For anyone crazy enough to disagree:

For reals, the lists are a fantastic resource for any reader and I have to say I was particularly excited to see CJ Omololu’s Dirty Little Secrets, Amy Reed’s Beautiful and Carol Lynch Williams’s Glimpse on the Quick Picks list and Lucy Christopher’s Stolen, Tara Kelly’s Harmonic Feedback, Melina Marchetta’s Finnikin of the Rock, Daisy Whitney’s The Mockingbirds and Glimpse on the Best Fiction for Young Adults list. They’re all books I’ve read in the last year or so and loved very much. If you haven’t read them wat, I say wat, are you waiting for?!

So judging by the fact my last blog entry was written last year, I have been deliciously neglecting… my blog. Sorry! Despite this, I’ve been taking care to keep the What People Are Saying section of Fall for Anything’s page updated, so if you want to check out what people are saying about it head on over. Thank you, as always, to those who have taken the time to help spread the word about Fall for Anything, online and off. It really, really helps.

Anyways, the reason I have been so deliciously neglecting certain aspects of my online life is because, well. I’m busy and I’m tired, Internets! I spent the holidays launching Fall for Anything whilst juggling family-centric holiday stuff (as you do) and revising the last 130 pages of Book 4, which blossomed into 160 pages or something ridiculous before emailing it to my editor directly after the new year. Yes, it is with my editor, which makes me equal parts afraid–the good kind of fear–and happy. I think that emotion is called ‘hafraidness,’ but don’t quote me on that. But sweet beautiful wonderfulness it is off my desk for the moment and that is a very nice feeling.

And because my new year’s resolution is to write two books this year (I never make new year’s resolutions but the world is ending in 2012, so), I decided to take the opportunity to start outlining and working on Book 5. This is what that outline looks like so far:

But anyway, let's BACK THE EFF UP and talk about my treadmill desk! If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you have heard all about it and you are bored of it all by now but check out my treadmill desk those of you who don’t know and those of you who have seen it already:

That’s awful.

But this! THIS! This marries productivity and healthy exercising in such a beautiful way that time actually flies by on it which is the most amazing thing. And it did not take long to get the hang of walking and typing AT ALL. Basically, I love it.

I also love adding “sent from my treadmill desk” to the end of the emails I send from my treadmill desk, which is way awesomer than sending an email from an iPad/Pod/Phone, Blackberry, whatever you crazy kids are using to communicate with other people these days. SENT FROM MY TREADMILL DESK. AW YEAH.

(This blog entry, I should note, was not written from my treadmill desk but it could have been. I KNOW. I just blew your mind.)

I get a little consumed by reader response a couple months before and after one of my books is released, not going to lie. Fall for Anything is in that tender stage where I want everyone to like it. I’ve gone through this with all of my books. Of course you want people to like what you’re putting out there–I think that’s a very natural and human thing to want–but as The Rolling Stones say…

When I decided I’d write with the eye of hopefully getting published, the first thing I did was prepare myself for People Not Liking My Work and the word ‘no.’ Every writer knows this and knows it well–want agent? Want book deal? You’re going to hear the word no in your quest for both–a lot. And yes is never guaranteed.

(Sometimes no is even delivered by a stabby knife that stabs you directly in the heart stabbingly and you just have to try not to bleed all over the furniture while you send your next query and sometimes you’ve just barely stopped bleeding when the next no comes and you’re like HOW AM I STILL ALIVE? HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE?)

What got me through the query stage was reminding myself that fiction is subjective. When Cracked Up to Be sold to St. Martin’s, I immediately started Phase 2 of this line of thinking, which means I thought the same thing but much harder and consequently gave myself forehead wrinkles and headaches. By the time December 23rd, 2008 rolled around–Cracked Up to Be’s release date–I thought I was totally ready for whatever people had to say about Parker Fadley and her bitchy disposition.

Ha ha ha!

