Today's topic: best lines from Veronica Mars

Okay, yesterday's comments spawned today's discussion post:

What are your favorite lines from Veronica Mars (the show and the character)?

I'll start.

Mac: "If college is a boy buffet, then she's got two plates full plus a purse full of boys wrapped in napkins."



-Ally

Oklahoma Ink signing cancelled

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry to say that the Oklahoma, Ink booksigning scheduled for tonight has been cancelled due to the bad weather.

So, if you were planning on coming out tonight, please stay home in the safe/warm/dry comfort of your homes.

later,
Ally

Today's topic: Why we love Logan Echols.

Due to deadline constraints, I won't be doing big blogs for a while--relying upon you, the blog-reading public, to keep this site visit-worthy by having a series of lively discussions in the comments section.

Today's topic: why we love Logan Echols.

He's cocky. He's jerk-like. He's prone to violence.

So why do we love him? (And if you don't, feel free to state that too.)

I'm serious, guys. I REALLY want to know!


-Ally

Weather Advisory

It's getting ready to get wintery here, so I feel duty-bound to warn everyone that if the roads are as bad as they're supposed to be, I likely won't be driving to Tulsa for the Oklahoma Ink signing tomorrow night at Harwelden Mansion.

I'll post updates as soon as I know.

-Ally

Best Buffy lines ever!

Okay, Veronica Mars rocks. It's great. I bow down to the writers and cast.

But was tonight a little...off?

Still, there was a LOT I loved and any episode that includes Weevil, Mac, Wallace, Logan, and Dick "rich dude Kryptonite" Cassablancas is all right with me.

Any episode that ends with Logan and a baseball bat, a jail cell and revenge, has got a permanent place on my Tivo.

That being said, I'm going to pay homage tonight to another classic: Buffy.

For some reason I've been thinking about Buffy and Company a lot lately. I spent the better part of the morning singing from the Buffy musical, so here we are, the lines that will only make sense to Buffy fans and maybe only to me. But Buffy hasn't been on in a few years, and these lines are fresh on my mind, so there must be something good there.


-- "Bored now."

-- "You're just a girl." "That's what I keep telling everyone" (a line I frequently say out loud when the Gallagher Girls have me stumped.)

--"I'm probably only immune because I'm the slayer."

--"Can I be blind now?' (From Something Blue...remember that one? I'm laughing right now!)

--"The girl likes a little monster in her man."

--"Dawn's in trouble? It must be Tuesday."

--"That Anya, she's newly human and oddly literal."

--"Tomb-kaboom."

--"You're beneath me."

--"Hello! I'm evil!"

--"The only reason you've lasted as long as you have is you've got ties to the world... your mum, your brat kid sister, the Scoobies. They all tie you here but you're just putting off the inevitable. Sooner or later, you're gonna want it. And the second- the second- that happens... You know I'll be there. I'll slip in... have myself a real good day."

(Okay, that one I had to look up.)

--"Got bit"

--"I watched Passions with Spike. We must never speak of it."

--"I think I actually heard him clean his glasses."

--"I spent the better part of my allowance on a new cream rinse that's neither creamy nor rinsey."

Okay, that's why I'm thinking about Buffy lines--I have a cream rinse that's neither creamy nor rinsey. And I begin each day by remembering that line.


Now your turn.

What are your favorite lines from the Buffyverse?


-Ally

Deadline Girl goes to Sunday School

I'm still Deadline Girl.

You know how I know I'm Deadline Girl? Because I know on the other side of the padlock on my entertainment armoire my Tivo is recording Heros and it's going to be a good one, so I know I need to finish the 40 pages I've promised my editor so that tomorrow I can watch Heros (because we super-types have to stick together).

So I'm going to share with you today a story that my mother shared with me yesterday.

It's a true story from the Sunday School class she teaches every Sunday at the teeny tiny church where I grew up.

