Bottom of the ninth...

It's the bottom of the ninth, so to speak, and I'm now hours--not months, not weeks, not days--away from having the Gallagher Girls sequel in rough draft form.

Of course, the finished versions of my books frequently bear little resemblence to the draft versions, so we're not out of the woods yet. But still...I may be able to really settle down to watch the Veronica Mars premiere next Tuesday in pseudo-stress-free frame of mind.

How will I celebrate?

Well, with a trip to the Kansas Book Festival of course.

The festival kicked off today, and at 3:00 this afternoon I was in my cubby at the library working hard on GG2 when one of the librarians came to find me. Evidently, the festival had already sold out of my books and they were trying to track me down to see if I had some I could bring.

Well, I don't. Not really. But luckily my library rocks (as libraries so often do) and they had a bunch, so they saved the day!

So, if you want a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon, come by the Kansas Book Festival in Wichita tomorrow. I'll be signing books in Vendor Tent 1 at noon, so say hi!

If the idea of cool books and book stuff isn't enough to draw you out, you should probably also know that the event is at the baseball stadium and every time I'm near a minor leage baseball stadium I get serious Bull Durham flashbacks.

And I'm so tired from all the deadline madness, that I may very well become delusional and start thinking I'm Susan Sarandon.

(Note to self: don't wear an off-the-shoulder dress with keds.)

(Note to self: check to make you even own an off-the-shoulder dress.)

(Note to self: also, do they still make Keds?)



Okay, back to it!

Ally

Spy Girls in Japan!

Since Kristin (my agent) was kind enough to share the cover for the Japanese version of I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You, over on her blog, I thought I should do the same for readers here.

Sooo.....

I give you....

SPY GIRLS!!!




Some people have asked why foreign publishers change titles. Well, they don't always, but they do when the title would appeal differently to different cultures or when it wouldn't translate.

Even though I love the title I'D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU BUT THEN I'D HAVE TO KILL YOU, if you don't live in a culture where people say, "I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you," well, then it just sounds silly.

Evidently that's the case in Japan. So we get "Spy Girls" and I love that too!

I worked closely with the Japanese translator on this (which is rare), and I never realized until then how many little things don't translate.

Like TPing someone's house--not so much.

So, back to the sequel, and enjoy the funky cover.


Oh, and if you're in the area, swing by the Kansas Festival of the Book this Saturday in Wichita, KS.


later,
Ally

Movie-lover's guide to writing novels...

Hi all,

Last April I had the opportunity to speak at the Pikes Peak Writers' Conference--a great event in Colorado Springs.

My session was called 'A Movie-Lovers' Guide to Writing Novels. Because I'm a movie-lover. And I write novels, see.

Well, the good people at PPWC record all the sessions and they graciously gave me a CD of my session and, recently, they said it would be okay for me to post some of the recording on my MySpace page.

So...if you're a writer or want to be, and you want to hear me talk about some basic (but essential) stuff like point of view, character, and plot points, check it out!

Have a great day!
Ally

Taking suggestions

Gallagher Girls 2 will be winging its way (do documents still "wing" if they're emailed?) to my editor on Friday, and I'm wondering how I should spend the couple of days I'm going to have free until I start what promises to be a mammoth rewrite.

taking suggestions...
Ally

The Butter Moment

This is a blog I’ve started—and then chickened out on—probably a dozen times in the past few months. On one hand, it feels like something I need to write. On the other hand, it’s something I’m almost afraid to have anybody read.

But it’s universal—this butter moment thing. And it’s important, I think, for people to know about. To remember.

My butter moment started off easily enough—with an idea. A simple idea, really. One about a girl who goes to spy school and then falls for a normal boy.

It was a cute idea, I thought. It might sell. It would be fun to write about this girl and her fascinating world and maybe I’ll make a little spending money.

So that was how it started—this long trek that led me to the butter isle of my grocery store.

The idea was soon followed by a publishing contract and then a movie option and then the news that the publisher loved the idea so much that they wanted the book on shelves ASAP.

All of these are wonderful things—the best of things—but the book still had to be written.

Not only that, it now had to be perfect--worthy of my editor’s respect and my publisher’s money and my agent’s time.

