So yesterday night, I was sitting at my computer when a daddy long-legs descended from the ceiling and landed DIRECTLY ON MY KEYBOARD, wandered off my desk and crawled under my bed.
It was pretty exciting.
But it was not the most exciting thing that happened to me in the last month (I don’t like those things so much anymore, though). I have missed you, Internet! Thank you for being patient with me while I scrabbled to meet an incredibly intense deadline, fell drastically behind in emailing and blogs and thank you in advance for your continued patience as I scrabble to catch up.
I have to say, the best thing about my absence was some stuff happened so I’ve got blog entry material. I HAVE THINGS TO TELL YOU! That doesn’t happen often as we all know.
So the first exciting thing is that Fall For Anything is DONE. Done, done, done! Okay, copy-edits and first pass pages are all on the horizon but it’s pretty much done. When I can share more–plot summary, cover, release date and whatnot, I will. But the main thing is that it’s finished and that is a very nice thing to type. I got chills.
The second exciting thing is I’m thrilled to report Some Girls Are has been nominated for YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults and it is a nominee for their Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers. So cool! And it’s in very good company. And speaking of Some Girls Are, it’s now available for a few e-readers, so if you’ve been waiting for it to come out on the Kindle or the Nook, it’s here…
When I wasn’t working on Fall for Anything (or ‘Eddie’ as I call it 99% of the time, for it’s main character), I was preparing for the OLA’s (Ontario Library Association) Forest of Reading/Festival of Trees. Last October (LAST OCTOBER! Where is time going?) I announced that Cracked Up to Be was nominated for the White Pine Award. On May 12th, the nominees gathered for the Festival of Trees at the Toronto Harbourfront Centre. It’s a HUGE event that takes place over two days and thousands of readers visit and interact with authors.
It was an incredible day. I was up at four AM and on the road shortly thereafter so I could arrive in Toronto by 9:30. When I arrived, I got a badge with my name on it and a green ribbon and I had to note that because I <3 green. I met Pam Bustin first, (the author of Mostly Happy, which went on to win the White Pine–congratulations, Pam!) who is lovely and energetic and then directly after breakfast in the green room, I went to my signing tent which I shared with Susan Juby and Tim Wynne Jones, who were both very friendly and engaging and very cool and looked like they knew what they were doing at all times (which I envied!).
We spent about an hour autographing. I met some amazing teen readers who were just so into every single nominated title, it warmed my heart. Which was good because did I mention it was very, very cold? It was a VERY COLD DAY. After autographing, it was time for lunch! And I got to meet Erin Walker, who was my rockin’ liaison for the event. You should all follow her blog, Erin Explores YA, because it’s definitely worth reading. Erin was great–also the first person I have ever met from Twitter!–and she made the hour before I went onstage fly by. There was a button making tent. WE MADE BUTTONS. Then we swapped buttons. And the button tent was really popular which I have to say was kind of unexpected. That might have been the biggest surprise of the day or maybe not because BUTTONS RULE.
And then it was time to go onstage! Sabrina Jalees MCed the event and she was so hilarious we (mostly) forgot about the cold. And then the authors were paraded (literally!) onstage. Each author was accompanied by two people. One person holding a sign with the authors’ name on it (my sign holder’s name escapes me but she was a really nice girl–thank you!) and your speaker, who introduces you very kindly (thank you, Mel!) and then oh my goodness, the author has to speak. Which I did. And I didn’t fall down or nothin’ so that was awesome.
(Any day I don’t fall on my face is awesome.)
I do not know how many teens were in the audience because every time I stared directly at the audience I went AH OMG SO MANY PEOPLE, but they were INCREDIBLE! They were screaming for books! For authors! That was so neat. After every author went up and talked a bit about their book, the award was given to Pam and her speech was fantastic. And then we went outside where there were so many enthusiastic teen readers waiting for autographs and can I just say my penmanship is terrible. Oh my goodness, I need to work on that.
So, in short: a GREAT day. I want to thank everyone who worked hard to make it all possible and to make it run so smoothly. I can only imagine how much planning goes into an event that huge, but from where I was sitting it was flawless. I got to meet so many wonderful librarians and volunteers and readers and authors and I feel truly grateful to be in such a wonderful community.