Well, yesterday's lesson was on the Ten Commandments. Upon telling all of her students (there were no doubt fewer than five), about the these very important rules from God, Mom asked the kids (they were probably all younger than eight) if they could think of anything they'd done in the past week that would break any of the commandments.

Obviously, this took quite a bit of thinking. So after a long time one of the little boys said, "I don't know. Does farting count?"

And my mother, Sunday teacher extraordinnaire that she is looked carefully at the list and said, "Well, I don't see it on here."


-Ally

Deadline Girl saves the world!

They always say you should "Write what you know", so when I finish Cross My Heart and Hope To Spy (how much do I love being able to finally use the title here? Very much.) I'm going to write about a Superheroine.

Named DEADLINE GIRL.

Her superpower is that she's capable of surviving without sunlight and going for exceedingly long periods of time without any human interaction.

She's been known to drink so much egg nog that she can actually HEAR her butt getting bigger.

And everyday she fights the good fight, but ultimately, is forced to padlock her TV because if she doesn't she'll spend all her time watching the last three minutes of last weeks' Veronica Mars just to see the heartbreaking, soul-searching expression on Logan's face.

Her costume is yoga pants and long-sleeved t-shirts. (Because only wusses wear capes anymore and yoga pants are handy for nog-butt).

She uses her computer and red pencils and post-it notes to rid the world of poor pacing, cliched characters, and telling (rather than showing) prose!

When men in yellow sweatshirts try to invade Deadline Girls' private lair, she can use her magic keyboard to cut and paste them into another part of the library!

Her Kryptonite is a combination of Internet access and cheesy holiday made-for-TV movies (even that one on ABC Family starring Jenny McCarthy).

But Deadline Girl battles on--unwilling to stop until each and every scene is perfect!

Because that's what Deadline Girl has to do!


So that's my new book. What do you think?

-Ally


Oh, and Deadline Girl draws her superpowers from reader comments and emails, so keep 'em coming!

Best books of 2006

Well, since I've technically been on a deadline all year. Yep. All year. And I try not to read too much when I'm writing because...well...it messes me up. Oh, and the whole Opal thing freaked a lot of people out.

But I have started a few books and finished some really good ones. (As the world's pickiest reader I reserve the right to not finish any book I'm not thoroughly enjoying.)

So I just looked through my bookshelves and bedside stacks and formed the following list because I know everyone is going to want some great books to give and read over the holidays.

If you're looking for a great book or new author to try, may I suggest the following:



YA Books

-An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

-Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

-The Boy Book by E. Lockhart

-Party Princess by Meg Cabot

-Avalon High by Meg Cabot

-Frogs and French Kisses by Sarah Mlynowski

-Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini

-Golden by Jennifer Lynn Barnes


Books written for adults:

-The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper

-A Drink Before the War, Sacred, Darkness Take My Hand, Prayers for Rain, and Gone Baby Gone by Dennis Lehane (can you tell I went through a Dennis Lehane period?)

-Rain Fall by Barry Eisler

-The Big Love by Sarah Dunn



Books I've read and re-read and read again:

-Amazing Grace by Megan Shull

-The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart

-Girls' Poker Night by Jill A. Davis

-Harry Potters 1-5



I can't remember all the library books I've gone through or, more importantly, the audiobooks I've checked out, but I think this is a good start!

What about you guys? Who's got a great read you'd like to share?

Bedlam, baby

So tomorrow...Or...well...today (since it's 12:46 a.m.) is the Oklahoma State v. Oklahoma football game.

Or, as we fans know it, BEDLAM.

There are stories about how the rivalry got its name, but I don't know any of them well enough to share. Just know this: there are schools that talk about rivalries. There are even schools that I believe have excellent rivalries. But there are few rivalries that are more ingrained in a fan's DNA as bedlam.

I don't really want to go into it here because if I do I'll offend about a zillion people, but let's just say OSU is not a team to me. I'm not just a fan--I'm also a graduate and no game played by 19-year-old kids will ever change that.