I don’t think you can ever truly be prepared to have your work out there, whether people ultimately end up loving it or hating it. Even if you do your absolute best to ignore the stuff people say about yer stuff, it’s hard to be unaware of the fact that people are out there, saying stuff about yer stuff. It’s a nearly impossible concept to wrap your head around. For me, it was much easier to understand in theory, but experiencing it was something else ENTIRELY.

So Cracked Up to Be hopped off the presses and promptly ran face first into one of The Worst Reviews I’ve Ever Received (So Far) and I immediately forgot all of my own advice. The funny thing is, I even had an inkling this review was coming and tried to steel myself for it–fiction is subjective! It is subjectivvve!–but this review took my breath away with its utter loathing of my writing.

The first thing I did was email it to my agent to make sure I wasn’t overreacting. What if it was one of those reviews that was actually not so much mean as it was critically even-handed and I was just too close to my book and not seeing that? My agent and I quickly established this wasn’t the case. That settled, I stepped back from the computer and thought, there! It wasn’t just me! So that’s it! My first really terrible review and I survived!

And then I got REALLY upset!

How to describe it–I kind of felt like I’d shown up at a prom full of a bunch of strangers with my dress tucked into my pantyhose and also I am wearing really, really ugly underwear in this nightmare. I felt very naked and looked at and the people who were looking at me hated what they were seeing and I didn’t even know them!

That’s a really humbling feeling. It’s good to be humbled. But like I said, it’s also a bit overwhelming. After I had My Moment and then My Moment (Extended Version) and then My Moment (Remix) and then My Moment (Extended Version Remix) I did a lot of thinking. I’m a person who Likes Things A Certain Way (read: control freak) and I was quickly learning that I could not control what other people thought of my work. That was quite the personal epiphany.

So was I going to let a bad review be the worst thing that ever happened to me? Well, no. Would I let the expectations surrounding a positive review paralyze my writing? Absolutely not–I have a lot more stories I wanna tell. And then came the mental smackdown: like Jen Trynin said and which I like to remind myself of a lot: “No one deserves anything.”

No one deserves anything, let alone a book deal. I didn’t want to spit in the face of the hard work and luck involved in getting my own or the hard work of people who are in the process of pursuing one. I decided I needed to learn the fine art of compartmentalizing (or ‘sucking it up’ as the Canadians call it).

But how does a writer do that? How do they cope? Well… I don’t know. I don’t like speaking for all writers!

So I can only tell you what this one did.

I am three books into my writing career (hopefully there will be more) and I’ve received my share of reader response–both good and bad. I have been called irresponsible. I’ve received emails that praise my first book in one paragraph and ask me why my second was so terribly written in the next. But I’ve also been told Parker’s story inspired someone to get help. I’ve been told Regina’s enabled a reader to speak up about their own bullying. Someone told me my books made them realize they wanted to write. That’s crazy–but good crazy. In three books, I have learned to view all responses as positive ones–even the negative ones. If you’ve written a book that causes people to react, that’s a very good thing. It’s something I’ve learned not to take lightly.

But I also can’t let any response get in the way of my writing and I think at the end of the day it’s important to write a book YOU, as its creator, love and believe in above all else, because other people’s praise and criticism will only take you so far. You will likely never believe your best review and it’s way too easy to talk yourself into believing your worst. It can also be a dangerous thing to get completely caught up in positive responses and dismiss all your critics as haters…

Ani Difranco has this great song called Tamburitza Lingua. It is pretty depressing but it ends on this great (albeit sad) note: Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three two one and kerplooey, you’re done, you’re done for, you’re done for good now tell me did you do did you do all you could? Uhm, like I said, depressing–but worth thinking about in terms of writing. Did you write the story you wanted to? Did you say everything that was in your heart? If you answered ‘yes’ to both of these questions, realize how amazing that is, objectively. It’s a gift and you should take it seriously.

