Bonus Interview with Romance Author Jennifer Chipman | VPR Takeover Edition

Surprise, you’re getting a VPR Takeover bonus episode this week and this one is packed with romance books, chaotic energy, Disney tangents, hockey romance, and alien otter research.

This week we’re hanging out with romance author Jenn Chipman, she writes heroes who fall first, fall hard, and fully spiral over their women, aka exactly what we live for around here.

If you love:

•  Romance books 
•  Romance author interviews 
•  Bookish podcasts 
•  Hockey romance 
•  Workplace romance 
•  Enemies to lovers 
•  Friends with benefits 
•  Heroes who fall first 
•  Interconnected standalone series 
•  Chaos-filled book discussions 
•  Unhinged reader conversations 

…then welcome home, bestie. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

What's up, Book Nerds? Welcome to What the Smut Are You Talking About podcast. We are a weekly romance book podcast where we talk about books and chaos. So yeah, pretty much anything goes.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Join us as we talk about the books we are reading, what crazy shenanigans are happening in our lives, and who knows, we may have some fun guests drop by.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

So grab your favorite snacky snack and your beverage of choice and come hang out and see what the smut we are talking about this week.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

How is everybody doing? How are you doing today, Courtney?

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Oh, it's a fun day, Mary. I say that very sarcastically. I'm sure you're gonna hear all about it, though.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

We'll get to it during the unhinged chaos of your day. Yes. Sounds good. Well, listeners, we are excited to bring you this special episode. It is our VPR takeover. VPR is Valentine PR, and they work with some amazing authors. And we're excited to have one here with us today, joining us to chat. She resides in Florida with her fur babies.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

She writes heroes who fall first and hard for their women.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

In her downtime, you can find her at a Disney park or reading her new favorite book. Let's give a warm welcome to Jennifer Chipman. Hi, Jennifer.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

Thank you so much for having me. Yes, we're so glad you could join us. And um, by the way, next time I plan a Disney trip, I'm gonna have to like give you a call because I was so overwhelmed with the Disney last time. We went with the on a wing and a prayer.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Yeah, no, it's definitely a lot.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

I I have not been, I have not been since I was a kid. And I think my son really wants to go so that he can get a lightsaber. Yeah, that's the only reason he wants to go. Yeah. Spoken like a true boy. Yes, like a teenager.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Yeah, a very teenage boy.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

I love it. We did have a blast though. Um it's it's always always fun, always exhausting. Yes. Oh my gosh. I've never walked so much in my entire life as I did on one day at Disney. Like, it's not for the week. No.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Goodness.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

Well, what are you currently drinking? And is it strong enough for this conversation? Because you've already got a little dose of unhinged Courtney already.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

I'm uh drinking an iced caramel macchiato from Starbucks. That sounds good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

That sounds delicious.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Hopefully, it's strong enough. I mean, it's a little early for uh anything stronger. Truth, right.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Not not after the day I've had. We uh we celebrated summer. Right. We celebrated Cinco de Mayo, and I'm like very tempted to go rummage our refrigerator and see if there's any like canned margaritas left.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Yeah, fair. So, Courtney, what's in your cup today? We know what you want.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

Yeah, no, I am sipping on a Diet Coke.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

I'm being good, I'm having water.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Look at you. Did you get your mile in, Mary? I did, I did.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

I texted Jennifer, I texted Courtney because I'm trying to do better and move. And I have a walking pad. And since I work from home, I'm trying to walk while I work. And I'm trying to walk. I ideally want to walk five to six miles a day, but I just don't think there's any way that I'll have the time to do that. But I've been trying to get in four miles a day because it takes me about two hours. So I do an hour in the morning and then an hour in the afternoon. And somebody at my real-world job called me and took up a half hour of my walking time. No. So I'm texting Courtney. I'm like, I'm trying to make my mile before I call in. And I did. I made it with like five minutes to spare.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

So yeah, I've been thinking about getting a walking pad for my like writing setup, but I haven't uh taken the plunge yet because I have to figure out space.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