So I'm telling you all this to illustrate my current situation: the game is tomorrow.

I have about twenty pages that need to be seriously re-written tomorrow.

The library is open tomorrow, and if I get there when the doors open I'm fairly certain I can beat the man in the yellow sweatshirt to the mojo table where the mojo will no doubt help me achieve the aforementioned 20 page goal.

If it had been a night game I could have really, really applied myself and then been rewarded with the game. But it's an afternoon game, thus sucking the soul out of my working day--not to mention prime mojo table hours.

So I made the painful decision a few minutes ago that I will, in fact, work all day tomorrow, but--lightbulb going on--I can Tivo the game and watch it later! Right?

Well, it would be right if--in my eagerness to reduce any and all distractions from my life--I hadn't padlocked my TV.

That's right. My TV (and Tivo) are in an entertainment armoire and I've literally put a big lock on the doors.

And I took the key to my office.

So that's how I came to spend the past fifteen minutes trying to program the Tivo to record the game through the armoire doors. (And yes, it was as funny as the mental picture that you've got right now with me pulling the doors apart a fraction of an inch, trying to read the screen. Yep. I'm that girl.)

I even got on Tivo. com and tried to do the online thing which would have been great except they can't guarantee things will program with fewer than 36 hours notice. But luckily, according to the good folks at Tivo) there's a replay of the game at two Sunday morning or something, by which time I will have at least retrieved my key. And hopefully finished my twenty pages.

But of course, by then there will be twenty more pages...

Maybe I should just keep the padlock right where it is.


Good night everyone!
Ally

Things for which I'm thankful.

-Yoga pants

-my family (not necessarily in that order)

-the model of New Balance tennis shoes I always buy

-Clinique skin care products

-black boots and the fact that they're still in style

-A-lined skirts

-the "track changes" feature in MS Word

-Egg Nog (but I know this is one where people have really strong feelings one way or the other)

-Not things, but people: Donna and Ari

-And Kristin and Kate

-the incredibly sad/hurt/deep look on Logan's face at the end of last week's Veronica Mars

-self-cleaning ovens

-Diet Coke

-more Egg Nog

-READERS!!!!!!


Okay, back to work, but first I'll leave you with a question: egg nog-delicious or disgusting?

Talk among youselves.


-Ally

And the title is...

Congratulations to everyone who figured out that this

can't be de-coded to read this

Cross My Heart and Hope To Spy

Yep. That's officially the title of the sequel to I'D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU BUT THEN I'D HAVE TO KILL YOU.

Do you like it? I really like it.

Coming up with this title was much, much more difficult than the LYKY title that literally just came out as I was typing the first ever email to my agent, pitching her the idea.

This one required gathering long lists of cliches and many many hours of googling until...boom...it hit.

I don't know exactly when the book will hit shelves--just that it will be sometime in the fall of 2007. (Also, FYI, the paperback version of LYKY will be out next spring!)

If and when I know more specifics, I'll share. I promise. Cross my heart...


Now, the moment you've all been waiting for: THE WINNERS!

Here are the superspies who successfully broke the code in record time:

Under 18 Category: Victoria S, Kami E, and an honorable mention to Kristin B.

18 & Over Category: Kelsey W and Paul

School: Louisville HS Book Club, Woodland Hills, CA.; and Kinz and Friends

Blogger: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

(Winners, I'll be contacting you soon to make arrangements for delivering your fun prizes.)



Many, many thanks to everyone who took part. I hope it was as fun and educational for you as it was for me.

I''ll be going through all of your 'I'M TERRIBLE WITH NUMBERS" entries over the weekend and hopefully I'll be able to post the finalists early next week.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ally

Ally's dream house

I never had a Barbie. It’s true. When we were little, my sister and I had a set of Charlie’s Angels action figures, (she always insisted on being Kelly), so imagine my joy when I learned my friend Charity had Barbies. And Kens. And…

A Barbie Dream House.

