I fell in love* with Charlie after reading The Paper Magician 2+ years ago (late 2021) and subsequently reading the about-the-author section at the end of the book, which mentions that she grew up watching Star Trek and her sisters all have “boy” names, too. I’ve just listened to the first episode of YMWB (Jan. 2024)… and now I’m in love with Caitlyn, too. These are two women with whom I would be really good friends (no dangling participles here, mister): Charlie’s goofy dorkiness (no, spellcheck, I did not mean to type ‘darkness’…) is adorkable, and it pairs so well with Caitlyn’s sense of humor. You can literally (but not *literally*) hear how much they enjoy talking with each other during the podcast. Caitlyn (who sounds a lot like Liza Weil) is like the peanut butter, and Charlie (who sounds a lot like Wall-Street-Journal-bestselling-author Charlie N. Holmberg) is like the chocolate.
I’m preeeeeety sure that Charlie “sings” the theme song, and if I’m correct, then I imagine it was her husband who sang the lullabys to their kids when they were younger.
* I suppose you could argue that if I’d *really* fallen in love with Her Charlienessness, I would have internet-stalked her at the time and realized that she’d *already* started this podcast by then. But I do my falling-in-love from afar, so I didn’t realize this gem existed until last summer, when I finished her Numina saga (and I only listen to podcasts when I leave the house, which is, like, 5 times a month, and my *true* love is a (single–see? I’m not just attracted to married women) golfer with a podcast who hasn’t posted an episode this year, so I had time to start this series).
So now I’m math/science-textbook writer, in love with a golfer (I don’t even *like* golf unless it involves Mario and Luigi), addicted to a podcast about writing stories (which I can’t do, because my brain’s already finished the story in my head before I start writing… and then I don’t want to write it because I already know the ending) hosted by two women I’d sell my soul (50% off–this week only!) to hang out with. ... Great. Now I have to set my days-without-using-a-dangling-participle count back to 0. Again.