It had to make people laugh and make people cry.

It had to make people think about destiny and callings and what a person must give up in order to have an exceptional life.

It had to entertain and thrill and make people’s hearts skip a beat at all the right times.

It had to walk the line between fun and fluffy, between fanciful and fantastic.

It had to make people want to be a Gallagher Girl—or maybe even believe you already are.

It had to do all these things.

And it had to do them soon.

So that’s what I was thinking one Friday afternoon last fall when I finally reached the point where I had to take the time to go to the grocery store. I pushed my cart up and down aisles, submersed in the choices—the hundreds of them—that writers have to make. Every day.

So when I reached the dairy section that fateful Friday afternoon and found that the butter I always buy wasn’t on sale—but the butter right beside it was—I knew I had a decision to make.

A butter decision.

And it was too much.

Yep. It broke me. I couldn’t help myself. I cried in the butter aisle because I really, really like my regular butter, but that stuff that was on sale might be just as good and it was a lot cheaper. But my regular butter is “better for baking.” What if the new butter isn’t better for baking? What if I try to bake with it and it ruins and entire batch of something and I have to bake it again. Do I look like someone who has time to re-bake just because of inferior butter?!?

So that’s my butter moment.

Don’t be fooled—most don’t have anything to do with butter. But now, as I labor toward the sequel’s ultimate end, I find myself thinking about the butter moment over and over again, especially because, this time, in so many ways the stakes are higher.

But I haven’t cried over any dairy products.

Yet.

--Ally

PS…I don’t know if the book did any of those things that I thought it needed to do. But I hope it at least did some of them.

Popcorn balls

Yes. I said popcorn balls.

I can't believe the general outpouring of emotion over these wonderful balls of joy. As Amber pointed out in the comments of the last post, they are very popular among the kids at home.

So I'm really happy that my mother has volunteered to let me post her recipe!

But unfortunately, she had shoulder surgery yesterday and is currently doped up.

So...we could get recipe, but it might be interesting.

And that's assuming there is a recipe, which I wouldn't count on.

You see, usually when I ask my mother for recipes the conversation goes something like this:


Me: Mom, can you tell me how to make popcorn balls?
Mom: Oh, you know how to do that.
Me: No, I don't, really.
Mom: But you've seen me do it a hundred times.
Me: Yes, but seeing you do it and me doing it by myself are different things.
Mom: Well...you just...make them.
Me: Yes, I know. But how? What's the recipe?
Mom: Well you know me, I don't really have a recipe.
Me: Shocker.


So what usually happens is she has to make a batch of whatever it is and I sit at the counter and watch and the conversation goes something like this:



Me: Is that flour?
Mom: Yes.
Me: How much?
Mom: Oh...just some flour.
Me: Half cup? Two cups? Quarter of a cup?
Mom: You don't really need to--
Me: MEASURE IT!

This is how I learned to cook. In fact, my favorite "cookbook" is a spiral notebook in which I have written down all of my mother's "recipes."

And now I fear that the student has become the master because I made some cookies a few weeks ago which led to the following conversation:

Mom: Kid, your cookies are really good.
Me: Thanks.
Mom: I'll have to get your recipe
Me: Oh...well...I don't really have a recipe.



-Ally

Why I love fall...

New TV shows (obviously)

State Fairs

State Fair corn dogs

Sweater sets

Boots

Hay rides/bonfires/and anything you can cook over an open flame with a stick

The color orange

College football (especially football games to which you can wear orange...go pokes!)

Really chilly mornings

Heavy dews

Baby calves with frost on their backs (that one's for you, daddy)

Cornbread

Hot apple cider

Colorful piles of leaves

The start of "new pottery barn catalogue a week" season

Turtleneck sweaters

Oscar-worthy movies

The release of Learning to Play Gin

Clear days with a cool breeze

Popcorn balls

Trick-or-treaters

And being able to smell change in the air.


-Ally

Random reviews

Okay, just in case I needed even more incentive to make the sequel rock, I just found this cool review from YALibrarian.com.