Holy freaking cow, it was such a monumental occasion that to this day I vividly remember sitting on her bedroom floor playing with it, thinking someday I want to have one of these.

Of course at the time I meant a Barbie Dream House, but now I’m aiming bigger. Much bigger.

As my freakishly-large family gets ready to gather for all the holiday madness, I find myself thinking about that Barbie Dream House and hoping for the day when I’ll have one. Only big enough to live in.

And the longer I dream about it, the more specific the dream gets:

It will have a double oven.

And an enormous screen-in-porch where all the men can stand around with their hands on the hips of their Wranglers and talk about how we sure could use a rain.

And a section near—but not in—the kitchen for a little refrigerator and an icemaker, so that people looking for drinks will stay out of my way.

While I bake things in my double oven.

And there will be a warming drawer where I’ll put things after someone comes in and says, “oh, can I put my (pie/casserole/dip/rolls) in the oven for a little while”, and I’ll say yes, because I was expecting this when I built Ally’s Dream House and the dream house will not disappoint.

And there’s a room with a big flat-screen TV where all the non-Wrangler men are watching football, and this room has big, wide sliding pocket doors that we can close if the men get too loud.

And the main room is huge, and two stories tall, with a curving staircase that’s lined with garland and lights, and the focal point of the room is a fireplace that my Uncle Harold insists on stoking every five minutes so that we move some things from the warming drawers to the living room because it’s actually hotter in there.

And between the living room and the screen-in-porch is the dining room, even though it’s not really a room, because in Ally’s Dream House, walls are really only necessary for bedrooms and bathrooms, and everything else is open.

And I’ll buy a gorgeous antique buffet to place opposite the fireplace in the dining area, and that’s where we’ll put all the desserts—not on the washer and dryer like we usually have to do at family functions.

And the main feature of the kitchen is a bar that’s at least twelve feet long, and it has electrical outlets so that we can plug in the crock pots and electric skillets.

While the cooks are cooking, the “are you sure we can’t help you do anything”ers will sit at the bar where they are both out of the way and still a part of the action.

Then the turkey will come out of the double oven and I’ll go to the screened-in-porch to tell my dad that he’s going to have to leave the Wrangler men long enough to come in and carve it.

And then the Wrangler men will come in from the porch and the non-Wrangler men will come in from the TV room and we’ll all stand around while Daddy says grace, and then we go through a buffet that’s lined up on the bar, and everyone will eat.

Then, if it’s Christmas, someone will hide all the wood or at least keep Uncle Harold busy (mostly likely by breaking something), and then the living room will cool down enough so that we can all gather in there and do our gift exchange.

Some people will sit on the leather couches.

A couple will sit on the bench of the Grand Piano (because even though I can’t play the piano, the Dream House is totally going to have one.)

And a lot of people will sit on the spiraling staircase or the barstools from the kitchen because there’ll probably be at least 40 family members in attendance and we all know that the gift exchange will get dirty and you totally want a good seat.

So this is the house. It doesn’t exist yet, but hopefully someday will. And the only way it will happen is if I work hard and well.

And so that’s why I won’t be going home for this Thanksgiving.

In hopes that someday I’ll be able to host the next one.

Happy Holidays, everyone,
Ally

The man in the yellow sweatshirt

So it's no secret that I love writing at my local library. The reasons are many:

--it's quiet but not too quiet
--everyone who works here is COOL!
--they have internet computers, but not wireless Internet, so I can check email, but not surf
--there's a little table in the non-fiction section that's secluded and empty, and I have great memories of writing LYKY there, so it's got the good mojo.

So imagine my terror when--in the midst of the biggest deadline yet--I found that someone else has discovered my mojo corner!

I don't know who he is; no one on the library staff knows who he is.

But twice now--TWICE--the man in the yellow sweatshirt (did I mention he always wears a yellow sweatshirt?) has been at the mojo table--sucking up the mojo that rightfully belongs to me.

