This month marks FIFTEEN years that I have been pursuing a career primarily by sharing myself on the internet. Starting with the Hollywood Housewife blog in January 2010, then building a social media presence, then becoming a podcaster and an author, and I have so many stories and thoughts to share about the last decade and a half.

On this episode, I'm talking about the things I did right, the things I definitely got wrong, and how I've evolved right along with the World Wide Web.

Join SECRET STUFF to hear even MORE behind-the-scenes stories.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

MORE episodes on this topic:

Ep. 73: I Wrote a Book!

Ep. 63: Working From Home

Ep. 111: Behind The Scenes of Publishing, Marketing, and Launching a Book (with Kelly Gordon)

Ep. 166: How To Write a Book (in 10 Steps)

Ep. 174: 3 Things I've Learned While Working With a Business Coach (A Conversation with Retha Nichole)

MENTIONED in this episode:

Ep. 251: 10 Things I Learned in 2024

Sorta Awesome podcast

Smartest Person in the Room podcast

Racial Bias series on SPITR

Share Yo​​ur Stuff. I’ll Go First. by Laura Tremaine

The Life Council by Laura Tremaine

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No matter the question, reading is the answer. And in a year starting off like 2025 is, we certainly need a lot of answers to life's questions.

I am thrilled to welcome fellow Angeleno bookworm Traci Thomas (host of The Stacks podcast) to talk about the most anticipated new book releases of 2025. We talk about novels and nonfiction by debut and beloved authors publishing this year and sorry not sorry about this conversation that will send your book budget soaring. There are so many good books to look forward to in the next six months.

Also in this episode, Traci really gives me a lot to think about in terms of how we talk about books and why it's okay to be publicly critical of books that don't work for us. As an author who is jumpy about that concept, Traci really shifted my perspective on this.

You can listen to Traci on The Stacks podcast

You can follow Traci on IG

You can read Traci on her substack Unstacked

You can join Traci's Patreon

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

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MOST ANTICIPATED 2025 BOOKS:

January Books:

• Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry
• Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

February Books:

• Pure Innocent Fun: Essays by Ira Madison III
• Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld
• Death Takes Me by Cristina Rivera Garza
• One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

March Books:

• Hot Air by Marcy Dermansky
• I'll Love You Forever: Notes from a K-Pop Fan by Giaae Kwon
• There is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America by Brian Goldstone

April Books:

• Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life by Maggie Smith
• The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life by Suleika Jaouad
• Authority: Essays by Andrea Long Chu

May Books:

• Love and Exile by Shon Faye
• The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s by Paul Elie

June Books:

• Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Weepers by Peter Mendelsun

ALSO MENTIONED in this episode:

• Sara Hildreth of Fiction Matters
• Episode 122 of The Stacks Podcast with Kiese Laymon, Breathe by Imani Perry Book Club
• Episode 222: Stephen King Starter Kit Part II
• The Keep It Podcast
• Read Traci's Most Anticipated List of 2025 with a different set of books than she talks about here
• Suleika Jaouad’s Substack, The Isolation Journals

MORE BOOKS mentioned in this episode:

• Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson 
• South to America by Imani Perry
• Vexy Thing: On Gender and Liberation by Imani Perry
• May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem by Imani Perry
• Breathe: A Letter to My Sons by Imani Perry
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Looking for Lorraine by Imani Perry
• The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
• How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
• Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
• American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
• You Like It Darker by Stephen King
• Liliana’s Invincible Summer by Cristina Rivera Garza
• American War by Omar El Akkad
• Evicted by Matthew Desmond
• Reagan: His Life and Legend by Max Boot
• You Can Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith
•  Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad
• The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life by Suleika Jaouad
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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It may already be January, but it's time for my annual year-end reflection with 10 of the biggest things I learned that I hope will also resonate with you.

2024 was a weird year in so many ways. My lessons were all over the place, from examining self-confidence vs. self-esteem, finding out who I am in a crisis, being honest about what home renovations can bring up emotionally, facing my addiction to the news cycle, and discovering the big thing that motivates our family decisions.

It was a year full of light bulb moments. I hope this helps you reflect upon your own lessons, struggles, and triumphs of the last year.

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FULL SHOW NOTES ARE HERE

MENTIONED in this episode:

Ep 201: 10 Things I Learned in 2023

Ep 238: The Conversation That Changed My Year

Ep 246: A Funeral for Twitter

The neck alignment thing that really works

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It's the reading episode we look forward to all year! My real life book club members Yasmin Dunn and Stephanie Newman-Smith join me for a supersized conversation about the best books we read in 2024.

JOIN THE SECRET STUFF BOOK CLUB

Since Stephanie, Yasmin, and I did a half-year Best Books episode together during the summer, we only gloss over a few of the books we discussed in depth in June. You can see the show notes from Ep 224: Best Books of the Year (So Far).