• Enter the hush-hush lives of Cammie Morgan and her brilliant yet deadly comrades, otherwise known as the Gallagher Girls. These schoolgals attend The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, an undercover program posing as a posh boarding school. The curriculum’s ultimate goal: to produce the creme-de-la-creme among young spies for the CIA, FBI, NSA, ect. Sure, breaking and entering and hacking secruity systems may come easily to this crew, but when it comes to deciphering the language of lurve they’re clueless. Although the humor will keep readers pinned to the pages, teens won’t miss the moral struggles for respect and honesty. Yessirree, Ally Carter’s sassy romp is a sure thing for readers desiring light romance with spunk.(I recommend taking a peek at the inside jacket summary. It would make an excellent booktalk itself. Kudos Hyperion.)

And, I've gotten some of the sweetest comments and emails. Like this from Charlotte...

• Thanks for the add! I absolutely love your book!! I was really in a phase where I didn't want to read anything-but then my sister got me "I'd Tell You I Love you, But then I'd have to Kill you" and I couldn't put it down!

And a reader who wrote...

• I read your book 'I'd tell you I love you, but then I'd have to kill you'. Wow, could you have come up with a name that suited it better? No, I don't think so.

And I've just heard about one girl who is going to be Bex for Halloween.

Gallagher Girls on Halloween! I may die! I get about a billion (okay, well, maybe a million) trick-or-treaters, and if four girls showed up randomly at my door dressed like Gallagher Girls...well then I would probably have to give them every piece of candy I own (including the "extra" bags I always buy just so I'll have leftovers for myself.)

Okay...gotta work!


-Ally


ps...I'm going to pose the same question here I posed on the AllyCarter group over at MySpace, there's a line in the sequel that I just love, but I'm afraid people won't get it. What do you think?

Gallagher Girls are used to being tested--all the time. I mean, we can't even talk over lunch without dusting off our Farsi. And who can forget the time our archery exam happened to fall on non-dominant hand day?


Do you get it? Does the thought of Liz shooting an arrow with her non-dominant hand instantly spring to your minds as it does mine?





Ally

Blogging through...

I'm still Deadline Girl (which isn't an actual superhero...but should be.)

I did make my daily goal yesterday and rewarded myself by watching a (somewhat lackluster) episode of Prison Break and...

STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP!

Oh my gosh. I've been waiting for this for months, and upon reflection, it didn't disappoint.

Writers should study Aaron Sorkin to learn how to meet characters. Sure, some people may complain that his fast-paced style is hectic and his full commitment to showing rather than telling makes you have to work to keep up. He doesn't spoon feed you information. You have to earn it. And I like it!

These characters had lives before we started watching. They're going to have lives after. And everything they say and do reflects that.

Instead of long-winded backstories we get Amanda Peet telling the wacky brother from Wings that she wants to hire Chandler and Josh (or whatever their new names are), and Wings guy freaks out. Gee, you think there might be a history there?

We don't get contrived dialogue about how Chandler and Josh have made the big-time now. No, we see them winning a Writers Guild award.

And finally, we get a story that moves. I've recently figured out that I write best in real time. Put me (or rather my characters) in a scene that needs to unfold and I'm happy. I'm in the zone. It's the two or three "bridge" paragraphs that are supposed to illustrate that a day or week or month has passed that drive me crazy.

The Pilot of Studio 60 unfolded over one night. Some people might have spread the action over several days--maybe even multiple episodes--but Amanda Peet's character stated up front that she wanted the issue resolved by the end of the night, so there was a sense of urgency.

Pacing.

Pacing rocks my literary world.

I have soooo much work to do

Guess I'd better go do it.

-Ally

Sleep Off!

I took a brief break yesterday to check my regular blogs and learned that there is yet another thing I have in common with the adorable Jennifer Lynn Barnes (unfortunately, being adorable isn’t one of them.)

It seems that Jen, like me, is a highly-acclaimed sleeper.

Don’t laugh. My sister, has often said that sleeping is my best skill.

I can fall asleep at any time—night, morning, afternoon, evening. Doesn’t matter. If I’m in the mood and have the time I can fall asleep.