Finally, I could never overstate the importance of WORKING ON SOMETHING NEW. When you’re fully invested in a new story, you’re detaching, on some level, from the last one. Allowing yourself distance from your previous work makes the response it gets feel like not so much of a ‘hit.’

But it’s still intimidating to be judged. Of course it’s scary. And even more comforting: it’s inevitable. NO MATTER WHAT YOU ARE DOING. And in spite of all I’ve written here, as I said–I’m currently in a tender stage of Fall for Anything’s release, where I want everyone to like it. I still have My Moments and their Extended Versions and their Remixes over some of the feedback I get. But I know now it will pass and I try to remember the only thing you can do is let the chips fall where they may and then turn your attention forward.

You HAVE to, or at least I do, because above all, I firmly believe that once a book is released, it’s not mine anymore. I’ve had my time with those characters and now it is over. Such a big part of putting your work out there is letting it go. And I think in this particular case, letting go is just something you have to learn over and over again but that you maybe hopefully get better at the more and more you do it.

Lest you become this Duffy song.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, first thing: the winner of four of my favourite books this year, plus a copy of Fall for Anything, is Amy Lukavics. Her favourite read of 2010 was Amy Reed’s Beautiful! The winner of bonus prize of a finished copy of Fall for Anything (generously donated by Damon, who rocks) was Kats whose favourite read was Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. Ladies, I’ve emailed you! You have 48 hours to claim your prizes!

Next thing: this book comes out today!

I hope you get yourselves a copy! And I hope you connect with it. This book was difficult to write at times, but in the end I think it was worth it. I’m thrilled to have it out there and I’ve been extremely humbled by the way it’s been received so far. It is a bit staggering to think this is Book the Third. Not only that, in two days it will be the second anniversary of Cracked Up to Be’s release and January 5th marks the first anniversary of Some Girls Are’s release. Crazy! Each time the experience of releasing a book really drives home to me how many lovely people make this all possible. Agent, editor, publisher, critique partners, librarians, booksellers, readers, book bloggers, friends, family–and that’s just to name a few. I’m grateful to all of you.

Thank you.

Quite a few reviews of Fall for Anything hit the internets the last week and a bit, and I promised I’d do a round-up in this blog entry. If new ones crop up, I’ll add to the list throughout the day. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and review it!

IT NEVER ENDS!

But I ain’t complainin’. :)

Internet, that draft needs polishing, so guess how I am spending the holidays?

Internet, I am very tired and very behind.

I hope you will bear with me while I catch up. I always feel guilty about writing blog entries before I’ve caught up on other people’s blogs, my own blog comments (sorry for everyone in the queue), my emails… etcetera. But I’m really hoping I’ll be in the clear by the end of this week. I thank you for your patience. Meanwhile, I have a bunch of stuff to tell you about! Like the short story that I wrote for you to read and the big giveaway I am holding in celebration of the good books I’ve read this year and do you like books you could win some good ones so stay with me here.

(How awful. Trying to buy your attention with book giveaways. Tsk tsk!)

But first can I just say oh-my-goodness-I-finished-that-draft? Because oh my goodness I did. Wow. It used to be I’d finish a draft of a book and RIDE AN ADRENALINE HIGH right after, but apparently I have graduated to a new phase of writing where every time I finish a draft I just want to rock back and forth in a corner and not talk to anyone forever. That’s bleak. Maybe payback for the horrible things I put my characters through? Who knows. Anyways.

So about a month ago, St. Martin’s Press asked me if I would like to write a short story related to Fall for Anything in anticipation of its release and I said yes! The best part about it is that you do not have to read the book to ‘get’ it. But hopefully, if you haven’t read the book, it will make you want to read it! And if you have read the book it will add an ~extra dimension~ to your experience. And get this–it’s from a dude’s perspective!

… Phew!

