People I Love: Courtney Summers

Up next in my "People I Love" series...





~*COURTNEY SUMMERS*~

(I think Edit Fairy likes Gaga's look)

How can I describe Courtney Summers?

Well, I know how I describe her BOOKS. Her books are brutal, un-put-downable, wonderful, wrenching, real, disturbing, addictive, destructive and FABULOUS. I once described her upcoming book, Some Girls Are, as "suicidal teletubbies with purple lipstick and switchblades." There is this incredible push-pull in Courtney's books, something akin to morbid curiosity. You just can't stop looking.

Describing Courtney as a person gets trickier, only because I don't have the right words. Courtney and I have had a roller coaster year, but she's been beside me every step of the way. We've cheered each other on at the fun parts, and she's given me an incredible shoulder at the really NOT fun parts, and even let me emotionally vomit on her a few times when the ride got out of hand. Essentially, she's been there. And she's become an incredibly close friend. Not only is Courtney one of the nicest, most accessible writers out there, not only is she INSANELY talented, and getting some of the praise she absolutely deserves, but I can say that she has made a profound impact on my life, and that I wouldn't be where I am if not for her.

Courtney, thank you. Thanks for filling my good days with ~*~*~ and my bad days with hugs and rants and every day with emoticons, capslock, acronyms, enthusiasm and love.

Edit Fairy Smolders, Team Sparkle, well, Sparkles.

So it turns out Edit Fairy isn't terribly gifted in the editing department, BUT he is quite good at smoldering. And boy does he smolder. And I cannot stay long, since I need to inject some *smolder* into my own book.

But first! Today's lovely recipient of the V Loves You Award is...

~*~*~Team Sparkle~*~*~

What is Team Sparkle? Well, TS is my support group. TS is:

-Courtney Summers
-Scott Tracey
-Susan Adrian
-Tiffany Schmidt
-Emily Hainsworth
-Linda Grimes


Team Sparkle is appropriately named, because boy do these guys sparkle. But it also makes me laugh, because the books that come out of TS tend to be dark/edgy/odd/other. Less like this:



And more like Edit Fairy:



Team Sparkles keeps me afloat. They fill my inbox with love, they deal with my panic attacks and minor tantrums, they cheer and bemoan and are all themselves absolutely brilliant. Over the next few days, I'll tell you just a little about that brilliance. Up first, the astounding unstoppable Courtney Summers.

Edit Fairies Awesome Australians

So, I'm in edits again. I'd give a glimpse of them, but I think it would just be easier to spread my arms wide and say I have to do thiiiiiiiiiiiis much work. My ms is currently an exercise in red. BUT. I will prevail!

This is my Edit Fairy:



Yes. I have an Edit Fairy (thanks to Nicole; I suspect he might be Jude Law, though he came from a random health and beauty site) and apparently he will either help me with my edits, or whisk me away, or both.

The problem is that during edits I really need all my brain power for, well, EDITING. So I can't seem to write much of a coherent, thoughtful post.

Still, I don't want to slack off on my blog here, so I'm doing something different.

I'm going to talk about a person I'm really thankful for each day for the next week or so, until I've satisfactorily beaten this chunk of edits back into submission.

First up,

~*~*~*~Tye Cattenach.*~*~*~

Tye is an incredibly sweet, energetic, and all-around awesome librarian in Australia, and she deserves some attention. She runs a blog called The Book Gryffin (which recently hosted The Grimm Off) and she has to be one of the nicest, most passionate women in the book world. I simply adore her. Tye has been this wonderful little shimmer of light during my edits, and her constant energy and enthusiasm make me smile and keep me afloat. Thanks, Tye :)

PS. I recently came to know two of Tye's cohorts, Sonja and Nicole, and I can say, Australia has an incredible quantity of Awesome. I suspect it might be stealing it from other places. Because, of course, Iocane comes from Australia, and Australia is entirely peopled with criminals! (points for knowing where this line comes from).