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Staff Pick
Writer, producer, and professional worrier Courtenay Hameister spent a year doing stuff that scares her. Like an MRI, a sensory deprivation tank, and professional cuddling. A Brazilian. The result is a collection of surprising, sometimes brutal, sometimes blushworthy, sometimes heartbreaking, always hilarious experiments told with honesty, insight, and ferocious wit. Recommended By Gigi L., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
The story of one chronically anxious woman's hilarious year-long quest to become braver by seeking out the kinds of experiences she's spent her life avoiding.
For most of her life (and even during her years as the host of a popular radio show), Courtenay Hameister lived in a state of near-constant dread and anxiety. She fretted about everything. Her age. Her size. Her romantic prospects. How likely it was that she would get hit by a bus on the way home.
Until a couple years ago, when, in her mid-forties, she decided to fight back against her debilitating anxieties by spending a year doing little things that scared her — things that the average person might consider doing for a half second before deciding: "nope."
Things like: attending a fellatio class. She did that. She also spent an afternoon in a sensory deprivation tank, got (legally) high in the middle of a workday, had a session with a professional cuddler, braved twenty-eight first dates, and (perhaps scariest of all) actually met someone who might possibly appreciate her for who she is.
Refreshing, relatable, and pee-your-pants funny, Okay Fine Whatever is Courtenay's hold-nothing-back account of her adventures on the front lines of Mere Human Woman vs. Fear, reminding us that even the tiniest amount of bravery is still bravery, and that no matter who you are, it's possible to fight complacency and become bold, or at least bold-ish, a little at a time.
Review
"Courtenay Hameister is one of the funniest, sharpest writers I know. Her work is confessional, witty, and laugh-out-loud hilarious. I love her." Chelsea Cain, New York Times bestselling author of Heartsick and One Kick
Review
"...the somewhat intrepid yet thoroughly original and hilarious Courtenay Hameister is our new patron saint of the bizarre life experience. Readers everywhere will be super grateful to her for doing all this awkward stuff so they don't have to. Thanks, Courtenay!" Karen Karbo, author of How Georgia Became O'Keeffe and The Gospel According to Coco Chanel (the Kick-Ass Women series)
Review
"Courtenay Hameister wrote the following sentence and for this sentence alone she should be world famous: 'Like the snowflake of the genital world, no two vaginas are ever alike.' Her stories are honest, funny and touching. I love her work and so will you." Mike Sacks, author of Poking a Dead Frog: Conversations with Today's Top Comedy Writers
About the Author
Courtenay Hameister is a professional nervous person. During her 12 years as host and head writer for Live Wire, a nationally-syndicated public radio show, she interviewed over 500 intimidating people and wrote 200 personal essays in bursts of anxiety-fueled inspiration at midnight the night before each show. Her work has also been featured in McSweeney's, APM's Marketplace, More Magazine and some scathing emails to the customer service department at Macy's.
Courtenay Hameister on PowellsBooks.Blog

In 2013, Courtenay Hameister, head writer and host of the hit syndicated radio variety show,
Live Wire! Radio, had an anxiety attack so terrible that she had to step down from her decade-long position as host of the show. A longtime struggler with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and OCD, she realized that suffering through persistent extreme angst was ruining her health...
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