion
00:29:09
Speaker
Sign us Molly. We're signing by Show notes at smutreport.com slash podcast. And until next time.
00:29:16
Speaker
Keep it smutty, folks. Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na. Smut Report!