And then the four hour drive home!
The next day, I gave three talks to teen readers about writing and publishing at a Voices of the Forest event at a local (for me!) education center, along with the wonderful Lesley Livingston, Pam Bustin and Susan Juby. I was incredibly fortunate to have my talks attended by awesome readers and writers who asked great questions and were just–I know I’m using a lot of positive adjectives in this post but they all apply! They were great, cool, awesome, nice. And now I must make use of this space to thank Pearl H., who tirelessly organized the event, but was unable to attend it. THANK YOU, PEARL! I’m sorry we didn’t get to meet.
So that was also a great day. And after the talks, we got the keys locked in the car and had to get a man with a coat hanger to fish them out so that was pretty exciting too.
SO MUCH EXCITEMENT!
Andddd that is what has happened in my neck of the woods since I cruelly abandoned this blog to uhm, do those things (I can’t emphasize enough that if you want up-to-the-minute news, you can get it if you follow me on Twitter). I am so going to spend June reading, relaxing and getting caught up on, well, everything and thinking hard about what book I will write next after Fall For Anything. Also maybe blogging more regularly? (Ha ha ha!)
Basically, I’m briefly deadline and outside-obligations free, so THE WORLD IS MY OYSTER.
And what I would really like to know is–
How are YOU?
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publication date
Sunday May 16th, 2010 @ 2:46pm
416 words, 28 sentencesmeta stuff
categories: cracked up to be,fall for anything,omg,some girls are (your mom)
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I feel you so bad, Courtney. It can be super easy to go into denial about the existence of l’Internet when life has you in a whirlwind :) It seems like you’ve been having fun, though – and FfA being done is beyond exciting!! I’ve pretty much been a super lazy writer/blogger recently thanks to school (ugh, junior year, ugh, ugh) but that shizz is almost over. WHOO.
Oh, hey. You have a blog? Huh.
ALSO! I greatly appreciate that you’ve named your next book Fall For Anything, because its initials are FFA, which are also the initials for the Future Farmers of America. This means one fewer acronym for me to memorize.
…yes I am drinking, why do you ask.
I am so excited for Fall For Anything (did I mention that is one of the Best Book Titles Ever?)
And it’s DONE!? WHAT!? I just peed a little.
Does everyone pee when they’re excited or is it just me?
I am so glad to say that I am kidding.
So cool! Great news on all accounts!
You have been seriously BUSY! Congrats on finishing up Fall For Anything and like a ton of other people I cannot wait to hear more details when you can spill them!! Extremely cool Forest of Reading/Festival of Trees times (I think the part about getting your keys locked in the car was just so you’d know it was all real and not part of a dream). So nice to have you back online and congrats, too, on the SGA nominations!
I’m great. Hurray! Let there be more Courtney Summers books for all! If you need a beta reader, let me know. You don’t want to know what I’d be willing to do to get my hands on one of your books early! Also, a book of the week slot is always available for you at my blog (middlegradeninja.blogspot.com) as your fiction rocks my world. Sincerely, your biggest fan, Robert Kent, Middle Grade Ninja.
PS–In the revision of Fall For Anything, I’m pretty sure you should add some zombies. I’m going to keep campaining until I get me a bona fide Courtney Summers Zombie novel!
Emilia: IT’S LIKE THAT TIME OF YEAR. Where everyone is busy. You should be allowed your lazyness, esp. when it comes to school. Oh my gosh. Junior year over already?! Where is 2010 going!!!
Annika: DO YOU REMEMBER ME? Also, lulz. I knew that was coming. I could only see the first bit of your comment in wordpress but I knew it would have Future Farmers of America somewhere in it. I CAN’T WAIT TO GET BACK TO BLOG-STALKING YOU, LADY. I mean. No, that’s what I meant.
Robby: Yay! Not only that you are kidding (phew), but that you approve of the book title. Thank you, Robby!
Daisy: :)
C.K: I never want to be that busy again. At least for five minutes. Thank you for the congrats and I think so too re: the keys, now that I think of it. Or I like that theory anyway. It ~quells~ the embarrassment.
