I did a podcast.
Rinnie Orr from WEBB Squared sat me down at the end of August and asked me to talk about books, family, The Ink Crypt, and why I think indie bookstores matter. Twenty-three minutes later, I'd said things out loud I didn't know I needed to say, learned what cough drops sound like when you're trying to speak clearly, and realized how much work it is to just... talk coherently for someone else's audience.
If you haven't listened yet, the episode dropped on The WEBB Remedy Podcast: More Than a Bookstore. Go listen. Then come back. I'll wait.
What I'd Do Again (Without Question)
Talking about family. Rinnie asked about my grandmother and mother—how they shaped my love of reading. I didn't plan what I was going to say. I just... said it. And honestly, that part felt like the most real conversation I've had about why The Ink Crypt exists. It's not just about books or business. It's about carrying forward something my grandmother (an elementary school teacher) and mother (a university professor) showed me: that books are how we talk to each other across time.
If I do this again, I'm leaning into that. The personal stuff. The memory stuff. That's where the actual story is.
Working backwards from UNC Press. Rinnie asked about my time there as a high school student, and I realized mid-conversation how much that job shaped how I think about books. Being in a space where books, learning, and the written word were valued—not just sold, but valued—that stuck with me. I didn't anticipate that question, but once I started talking about it, I understood something about myself I hadn't articulated before. That's worth doing again.
Being honest about the work. We talked about what it actually takes to run an indie bookstore. The curation, the customer service, the constant visibility work, the trade-in processing, the community support required. I didn't sugarcoat it. I said: loving books is not enough. You have to do the work. And Rinnie didn't shy away from that conversation. We just... sat with the difficulty of it. That felt important. I'd do that conversation again in a heartbeat.
What I Won't Do Again (No Matter What)
Speak with cough drops in my mouth.
I had a sore throat going into the recording. Smart idea: grab some cough drops beforehand. Bad idea: keep them in my mouth while I'm trying to sound like someone worth listening to.
I can hear it in parts of the episode. That little click-click sound. The slight slur when a cough drop shifts. It's subtle, but I know it's there, and now you probably know it's there, and now I'm going to be paranoid about it forever.
If I do this again and my throat hurts: cough drops before we hit record. Take them out. Drink water. Wait five minutes. Then talk. Or just reschedule. This isn't a live show. There's no excuse for letting physical discomfort sabotage audio quality.
What Surprised Me
How much I thought about the interviewer instead of the audience.
I was so focused on having a real conversation with Rinnie that I actually forgot I was being recorded for other people to hear. That sounds backwards, but it wasn't. When I stopped worrying about "performing" for an invisible audience and just answered her questions honestly, the conversation got better. More natural. Clearer.
So here's the thing: if I do this again (and I think I will), I'm trusting that honesty scales. If I'm real with the person asking the questions, the people listening will feel that realness. They don't need me to be polished. They need me to be present.
The Thing I Didn't Expect to Feel
Gratitude.
Rinnie asked good questions. Questions that made me think. Questions that didn't have easy answers. And somewhere in that twenty-three minutes, I realized how rare that is—to be asked to think about your own work, your own story, your own why. Most of the time I'm too busy doing the work to examine why I'm doing it.
Talking through it with someone who was genuinely curious, who wasn't trying to sell anything, who just wanted to understand how books and community and entrepreneurship fit together? That was valuable. For me. Not just for the podcast.
If that's what being interviewed is, then yes. I'll do it again.
So Here's What I'm Taking Forward
Do the personal work. Talk about family. Be honest about the difficulty. Don't let small discomforts tank your clarity. Trust that honesty scales. And find interviewers who ask real questions.
Rinnie did that. WEBB Squared did that.
The Ink Crypt is a lot of things—a bookstore, a trade-in program, a business. But it's also an expression of something deeper. A conversation about what books are, why they matter, and how we keep them—and each other—alive.
That conversation is worth having out loud.
Listen to the full episode: More Than a Bookstore: Building Community through the Ink Crypt on The WEBB Remedy Podcast.
Want to support WEBB Squared? They're doing the work of recognizing and addressing the wealth gap in rural North Carolina. Check them out.
🖤
0 comments