Emily Giffin

March 20, 1972. Emily Fisk Giffin is born. Her first birth certificate incorrectly reads “Emily Fish” which is appropriate given her Pisces sign.

1975. Emily shows an early interest in the written word.

1978. Emily writes her first book. The Funny Pandas and the Messy Room receives rave reviews from her parents.

1980. Emily votes for John Anderson in her third grade mock election. Her candidate loses in a landslide to Ronald Reagan. Emily gets her hair feathered. Her poem “Ladybugs” is published in Cricket magazine.

1982. Emily attends her first college basketball game, watching her 7’4” idol Ralph Sampson and the Virginia Cavaliers defeat Michael Jordan’s North Carolina Tarheels. She vows to one day be a “water & towel girl” for an ACC team.

1983. Obsessed with Michael Jackson, Emily masters the Moonwalk. Later that same year, she purchases her first Forenza sweater. (Although Something Borrowed is not at all autobiographical, both references can be found in the opening pages of the book). Emily begins keeping a diary and does not miss a single day for the next two decades. In a major familial controversy, her much cooler, older sister Sarah snoops through several volumes, declaring them “totally boring.”

1984. Emily’s has her first kiss, with Sebastian, a French exchange student visiting her great aunt. Sebastian is wearing acid-washed jeans and pink, high-top Converse sneakers at the time of said kiss. Emily has unsuccessfully Googled Sebastian many times since.

1986. Emily’s family moves to Naperville, Illinois which Emily now considers her hometown. On her first day of high school, Emily eats her lunch in a bathroom stall after a girl (whose identity is protected here) informs her with an insincere smile, “Sorry. All these seats are taken.” In spite of rocky start and questionable perm, Emily makes many friends and achieves modest popularity (surpassing her cafeteria nemesis). She also becomes editor-in-chief of her newspaper and joins the creative writing club with the goal of someday becoming a real writer.

1987. Emily attends her first concert. Whitesnake opens for Bon Jovi. Emily is amazed when Jon flies through the sky in a harness. She proudly sports her Slippery When Wet T-shirt the next day at school.

1990. Emily wins English student of the Year and speaks at graduation. She heads off to Wake Forest University where she double majors in history and English and fulfills her dream of managing a Divison I men’s basketball team. She overlaps with Demon Deacon great Tim Duncan and has fond memories of rebounding for him in practice and driving him to the mall.

1994. Emily graduates summa cum laude and chooses the University of Virginia School of Law. Her first semester, she skips class often to watch the OJ trial, and gets her first B since 8th grade gym class. She and her friends (only one of whom practices law today) never miss the Thursday-night Seinfeld-Friends-ER lineup.

1997. Emily moves to Manhattan, passes the bar, and works in the litigation department of Winston & Strawn. She hates nearly every second of her legal career, except perhaps the firm cocktail parties. She begins to write a young adult novel in her free time and dreams of quitting her job to write fulltime.

2001. Emily pays off her student loans, finishes her first novel, and promptly gets rejected by eight publishers. First agent, since terminated, sends all-time rudest email ever. Five days after 9/11, she retires from the practice of law, moves to London, and begins writing Something Borrowed, under its original title, Rolling the Dice, in her flat near Hyde Park.

2002. Emily signs a two-book contract with St. Martin’s Press. She gets married and considers publishing under her new name Blaha, but decides to stick with Giffin. Emily celebrates her 30th birthday in Barcelona.

2003. Emily begins writing Something Blue. Halfway through the book, she experiences all-day morning sickness. She discovers she is pregnant with identical twins. She is dubious of the ultrasound results, and like Darcy, considers seeking a second opinion. A few months later, she and her husband move to Atlanta where an American doctor confirms two heartbeats. On New Year’s Eve, sons Edward and George are born, 92 very long minutes apart.

2004. Emily and her husband spend the year in a sleep-deprived haze, worried that they will permanently mix up the babies. Something Borrowed is released in June and hits the New York Times bestseller list. When Emily’s editor calls with the news, Emily is so tired that she thinks for sure she’s heard her wrong. Emily wins Georgia Author of the Year in the Debut Novel category.

2005. Something Blue is released and also becomes a bestseller. Edward and George begin walking—usually in separate directions.

2006. Baby Proof follows suit. The title notwithstanding, Emily discovers that she is pregnant again. George insists that it's a boy, while Edward is convinced that it's a girl. Emily is inducted into her high school Hall of Fame. Foreign rights to her first three books are sold in more than twenty countries.

2007. Daughter Harriet arrives on May 24th. A jubilant Edward wins nine-month bet with his brother. Emily finishes her fourth novel and makes her television debut on As the World Turns.

2008. Love the One You're With debuts at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list (#1 in Canada) and is optioned for the big screen.

2009. Hilary Swank and Molly Smith of 2S Films team up with Edward Burns and Aaron Lubin to produce Something Borrowed and Something Blue. Luke Greenfield named as the director for Something Borrowed which is fast-tracked for a Spring shoot. Emily finishes her fifth novel.

2010. Heart of the Matter is released on May 11th, and Emily begins her sixteen-city tour while preparing for her cameo in Something Borrowed, beginning her next novel, and writing the screenplay for Baby Proof with one of her oldest friends