Author Julia Hoban's Signing!

So Saturday, I headed to Valparaiso, Indiana to the signing for Julie Hoban, author of Willow. It was amazing! Chelsea had originally told me about the signing, but she ended up not being able to go due to a work conflict. I ended up meeting Andrea, Kristi, Kristen

The drive to Valparaiso was supposed to only be about 2 hours and 45 minutes, but you all know that never works out. My dad wanted to avoid Chicago traffic, so we left extremely early - 5:30 AM! So I got up around 4:30 AM, and then we hit the road! I figured we'd get to Vaparaiso around 9 AM with a stop - we ended up getting lost on the way. We had stopped at a farmer's market and then there was a detour. Our GPS took us to a town called Boones Grove. Finally we roll into Valparaiso around 11 - and Kristi texted me saying she was at Target across from B&N. I headed into B&N and after a few minutes I say 2 people walk in, I sat there thinking to myself I THINK that's Kristen and Andrea. I was too shy to walk over, so I stayed in the YA Section. Soon Kristi came walking in, and the 2 people I saw come in joined Kristi, so I went and joined the group.

Andrea and Kristen hadn't had lunch yet, and asked Kristi to go out for lunch - little did we know Kristi already had lunch plan's with THE ONE AND ONLY JULIA HOBAN! She called her, and asked if it would be alright if the other 3 of us joined her and Julia for lunch. The B&N was in a great spot - Panera was within walking distance. Julia had told us she would be wearing gloves and a hat, so we're all sitting at the table we claimed all looking around for her. I literally was like shaking I was so nervous! I'm pretty sure Kristi was nervous about meeting Julia as well :) The four of ended up getting to talk for over an hour with Julia - we covered everything from college to like in New York. I probably made a giant fool out of myself - I was so nervous I kept like stuttering and loosing my train of thought.


We headed over to the signing, and after Julia started talking and introducing herself and Willow - SHE INTRODUCED US BLOGGERS! I think we were all shocked! I couldn't believe it. She mentioned our sites and talked about what bloggers did for Willow (I think her being an amazing author is the reason, not bloggers but whatever). We all probably looked pretty funny - I'm sure my mouth was hanging open. Julia then went on and did two short readings, and then opened up the floor to questions. It was great hearing Julia answer all the questions - I definately gained a lot more understanding of Willow! Then of course, I got my new hardcover signed.

After the signing, the awesome community relations manager at B&N, Darlene, asked for our blog urls so that she could make a poster for her YA readers! I was once again shocked!

Even though she had already had lunch with us, Julia joined us in the cafe for cheesecake! We chatted more until she had to head to the airport to catch her plane. She said we'd have to meet up again if we're all ever in NYC! (BEA!?!) Julia was the sweetest person ever! The whole day was unbelievable! I could not believe I got to have LUNCH with JULIA HOBAN! After Julia had to leave to catch her plane, us bloggers headed to Chilis for dinner. Then we all headed our separate ways - it was so great getting to meet Kristi, Andrea, and Kristen!