On one hand, I blame myself because I've become a creature of habit, and if I were a Gallagher Girl, Mr. Smith (not to mention Mr. Solomon) would be very upset that my patterns of behavior have become so predictable.

On the other hand, I JUST WANT MY MOJO CORNER BACK!

But no, the man in the yellow sweatshirt has discovered the mojo, and that means it's war.

(But on the upside, I now have incentive for getting here exactly when the doors open and staying until they close.)

Okay, back to the mojo corner!

Ally

The complete Lone Star List

Hi Everyone,

Thought you all might want to see the complete Lone Star Reading list. Or...well...I wanted to see the complete list, and once I'd taken the time to look it up, I thought I should get a decent blog post out of the deal.

So, for those of you who have a 6-8th grader you'll be shopping for in the next month, check out these great books!

later,
Ally




Lone Star Reading List 2007 - 2008

1. Buckley-Archer, Linda. Gideon The Cutpurse: Being the First Part of the Gideon Trilogy.
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing. 2006.

2. Bunting, Eve. The Lambkins. Joanna Cotler. 2005.

3. Cabot, Meg. Avalon High. Harper Collins Publishers. 2006.

4. Carter, Ally. I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You. Hyperion. 2006.

5. Chima, Cinda Williams. Warrior Heir. Hyperion Books for Children. 2006.

6. Enthoven, Sam. Black Tattoo. Razorbill. 2006.

7. Han, Jenny. Shug. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. 2006.

8. Harkrader, Lisa. Airball: My Life in Briefs. Roaring Brook Press. 2005.

9. Jaramillo, Ann. La Linea. Roaring Brook Press. 2006.

10. Korman, Gordon. Born to Rock. Hyperion Books for Children. 2006.

11. Lisle, Janet Taylor. Black Duck. Sleuth/Philomel. 2006.

12. Lupica, Mike. Heat. Philomel Books. 2006.

13. Mass, Wendy. Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life. Little, Brown & Company. 2006.

14. McKernan, Victoria. Shackleton’s Stowaway. Random House. 2005.

15. Meehl, Brian. Out of Patience. Delacorte. 2006.

16. Murdock, Catherine Gilbert. Dairy Queen: A Novel. Houghton Mifflin. 2006.

17. Papademetriou, Lisa. The Wizard, the Witch, and Two Girls from Jersey. Razorbill. 2006.

18. Sonnenblick, Jordan. Notes from the Midnight Driver. Scholastic Press. 2006

19. Van Draanen, Wendelin. Runaway. Knopf Books for Young Readers. 2006.

20. Wolfson, Jill. Home, and Other Big, Fat Lies. Scholastic Press. 2006.


You can read more about all the books here.

Okay, this is so cool I'm freaking out a little

First things first:

Sorry I've been Lousy Blogger Girl lately, but that's one of the downsides of also being Deadline Girl. As anyone who's ever seen a superhero movie can attest, with great power comes great responsibility. So...well...inadequate blogging is currently my superhero curse.

Now on to the cool part.



If you can see it (which I don't know if you can or not), but if you CAN, then you'll see that I'm listed on the Oklahoma Ink flyer--right between Billie Letts and Wilma Mankiller.

And even though I'd like to think that I routinely hang out with Oprah's book club selectees and former Chiefs of the Cherokee Nation (and one of the coolest women ever!), that isn't really how I spend my free time.

If and when I remember how I actually spent my free time (back when I had it), I'll let you know.

So obviously I'm very excited to be hanging out with all of these incredibly cool writers and readers on November 30th at 6:00 at the Harwelden Mansion in downtown Tulsa.

I hope I'll be done with GG2 by then.

And I really hope you'll come say hi and buy tons of great autographed books for the people on your holiday shopping lists!


Happy weekend,
Ally

Lone Star!

Got some great news this morning. I'D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU BUT THEN I'D HAVE TO KILL YOU has been chosen as a Lone Star List book!