So I was going to do a Fall for Anything giveaway when I announced the Milo short story, but given all of these chances at it floating around, I thought I’d mix it up a little and give away books that I’ve loved this year! And Fall for Anything. Which I love in a different way. I think it would be a nice wind-up for 2010. Also, the best part about reading great books is sharing them with other people. The toughest part about this giveaway is that I’ve read SO MANY good books this year, it was really hard to narrow it down to four. So I took into consideration previous giveaways and decided on these four (plus Fall for Anything):

This contest is open to people who live anywhere The Book Depository ships! Visit this page to see if they ship to you. If they do, you gots to enter this contest. How do you do that? Just comment on this entry by December 20th and tell me what your favourite book of 2010. Easy!

BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE.

I got a lot of good natured ribbing about all the US/CAN only contests held this year for Fall for Anything. Do you know who heard your cries? One of my oldest and dearest friends, Damon Ford. A truly wonderful human being, he is one of those friends you have to stop and stare at the sky and you’re all like sky, Damon is such a great friend. Thank you. In Fall for Anything, I named a river after him! In Some Girls Are, he was the convenience store Regina bought all her antacids in!

Anyways, Damon is generously putting up a second prize of a copy of Fall for Anything for Australian/UK residents only. So if you live in Australia or the UK and you want a shot at the 5 books above AND a shot at the second prize of a single copy of Fall for Anything, just include Damon rocks! in your comment.

So let’s have those rules one more time:

1. Everyone! To enter to win my four fave reads of 2010 and a finished copy of Fall for Anything, comment telling me YOUR favourite read of 2010.

3. You have until December 20th. Winners will be contacted by email and will have 48 hours to give me their details before I will draw again.

Clear as mud, right? Please note that The Book Depository ships their books individually, and they won’t be shipping Fall for Anything until January 3rd–but you’ll get it!

Anddd that is about everything, I think! I am off to catch up on… everything. Oh wait! I’m so excited to announce that Some Girls Are has been nominated for a 2010 GoodReads Choice Award in YA Fiction. If you have a GoodReads account and you dug SGA, it would mean the world to me if you gave it your vote!

And that actually is everything. Seriously. I promise.

NOW ENTER MY CONTEST!

I know–I’ve been a bad blogger. But at least the last post I left you with had a picture of an adorable chipmunk on it? I don’t anticipate my bad blogging changing until the first draft of Book 4 is done, and hopefully that will happen before Fall for Anything launches. IT IS A MANIC RACE AGAINST TIME, is what I’m saying, so wish me well. Speaking of bloggers, if you are a US-based book blogger, you might want to stick around because this blog entry has information that is relevant to your interests.

It’s been a good month for Fall for Anything and it is not even out yet! (Thank goodness, see above paragraph.) I’m thrilled to share that it’s received a starred review from both Kirkus and Booklist and 4.5 stars on from RT Book Reviews! Kirkus called it, “an unusual, bold effort that deserves attention,” and Booklist called it “hauntingly written and compulsively readable,” and RT Book Reviews called it “a fearless and wonderfully executed young adult novel.” Yay!

Also: there are 8 days left on GoodReads’ Fall for Anything giveaway and if you haven’t entered, you should! Free books! Right here! Yay!

OK! And now onto the purpose of this blog post. Are you a US-based book blogger with at least 500 unique monthly visitors or a book blogger who has been blogging at least 6 months interested in receiving a review copy of Fall for Anything? AKA this book right here?

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING BEFORE YOU PROVIDE ME YER INFO:

1) I won’t be emailing back to let you know I got your info–it’s not personal, there just aren’t enough hours in the day. But THANK YOU for wanting to read it. I really appreciate it!

2) My publisher will send out copies at their discretion, so this means expressing interest and providing info does not guarantee you a copy.

3) Please do not ask me to bend the rules for you. “I’m not a book blogger, but…” or “I just started my blog five minutes ago, but…” or “I live overseas, but…” — it’s out of my hands. I will delete those emails without passing them along, so you might as well use the time you’d spend sending me the email I’ll end up deleting enjoying the sunshine! Unless it is really grey and overcast where you are like it is here. Then I would make some popcorn and curl up next to the fire, if you have one.