Not only that, but I can stay asleep for anywhere from fifteen minutes to fifteen hours. On occasion, in college, I sometimes slept for eighteen hour stretches. And then I went to bed and slept like a baby the next night.

I can also sleep anywhere. Like Jen, there has been many a flight I don’t even remember taking off or landing.

I’ve been known to fall asleep at my desk at home. Or on the cushy, comfy carpet beneath my desk. And don’t even get me started about cars. My parents are partial to big, comfy American-made cars, and they currently have a Cadillac (I’ve seen living rooms that are both smaller and less comfortable than that car).

Like Jen, I also have very vivid, very interesting dreams. It’s like going to the movies. But free. That you can wear your pajamas to.

So, I ask you, is this a skill? Or a talent?

Or maybe a curse?

And perhaps the most important question: is Jen truly, as she claims, the best sleeper in the world?

Well, she may well be, but we won’t know for sure until we settle this like the near-narcoleptics we seem to be.

That’s right, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, I’m challenging you to a sleep off!

You name the time and the place…

Airplane at two in the afternoon? I’m there.

Hot, cheap hotel room with lumpy pillows? I can take it.

Cross country roadtrip in the back of a Buick? Girl, you are out of your league!

I’m waiting, Jen. May the best sleeper win!

-Ally

ps...and if you haven't already, check out Jen's book, Golden. She stayed awake long enough to write it, so it must be great!

Festival Season

It seems that book festival season will soon be upon us. Well I have personally never been to an official "book festival." (Do those traveling book sale roadshows that used to set up in my elementary school cafeteria count? Didn't think so.)

But this fall I'm going to be on the programs of three of them, and I thought I'd post the details here in case any of you will be in the area and would like to check them out.

The Kansas Book Festival will be taking place on Sept. 29-30 in Wichita. I'll be signing books on Saturday at noon.

I'll also be at The Southern Festival of Books on October 13-15. I'm going to be on a panel with some of my favorite authors (E. Lockhart and John Green, among them) and signing books.

This is a big festival--something like 200 authors attend--so I'm pretty interested to see what it's like, not to mention how long it takes me to become so intimidated that I hide in my hotel room with a room service menu because no one there is possibly going to want to talk to me.

I've also been invited to a festival in Tulsa, but I don't know the details yet. When they come in, I'll blog about it.

I think most states have festivals of this kind, so do some googling--there may be one near you and it might be a great way to spend an autumn day.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Read lots.

Laugh lots.

And wish me luck in Sequelville.

-Ally

THANK YOU!

Hi all,

I just heard from my amazing editor at Hyperion that I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You is going back to print. Again.

Thank you. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for buying books and telling your friends and being so good to me and the Gallagher Girls.

I swear that I will try to write the best sequel possible--full of love and intrigue and (maybe) Mr. Solomon with his shirt off.

I'd tell you guys I love you...

But I have a sequel to finish.

-Ally

Going pro

I take part in an online listserve for Teen Chick Lit writers. It's a great group, and this week both my agent and one of my editors are doing "guest" appearances over there, so it's kind of like old home week. I feel so loved.

But one of the issues that came up (and one that almost always comes up) is the issue of selling "on proposal."

That may be a new term to a lot of you, so let me explain.

If you're a writer and you'd like to have a book published, and if you've never published a book before, chances are that you will need to have a finished book that a respected literary agent can show to editors at publishing houses.

(Some may debate the merits of having an agent or not, but I am firmly in the pro-agent camp.)

What causes new writers' ears to perk up are stories about authors who sell their first books before the manuscript is complete. Secret Society Girl is a good example. Diana had (I believe) three chapters when that hot property sold.

(That's rare. Don't think you'll be Diana.)

It's not so rare for published authors to sell their future books before they have a complete manuscript.

Because CHEATING AT SOLITAIRE was finished and about to come out, I was able to sell I'D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU BUT THEN I'D HAVE TO KILL YOU based on three chapters.

Charles Frazier sold his follow up to Cold Mountain for $8 million based on one page.

(That's more-than-rare. Don't think you'll be Charles Frazier.)

But writers hear these stories about money for one page, money for three chapters...money...money...money.

If you want some advice from me, don't follow the money.