My my girlfriend recommended me this one, and she right now it fits underneath of our couch. And when I use it, I walk, I set everything up on my son's desk because my son, who does gaming and everything, he has one of those fancy schmancy desks that go up and down. And and I just have this old antique desk in my office. So I take over his space. I'm gonna have to buy a new desk because there's no way that I can do that when he's home during the summer. So I'm gonna have to be upstairs. But she found it's it'll stand upright, but it fits under the couch and it's really, really compact. And so far, so good.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Yeah, the desk is definitely my problem too, is I gotta get a new desk because I have a IKEA one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

He the ones I've been eyeing it, and I probably should just buy it because it's a it's on sale for like $170. And it's one of the ones that goes from sitting to standing. And I'm like, I will probably never find that cheaper. Like I just need to take the plunge and buy it.

SPEAKER_02 5:37

Yeah, I am in awe of anyone that can walk and do other things at the same time because I'm just too damn clumsy. I like like I literally have to hold because I have um, I guess it's technically like a walking pad at home, but it has where like the bars come up and I literally have to hold the bars or my ass will fall off.

unknown 5:56

No.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

No. Yeah, yeah, I'm that type of walker. I'm I'm chaotic. Like chaotic is my wife these days.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Definitely. Well, Jennifer, on a scale of plotter to feral gremlin, what is your writing process like?

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Yeah, I always like to say it's like chaos goblin. So I don't really like I know a lot of people who like really heavily outline. I'm very much like a loose outline bullet point kind of girl. So they'll be like, chapter 15 is like from her perspective, and it's like they go on a date, and that's all I got. And then so I kind of just like I write through discovery. So like I'm kind of like learning things along with my characters a lot of the time, which is like really fun for me because sometimes things happen that I like didn't see coming. Um so it's definitely very uh chaotic. This book that I just wrote was a lot more chaotic than um some of the other ones. Sometimes I have books where I like rewrite the plot like three or four times because it's just not right. Um so those ones are always really interesting when I get to the end and I see how different the like final product is versus how it was when I originally envisioned it.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Well, we are all about the chaos over here. So we we love that.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

Yes, you fit right in. Right. When did you make the jump from, you know, this writing thing is fun to do to, oh no, this is now my new personality?

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Yeah, so I've always loved writing. I like in middle school, I was writing like fantasy and like coming up with like my own world and all that stuff. Um, I kind of got back into it a few years ago. I was uh writing fan fiction and I loved it. I was having so much fun, but I got to the point where I was like, I'd been in a fugue state writing like a long fic for like a month, and I wrote like a hundred thousand words, and I was like sleeping four hours a night. And I got to the point where I was like, I should do this for like my own characters and I should write like a full book. Um, so I took one of my fan fictions I had written and I adapted it into my first book, and I kind of never looked back, published it in July of 2022, and uh I've been a full-time author ever since, so it's been really great. That's that is amazing. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Me too. So speaking of your characters and books, who has been your easiest character to write?

SPEAKER_01 8:12

I think uh my easiest characters to write normally end up being like side characters, like um two specifically that I can think of were like Emily Sullivan in uh Disrespectfully Yours. Like she was just like so fun and I loved her. And the same thing happened to me in Uniquely in Love with Sophia Donovan, who's the coach's daughter. Like the second she came on the page, I was just like, I love her, she's so fun. So those two specifically that came onto the page and they just had a whole personality and it was great. I'm trying to think of like main characters who was the easiest. I've definitely had some books that I've struggled with a lot more than others, but I don't know if I've had any that I felt like were just like super duper easy, if that makes sense. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

Definitely makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

Have you had a character like completely just hijack your story?

SPEAKER_01 8:57

The way I write, because I will plan like interconnected standalones for other couples. I haven't had any like characters that I wasn't planning on being the main characters, like taking over. Um, I have had side characters where like I've written them and then I've been like, ooh, I love them so much I want to give them a book too. So like in that regard, yes, but like not in terms of like taking over the whole plot or like making the book about them or changing anything, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, yeah. I love me a good side character. Yeah, I know. It's so fun. I feel like they make or break a story sometimes. I just love them.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Definitely do, definitely do. So, talking about overall books, what story has been the hardest to write?

