Okay.

Here goes.

I hope we can still be friends after this.

I keep mentally comparing these two characters:

With these UNCANNY similarities, it is only natural that I should be forced to choose between them.

After much soul searching, I came to the conclusion that Tuxedo Mask has it all over Edward Cullen. Wasn’t Tuxedo Mask AWESOME, you guys? How did we forget the timeless awesomeness of Tuxedo Mask? How did he get so far removed from our idea of the perfect fictional boyfriend? Sure, he’s not a vampire, but since when is that a BAD thing, really?

So I now propose we all aspire to make our fictional love interests of the rose-throwing mask-wearing variety from this point on.

Sad, true story: I loved Sailor Moon when I was tiny, but that was a teasable offense at school, so I had to keep it a secret. Also, Sailor Jupiter was my favourite. She kicked SO MUCH ASS. Also I still know all of the words to Rainy Day Man. Also I hope this stuff is cool to admit on the internets! Also, I don’t care if it is. Also, I loved Power Rangers too. Trini was my favourite. <3

Uhm. ANYWAY.

Some Girls Are is up now up on GoodReads! If you want to read it, I bet it would make a sexy addition to your To-Read List (also, a simple act like that helps get word out, which I always appreciate). Speaking of Some Girls Are, I got an email from my editor earlier in the week to let me know St. Martin’s Press is getting a photographer to shoot a Regina look-a-like for the cover, which is really exciting. I can’t wait until I can see and show the final version!

In other news, I continue to work hard on Book 3, and by working hard, I mean “organizing a playlist for it.” I consider that working hard because if I didn’t, I might have to confront a truth about myself that I don’t want to confront. The first line of this book is, “Put your hand over my mouth.” It’s been difficult to write, but I really want to write it.

Also, I am sure my Twitter peeps are tired of hearing this because I tweet about it often, but I am HARD UP FOR BLOG ENTRY TOPICS. Like, thank God I started mentally comparing Edward and Darien or this entry may never have happened. And what would the internet be without THIS BLOG ENTRY?

I know. It’s too horrifying to contemplate.

Anyway, this is my sad and unclever way of saying if you guys ever want to see a particular entry about writing or books or How Chuck Bass Would Never Get Away with Any of that Shit if He was a Chick, you should let me know and then maybe I will write it. And then maybe I will update more often! And there will be more Courtney!

And I just assume everyone wants more Courtney.

But I guess maaaaaayyybeeeee there could be such a thing as Too Much Courtney. Honestly, it’s too hard for me to gauge that kind of thing because I live with myself EVERY SINGLE DAY and THAT hardly feels like enough Courtney, if you want the truth.

… PARTICULARLY NOW THAT I AM SPORTING THESE 24/7:

I don’t have a Kindle, though. Sadness! I kind of want one. But not as much as I want a sweet, sweet pair of Ray-ban Wayfarers (by the way, I am pretty sure both of these things are alarmingly close in price). Do you suppose there are people out there who own Kindles and Ray-ban Wayfarers?

I bet there are.

I bet they are so happy in their souls.

So I’m 10,000 words into a new novel. I can’t tell you how happy this makes me because when I’m not writing, I feel like I’m missing something important. Like my face. And I need that thing to emote at people with, you know?

Anyway, I’m amped for this book, not gonna lie. It “arrived” differently than the other books and it’s all been very exciting to me. It is yet another gentle reminder that starting a new book is like starting a new relationship with someone… new. Uhm. Anyway, current relationship status: we are in the honeymoon stages. We are married and in love.

I CAN’T WAIT FOR OUR EVENTUAL DIVORCE AND DRAMATIC RECONCILIATION.

Speaking of dramatic reconcilations, do you think Jon and Kate will have one? That show distresses me, you guys. It has always distressed me, though. Every time I watched it I would get this horrible anxiety in my chest because I would try to imagine raising eight kids all relatively close in age and I would just freak out until I remembered I didn’t have to and I’d change the channel and it was all good again.

But now I’m distressed in a different way. I feel like I am living with the weight of their hard times on my shoulders. Should we talk about this? The repercussions of Reality TV? Is Reality TV bad? Are we, the viewers, responsible on any level, for the degradation of Jon and Kate’s marriage? Should I even be blogging about this? It somehow seems too personal.