Next year 6th - 8th graders across the state of Texas will be buying and reading the books on the list during in order to vote for their favorites.

This is a big deal evidently. A very big deal.

I'm so wowed that the great librarians on the committee chose to include the Gallagher Girls, and I sincerely hope that the readers love it!

This has all put me in such a good mood that I'm going to break down.

If you really want to know how to decypher the code--not a hint, a solution--then highlight the following with your cursor and you should be able to see. If you want to keep working, then by all means be my guest. But if you're ready for the answer...or how to find the answer...this is what you've got to do:


For starters, you have to have a copy of I'D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU BUT THEN I'D HAVE TO KILL YOU close by. If you haven't been using the book, don't read anymore, just go get a book and see if you can figure it out now.

If you have been trying to use the book, I'll tell you it's dictionary code like is mentioned on the NSA site. The first three numbers are a page number. The next two numbers are a line number. The next two a word number. The word you come to is the first word of the title.

Follow that for the next six lines and you'll get the title.


Good luck all you code breakers, and thank all you Texas Librarians!


later,
Ally

Confessions

I've got some things to say, and I should probably do it all at once, so here goes:

- I probably won't be replying to comments, emails, or anything else this week because I'm DEADLINE GIRL!!!

- The reason I'm DEADLINE GIRL is because I really want the next Gallagher Girls book to be good. And it isn't. Yet.

- I think I know what my first non-GG project is going to be, and I like it a lot but I can't work on it until after the first of the year at the earliest which, if you want to know the truth, is the test of a good idea. If I'm still excited in six weeks then it's excitement-worthy.

- I don't know an exact release date for GG2 yet, but I know it's sometime in the fall of 2007. When I know something more I'll post ASAP.

- LEARNING TO PLAY GIN is still for sale, and people who want to buy it are still welcome to do so.

- I have decided that I also really like this purse. IF it zips. As soon as GG2 is in copyediting I plan on celebrating by finding out.

- I guess I'm officially a grownup because I just received an email from my mother stating that my parents are buying a new Christmas tree (the artificial kind) and that they are NOT going to give me their old one because "I can do better." That's right. I've outgrown hand-me-down artificial holiday decorative items.

- I also guess I won't have a Christmas tree this year. Again.



- I really need to get back to work now, so I'll say goodbye.



Later!

Ally

The final hint

Congrats to all of you who have mastered the code and well done to everyone who is still trying.

I'm now going to give the final hint: there's no one better in the world at this stuff that the men and women of the NSA. See what they have to say on the subject.



Good luck and keep up the great work!

Also, I should say that I'm very disappointed in all my blogging buddies as not a one of them have claimed a prize yet.

Sigh,

Ally

Why sports are good

I'm not a jock, not a cheerleader. I've never been accused of being "sporty", but as I take a break from writing to watch my OSU Cowboys go into the locker room at halftime with a 35 point lead over the Baylor Bears I'm feeling a little inspired.

Maybe it's all the waving I've been doing (according to custom, we OSU faithful wave our arms back-and-forth to celebrate a score), but I can't help but think that sports are good.

Athletic programs are often criticized for taking money away from academics. Everyone who's ever had a football coach try to teach them high school social studies can probably lament the practice of putting glorified babysitters in positions for which they have no passion.

But my mom is the best teacher I've ever known (and perhaps the one person on earth who is even less sporty than I), and she has always said that what happens on the playing field was often felt in the classroom.

You know what? My mom is usually right.

Martel Van Zant just had an interception in Stillwater. It was a big play in a big game, but the stands were silent in celebration because Martel was born deaf, and instead of yelling and screaming, thousands of orange-clad fans signed their applause.

Martel is beloved among his teammates. Many of them have learned or are learning sign language in order to communicate with him both on and off the field. (They also do a lot of text messaging.)

How many of those players would have known someone with a physical challenge without having Martel in their lives? How many kids are sitting at home watching the game today and thinking that if Martel can live out his dreams despite some exceptional challenges then they can too?