SPEAKER_01 9:37

I think it was Elf Me Celebbers, which is my like North Pole Christmas one. Um, she's the daughter of like a runaway Christmas elf, and he's a son of Santa Claus. Like, went into it with like a plan, and then I hated it. Like, I I the first draft was just I literally was like, this is not working. I do not like this. So I like threw it all away, basically, saved the stuff I thought was good, started again and still didn't like it. Uh and the say it was it just took me a really long time because I kept being like, I don't like this. What can I do to make this better? So that one I really struggled with. I also like definitely had a really hard time writing contractually mine, and I think part of it was like it's a spinoff series of my the first series I ever wrote. And like the characters like meant so much to me that I wanted to make sure I did them justice, but it was really hard because I kept doing things being like, I don't like this, or this timeline like doesn't like work. And like, how can I make this the best book it can be? So that was definitely a challenge with these two as well.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

What is a tiny detail that a reader will never notice while reading your books, but you've like completely obsessed over?

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Timelines. Uh, I literally have printed out a calendar view of the month, and I'll put all the events of the book onto the calendar to make sure it makes sense. And a lot of that information obviously it translates to page in the sense that like it's in the order and stuff, but like the amount of time I spend basically feeling like a crazy person red stringing like what is the timeline? How does this all happen in like sequential order is crazy.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

That is such a smart idea because I feel like most of my author friends, they're like, What is time? Yeah, it is what is it is what it is when I write it.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

I have an entire timeline for the Best Friends Book Club, like universe, especially because of the second gen uh like books two. I have an entire timeline that starts at like the beginning of book one, and also I guess like the parents, the main the first generation's birthdays also are on it. So I have an entire timeline from like that until like the second generation books, and like all the way through the second generation books. So it's got like every like marriage, childbirth, proposal, everything significant that happens during the series. I have like on a list because otherwise I like can't keep things straight. Cause I'll write scenes with bonus scenes and stuff with kids where I'm like, how old is everyone right now? And I have to go look up everyone's ages and then do math. So I'm always like, who's alive right now? Like what kids have been born? Yeah. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

That is really cool. I I only know I've only known of one other author that I know who did a calendar thing as well. She did the same thing. She's like, Mary, you have to see this. And she has exactly like the birth, and she's like, This is when they're 18. This is when they're 25. This is this is when they got married, this is when this, you know, major event in the book happens. And I'm like, holy moly, the organization it takes to keep track of all that is insane.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Yeah, when I was writing Uniquely in Love, which is the first of the second generation books, I had to make a list of like, this is how old this character is and versus this character during this year of each of their schoolings. And because I'd write scenes and I'd be like, how old are they both right now? What grade are they both in? And I was like, my head hurts. So I just have an entire list.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

What is the craziest thing you've had to Google, you know, for research?

SPEAKER_01 13:01

I have, I'm like a crazy person who will like do way more research than I need to for like things that like have like one singular line. So, like for my space book, I learned about the mating habits of otters because there's an alien critter that's basically like a hybrid between like a dog and an otter. And so I learned a lot about otter mating habits. And I was like, I'm never gonna use this information, but I know it. Um, and my next book, He's a Vampire. So I did a lot of research on uh bat uh anatomy, if you get my drift. Um and I was like, should I do this for my vampire? And I was like, I texted all my friends and I was like, should I do this? And they were all like, yeah. And I was like, okay, thanks. So definitely, it's definitely some fun ones, definitely more so like fun, crazy things for like my paranormal stuff than like for contemporary. Um, but I also will 100% like search up poses, uh spicy poses while I'm writing to be like, what are they doing right now? And I'll have to like look at like art of people just so I can be like, what's going on? I can visualize it that way. Yeah. Draw little stick figures on sticky notes. I can't draw to save my life. Like, I people will come to me at events and be like, Can I have a doodle? And I'm like, I can give you teethies, like I can I can draw teethies and a crown, and that's as much as you're gonna get from me. Um, so I am I never try to do the stick figure thing. I'm always just like hard toward googling till I can find the right thing, especially for art references.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Yeah. Well, um Mary typically is our read them in order girl, and I'm typically like the chaos gremlin. So uh Valentine sent us contractually mine, and I started it, but I when I started going through and like noting everything out, disrespectfully yours caught my attention, and I was like, okay, I'm stopping this by going to this one because like I have to know what happens. Absolutely. So I'm about three-fourths of the way through with disrespectfully yours, and I'm here for it. Like, I love this book so much.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Drop drop us our tropes, Courtney.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