And that is all!

I am now going to resume my manic Book 4 writing. Happy November!

Remember when I said there would be more Fall For Anything giveaways? And you guys called me a liar? Okay, that ‘liar’ part didn’t happen but it all works out because I wasn’t lying! St. Martin’s Press is giving away 24 copies of Fall for Anything on Goodreads right now (US residents only). Check it out here. There are 32 days left to enter.

I’ve got a wealth of book related updates and then I am going to tell you a sad Halloween tale. First, I’m thrilled to announce that Some Girls Are has been nominated for OLA’s 2011 White Pine Award! I am so excited. The Festival of Trees is making less of a hermit outta me. I attended the celebrations last year and I will definitely be attending them next May in Toronto. They are way too fun to miss.

Second, Fall For Anything ARCs have been making their way around the book blogosphere (scary!). The amazing Sara of The Hiding Spot gave it a stellar, spoiler-free review that you can read here AND the rockin’ James from Book Chic Club featured FFA for Fragment Friday! Fragment Friday is a meme where you vlog an excerpt of your current or favourite read. Remember how I posted the first five chapters of Fall For Anything? Well, he read the sixth! Watch it here. Thank you, Sara and James!

AND NOW ONTO SAD HALLOWEEN STUFFS. If you have been following my blog for a couple of years, you know that pumpkin carving is a relatively serious past time in the Summers’ household. I say relatively serious because there are people that take pumpkin carving REALLY seriously and I don’t want to undermine them. Here are the pumpkins Megan and I carved last year:

This year, we had big plans. BIG PLANS! We got two pumpkins EACH. We were both going to outdo ourselves and carve the best pumpkins in town. Not only in town, BUT IN THE WORLD! But that is not what ended up happening. If we had known this, we might have made different choices. But we didn’t. Blissfully unaware of our pumpkins’ sad fate, we put these movies in the DVD player and watched them while we worked:

(Hocus Pocus, Disney’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Night of the Living Dead, oh yeah.)

I’m making grilled lime chicken with black bean sauce and braised onions from Simply Recipes. I made both of these things before, very recently, and they were big hits. So not the spookiest things ever, but something everyone will enjoy. Alterations to the chicken recipe: it’s baked in the oven with the onions. I also make garlic sauce to go with it (a bunch of minced garlic mashed with salt, mixed into some sour cream, mayo and lemon juice–all to taste) which–YUM! Tastes amazing layered on top of the black bean sauce. I am also debating boiling and simmering the black beans in vegetable broth for some ~extra flavor~.

This will be served with Martha Stewart’s Mashed Boo-tatoes because they are the CUTEST THINGS:

picture from Martha Stewart

picture from epicurious

It is going to be so good.

AND YOU ARE ALL INVITED!!!!

I have given you two day’s notice and left a trail of clues for you to follow all the way to my dinner table.

Now I am going to go start chopping cilantro in preparation for this fantastic feast, while my wrists can still work after all that traumatic pumpkin carving. :(

Oh, but wait. Wait even more! Before I announce the winners, I may have something of interest to you if this is the kind of thing you are interested in. I posted about it in various online places last week but no news is ever official until I blog about it 500 years later, amirite? The first five chapters of Fall For Anything are online. If you’re so inclined to read them, you can do so by clicking here. ALSO, I did an interview with Miss Remmers’ students on her blog. They asked me some fantastic, thoughtful questions and you can check it out here. Thank you for having me, Miss Remmers!

And NOW onto the Fall For Anything giveaway winners!

But wait!

Yeah, I’m awful. But before I tell you who won what, I really want to thank everyone who entered. I was completely bowled over by the response and enthusiasm for Eddie and her mysterious dying hands. Thank you. Ok. So. The winner of the Fall For Anything ARC (for reals this time) is…

Lara!