Also an EXTENDED CUT of this episode and the BONUS episode where the three of us share books that didn't work for us this year (including a big surprise from me) is available for paid members SECRET STUFF (now on Substack!)

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Follow me @laura.tremaine on IG

Follow Yasmin @yasminheartsbooks on IG

(Stephanie doesn't post books on IG)

MENTIONED in this episode:

Yasmin’s Best Books:

Ours by Phillip B. Williams

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

 Guilty Creatures: Sex, God, and Murder in Tallahassee by Mikita Brottman

 Us: Getting Past You & Me to Build a More Loving Relationship by Terrence Real

Stephanie’s Best Books:

This Motherless Land by Nikki May

Real Americans by Rachel Khong

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

Laura’s Best Books:

Dinner for Vampires by Bethany Joy Lenz

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Link to Patreon episode about the Bee Sting - (Available for $3!)

ALSO MENTIONED:

Yasmin’s Best Books (So Far) in the June Episode:

You Like It Darker by Stephen King

James by Percival Everett

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie

Stephanie’s Best Books (so far) in the June Episode:

Long Island by Colm Tóibín

Neighbors and Other Stories by Diane Oliver

Slow Horses by Mick Herron

Laura’s Best Books (so far) in the June Episode:

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

The Book of Love by Kelly Link

How to Walk Into a Room by Emily P. Freeman

The Way of Integrity by Martha Beck

Holly by Stephen King

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King

Secret Windows by Stephen King

The Body by Stephen King

The Stand by Stephen King

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

You Can Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith

Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne, Ph.D.

All Fours by Miranda July

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig

Share Your Stuff, I’ll Go First. by Laura Tremaine

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

A Year to Live by Stephen Levine

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

Within Arm’s Reach by Ann Napolitano 

Martyr! By Kaveh Akbar

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

Couple Found Slain by Mikita Brottman

NPR Best Books of the Year list

NYT 10 Best Books of the Year list

NYT Best Books of the 21st Century

Ep. 243 Best Books Lately (with Sophie Hudson)

More Episodes with Yasmin and Stephanie:

• Ep. 46: Book Club 2019
• Ep. 90: Book Club’s Best Books of the Year 2020
• Ep. 147: Best Books of the Year 2021
• Ep. 153: Best Books of the Year 2022
• Ep. 179: Best Books of 2023 (So Far)
• Ep. 199: Best Books of the Year 2023
• Ep. 224: Best Books of the Year (So Far)

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BUY THE BOOK: The Life Council: 10 Friends Every Woman Needs by Laura Tremaine

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I know why you don't journal. I also know why you should journal.

In this episode, I'm sharing all the benefits you'll gain from the occasional journal session and how to combat the (many) obstacles that keep you from starting. Then I'll share the 4 types of journaling that you can try in order to see growth and clarity in your life.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

MENTIONED in this episode:

My favorite plain notebook

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron

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BUY THE BOOK: Share Your Stuff. I'll Go First. by Laura Tremaine

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My friend Nora Dahlia Zelevansky is a journalist, a novelist, a wellness writer, and now she's a romance author! As we celebrate the release of her latest book PICK UP, Nora and I chat about her writing trajectory, the differences between publishing and marketing the romance genre, and why she decided to write this book using a different name.

We also talk about how fiction helps us process our pasts, and especially how our high school selves might not have grasped the full story, and how we wrestle with that in adulthood.

So many aspects to this great conversation!

PICK UP by Nora Dahlia is out now!

Learn more about Nora Dahlia Zelevansky

Follow Nora on IG

FULL SHOW NOTES ARE HERE

MENTIONED in this episode:

NaNoWriMo

author Sarah MacLean's books

Competitive Grieving by Nora Zelevansky

Roll, Red, Roll: Rape, Power, and Football in the American Heartland

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BUY THE BOOK: Share Your Stuff. I'll Go First. by Laura Tremaine

BUY THE BOOK: The Life Council: 10 Friends Every Woman Needs by Laura Tremaine

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As Taylor Swift ends her earth-shattering Eras tour this weekend after a year and a half of dominating the charts and the headlines, I'm sharing how her music and her professional presence has shaped me as an artist, a mom, a business woman, and a former angsty teenager.

I hope this episode inspires you to share your own favorite Taylor Swift memories, songs, lyrics, and more.

FULL SHOW NOTES ARE HERE

MENTIONED in this episode:

Kate Kennedy’s Be There in Five podcast

Follow Kate Kennedy on IG

Ep 246: A Funeral for Twitter

“Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version)”

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One of the books that has made the biggest impression on me in the last few years is The Perfectionist's Guide To Losing Control by Katherine Morgan Schafler. I have talked about this book EVERYWHERE and insisted that even people who do not self-identify as "perfectionists" would get something out of it.