So it's like strangers to enemies to lovers.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Like I I guess I always I always like to say it's hate to love. They have like an email feud, they work at the same company, but like she's really stubborn and she refuses to meet him in person because the first time he like emails her, he's kind of an asshole to her. So she like won't give in the time of day. Uh and then they get forced together at a work retreat. So they're kind of paired up, and um, the like first time she sees him, she kind of has this like, oh no, he's hot moment. And then they like have a one-night stand, decide to be friends with benefits. Uh, it's fun. I that's the book I think I I've only ever laughed that much writing that book. Like I laughed so hard writing it.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

They were so fun. And that's the first book that Sophia and Nicholas like are on page for too. So well.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

And just like the friend groups, like at the workplace, is so much fun. So I'll have to go back and read contractually mine. Um because like you said, Sophia, she is in um like a good part of it. And so I'm I'm loving that I'm gonna getting to like know her first before I read her book.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

I I think one of the first things that was so hilarious is when Nicholas came down while she was working in HR and is basically trying to do anything to get her to work for him, and she's like, Marry me. It just it was so funny. And I think what I loved most is how feral Nicholas is for her. Like he he just goes all in head first. He's like, he's like, she's she's mine. I don't want any of this. Like, I want her for the rest of my life. And he was he was just there from page one almost, it felt like when he first saw her. And it that was just melted my heart. Yeah, he's definitely like head empty, only Zophia.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

I loved, I loved their like dynamic though, like golden retriever, and she's like definitely like got his leash, you know. Yes, like she's she's like, you'd lose your head if you didn't have me. And he's like, Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

He's like, I know, I know I would. He's like, I know I would. He's like, that's why I can't let you go. Thank you so much. I loved all the side characters, and I will say, so since I started here, the side character stories that you dropped in here with the little nuggets, it definitely, I think it made it made me, and so I would hope it would make other readers want to go back and read the other characters' stories and how they came to their happily ever after. It it definitely dropped those little nuggets that I was interested. I was like, oh, I wonder how they got together. Because when Nicholas and Sophia are talking about it, it's it's fun to be like, I want to know more. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

And then it was kind of the fun thing about writing it after the fact for me is like I got to go back, but also I've gotten to like have my readers also kind of go back, especially the ones who like maybe found me after I published those, who are like going back and like reading them for the first time. And it's really fun. Definitely.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

Just you had a hockey book, um, uniquely in love, and it's part of the cousins coffee club book series. Is that like is cousins a spin-off of Best Friends Book Club?

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Yeah, so it's uh it's the second generation series. So uh Owen is the son of Matthew and Noelle from Academically Yours, and then Ellie is the daughter of Charlotte and Daniel from Gracefully Yours. Uh so there is like childhood sweethearts to exes to lovers. So it was really fun writing that because you also get to see all the kids. Um, and there are some of them are related through basically the Sullivans because there's Hunter and Benjamin who are brothers, and then Angelina and Daniel are brother and sister. So there's a bunch of cousins. They all grow up at uh Noelle's uh coffee shop bookstore that she opens. So it was really fun to kind of like get to see all the like parents again, but also like have all the side characters of like all their kids.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

I love series and worlds that are like that, where we get to see the parents. Not that you ever want it to get to a point where the main characters get so old that you have to like pass them away and they have to die.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

I don't think I'd I don't think I'd ever write a third generation.

SPEAKER_00 19:47

But I love I love how we get to have the next generation and it all ties in and you get to come back to to those settings. It's one of my favorite things. While I like standalone books, I definitely am a huge fan when they take place in the same world and and the series kind of follows that world. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

And it was fun in c in contractually and at kind of at the end of the book in the extended epilogue, it was fun leaving the like little nuggets for the future second gen books too.

