Last night, I had the amazing opportunity to meet one of my favorite authors and someone who has been a huge inspiration to me: Jennifer Weiner.

Thank goodness for Twitter because I saw that someone in Philadelphia had re-tweeted a few days ago that Jennifer Weiner would be in town for her book tour for her new novel Fly Away Home that came out on Tuesday. I knew I definitely needed to attend to meet someone who has truly inspired me to want to make my dream of writing a reality and to go to my first author book signing!

The event was held at the Philadelphia Free Library. First off, how have I lived in Philadelphia my whole life and never been to this beautiful library? I’ll definitely be making a trip back there soon.

My friend Stephanie and I sat in the second row. We got there a bit early, but the room filled up quickly! Jennifer came out and talked a bit about her life and told hilarious stories (seriously, not only is this woman an author, she’s a comedian). She read a bit of her new book which I can’t wait to read and then took questions for the audience. I was lucky enough to have Jennifer answer a question of mine! I asked a question about her involvement in social media (Jennifer is very active on Twitter and has a blog) and why she thinks it’s important for authors to get involved in the publicity efforts for their books. Her answer was very interesting and I’ll be doing a post on it this weekend!

Jennifer reading a bit from her new book Fly Away Home

After the question and answer portion, we all got in line for the book signing. While waiting in line, I chatted with a fellow blogger and aspiring author. Very cool to be in a room with people with similar interests and goals!

I was SO excited to meet Jennifer. Like I said, her books inspire me to write. This whole event made me want to run home and keep working on my novel. When I finally got to the front of the line, I nervously placed my books in front of Jennifer. She remembered me from my question and asked if I was a writer. I told her that I was and that I also had a book review blog. We chatted about my blog for a few seconds and then she was kind enough to pose for a picture.

Chatting and getting my books signed (Thanks to Stephanie for taking this wonderful photo!)

Exciting! I’m so glad to have this photo. (Thanks to Stephanie for taking this wonderful photo!)

Look at what she wrote! I love that she made it a personal message based on what we talked about.

Jennifer Weiner is exactly how you would expect her to be from reading her books. She’s heartfelt, warm and hilarious all at the same time.

If you have the chance to get to one of Jennifer’s book signings, you definitely should! Check out where she’ll be touring this summer here.

Thanks to Jennifer for coming to Philly, signing my books and continuing to motivate me to achieve my dream of publishing a novel!