One of the best parts of this business is, without a doubt, getting to know other writers because most of them are smart, funny, and utterly, 100% made of awesome.

Case in point:  Sarah Mlynowski.

Back when I was very first considering writing YA (when Love You Kill You was barely a gleam in my eye), one of the first books I picked up was Sarah's Bras and Broomsticks and instantly it felt like coming home.  These were the types of books I was meant to be reading.  And maybe...just maybe...they were the types of books I was meant to be writing.

Now Sarah has a new book that examines one of my favorite things ever: what if.

What if you hadn't gone to that dance...

What if you hadn't answered the phone...

What if you hadn't slept through the alarm...

What would you life be like then.

And what would you do to change it?

In Gimme a Call Sarah's main character is thinking about those very things when she accidentally drops her cell phone into a wishing fountain and--boom--from that point on she can only call herself...or, more specifically, herself four years in the past.

Recently, Sarah and I were talking about our books and characters and we decided to play our own little game of what if.

Here's how it went:

1.   What if you had a magic cell phone?  What would you tell your younger self?
I would say, Hi little Sarah! Please don’t hang up, this is not a prank call. Once I convinced her that I really was Future Sarah I would advise her to stop over-plucking her eyebrows (she looks surprised in all her prom photos), to take up a sport (talking on the phone is not a sport) and to invest in Starbucks (instead of blowing all of her allowance on glamour shots).

Note to self: break into Sarah's mother's house and find those glamour shots!!

2. What if you were a witch, what would you wish for?
World peace. A cure for cancer. Naturally straight hair.

Note to self: remind Sarah that women around the world spend millions of dollars and hours trying to have her exact hair!

3. What if the Gallagher Girls and your characters existed in the same world?  How do you think our characters would get along?
 Yeah, Miri would loooove Gallagher Academy. Of course, Rachel would be furious that her little sister got accepted while she didn’t....although Rachel would probably be too busy crushing on Zach and Josh AND Hale to notice. And when Devi’s not using her magic phone to change her own past, she would be happy to lend it to Cammie to save the world.  Hmm. While the Gallagher Girls have the phone in their possession, would Liz mind taking a look at the battery? Devi can’t get it to charge and time is running out...

Note to self:  Go re-read Gimme a Call right away.

And that goes double for all of you!

Happy reading, everyone and thanks, Sarah, for stopping by!

Ally

Hey everyone!

As you all have hopefully seen by now I'm going on tour next week!  Look for me in LA, San Francisco, Boulder, St. Louis, Orlando, Miami, Memphis, and Wichita.  (Full list of cities, stores, dates, times, ect available HERE.)

Whew.  Did I get them all?  I think I got them all.

All of these signings are free and open to the public as far as I know, but please check the host store/location's website to doublecheck what their specific signing policies will be as they do vary.

That being said, however, one of the events is a little bit different, and before I leave I thought this would be a good time to talk about it.

As you might have noticed, the Orlando signing isn't at a regular bookstore.  Instead, it's the official signing that takes place at the start of the Annual Romance Writers of America Convention.  And instead of it just being me there will actually be about 500 authors in attendance.

Yep.  FIVE HUNDRED AUTHORS.  But don't take my word for it, you can to to this site and look over the whole list and see people like Melissa de la Cruz, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Tera Lynn Childs, Simone Elkeles, Diana Peterfreund and many, many more!

And not only that, but the signing is for a good cause too.  Every year, RWA donates the proceeds from the “Readers for Life” Literacy Autographing to charity.  This year, your sales will benefit ProLiteracy Worldwide, the Orlando Adult Literacy League, and the Nashville Adult Literacy Council.

Again, there's no charge, but people who attend are strongly encouraged to buy books at the event if you can since, after all, it is all for charity. 

Doors open at 5:30 and close at 7:30 on Wednesday, July 28.  The signing will take place in the Pacific Exhibit Hall in the Walt Disney Dolphin Resort in Orlando.

I am so excited to be able to attend so many cities, and so grateful to my publisher for allowing me to do so.  Of course, I wish I could attend every city, but at some point I have to...you know...write more books, so we're stopping at eight.  If you'd like your city to be considered in the future, please discuss the possibility with your local bookstore and log your request here.