SPEAKER_02 20:20

Yes. Definitely have to have like some mad organization skills because I could never.

SPEAKER_01 20:30

I I planned out the entirety of the like Best Friends Book Club series and the entire second generation series, like before I finished writing book one. So I definitely feel like a crazy person sometimes, like you know, the guy with the red string, but um it's it made it a lot easier to write it. So and it's fun to tell.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

I bet. Yeah. Well, I'm obsessed with these, and I can't wait to dive into more. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

I can't wait to check out your your elf alphabetes to lovers. Like I love holiday reads, and so that has me so excited to to check that one out and and read it because it sounds it sounds just like a big ball of Christmas. It it very much is. It's like spicy, but so Christmas.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

I love it. We need to um let Jess know about that.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

We definitely do, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

Um our friend Jess, she um is doing an event in July called Smutmus and the Smokies. Yeah. Um, it's very, very much Christmas in July theme. Um she's obsessed with Christmas, so she she would be a fan.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

And I'm also very curious about you totally got me curious on on the your sci-fi, the a love beyond the Stars because I'm assuming that's the otter research.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Yeah. Yeah. It was, yes. Uh someone, it's so funny because I didn't originally have that planned either, like having an alien creature in it. And then uh someone in one of my like ask me anything things on Instagram was like, is there gonna be any alien creatures? And I was like, Well, there could be. And then I was like, What should I do? So that was fun. And that book is, I think, very similar to like Angelina and Benjamin in the way they like have a a rocky start. Um, but their like dislike to love is so fun.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

It sounds like it. And those are always the fun tropes, and especially seeing who which one of them falls first. Always in. And whether and whether or not they'll admit it before she does, that's what that's what pulls me in. Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

I think where I'm going next is the Castleton University series. Um, because I'm a huge fan of like retellings or if they're anything like Disney inspired. Yep. So I am here for this. Once upon a fake date, that that just screams me.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Yeah, I've I mean, obviously I live right near Disney, so like I've always been a Disney girl. So I loved writing those and like all the little Easter eggs and um callbacks. It it's really fun.

SPEAKER_02 23:27

Yeah. I have to know, because you have all these stories and all these characters. How do you like how do you come up with your character names?

SPEAKER_01 23:37

It's a like combination of a lot of things, I would say. Um, but a lot of the times and just like Googling names, and I'll be like, for the witch series, I'll Google like female witch names or like whatever, to and then I'll just be like, ooh, I like that one. Sometimes I'll be like, I want a name that's like starts with this letter, um, so that I can like vary up what letters I use. Uh so like I don't have any like specific processes, I guess, but um, it's always just kind of like what fits the character, what do I like? Um, sometimes I'll like use a name and then I start writing it, and I'm like, that's completely the wrong name for this character. I had that happen while I was writing Spookly Yours. Um, I because I started by naming her Constance, because I wanted to name her after Constance Hatchway from The Haunted Mansion, because I thought that would be fun. And then I named her Constance. I started writing and I was like, she is way too bubbly and happy to be named Constance. Uh so then I then I changed her name to Willow, which was originally her sister's name. So then I also had to rename her sister, who then became Luna. Um, but I think that their names after I did that, and that was really early into writing it anyway. So their names after I did that made sense, and they were like, I was like, this is right, this is what it was always supposed to be.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

I love that. That's so cool. Yeah. We are ready to move on to our vibe check and tropes of what we are currently reading. So, Courtney, you wanna let us know what you're reading?

SPEAKER_02 25:02

Yes. So, well, I've already said, you know, I'm I'm eyeball reading disrespectfully yours, which you know it takes me forever to eyeball read. Um, because I'm I'm the audiobook girly of the group. But I'm listening to The Good Girl Effect by Sarah Kate, and I'm almost done with it. I should finish it today. And because it's a it's a second generation series of hers, and I'm here for it. Cause her her book two of this series just came out. So I was like, oh, I need to go back and redo the girl the good girl effect so I can um be ready, ready for the new one. And I'm obsessed. Uh, what about you, Mary? What are you reading?