So you can imagine that I was thrilled with the Secret Stuff members chose TPGTLC as a book club pick and I was doubly thrilled when author Katherine Morgan Schafler agreed to attend our regular monthly book club meeting to discuss it.

JOIN THE SECRET STUFF BOOK CLUB HERE

This episode is a replay of our book club discussion that was held over zoom, where Katherine and I held a great conversation about some of the major points of the book (including the five different types of "perfectionists"), and then Secret Stuff members got to ask her questions.

I loved our conversation so much that I wanted everyone to hear it (and to read the book!). If you like these types of book club meetings, consider joining the Secret Stuff Book Club for 2025. We always have the best meetings with thoughtful conversations.

Read The Perfectionist's Guide To Losing Control

Follow @katherinemorganschafler on IG

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

MENTIONED in this episode:

The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown (also one of my favorite books of all time)

“Tracker” on CBS

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I joined twitter in 2009 and for 15 years - until this very month - it has been my favorite social media platform. The one place where I am only a consumer and not a creator. The place where I met my earliest online friends. The place where I made most of my best online memories following breaking news, political, scandal, and pop culture.

And the only other person I know who has been obsessed with twitter for as long as I have been? None other than friend and podcaster Jamie Golden. Jamie and I have shared many obsessions over the years - and I write about her in The Life Council as the Fellow Obsessive friend - but our love of twitter has always been our biggest shared passion. And despite saying numerous times over the years that we'd never leave, we both decided in the last few weeks to depart our formerly favorite space.

And thus, a funeral for twitter.

In this conversation, Jamie and I talk about our earliest days on twitter, why we loved it so much, our favorite moments, a few of our regrets, and, of course, why we're leaving.

You don't have to care about twitter to enjoy this passionate conversation between friends. My hope for this episode is that you'll get a little glimpse into some social media history and that you'll see yourself in a discussion about how being online has changed us.

Follow Jamie Golden on IG

Follow Jamie Golden on Bluesky

Listen to Jamie Golden on her podcasts The Popcast with Knox and Jamie and Faith Adjacent

Follow Laura Tremaine on BlueSky

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

MENTIONED in this episode:

Black Twitter: A People’s History (hulu docuseries)

Extremely Online by Taylor Lorenz

So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson

JAMIE's past episodes of 10 Things To Tell You:

Ep. 14: Skincare and Makeup Favorites with Jamie Golden

Ep. 51: Masterminds: How to create and structure a business peer group (with guests Jamie Golden, Bri McKoy, and Kendra Adachi)

Ep. 105: Needles, Lasers, and Fillers in Your Face (Jamie Holden RETURNS!)

Ep. 164: Are we friends or not? (A Secret Tapes Mastermind Conversation with Jamie Golden, Bri McKoy, and Kendra Adachi)

Ep. 192: OBSESSED: Skincare & Makeup Favorites (with Jamie Golden)

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BUY THE BOOK: Share Your Stuff. I'll Go First. by Laura Tremaine

BUY THE BOOK: The Life Council: 10 Friends Every Woman Needs by Laura Tremaine

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When the world feels hard, and our lives feel loud, it can be difficult to find equilibrium. In this episode, I'm sharing 5 practices in various areas of my life that make me feel a little more like myself, a little more like a human, a little more sane and calm.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

MENTIONED in this episode:

Learn more about #OneDayHH

Join our Secret Stuff community for regular Symposium conversations

Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod

Episode 195: Why Do Smart People Love Dumb TV? with Matt Marr

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With less than two months left in 2024, I'm sharing ten questions that will help you finish the year strong. We're talking achievable goals, mantras, connecting with others, and lingering decisions that need to be made. These questions will give you clarity for the weeks ahead and and let you set intentions for how you want to feel and who you want to be at the end of 2024.

As always, you can take these questions to your journal for introspection and growth, or use them as conversation starters with friends and family.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

JOIN US FOR the 12th Annual #ONEDAYHH

MENTIONED in this episode:

BONUS: How To Decorate For The Seasons Without Buying More Stuff ( Conversation with Myquillyn Smith, The Nester)

Other Year-end Questions Episodes:

• Ep. 45: 10 Questions for the End of the Year 2019
• Ep. 95: 10 Questions To Ask Yourself at the End of the Year 2020
• Ep. 148: 10 Questions for the End of the Year 2021
• Ep. 198: 10 Questions for the End of the Year 2023

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BUY THE BOOK: Share Your Stuff. I'll Go First. by Laura Tremaine

BUY THE BOOK: The Life Council: 10 Friends Every Woman Needs by Laura Tremaine

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