Not only is this incredibly rare and difficult, but as I wrote to my online friends earlier today, I can't imagine selling my first book as anything other than a finished manuscript.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to write a book?

Well, if you haven't finished one, you don't know. Sorry. Starting one doesn't count. Having an idea for one doesn't count. Actually finishing a book is a monumental undertaking--like bowling a perfect game.

Now, imagine having never bowled a perfect game before and having someone bet several thousands of dollar that you will. Oh, and they're videotaping the game and it'll show on national TV in a few months.

That's what selling "on proposal" is like--you in a comfy shirt and ugly shoes with hot dog mustard and popcorn all over you trying not to let anyone down and/or look like an idiot.

I have sold four books.

Cheating at Solitaire, my first, was --purely from a writing standpoint--by far the easist. I don't think it's a coincidence that that's the only one where there was essentially no pressure.

Also, the easist/best writing I have EVER done is for the three chapters I turned in for the Love You Kill You "proposal."

My agent was going to see them but maybe no one else. I already had another book due to Berkley. I have a good job with great benefits. I sat down to do something fun, so I wrote an hour a night for three nights, and a month later I had a deal with Disney.

Can you say spoiled?

It was just a little YA book. I literally thought it would sell for about ten grand (it didn't. It sold for more.)

And that's when the pressure started. It hasn't let up since.

So all you unpublished authors out there--cherish it while it lasts!!!!

Don't rush to grow up. Enjoy your writing adolescence--the ability to try a genre out of the blue, the freedom to put a project in a drawer for months or years and come back to it with fresh eyes.

I've frequently said that publishing is a lot like sports. Anyone can play catch or shoot hoops. But once you sign with an agent you lose your amateur status forever. Once you start getting paid, it's never purely a hobby again.



-Ally

Cracking up...

Confession time: I know pride is a sin, but I'm really, really proud of how cool the code turned out for the GG2 title contest. It's literally just a long list of numbers that, if you know what you're doing, will lead you to the title of the next Gallagher Girls book.

It's a real code.

Actual spies have used this actual technique to convey actual secrets.

I'm soooo proud!

Now that I have the code, my thoughts turn to the details.

Are you like me? Are you ready for someone to blow the lid off of the book contest arena?

I want people everywhere talking about this contest and these prizes, but I'm pretty sure I need some help.

So I'm running this stuff by you--the potential Gallagher Girls (and guys) of the world, to help me out.

CATEGORIES:

I'm thinking about maybe doing categories in which you can enter.

For example, there might be a category for individuals, one for teams, one for entire classes so if, for instance, a math class were to try to crack the code...or an English class...the class might win the prize.

Here are the categories I have so far:

*individuals over 18 years of age (as of Nov. 7, 2006)

*individuals 18 years of age and under (as of Nov. 7, 2006)

* small groups

* class/school project (for classes)

* "just for fun" for people who hate numbers but do excel at thinking up crazy potential titles

(you may only enter in one category!)



PRIZES

These are the prizes I've thought of thus far. Please let me know how you'd rank them and if you have any other ideas.


*gift cards for books (in varying degrees of value--some being worth quite a bit of $)

*gift cards for Subway (the official sandwich of AllyCarter.com). (Not really, but Subway people, if you want to talk, I'll listen.)

*being mentioned in the dedication of Gallagher Girls 2.

*winning an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of book 2 which means you'll know what happens months before everyone else.

*And for the school/class competition, how would it be to win a visit from me? (maybe in person? Maybe online?)

*winning a copy of every Hyperion YA book published this year



Let's start the discussion, people! This code is burning a hole in my pocket.

(but not literally.)


-Ally

Yes, it is that good...

Just a quick note to say I finally got to see Little Miss Sunshine tonight.

I've been worried for weeks that my expectations of this movie were too high, it was bound to disappoint, the only funny moments would be the ones I'd already seen ten thousand times in the trailer.

I was wrong.

I don't think I've ever laughed that hard at a movie.

Now, granted, I was primed for a good movie-going experience. I had my Diet Pepsi (sadly, the theater didn't serve Coke products, but that's okay); I had my popcorn; and best of all I had my very good movie buddy Vanessa who makes just about any film better because our laughs take on a multiplier affect when we're together (or effect, I get 'em confused.)