SPEAKER_00 25:46

I am still cozily settled into my comfort reread. So I am on to Max by Megan O'Brien, which is the first book in her next generation. So it's the kids.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

Oh fun. Just mixed gen and up over here.

SPEAKER_00 26:03

I know, I know. And this one definitely has they've known each other since they were kids. They grew up together. So kind of a bother brother's best friend, and he's older by eight, eight years, and um it's MC romance, so he's all alpha, overprotective, doesn't want anything to happen to her, and will hurt anybody who hurts her, kind of feralness that we all love. So, Jennifer, are you currently reading anything? Or no, because you're working on projects and the voices in your head are talking.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

Uh, normally, so like normally I do write read a lot. I've been in kind of a reading slump where like the only thing I've really been reading is erotica. Um, but I'm planning on starting The Wraith King by Juliet Cross. Um, and I'm very excited because I love her. Um, she's one of my like author friends that I like love so much and I love seeing it events. So I'm excited to start that. I just need to like start it and not just keep I just I'm like I have to be in the right mindset, is always the hardest part of starting a new book. I agree. The cover looks crazy. Yeah, it's uh yeah, the tropes are really fun, and I'm very excited. Uh, because I've been meaning to read it forever, and I downloaded the audiobook and I was like, okay, it's time.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

It is time. Tell me this is not our Disney listening crew. Although, if you ask me my favorite Disney princess, it's Megara. So there you go. And you can't tell me she's Megara, and you can't tell me she is not a Disney princess. It's Hercules's love interest.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

I mean, I was gonna do a book for her in the Castleton series, so I will allow it. I love it. I'm like, she's not in the official Disney princess lineup, but you know.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

She is not, which is unfair, but maybe it's because she becomes a goddess. So there we go.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

That's why I love her. But if you if if slash when that book comes, you need to drop me a note so I can pre-order it because I am here for it.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

I d so like the whole series is on pause right now, so it'll be it'll be a while before I come back to it. But that's okay. Hopefully, hopefully at some point I will get to. I have time.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Well, what are you watching, Mary? So I am watching Death Note, which is an anime show for anybody who is not that that's where my true, my true passion is. It is definitely not for the faint of heart. It basically is about a boy who finds this notebook. And any name that is written in the notebook, that person will die within like 60 seconds, I think it is. And so he starts out with testing the theory on like these really awful criminals, people who are just evil and and bad. And the police find out that this is going on. They're trying to track down who it is. We find out that his dad is like the high up in the police department in where in their city in Japan. And so it goes on from there. It's only like a 37-episode anime show, but that's only. Only. Well, they're like anime episodes are short, so that's why I say only, because they're they're you know, most of the time they're not even a half hour long sometimes. So uh, but yeah, so that that is my morbid show that I'm watching at the moment. How about you?

SPEAKER_01 30:06

So I haven't really been watching anything, but I have been playing a lot of Hello Kitty Island adventure on my Switch. So uh that does happen on my TV. So uh I think it counts. Definitely counts.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

That is so awesome. I haven't got to I haven't played a video game and I can't tell you how long. Probably since like Hogwarts Legacy came out, I would say.

SPEAKER_01 30:27

Oh yeah, I'm very much like a cozy gaming person. I love I love the things that require no like brain power to play. I'm like, I can just like you know, give Hello Kitty her favorite gift and it's great.

SPEAKER_02 30:40

During lockdown, we did a lot of Animal Crossing. Like and we only had one switch, so me and my husband would like fight back and forth over it. I love I miss that game too. Cause it's one of those that you just do stuff and don't have to think about. Well, I am not really currently watching anything. Um, I'm caught up on everything, which is shocking. But last night my kids they were just feral and we had a bad night, and which led into like a bad day already. And yeah, so nothing on my end.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

It's no fun when the kids can like take the mood and you're like, uh, I just need to walk away. I need a do-over, you need to go away.