Robert: Aww! Hee, thank you Robert. You are so kind and I appreciate the offer. :) And a zombie novel–one day, one day!!!
Woohoo..COURTNEY IS ALIVE!
You are such a badass. You keep stealing all the nominations. Fall For Anything is such a hooky name, I can already see it sweeping away all the awards. Go, go, girl!
AT LEAST YOU DID NOT FALL FOR ANYTHING ON STAGE.
AHAHAHAHAHA
OH HOW I’VE MISSED YOUR BLOGS, BB!! CONGRATULATIONS ON FINISHING AND GETTING BACK TO THE IMPORTANT THINGS – CAN WE GET SOME GAGA GIFS UP IN HERE?? ~*~
Yay, Courtney’s back!!! I’ve missed reading your uber fun blog posts (bc I know there’s always going to be a little crazy-good-fun mixed in … in this post, it’s the coat hanger moment, or maybe the buttons).
Hooray for you for being done with Fall For Anything and the YALSA nominations for Some Girls Are!!! You are on a roll!!
The Festival of Trees sounds really amazing (because: cool festival name + buttons + Courtney + books = amazing).
“How are YOU?”
I’m good, thanks for asking! :)
Bee: I’M ALIVE! And aww, thank you. I hope the book lives up to the title. ;)
Emily: OMG IT IS A GOOD DAY WHEN I GET A TITLE FROM YOU. AND SRSLY WHERE ARE THE GAGA GIFS? I WILL GET ON IT. ~ ty for the congrats!
sruble: awww!! I’m glad to be back and especially catching up on the blogs I missed. :) Thanks for the Hoorays! And I’m so glad you’re good. :)
How cool is this.
:)
Congratulations on the nominations! Woo!
A month away from the internet…like a month without sunshine…or maybe more like a month without distraction.
All good news. Can’t wait for your new book, really loved SOME GIRLS ARE as I’ve said before. On the subject of your cold day, one good thing about reading, it is almost never too cold to read. I was sitting in a graveyard in Boston once and the only part of me anyone could see was my eyes and nose and I was turning the pages of the book with my nose…wait, that book was SOME GIRLS ARE. See, connected things there?….ok, leaving now to read more with my nose, I should probably think with it also.
u r awesome courtney!
when i first was about to read your novel “Some Girls Are”, I thought it was going to be a lame, teen-angst, hormone-ridden story about these bitchy girls ruling the school
i seriously thought regina was going to crawl back to anna and ta da! they become friends again just like every other intense to cheerful book
u really had me surprised! :) and i have to say ur characters are unbelievably real. i love micheal, he’s so sweet. i cried when it got to the part when he got hit by the dodgeball just to save regina’s butt
all through the plot, i was so riveted that when it was 11 o’ clock, i still couldn’t put it down
but the ending was a bit off for me. it all ended so soon.
but still, u r a great writer and an inspiration to me.
im writing a novel about these rich, mean girls and how an innocent girl got tangled up in their carefully woven lies.
this book showed me the harsh reality of high school
please write faster! ur my new fave author lol
and a little suggestion, for ur next book after falling for anything, can u write a story about a love triangle between two guys and a girl?
hehe
ur the best. thank u for writing.
Veronique: And surreal!
Ann: Thank you so much! And a month away from blogging, but not the internet! Oh my goodness, I got like shakes just thinking of being completely disconnected. *hugs computer*
Brian: :) READING IS FOR ALL SEASONS, amirite?! And hee–the nose is underappreciated as a way to read. More people should realize they can read with it!
lalala: Thank you so much for the comment! I’m so glad Some Girls Are surpassed your expectations and surprised you. It means a lot that you found the characters real and that you loved Michael. I really appreciate that and I wish you all the best with your novel. And it’s funny you should mention a love triangle–I’ve got good news! There is somewhat of a love triangle in Fall for Anything. :) Thanks again for reading and writing. Your kind words made my day. :)
Hi Courtney -
I came across your books by chance.