But this movie delivered for me. Big time.

From a storytelling standpoint it's a great lesson. Authors should study it and all good screenplays for ways to tighten our writing. For example, the mom is divorced and the oldest son is her child from her first marriage but this is never explained, never dwelled upon. There's simply a line early on that referred to "last month when Duane was visiting his father." Bingo. That's all I needed to know. Don't tell me the details if they don't matter.

This will definitely go on my list of things I wish I'd written: a list that includes Roman Holiday, Baby Boom, and most recently, Stranger than Fiction which is the next off-beat movie I'm dying to see.

Chips and salsa

Ha!

Bet you thought the subject line of this post was going to be some witty metaphor, didn't you? Wrong! It's about chips and salsa.

(Yes, my deadline is that big.)

I went to a Mexican restaurant today with some work friends. We sat down. We looked at the menu. I looked around for the chips and salsa.

Shouldn't it be coming?

Shouldn't some kind-hearted food service professional be swooping in with a basket of warm chips?

Shouldn't I be looking forward to three minutes of torture as I wait to dive into the chips and salsa because I know not to go there until I have a drink in front of me?

WHERE ARE THE CHIPS AND SALSA?

So then the waitress does come and she takes our drink orders, and I was just about to ask about youknowwhat when she says, "Do you want chips and salsa?"

The "Duh" was rising up in my throat as I fought with the hungry smart-aleck inside me.

And then the waitress says, "They're $1.50 a basket."

Oh. My. Gosh.

If I had been by myself and not with five other people I would have gotten up and walked out.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I have been raised in the philosophy that chips and salsa are just a part of the Mexican restaurant package.

It's like going to church and having the preacher say you'll have to pay to hear the hymns.

It's like buying a new car and being told you'll have to pay extra for the smell.

It's like going to the movies and having the cashier say, "Would you like previews with that?"

It is a crime against Mexican food to have to pay for chips and salsa!

But, sadly, this is the third time this has happened to me--all at small restaurants in small towns within 100 miles of each other. So is this a limited thing or is it, as I fear, widespread?

And, if so, how do we stop it?


-Ally



PS....this also reminds me of the time I ordered a lunch special with egg drop soup from our local Chinese restaurant, but then they told me that even though the special did, in fact, come with soup, if I wanted it to go I'd have to bring my own bowl...

Everything I need to know, I learned from watching Designing Women

Okay, I've just got to say it...





Tell me I'm not the only one who saw this and immediately thought about the time Suzanne Sugarbaker offered to get Charlene's daughter a baby wig.

Tell me the greatness that is baby wig references will not die with me!

-Ally

Want a hint about the next Gallagher Girls book?

Okay, here's a hint: it's the best book ever!

--Ally


(edited at 4:35 pm)
It's dreadful. It's awful. I'd better invest my money wisely because I will never sell another book in my life.


(edited at 5:22 pm)

This book rocks! People who loved Love You Kill You are going to explode this book is so good!


(edited at 6:07 pm)

Must change name. Preferably name change will come with new country of residence: preferably one in which the book will NOT be published.


(edited at 7:02 pm)

Hyperion might petition to have the release date of GG2 renamed Ally Carter Day--just an idea.


(edited at 9:52 pm)

Is there such a thing as a literary relocation program and what does it take to qualify?



-Ally

When do you walk away?

Okay, no real time for big blogging, so instead I'll pose a question that my agent, Kristin Nelson, recently posed on her blog.

Do you finish every book you start, even if it's slow/boring/bad/predictable/ and/or unenjoyable?

Personally, I don't finish every book I start--far from it, in fact. Usually, books I read fall into the following categories:

A) books I read in one sitting and/or multiple times (Examples: Amazing Grace, Girls' Poker Night, Motherless Brooklyn).

B) books I read and thoroughly enjoy. I may put them down, but I always pick them back up again and look forward to the author's next work.

C) books I start but put down to unload the dishwasher, go to bed, watch Veronica Mars--you know, the essentials--and then never think about (and thus never pick up) again. (Unless I'm on an airplane and then I might finish unless the flight is over before the book is.)

