Hello and Welcome!

Welcome to the blog for The Library Laura Podcast. I'm so excited to be here!

Library Laura started as an instagram account (@library.laura) in a sweet and wonderful corner of the internet known as bookstagram. I love books and reading, and it was a way for me to connect with other readers and share book photos and reviews for what I was reading. I had been photographing and posting about my reading for several months on my personal instagram, but it began taking over my feed to the point where I wanted a separate place for all my bookish enthusiasm. In September 2019 I started @library.laura while sitting in a laundromat waiting for our clothes to dry because our washer was broken. I honestly expected to have about 6 followers and was completely doing this for my own pleasure, with zero aspirations of instagram fame. But within a few weeks my follower count was over 100, and it has slowly and steadily grown to well over 900 currently. I understand this is still on the small side of instagram accounts, but it has vastly exceeded my expectations. I love this community. I have found many, many books to read and enjoy thanks to my bookish friends. It's been great fun.

Fast forward to April 2020. I had been working at a small local coffee shop since January, when suddenly the coronavirus disease pandemic was upon us and I was unemployed and home 24/7 while my husband worked from home. I had been talking about making a podcast, but it had stayed in the idea phase. Now I had copious amounts of time on my hands and I decided to give it a go. I've done it mostly myself, but I do need to specially thank Hannah Wright of the Inn Between Podcast  and Leigh Ann Porter of Speech Uncensored Podcast who are friends in real life and answered my copious technical questions. Also thanks to my first listeners, my mom, my sister, and my husband, who affirmed me in the midst of my insecurities and have shared the episodes with their friends. Also thanks to Anne Bogel of What Should I Read Next Podcast  and the team at Relevant Magazine with the Relevant Podcast  who turned me into a podcast listener and taught me what good podcasting looks and sounds like! 

The plan is for me to use this blog to post about each episode as it comes out, and maybe some other bookish content along the way. Thanks so much for being a listener, reader and friend.

With lots of literary love from my library to yours, have a wonderful day!