SPEAKER_02 31:29

See, Kaylee, she's at the age where she just copies everything that brother does. Uh right. You know, we're learning to regulate our emotions. That's been a big topic of discussion in our household, just because he goes zero to 100 and doesn't know how to get back. So he just gets angry so fast. And sh now she's seeing it, so she's getting the same way. And I'm like, kids, kids, I I mommy needs a break. And they both wanted to sleep with me last night, and it was it was just a bad night. Well, hopefully this evening goes better. I hope so. And I'm having hot flashes again, and it's like yeah, yeah, I'm not welcome, welcome to the daily life of me. I almost I almost texted you last night like how do you deal with this every single day?

SPEAKER_00 32:26

Cause you you should have, honey, because odds are I would have been up still because like insomnia, you know.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

Yeah, yeah. I literally sweated so much last night. Like I had to get up and take a shower.

SPEAKER_00 32:42

Like part of me feels like if I'm gonna sweat that much, you need to like sweat off the pounds with it, right? Because if I'm waking up drenched, then I I at least sweated two pounds in the night. Like, come on now.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

But I also can't get my cravings under control right now. So I've been like eating anything and everything in my sight. So I feel like I'm gaining.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

Hence the reason why I'm walking on my walking trip. Gotta love, gotta love the you know, fabulous 30s, the feral 40s, and then, you know, in a few years we'll hit the fuck it 50s and we'll be good.

unknown 33:28

Right?

SPEAKER_00 33:29

I was gonna say, listeners, be sure to drop in our comments or our DMs and let us know what you are reading and watching this week. We'd love to hear from you because you never know. We might watch or read what you recommend.

SPEAKER_02 33:43

Yes, I'm always here for people to blow up my TBR. Well, it's time for our unhinged thoughts of the week, where we take our thoughts, no context, no logic, just vibes, and unpack it like it's completely normal. So, what do you have for me, Mary? What's your unhinged thought of the week?

SPEAKER_00 34:01

You're gonna laugh. So, my unhinged thought is why can't we be shifters? I feel like that's not even that unhinged. I mean, so how cool would it be if we could shift and lounge in the sun all day like a cat? I mean, but let's be honest, if I was going to be a shifter, it would either be a dragon or a wolf, but I'm slightly jealous of my cat's abilities to lounge and bask in the sun without a care in the world. So that's that's that's my unhinged thought. But but if I was to be, if I was to be a shifter, it would definitely be a dragon or a wolf, and mainly because of my obsession with fire. I mean, think of all the weeds I could burn if I was a dragon. Like, I wouldn't even need my flamethrower.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

Like, oh, yeah, that's that's so great. So, how about you, Courtney? Well, mine's more like an unhinged rant. So what's first off, was last night a full moon, or is like Mercury in retrograde or whatever?

SPEAKER_00 35:08

Full moon was earlier in the week. It was the first and to the second, and I do not believe Mercury is not in retrograde. So we gotta pull on some other astral and hello. Here's the other side of me where I'm obsessed with astrology and and moon phases and all of that. Another little tidbit you learn about me on the podcast, but we can just say people are crazy, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:35

Cause they they've been acting like fools today. I'm like, can we not? I'm going on any no sleep. And it's just like everybody is just getting on my nerves like hardcore today. Uh I told my boss, I was like, I shouldn't have even come in to work. Like, I'm in a grumpy mood. I woke up late, I had to get another shower.

SPEAKER_00 35:55

And I just Pluto is what's in retrograde today. Oh, it's Pluto the planet. Pluto, the non-planet, which should be a planet, is in retrograde, which is causing the craziness.

