I want to thank Lori for answering all my questions. You can read more about her and the fantastic work she does (pretty much all of it for free) if you check out the links at the bottom!

What did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was younger, I started a degree in Media Communications. I loved photography and wanted to make a career out of it – designing ads, magazine covers, something like that. I dabbled in radio and journalism too, but photography was where my heart was. Of course, I never followed through and ended up working in a distribution center for a very large clothing retailer as a Learning and Development Specialist – building and designing development courses for members of management, creating training plans, diagnosing development issues, and really dug that. Now, looking back, wishing I’d known then how passionate and obsessed I’d become with small press literature, and eventually landing a gig as the Marketing Director for CCLaP, I’d tell my younger self to get an English Degree with a minor in Marketing, so I could’ve skipped all that junk and become the best darn publicist the world has ever known!

What was your least favorite class at any point in your education? Why?

Math and History. Hands down. Those were my kryptonite. I couldn’t wrap my head around algebraic formulas and struggled to keep my wars straight. To this day, I refer to myself as mathematically and geographically challenged! Plus, it was stuff that, at the time, I couldn’t see myself actively applying as an adult. And guess what! I was right. I haven’t needed to determine what x over y equals since I graduated!

What was the first blog post you ever wrote about?

My first blog post was called Reading – A Full Time Job? It’s really not much in the way of blog posts, but it was supposed to an introduction – of branching out beyond Goodreads, where The Next Best Book Club (TNBBC) was born, and saying hey – there’s more where that came from.

Do you think blogging is meant for the blogger, the readers, or both? Why?

I blog to help spread the word about awesome and amazing literature. When I first started, I was trying to connect with other bloggers. So I guess I was doing it more for them – letting them know what I was reading, what I thought about it, and why they should read it too. But, the more I focused my energy on small press and the more familiar I became with those publishers and their authors, the more I wanted my blog to be for them. If that makes sense. It’s less for me and more for them.

Are you reading anything right now?

You betcha! I’m about 75% of the way through a digital copy of Clayton Smith’s  APOCALYPTICON(which you can totally nab for $3.99). It’s a great spin on post-apocalyptic literature, very hilarious and very well done, and definitely an author I plan on reading more from. And I’m listening to Flannery O’Conner’s WISE BLOOD, narrated by Bronson Pinchot. Believe it or not, I’m a total O’Conner newb, and I thought what better way to get acquainted with her than by listening to her first novel. I downloaded it from downpour.com. I’m about 50% of the way through the audio, and though it was a struggle to get into at first, I seem to have settled into a kind of easy rhythm with it now.

Do you habitually follow any blogs?

There are a bunch of blogs I check out daily. I always peek in at HTMLGIANT, The Small Press Book Review, The Lit Pub, The OtherPPLpodcast, This Blog Will Change Your Life, The Outlet/ Electric Lit,Grab the Lapels, Books with Occasional Food, Raging Biblioholism… (in the interest of full disclosure: the last three are review contributors at TNBBC, but they didn’t start that way, and I followed these blogs just as intently and passionately back then as I do now!) These blogs will introduce you to some incredible literature.

Do you have a link I can give readers to let them know even more about you?

Absolutely! You can catch me pimping small press and indie literature at TNBBC’s blog; you can follow all of my bookish tweets @tnbbc; if you’re into Facebook, you can like our page there; and of course, you can see interact authors and other readers over in our Goodreads group, where it all began!