And how can Reality TV be bad when it brings us pictures of JEFF PROBST STANDING IN THE RAIN?

The links will take you to my GoodReads reviews and you can get my full take on them there. If you have read any of them, I’d love to know what you thought! I’ve just begun C.K. Kelly Martin’s latest, One Lonely, Degree. I’ve been waiting for that book FOREVER, just so you know. Imagine how happy my face was when I got the mail and it was there, right on the release date! C.K. has kindly agreed to another interview for the blog as well, which I’m really looking forward to.

And that is really all the news that is fit to print right now! I am going to stop typing this entry and continue working on Book 3.

I mean, just after I am done staring at this:

01. Copyedits for Cracked Up to Be are on their way! I’m looking forward to it but also I’m terrified. I have this irrational fear of copyedits because they seem so concise and mechanical and I don’t brush my hair if I can get away with it and wear Winnie the Pooh pajama pants outside and stuff so that’s probably a good indication of… something. I just basically feel like copyedits are the MATH of the publishing process. Math also terrified me. Once, in eighth grade, my teacher called on me to do a problem at my desk and I just couldn’t take it and I started freaking out and I was like, “I don’t know I can’t do it you can’t make me do it aaah!” It might even have been tearful. ANYWAY, my teacher was like, “Okay! Never mind! Next person!” And then I was like, “… Why didn’t I do that sooner?!” And then years later I looked it up and there IS such a thing as Mathematical Anxiety! The vindication! I can’t even tell you.

02. But for some reason I have become this huge Sudoku nut in the last few weeks, even though it has numbers in it. I’ve completed two (TWO!) puzzles… without cheating! This is huge, people! Even if the skill level was easy. I tried a medium puzzle tonight but it got difficult so I quit because those are the kind of principles I have. Also, Survivor was on.

03. Oh, Survivor. What a season. Jeff Probst wore shorts tonight! Has he ever worn shorts on Survivor before? And I swear they had stripes. I should be ashamed for noticing but I don’t think it’s every day Jeff Probsts wears shorts on television. Or maybe it is. Who knows. NICE LEGS, PROBST!

04. courtneysummers.ca is in the process of being redesigned by some talented guys who know their stuff (read: they are WordPress Masters). Now, yer not going to wake up and see a new site tomorrow or anything but I’m just giving you a head’s up so you can adjust your anticipation levels accordingly (tip: set them to high.).

“I mean, no one wants to admit they ate nine cans of ravioli, but I did and I’m ashamed of myself. The first can doesn’t count, but then you get to the second, and then the third–the fourth and fifth I think I burned with the blow torch and then I just kept eating.”
- Ricky, Trailer Park Boys

Up the number and replace ‘ravioli’ with ‘cupcakes and pepperoni’ and you basically have my evening.

It was amazing.

So I am spending the weekend with these guys:

“The thing with me is that I AM smart and I’m smelf–I’m self smarted, basically, by myself, basically from nature and smoking drugs and doing different things I’ve self–like self-learned myself. And that’s the whole difference, I guess, is that I don’t need the books or the schooling type things. I just get everything on my own and because of that I’m alive right now. I mean, if I had read more books or tried to go on to college and different things like that, I’d be dead right now, because people say books and college are for to be make you smarter, but they can also be for to be make you dead, which is what could have happened to me. My brain doesn’t use enough oxygen because I don’t have the whole thing filled with different stuff and if it was full–it’s only part full–and that’s why I’m alive right now. The guards are giving me here, you know, “Read this book, try to get smarter,” but I’m like, alright, I’ll pretend to read it, but I’m not going to really read it cause my brain will be more full and if I have another heart attack, I’m going to die.”

– Ricky, Trailer Park Boys

- I had a dream Jason Vorhees was going to machete one of my friends to death. “So here’s the plan,” I told my peeps. “We will stay away from [friend].” And then they were like, all appalled at me and I was like, “What? Why are you all looking at me like that?!” Some people, I’m telling you. Everyone KNOWS you don’t step in front of Jason when he’s going for the kill. It is a foolish thing to do and it ain’t gonna save anybody. So I spent the whole dream pacing by the windows, worried as all get out he’d mistake me for my friend. When I woke up, I got out my dream dictionary and discovered my dream means I am cruel, yet practical. And also very, very pretty.