SPEAKER_02 36:09

Yeah, because like, and it hasn't stopped. And then so I go to eat my lunch and I brought leftovers from last night, and I was not feeling it. I'm like, I don't want this. And then my husband introduced this hibachi place to me that opened up just right down the road from my work, and I was like, that sounds fabulous. I'm gonna go get a takeout order. So me and a few girls at work, like we called in an order. I go pick it up. Traffic, of course, is a fucking nightmare. And I'm going not even five minutes down the road, and it takes me 20. So I'm already pissed off. It's just, it's just been a bad day. But then I get my food, I get back here, and I'm eating it. And you know how like I don't like hot stuff. Well, because like I'm a yum yum sauce whore. Like, give that shit to me in a vein. Like, I love it so much. Like, I will drown my rice in yum yum sauce or white sauce, whatever people call it. And they gave me the spicy one. No, and my fucking mouth is on fire. I'm like, is y'all's mouth on fire? Like, did they put hot sauce, did they prank me and put like hot sauce on it? Cause it's so hot. And but of course, like I'm scarfing it down because I'm so damn hungry at this point. And I'm like, can what else? What else can this day throw at me? So it's probably gonna like tear my stomach up at some point.

SPEAKER_00 37:25

Oh no, I know. I hate that. I hate when you're going in and you're expecting it to be one flavor and then it's like not. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:35

And my kids, they did not want to cooperate this morning. It's just it's just been a shitty day. And I'm like, I just need to go to bed and start it over. Yeah, very fair. But this is fun, it's it's got my mood better.

SPEAKER_00 37:49

Yay! Well, Jennifer, do you do you have an unhinged thought? You are welcome to embrace our chaos.

SPEAKER_01 37:57

I think I shared mine earlier, which was the about the vampire uh anatomy. Yeah, that's my unhinged thought of the week. Soon tone on DVD and video. I love that you said DVD and video. That's the old, yeah. It's uh my friend was just staying with me for a month, and I it was like really funny because like you don't realize some of the like vocal stims you do until you're like with someone else, and then you do them all the time. And it's always just really funny when we're just like, here's this random phrase from like 10 years ago that I'm just gonna constantly say as if it, you know, yeah. It's perfectly normal. Yeah, perfectly it it makes so much sense. I'm like, yeah. Love it. I'm here for it.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

Well, listeners, please feel free to submit your unhinged thoughts to us, and who knows, we might read them on air. All right, Jen. What is up next for you? Do you have any fun events? Any more releases coming up? What you got for us?

SPEAKER_01 38:51

Yeah, so this uh fall I'm releasing the next book in the Witches of Pleasant Grove series, which is um eternally his. So that one's Vampire uh MMC, and I'm very excited because he's my first uh vampire main character. And then I'm also doing one in November that's Fastburn Windy inspired, and it's like Christmas in Pleasant Grove. So I'm super excited to like a witchy Christmassy winter book. And then hopefully I have another one that I'm working on that we'll see if it um comes to fruition in time to come out this year. But uh I'm very excited about all three of them, and I'm like looking forward to spending more time in Pleasant Grove because I would love writing those books and that. And I have a ton of events uh this year, and they're all on my Instagram, if you go look and on my website.

SPEAKER_00 39:35

So let our listeners know where they can find you and check you out on Instagram.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

Yeah, so my Instagram handle is at Jen Chipman Author. It's uh J-E-N-N, so two N's. And also it's all on my website too, which is genshipman.com. Again, J-E-N-N with two N's. The second N is very important to me.

SPEAKER_02 39:56

Oh my gosh. So we will have everything listed in our episode show notes so listeners can find you very easily. Perfect. This has been so much fun and very needed on my on my part. Very fair.

SPEAKER_00 40:10

But thank you for having me. It has been a lot of fun and can't wait to check out more of your stories. Thank you so much. And as always, you can catch us causing chaos over on Instagram at What the Smut Podcast and me personally at On Point Digital Services.

SPEAKER_02 40:28

And I'm over at Instagram at Courtney Leanne. If you want to join us for a chat, there's a form linked in our show notes. So be sure to fill that out because we would love to hear from you.

SPEAKER_00 40:39

If you enjoyed today's episode, please consider leaving us a review. Reviews help other smut readers find us. And honestly, they make our chaotic hearts very happy.

SPEAKER_02 40:50

And if you really love this podcast and want to show support, we've got a listener support link in our show notes. Supporters get shout outs, special giveaways, and maybe even exclusive chaos that you can't find anywhere else. We also have sponsorship opportunities as well. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll catch you guys next time.