Thanks again, everyone, and happy reading!

Ally

Hey everybody!

Just a quick reminder that we are getting ready to be tour-rific here in Allyville over the next few weeks!

The fun will kick off this Wednesday, July 14th at 9 p.m. Eastern, 8 p.m. Central time with the official Readergirlz Chat!  Now, the chat will technically take place at twitter.com, using the #rgz sign to keep all the tweets "together". 

This means that you WILL need a twitter account to ask a question or chat.  However, you will NOT need an account to read the tweets that other people are posting.  (Just go to my page, for example, www.twitter.com/officiallyally, and click on the #rgz tag to be taken to a list of all the tweets that people are posting for the chat.)

After that, I'll have to pack my bag and head to the airport because it's tour time! 

We have A LOT of awesome events scheduled all around the country, including three with super author Melissa de la Cruz, one with hundreds of authors at the Romance Writers of America Convention, and a whole lot at amazing bookstores in really great cities.

Check out the complete list here, and please note that we have one new addition--a second event in San Franciso. 

Nervous about going to a signing?  Don't be.  I have a handy list of Dos and Don'ts for author events right here.  That ought to help.

Thanks again for supporting me and the Gallagher Girls so completely.  I hope to see you all somewhere on the road.

Take care,

Ally

Hello, everybody!

I have to begin today's post with a HUGE...THANK YOU!!!!

Because I've gotten a couple of very exciting pieces of news today, all courtesy of you. 

It seems as if you guys made ONLY THE GOOD SPY YOUNG the fifth most purchased kids/YA book in the country last week (according to Bookscan)!  And I just got word that you've put the Gallagher Girls back on the New York Times Children's Series Bestseller list! (a place, honestly, I thought I'd never see again.)

So thank you.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you.

You--all of you--have changed my world and my life and I'll love you forever. 

Of course, I want to go to every one of your houses and bake snickerdoodles, but since that isn't technically possible (and since I really should be...ya know...writing) I thought I'd give you guys something else instead.

What follows is a segment from the first draft of GG4 (it was from chapter one or two so it should be basically spoiler-free).  The ice skating scene (that's in the finished book) actually didn't show up on the page until draft two or three.  This is what was there instead.

Of course, I don't like it nearly as well as the ice skating (cooler setting, better visuals, etc.) but it served its purpose in that early draft.  Which is, of course, the job of the first draft.

So it is with deep gratitude and tremendous affection that I give you...

An ONLY THE GOOD SPY YOUNG Deleted Scene:

If you’re a teenage girl, and if you’re traveling out of the country without your parents for the very first time in your life, then you’re probably pretty used to having rules.  If you’ve been sneaking out of your top secret spy school since you were in 7th grade, then you might not be used to following them.  But this time, I knew was different.

As I followed Bex’s mother down the narrow hall I heard my mother’s words coming out of Bex’s mother’s mouth.

“Best to stay away from the windows,” she said.

“Snipers,” I added.

She nodded.  “Of course that’s not The Circle’s pattern with you thus far, but these things do change, you know?”

I did know. 

When we reached the door I saw Bex’s father standing at the window, staring out.

“Everyone ready then?” he asked.  When he spoke he looked like his daughter.  They both had light brown eyes and they sparkled in the same way, but Bex most closely resembled her mother.   And maybe that was why it was so strange to hear the words, “Cammie, love, we really don’t have to do this,” coming from the woman’s mouth.

Bex didn’t worry.  Bex didn’t warn.  She’d been my best friend for years and I had never seen her wear such a grown-up worry.  Some might say that was because we were far from grownups, but I knew better.  By that point I knew a lot of things.

“I’d really like to go,” I told her.  “I won’t take any chances,” I said, practically pleading by then.  “I’ll be…good.”

Mrs. Baxter’s eyes were softer.  “I know, dear.”

Bex’s father peeked out the narrow window by the door.  “Backup is in position,” he said.

And then my best friend was beside me and her parents led the way out into the cold.