Saturday, September 12 I took the two hour drive to Valparaiso, Indiana to meet the one and only Julia Hoban, author of the incredibly fabulous novel, Willow!
So here’s my day.
10:30: Left my house.
11:30 arrived in Valpo. Didn’t even think about the time difference, they are an hour ahead of me.
Needless to say I arrived a little early. Thankfully there was a Target across from the Barnes and Noble that I visited first for some much needed provisions. I wasn’t the only blogger that arrived early. Erica from The Book Cellar, happened to be hanging out at the B&N. So that’s where I headed next.
Took a b-line toward the YA section, which disappointingly wasn’t really that big and it was sort of in an awkward spot. I started perusing the shelves when I heard someone say “There is Kristi.” But it wasn’t Erica, it was Kristen from Bookworming in the 21st Century and with her was Andrea from Book Blather! (I met them both at ALA) And then poof Erica was there too. Erica… where did you come from?
The nice girls that they were, they invited me for lunch. Little did they know, I had lunch plans with Julia! So, of course I had to invite them to come too…. because I was so NERVOUS! I don’t think I could have done it by myself anyhow! Luckily they agreed to join us!
We met Julia at the Panera Bread, which was delicious. I had soup and a sandwich. We all four got to sit and chat with Julia for over an hour! It was a blast. I’m sure we were getting looks, because we were laughing and talking non-stop! We talked about everything.
Around 1:45 we headed back over to the B&N, the good thing about this B&N is that everything we went to was in walking distance, so we just left our cars at the bookstore and walked! Expect for Julia, she had a chauffeur! And yes, she did invite us to ride with her back to the B&N, she is that sweet, but we declined.
There were around 25-30 people at the singing! There was a YA book club there, a director of media services from a school, a literacy coach, teens & adults! It was great!
Julia sat down, introduced herself, and then did something that I know surprised me. She introduced the four bloggers that were there, mentioned our sites and even thanked us for making her book what it was. She did this multiple times. She actually really thanked us. (I told her, her book sales might have something to do with her being a talented author and she just laughed at me.) We were all sitting there with our mouths open. I’ll say that much! I mean wow, that was probably one of the coolest things ever. But besides that, Julia did a reading, we had a q&a, and discussed the books a little bit. Julia is a very intelligent person, I loved getting to hear her speak about Willow. And of course she signed our books.
The awesome community relations manager at B&N, Darlene, even took our blog urls so that she could make a poster for her YA readers! I have a new found love for Barnes and Noble.
As if Julia wasn’t nice enough to have lunch with us, she also had time after the signing, so we headed to the cafe and had some cheesecake! Well, delicious pumpkin cheesecake and conversation. She had to catch her flight back to NYC, but she insisted we had to meet up again if we ever made it to NYC! (BEA?!)
The whole experience was just unbelievable. It was extra special for me, because it’s been a year since Julia first introduced herself to me and asked that I review Willow. And now I finally got to meet her! (she signed my book: To Kristi, My first and best friend in the blogosphere! Love, Julia) *tear*
I had dinner with Andrea, Erica and Kristen before I headed back home. I really enjoyed getting to meet Erica and seeing Andrea and Kristen again. Hopefully, I’ll see them again soon!
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Books and cheesecake? that sounds perfect
aww, Julia sounds awesome! I'm glad that you had a great time
Wow – it sounds as though you have a fantastic time! Julia sound like a really great person, what a wonderful experience! Thanks for sharing it
Woah Julia was so damn sweet. And I'm glad you guys had a good time together!
Saturday was so much fun. Julia's about the sweetest person ever!
Fun!!!!
I need to get to some signings here in the UK! We've got some great books that America just doesn't see. What an opportunity!
Meeting bloggers in events like that must be awesome!
Ahhh… Reading this things is just perfect
Here in Spain is soooo different T3T
Pumpkin Cheesecake! Arrrgh, I'm so sad I didn't get to go. Maybe next time. I'm glad you guys had fun, though. Julia seems the awesome-est.
Awwwww! It sounds like you guys had a wonderful time!
oh so cool! I'm kinda sad now that I live in NY. Oh wait Julia lives in ny…nevermind lol
Sounds fun! I would love a blogger book signing excursion! Willow is one of those books I think I want to read but I am scared of. =/
Sounds like you had a wonderful day!
I wish I could meet bloggers and authors too
Super cool! Julia Hoban is awesome.
How cool!!! As I said in my interview post with Julia, I sure wish I could have been in Indiana. I knew she'd be a friendly in person as she is in email. Sounds like a super day!!!
I wish I could've made it to this. Hmph. Sounds like a fun time though!
Wow Julia sounds awesome!
Congrats on your BBAW ribbon for most extravagant giveaways!
Congratulations! What a beautiful and well-written blog. I never would have found it without BBAW. Congrats on the win!
Congrats on your BBAW win!
♥Nely
Great post Kristi… congrats on your BBAW win~!
Amazing! I'm not certain how far I'd be willing to travel for an author… so far I've gotten lucky and had awesome authors go local.
Sounds like a great day! I'm really looking forward to reading Willow when it's published in the UK next year. It sounds amazing!
Just ordered Willow, can't wait to read it!
Why no photos of the author though?
Sounds like an absolutely perfect day to me.
Sounds like a wonderful day. Also just a quick drop by to say congratulations on your BBAW award!
You always write the most fun summaries of author signings! It makes us all wish we were there, but at the same time we are very happy with the way you described it for the rest of us. And I can never get enough of booklovers who love bloggers!
I shouldn't have read this before writing my own.. seriously. I think I want to just link to this post and say – yeah.. she said it best. . . but I won't.. we'll I'll link, but I'll say more about it!
Oh and I suppose I should say.. congrats! But we all knew you'd win something cause you're super popular
haha. You know I mean that in a joking sense.
You are pretty extravagent… okay, I'm laughing to myself. I still can't get over how nervous we all were. I have to say Erica was the most tongue-tied though. Poor girl, Julia pointing it out…
I'm rambling! (and avoiding my own post…)
So.. check out my blog in about an hour or so, when I muster the strength to rehash.
Lucky you! I wish I could have gone too, even though I still have to read Willow!
Lucky lady! Will you post if you are going to BEA in NYC? I wants to meet bloggers and NYC is do-able (silly NY such a big state so far from everything!!)
Oh and huge congrats for winning a BBAW award
SO JEALOUS! Looks like it was super fun.
After hearing from yourself and and several of the other people who called into your radio show appearance. Julia contacted me telling me what a big fan of THE STORY SIREN she was. She agreed to be a guest on the radio show on Oct 9th so bloggers can dial in or message her at that show
Barry
And apologizing now – I stole your picture with the poster. Mine did not turn out at all
I'm so glad we all got to do this. It was so much fun and Julia was AMAZING. We totally have to do this more in the future
Sounds like you had a blast! I really wish I could have made it to the signing. Oh well, maybe next time. Thanks for sharing your experience.
She's the best! I'm so jealous!! But so happy for you!
Sounds like a blast. I'm glad so many people went to the signing. That's awesome. and Mmmm…panera bread. LOL I'm craving that place soooo bad. I wish I could have gone, but it would have been way too far for me and I have class on saturday.
that's great there were a few of you there though.
lauren
Sounds like a blast!
Sounds like you had a ton of fun! I've never met an author before, but I would love to. I live in a small town…eh..and the closest big towns that are to me are about an hour each way, and I don't drive, lol. I know, I'm a loser, but oh well!
I love how Erica towers over you all. Yay for tall girls.