And the winner of two preordered finished copies are…

Sommer and Ginny!

So that’s that! If you’re still interested in snagging a Fall For Anything ARC, I guess we should talk about this new contest that I am holding? It is open to International entries! It is also a Facebook exclusive. I know, I know. If it’s not one thing it’s the other. If you would like a chance to win a Fall For Anything ARC, here is what you have to do:

1) Go to my Facebook page. This one –> http://www.facebook.com/pages/Courtney-Summers/145262370138
2) Like me! Really like me!
3) On the Facebook wall write, “I want Fall for Anything!” or whatever. Just let me know you want to be entered in this glorious contest.
4) I’ll like the comment (so you know I’ve seen it) and put you into the draw. I’ll announce the winner October 25th.
5) One entry per person. Winner will be announced on the Facebook page (I’ll reply to their comment, post it on the wall and if it’s possible message them). They’ll have 48 hours to claim their prize before a redraw.

If you don’t have a Facebook account and you hate liking people, there will probably be another giveaway in the near future. Who knows!

In other news (I say this a lot–is there a better way to segue into other news because I’m tired of saying it), two YA author friends of mine are celebrating some good news this week and I want to celebrate with them!

Victoria Schwab, author of The Near Witch (hey, crazy–turns out that link is a pre-order link!) got to reveal the cover of her book yesterday. I was lucky enough to get an early read on The Near Witch and though I am primarily a contemporary YA reader, this book had me from start to finish. Fully expect it to take your breath away when it comes out in August 2011. Check out Victoria’s qt vlog below and then go to her blog for further deets!

In other other news (?), I am still making October as full of scary movies as I can. On the to-be-watched pile: Kwaidan (so excited about this one!), Disney’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow (an oldie, but a goodie–like Hocus Pocus WHICH I HOPE YOU ARE GOING TO BE WATCHING THIS HOLIDAY SEASON), Trick ‘r Treat (totally fast-forwarding through the werewolf bits for obvious reasons) and The Black Belly of the Tarantula which was recommended to me by Emily Hainsworth! And is anyone watching Dead Set on Space? It is about zombies and reality television and it is AWESOME.

And that is all! Go forth and enter my Facebook Exclusive, Open to International Entries ARC giveaway! Or watch horror movies! Because uhm, I can’t remember the focal point of this blog entry anymore. Probably it was the contest. But I really love horror movies too, so…

And that is something.

I am so proud of myself. I’ve maintained my inbox (but unfortunately am woefully behind on blogs). My lack of ~meaningful~ tweeting has somehow caused me to Facebook more (I don’t know). I did a wonderful series of interviews with five other contemporary YA authors over at Persnickety Snark (check them out here–there are four total and all begin with the title ’5 Contemporary YA Authors On…’) and this fun fun fun interview with Gail at Ticket to Anywhere. AND I wrote 50 pages of this Thing I Am Working On Now. But let’s face it, you are not here to read about my steady levels of productivity are you. You are here about the giveaway to make up for this absence that I am considering extending for another week.

What giveaway, you say?

OH JUST THE ONE THAT IS RELATED TO THESE THINGS I GOT IN THE MAIL:

(Oh yes, there will be more.)

So. I am giving ONE of these away to one lucky winner! And I am making it simple. Before I tell you what is required of you, right now you should know it is a US & Canada only giveaway. BUT, I will be doing an international giveaway of an ARC on my Facebook page at a future date so if you are overseas (or not) and you want in on it when it happens, please like the page and keep watch. But that is enough futuretalk. Back to the present.

What you need to do to enter to win this book:

1) Leave a comment in this here blog. Easy!
1.5) To protect your privacy & prevent you from getting spammed, please don’t post your email address in the actual text of the comment! If you type it in the required email address field of the comment box, I’ll see it! (No one else will.)
2) One comment per person.
3) Winner will be announced on the eve of October 8th!
4) So enter up until that day and on that day UNTIL DARKNESS FALLS.
5) Fin.