D) books that I don't get/don't enjoy/ and mostly don't see what the fuss is about. This category is reserved for books that have won awards or gotten great reviews or something that makes me keep reading in search of the laughs that Kirkus promised when they called the book "hilarious."

E) books that annoy me so much I live with the anger that I wasted any time or money on them and have no intention of wasting any more. I don't care what the reviewers said; I don't care how many author blurbs the book got; I JUST DON'T CARE! (Rule of thumb: if you'd rather read the American Way magazine on the plane than finish the book you've paid sixteen bucks for, it's an E!)

From a statistical standpoint, these probably follow a pretty standard deviation, with the bulk of books I try ending up as C's, with fewer B's and D's, and A's and E's being the rarest of all.

So, that's me.

Now, I've got to get back to work on what I hope will be somebody's 'A'.

Please discuss...



Ally


edited to add:

ps....I wish I could give examples of my Bs through my Es (especially some E's because I've got some doozies), but I can't because publishing is a very small world, and that would be stupid.

And also mean.

And if I were self-googling (yeah, like that's a hypothetical), and I found that someone had listed one of MY books as an E then I would cry and cry and probably give up on personal hygiene altogether.

So, no. I won't be giving examples.


pps...yes, I am trying to bring back the word "doozie." How do you think it's going?

I'm not to be trusted

I'm not to be trusted. That's right. I'm so incapable of managing my own internet usage that I had to email Heidi, my webdesigner, and ask her to change my MySpace password...and not tell me what it is!

That's right. I'm that pathetic.

So, if you too aren't to be trusted with time--the very stuff of which life is made--may I recommend the following (all of which I have actually tried):

--hide all TV remote controls

--hide all phone cords so you can't get online

--put TV remote controls and phone cords in car trunk because--let's face it--you're totally going to know where you hid them, but you're less likely to go out to the car if it requires putting on shoes.

--leave good computer at work and write on old non-internet compatable computer

--put self on the "dryer" schedule, where you do laundry and are only allowed to get up when the dryer sounds and it's time to fold and sort

--work in public places where friends know to make you feel guilty if you walk around too much



All-in-all I'm starting to get really envious of that guy in Misery: an isolated cabin with no phone, internet, or TV and a woman who brings you food and pain medication. Exactly how is that not ideal?


--Ally

Hostage Situation

My old friends, The Panics, came to see me this morning. They never call. They never write. The just pop in like bad relatives and make themselves at home, so I can spend a lot of time obsessing about how…

The Gallagher Girls have got to get their acts together, sequel-wise.

My throat is sore which means I’m approximately 36 hours from a really bad, cough-until-your-lungs-come-out-your-nose, cold.

The weather is getting cool again which means I will soon have to go through the dreaded “will my off-season clothes still fit me” ritual.

I’ve recently discovered John Green’s blog, and he sounds way smarter than me. (And yes, I know that by the use of phrases such as ‘way smarter’ I’m not helping my case. Sue me.)

I’ve figured out how I’m going to encrypt the title for GG2, and it’s cool. Really cool. But what if it's too hard and no one gets it? What if it’s too easy and nine million people email at the exact same time with the right answer?. Or…what if no one guesses? What if no one cares…

And the big reason the panics came to call: LEARNING TO PLAY GIN will be out in November. What if no one buys it? I can’t make them buy it, can I?

I wish I had some sort of bargaining chip…like buy this book or else!

But then I realized that I do! I have entire books full of people I can hold hostage.

So listen up, people! I have Josh Abrams here and if you don’t do as I say very bad things will happen to him in the next Gallagher Girls book! That’s right. He’s a cute, sweet boy, but I’m not above making him a philandering idiot and/or dead if that means helping LEARNING TO PLAY GIN fly off the shelves.

These are my demands. If they aren’t met, then Josh will pay…

--Ally

ps...by the way, I just posted an audio excerpt of yours truly reading the first chapter of Learning to Play Gin. It's the first look anywhere of the book itself, so you may want to go listen so you'll know what you have to buy to save Josh!