Book Friends Forever Podcast

Alvina is back from vacation and Grace is finished with the first leg of her tour. They discuss the recent events involving Kelly Clarkson and the Brooklyn store Art of Play (the controversy has thankfully died down by now), and use the incident to discuss the concept of humility. They talk about whether humility is actually something that our culture values and if it's something to strive for, and if it is, they discuss 15 ways to practice humility in your life. Then, since Grace is in the midst of her tour for LITTLE STONE BUDDHA, Grace tells Alvina about the book, including its origins: it was inspired by the book THE LITTLE HOUSE by Virginia Lee Burton, as well as the real life Oakland Buddha. And they end as always with what they're grateful for.
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Grace and Alvina discuss some book publishing terms and define them. Do you know what a BLAD is and what it stands for? What is a book blurb, and are they valuable? Do you know what "bleed" means in relation to art? Learn what verso and recto refer to! And find out the two meanings of the word "colophon" and when we started including certain colophon info in our picture books and why. We define over 40 terms, including ONIX, metadata, POD, OP, endpapers, gutter, proof, IP, NYP, WFH, TK, frontlist and backlist, and more!
For the Fortune Cookie segment, they discuss the recent internet debate about whether it's appropriate to bring an iced coffee into an interview! They talk about the importance of first impressions and why things that shouldn't matter, do matter. Then Alvina tells Grace about the book A BOOK FOR EVERYONE by Hayley and John Rocco, and they end as always with what they're grateful for.
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Grace and Alvina discuss a recent Hidden Brain+ podcast episode that discussed some of the potential negatives of goal setting. Linear goal setting may cause people to skip the exploration stage, and it might be more beneficial to use "tiny experiments" to learn what actually works. They talk about how in the scientific world, you ask a question, and the only goal is to learn. Two recent Happiness Lab episodes reinforced this, talking about how small changes can be the most effective.
 
For the Fortune Cookie segment, they talk about Generative AI, and the new guidelines that SCBWI recently released, banning AI use for any part of the creative process.
 
Then, Alvina tells Grace about a backlist title SHARK VS TRAIN by Chris Barton and Tom Lichtenheld, which was recently featured in the New York Times. And, then end as always with what they're grateful for.
 
Click here to become a Patreon member: https://www.patreon.com/Bookfriendsforever1 
Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Bookfriendsforever_podcast 
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Thanks!

Grace and Alvina discuss a bunch of book publishing news, including the Anthropic Settlement, the National Book Award for Young People's Literature long list, a study about how library eBook lending hurts sales, how Libro.FM is planning to expand into the eBook market, and they talk about some of the new words that have recently been added to Merriam-Webster's dictionary, including words such as looksmaxxing, yacht rock, shishito, chili crisp, and glow-up.
For the Fortune Cookie segment, they talk about eight different "play personalities" and which ones they are--Grace is a creator, and Alvina is an explorer. And, they both have dreamer energy. And they end as always with what they're grateful for.
Click here to become a Patreon member: https://www.patreon.com/Bookfriendsforever1 Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Bookfriendsforever_podcast Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bookfriendsforever_podcast/

Grace and Alvina take on two topics. They talk about sabbaticals, and a recent Happiness Lab podcast episode about how life changing sabbaticals are. Grace talks about the challenges of taking a sabbatical as a freelancer, and Alvina shares how life-changing her sabbatical was, even though it was just four weeks. They talk about the different types of sabbaticals you could take: as an achiever, an explorer, or a healer. And, how to plan a sabbatical. They also touch on the different ways to be retired as discussed on a recent Gretchen Rubin podcast: a relaxer, a reinventor, or a reinvigorator.
For the second topic, Grace talks about how she was asked to contribute a life lesson to her alma mater for a publication. She is supposed to reflect on one true thing she has learned from life. They talk about the different things they've learned over the years, including that you need to be your authentic self, that everything will turn out okay in the end, and more. They end, as always, with what they're grateful for--old friends who feel like family! 
Click here to become a Patreon member: https://www.patreon.com/Bookfriendsforever1
Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Bookfriendsforever_podcast
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