* If you gots Twitter, retweeting this would be much appreciated! But not a requirement.

And now I am going to close this grand contest announcement with an excerpt of the book–from the first page–so you can decide if it is something you would like to read:

My hands are dying.

I keep trying to explain it to Milo, but he just looks at me like I’m crazy.

“They don’t feel warm–they haven’t.” I squeeze the tips of my fingers as hard as I can, which hurts. “They’re not numb, though…”

“Maybe you have that… Raynaud’s disease,” he says. He takes my right hand and studies my fingers. They seem healthy, pink. He shakes his head. “They’re not blue.”

“But they’re cold.”

“They feel warm to me.”

“They feel cold,” I insist.

“Okay, Eddie,” he says. “They’re cold.”

I jerk my hands from his and then I rub them together. Friction. Heat. Milo can say what he wants; they’re freezing. It’s the hottest summer Branford has seen in something like ten years, but I haven’t been able to get my hands to warm up since it happened.

I hold them up again. They don’t even look like my hands anymore. They don’t even look like anything that could belong to me, even though they’re clearly attached.

“They’re different,” I tell him.

“Would you please put your hands down?” he asks. “Jesus.”

My hands have changed. I catch Milo looking at them sometimes, and I see it on his face that they’re different, no matter what he’s saying now.

Seriously, WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THIS POOR GIRL’S HANDS? I bet if you enter my contest and you win, you will find out! I mean I hope you do. It has been so long since I wrote this book I can’t even remember. So if you enter my contest and you win, let me know too, maybe. Probably you do find out though, I assume. Who knows with me though. Who knows.




PS: I love love love the interest that has been floating around for Fall For Anything (thank you, guys!) but I just want to say if you’re a book reviewer interested in a review copy, those requests should be sent to my publicist, whose contact info is on my contact page. I will delete all requests that land in my own inbox, as I’ve made my policies very clear out of respect for your time and there aren’t enough hours in the day for me to field and forward requests and write at the same time. Thank you for understanding!

Guess what!

Today I got permission to show the FALL FOR ANYTHING book trailer!

Which is good!

(Because I’m short on blog topics, people. Not going to lie.)

BEFORE I do that though, here are some things about the trailer that I feel you should know:

It is comprised of a bunch of images. Maybe hundreds. Maybe not hundreds. I didn’t count. Probably less than hundreds but. Doesn’t hundreds sound like an impressive lie?

The voice over was done by the amazing Kim Hutt, the genius mastermind behind the greatness that is What Claudia Wore. I heart her. I heart her voice. I heart her blog. And I cannot thank her enough for doing this for me. Thank you, Kim!

OK SO HERE IT IS! It’s not really a happy trailer but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

(Don’t forget to watch it in at least 480p!)

It would not hurt my feelings at ALL.

(The shameless continues! What can I say! Book trailer releases make me punchy too!)

Man. Doesn’t that summary make you wonder what kind of cover St. Martin’s Press is gonna put on the book itself? Doesn’t the title of this blog post totally give away what I am about to show you next?

I mean–WONDER NO FURTHER BECAUSE HERE IS THE COVER OF FALL FOR ANYTHING:

And here’s a little something else: all of those photos behind Eddie’s head? Those are actual photographs that have been “taken” in the book! I freaked right out when I saw that the first time. I was like HEY I KNOW THAT PICTURE BECAUSE I WROTE IT IN MY NOVEL! And then I freaked out some more.

Anyway, this is my favourite part of the whole process and mere words cannot express how much I love this cover. Thank you, St. Martin’s! I hope you love it too. I hope you love it enough to preorder the book. Oh yeah, see what I did there? That was SHAMELESS, I know. I have no shame. But what can I say–cover reveals make me so punchy!

Now if you will excuse me I have to go post this everywhere.

Also: Punch! Punch! Kapow! Blammo! FWOOSH! Zap!