Decatur Book Festival - Part 1

I know you've all heard me mention the Decatur Book Festival (DBF from here on out) numerous times, whether it be tweets, here, or facebook and I thought I'd do a recap for you.

Each day I'm going to post about a different panel I attended and provide pictures, video, and links to their website. I can't tell you how much fun I had and how awesome everyone was, but I'm going to try.

I went with a bunch of my internet/blogger friends (Julie, Heather, Anna, Leah, and Natalie) whom I have gotten to know so well since the beginning of the year and I considered them some of the best friends I have EVER had.

To start things off, Natalie and I stayed the night at Anna's on Friday since we were going to be getting up insanely early to drive to Atlanta. We got to DBF a little later than planned so we met up with Julie and Leah at Emily Giffin's panel and it had already started.

Now I've never read any of her books but I had won a copy of Something Borrowed from Goodreads over a year ago and I had purchased a copy of Love The One You're With on the bargain shelf at Books-A-Million so I wanted to get these books signed. Her type of book is not something I usually read and I wasn't really sure what to expect from her panel. You guys, this woman blew me away! She was smart, insightful, and funny. Her advice on writing? Move to a place you have no friends and it rains all the time and treat it like your eight hour job. Ha!

I was very excited to meet her after hearing her speak and while we were waiting in the signing line, Natalie wondered how she felt about all these people waiting in line for her autograph, so when it was finally out turn, she asked Emily. Her response to that was also something not expected. Instead of saying that she couldn't believe it or that she was flattered she said that she doesn't look at it that way, that she sees it as a great way to meet new women and girls.

You could really tell that relationships drive everything she does. From what she writes to the way she answered Natalie's question, to how she wanted to make sure our picture was as perfect as could be (she kept moving us around so the background wouldn't be too bright or so that the garbage cans wouldn't show up) a connection with other people is very important to her. There could not have been a better person to hear and meet to kickoff our DBF experience.

Not only was she incredibly sweet and personable but she is gorgeous and has an adorable little girl.

Here's our picture with Emily. From left to right: Anna, Emily, Me, and Natalie.

You can visit Emily's website here, follow her on twitter, and purchase her books here.