MEETING THE AUTHOR: GREGG OLSEN IN MANILA 2012.

Where I relive the experience and share all the feels before, during and after meeting these fantastic authors WHO ARE BASICALLY LIFE.

October 11, 2012

When I heard the news that another international author will be signing here, I immediately filed for a leave at work like its a reflex. Authors, particularly international, visit the Philippines very seldom so when there's an event like this, no one should let it pass. These events are once in a lifetime and I was so lucky I was able to attend and meet Gregg Olsen.

Gregg Olsen is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of 13 adult books under true crime genre. I was so excited to meet him because I've seen good things about his books especially about his debut Young Adult books, Envy and Betrayal from Empty Coffin Series.

Just like the first book signing I attended, I arrived 3 hours early at the book store for the registration. Luckily, there's Bo's Coffee Shop inside the bookstore so I stayed hoping to meet some book bloggers, had light snack and waited for my friend to arrive. I also bought some books on my list and checked if they have the titles I want. When I registered, I was the second person in line for the signing then it didn't take long for the event to start.

When the event started, I got annoyed because the camera man stood in the middle of the room and he was literally blocking our view. But of course, that didn't stop me from taking notes and pictures. Gregg was so tall and good looking! During the interview, he gave us insights about how Filipinos welcomed him and he felt much closer to us. How he couldn't eat Balut and how he enjoyed some local food. He also shared that Stephen King was a favorite and one of the books he wrote that impacted him a lot was the book about a mining-disaster. We also learned that true crime genre is his passion not only because its something that fascinates him but by interviewing people who have done bad things makes him write stories that would touch others' lives in a true to life way. Here's also a LINK of his interview by Authormagazine.com that was shown before the event started.

Shortly after, questions from the crowd started building up. Though I didn't ask one because I was shy, a lot of people were brave enough. As the question and answer progresses, we were able to know a little bit more about Gregg. Since he's very much into true crime genre, possibility of writing a book with a different genre doesn't exist at the moment. He recommended To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee as a classic counterpart of crime-inspired book. Calling literary agents was what he did din 1988 and that was a risk he took that eventually lead to his first book getting published.

When asked why did he write a Young Adult story, he said that the YA community made him to. He finds it most remarkable because of the connection he gets. Since most YA readers blogs and vlogs about books, it made him feel young again and as once a teen that loved Stephen King's writing, he said he wanted to write a story that a younger people would love to read. Envy and Betrayal were also inspired by a true crime story. Envy was inspired by Megan Meier's story and Betrayal was by Amanda Knox's. He also reiterated how he steps up against cyber bullying. Envy for that matter talks about it and how words affect others. And of course, we don't want people we know be a victim of never ending battle against cyber bullying. The last question he gladly answered was my the series named Empty Coffin and he said it was the nick name of the Town in the book!

One of the things that I would forever treasure aside from my signed books would be the fact that he recognized me from Twitter! He hugged me and told me it was so nice to see me at the signing! Of course I fangirled, I just contained it! I almost wanted to hug him again! He's so nice and tall and good looking! I think I mentioned that earlier right? I also asked him if he would be back for the third book but he said he's not sure but would like to be back for the new adult book when its released. Anyway, I really enjoyed the signing and learned a lot about his inspiration for the series and about him as a person. I am still fangirling! Again, all my efforts just to attend this signing is all worth it! Am just so happy I was able to meet another fantastic author!

Me and lovely Gregg! :D

Thank you National BookStore and Powerbooks for another great event! Thank you also Gregg for coming and am looking forward to reading Envy and Betrayal soon! You made a girl so happy!