I´m from Germany and a member of a book review-site called “Book Owl”. Some member whose reviews are always great posted her opinion of “Cracked up to be”. To me, it sounded amazing, so I bought your two books straight away. And they were an awesome read! The most impressing and honest books I have read for ages…So thanks a lot for some hours of really addicted reading. :) I´m looking forward to read some more you in the future. Excited greetings from Germany!
FALL FOR ANYTHING! Done! Done??? Done! You’re amazing! I’m so thrilled for you, C, and I’m dying to read it, dying. I have chills, too. I’m so happy for you!
The Festival of Trees sounds incredible, too. You were paraded on stage and had to speak in front of people! In awe.
Courtney, all I want to say is that I think you are a totally awesome and amazing writer, I never ever read books before, and after being assigned a project to read any book and than advertise it to my class (or something like that), my friend suggested me to read Cracked up to be, and for the first time ever, I did not want to put that book down. I just wanted to know what would happen next, what caused it all. I’ve never been able to completely picture the text properly, but I was able to in this book. It was the stepping stone to reading more books. I am looking forward to reading Some Girls Are (I placed a hold on it :)) Also, Trudeau, no better political person, Trailer Park Boys, most funny show out there,Canada, you are nuts if you wanna live anywhere else. And just to put this out there, I found this site through researching about you and the book for my project :)
I can’t wait for Fall for Anything! You are one seriously talented writer. Even the daddy long legs are falling for you!
Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse
Aw, thats awesome!
I always love attending book related events (author signings, book fairs, BEA which is only tomorrow!) since it’s so nice knowing they’re there because they love reading as much as you do. Awesome community, this book hugging world. :)
*bows*
You, goddess Courtney, are a writing genius. I am so excited for Fall For Anything… High-five on completing your draft!
Love, Hannah
Nadja: Hi! Thank you for stopping by and commenting! I’m so thrilled you picked up Cracked Up to Be and Some Girls Are and that you enjoyed them. It’s neat to think of my books being read in Germany (they are more travelled than I am!). Thanks for all your kind words. :)
Nova: Done done done!!! Thank you. :) And the stage parade was terrifying. I was so nervous and afraid I’d trip! Which was a scary possibility because my shoes did not fit!
rabzz: Wow! Thank you so, so much. Your comment really means a lot–I’m honoured Cracked Up to Be could be a stepping stone to more books and hope you enjoy SGA just as well. There are so many awesome YA books out there just waiting for you. :) Also yay on all the mutual interests! Trailer Park Boys ROCKS!
Angela: awww heh. Thank you. But it was more like on me. ;)
Hannah: Aaah! I hope you had a good time at BEA! Wish I could be there. It is really neat to be able to interact with readers face to face. It IS an awesome community, you’re so right. And awww, thank you for the kind words. I hope Fall for Anything doesn’t disappoint! And high-five back!
I have stumbled onto your website (finally!) and was scrolling through your older blog entries when I saw this.
*gasp* I can’t believe my friends and I are in one of those pictures. Wow, what a fun day… even if it was a bit cold! I’m so glad I got the chance to meet you and thanks for signing my book!
I can’t wait to check out Fall For Anything when it’s released later in the year. :)
Liz, I wondered if anyone who was at the Festival would stop by the blog! I am so thrilled to get your comment & how awesome that you happen to be in one of the pictures. It was good to meet you. And just a bit cold–It was FREEZING that day! :) I hope you enjoy FFA if you check it out!
LOL! Okay, I’ll retract the ‘bit cold’ part since although it was May, I was wearing a winter scarf.
I don’t think I’ve heard of FFA before… What does it stand for? You’ve piqued my curiosity… :)
Hee, I never saw so much winter-wear in May!
And whoops, my bad. FFA–Fall For Anything’s acronym. I’m so used to calling it “Eddie” (after the main character) or FFA. I forget not everyone has a window into my brain!! :)
*smacks head at the obvious*
Sometimes, I’m just so clueless even when the answer is right in my face. Of course, I can’t wait to check out FFA later in the year! I added it to my shelf on Chapters so I won’t forget, lol. :)
Hee! You’re not clueless! FFA also stands for Future Farmers of America or something so. I could have been talking about that! ;) thanks for adding it to your Chapters shelf!!!