I had lunch with Darren Rowse today, and just as I suspected, he is just as nice in person as he is online.

In other words, he IS the real deal.

You know that sense that you get when you’re reading a Problogger post, that Darren is writing from the heart, and is hoping that what he writes will help you in your blogging career? That his intention is to give all the help and support he can through his posts?

That truly is Darren. It is who he is, which, I suspect, is one of the main reasons he has become so successful at what he does.

I had a great time at lunch - despite getting there almost an hour later than we had originally arranged (due to the Santa Claus parade, which was quite fun to walk past, although it curtailed any dreams I had of parking anywhere close to where we were meeting.)

We talked about a lot of things, not just blogging, although blogging did form the bulk of our conversation. And while I can be a little bit shy when I first meet someone, Darren has this way of bringing you out of yourself. Before I knew it, I was waving my hands about as if I’d known him forever (I’m very much a “hand talker” when I’m comfortable with someone.)

The time just flew by.

It is so nice when you finally get to meet someone you have known only from your online interactions and communications, and he turns out to be just as genuine, nice and caring in person as he is online.

It was a wonderful lunch.