- I can’t stop watching zombie movies when I write. I love zombie movies. I have have decided zombie movies are so inspirational they should be placed on the Inspirational shelf in most stores. Maybe I’m a big weirdo but there’s something strangely comforting about watching people being stripped of everything that makes their lives worth living and still wanting to live in spite of it. It’s ~*poignant*~. Another thing that’s great about zombies is that they’re not a romantic embodiment of death, like say, oh, I dunno… vampires.

- I’m completely addicted to and weirdly fascinated with that TLC show, Say Yes to the Dress. I spend the whole hour rolling my eyes and making snarky remarks at all the brides who spend insane amounts of money on a dress (read: all of them) and then I cry with them when they find The One because I cry at everything. Or maybe I’m not crying at the sentimentality of it all, I’m crying at the insane amounts of money being spent on dresses and how many Yamaha Clavinovas that money could buy. I can safely say I would never spend that much money on a wedding dress. EVER. I’m still talking about the one woman who dropped $11k on a dress and got married at Disneyland. I can’t even remember if she was the same woman who bought her wedding dress and then came back and bought ANOTHER one she could relax in after the ceremony, during the reception. Anyway, it is a great show, basically, but I have a feeling I think it’s a great show for all the wrong reasons. I don’t know. Fridays at 10 PM EST, bbs!

And now I am sad.

Week after week, I constantly expected him to get voted off. First for being older than the rest those fresh-faced 20somethings and finally for being so much more awesome than everyone in the entire world squared (in a game like Survivor these are the kind of things that work against you, you see). When he came out of the last two Tribal Councils unscathed–call me naive–but I was SURE I would watch Pretty Probst declare him Sole Survivor.

In fact, I was really looking forward to it.

And then Dreamz happened. :(

But I wanted both Yau and Earl in F2, so I’m glad at least one of them got there and took home the prize. I just wanted Yau Man to take it home about 10% more than Earl. I’m sorry, if I’ve hurt your feelings for wanting you to win about 10% less, Earl. CBS will be giving you a cheque you can cry into.

And can we say Bitterest Jury Ever?! I think we can!

Here is a pretty accurate transcription of Alex’s jury speech, including the things he was saying with his eyes:

“ANSWER MY QUESTION, YOU LOWLY WOMAN FOLK! WAIT, NO! STOP TALKING BECAUSE I DON’T LIKE YOUR ANSWER. NOW ANSWER IT THE WAY I WANT YOU TO! HEY, YOU’RE STILL NOT ANSWERING MY QUESTION RIGHT! SHUT UP. OKAY, LET’S TRY THIS AGAIN: ANSWER MY QUESTION THE WAY I WANT YOU TO WHILE I’M TELLING YOU TO SHUT UP AT THE EXACT SAME TIME. CAN’T DO IT, CAN YOU? I’M NOT SURPRISED. THAT’S THE KIND OF SMART STUFF THEY TEACH YOU IN HARVARD, WHERE I WAS EDUCATED. BUT YOU OBVIOUSLY WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND THAT BECAUSE AS EDUCATED AS YOU MAY BE, YOU ARE STILL A WOMAN.”

Seriously!

In other news, I do still write. Here is an update: I’ve stopped the pseudo fast-drafting approach. It was fun and I got 50,000 words out of it (yay!), but I reached a point where I had to go back and see how it was all coming together. Also I needed to fix a couple glaring continuity errors and write in the words I only thought I wrote but didn’t actually write. The latter happened more than I guessed it would, so sometimes it was like I was playing mad-libs. But because I enjoy mad-libs, my pseudo fast-drafting experience gets two enthusiastic thumbs up. Any writing approach that is slightly entertaining on an editorial level is okay with me.

But I still have a novel to finish, so I should probably go do that!

(Next season is in China!!)

And that’s cool too.

PS: Watch The Hour people, for it is awesome.