A lot of bad can come with emphasizing winning and athletics (a certain Other University comes to mind.) Last season my cowboys only won one conference game. But they also kicked off all the trouble-makers at the start of the season, sending the message that we don't care how fast you can run if you're not here for the right reasons.

I don't love sports. I love my school, and when I see my team playing well; when I hear about student athletes who are working hard; when I think back on all the mornings in my apartment in Stillwater when the band would wake me up as they practiced at 6 a.m., I have to think that sports and everything that comes with game day are important for a reason.

Anytime you have a white kid from a small town working side by side with a black kid from a big city... Anytime you have a Martel Van Zant... Anytime you have thousands of people of every age, race and socioeconomic status cheering together for a common cause...

Then you can say that sports are good.

And I personally can say GO POKES!


-Ally


TODAY'S CODE HINT: Sometimes when I'm having trouble with something, it helps to step away from it for a little while and pick up a good book.

I'm not making this stuff up

There are many excellent things about being from a small town in Oklahoma, not the least of which is that if you grow up to be a writer you never have to look far for inspiration.

Case in point: this excerpt from LEARNING TO PLAY GIN which is an email from Julia's mother.


From: James Family Farm
To: OK Lady
Subject: Just checking on you

Nothing new here today. Daddy kind of hurt his leg, but the vet was here and said it was nothing, so he's not going to the doctor.

We're so lucky to have such a good vet nearby.

Love,

Mom


Yes, I come from a long line of people who actually get medical advice from the local veterinarian.

It's a miracle I'm still alive.

In other news, I hope everyone has a great weekend. It's going to be all work and no play for me, but that's okay.

And for all you codemakers and heartbreakers, HINT: Sometimes codes translate into other things. Sometimes they just point the way.

Have a great one!

Ally

Hintalicious

I really don't know how aggressive to be with the hinting. On one hand, I want to help and encourage, and I don't want people giving up.

But on the other hand, I'm afraid of just "giving" it away.

So I think I'll try this for now:


HINT: It is similar in style to I'D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU BUT THEN I'D HAVE TO KILL YOU. Which, of course, equals long.


Does that help at all?

Well, maybe that doesn't help, but this might...


HINT 2: It's seven words long.
(earlier I goofed and wrote seven letters--which was a mistake. Sorry!)


Good luck!

--Ally

Girls just want to have hints...

A couple more people cracked the code today--CONGRATULATIONS!

For those of you who are still working on it, don't despair. More helpful hints are on the way.

But first I thought I'd talk about something that occurred to me this week:

Girls just want to have fun!!!!!!!!!!!

No, I'm not talking about the fact that girls do enjoy the happy, and I'm not even talking about the song (although Cyndi Lauper does, in fact, rock.)

Nope, I'm talking about the movie.

You do know the movie, don't you?

If not, get thee to Netflix because it was easily one of the defining movies of my childhood. In fact, that and Gone With the Wind were the first movies my family ever owned!

I've seen it dozens if not hundreds of times, but the other night I was flipping through the TV during my supper break and saw a teenage Helen Hunt and Sarah Jessica Parker on a schoolbus in plaid schoolgirl uniforms. HH has velcroed hers up so that she can quickchange from schoolgirl to regular girl in a flash...

And I thought OH MY GOSH.

They were Gallagher Girls.

The first Gallagher Girls.

Inspiration finds you in funny places, folks. And great inspiration lingers like a good meal; it becomes part of you and nourishes you when you need it most.

When I was twelve I loved a movie about a girl who goes to a strict private school, and ends up sneaking out and breaking rules in order to spend time with a regular boy from a public school.

Now, many years later, I'm writing books about a girl who goes to a strict private school who sneaks out and breaks rules in order to spend time with a regular boy from a public school.

Of course, in the movie, the girl just wants to dance and have fun, and in my book the girl just wants to dance, have fun, and disarm nuclear weapons in North Korea, but still I can't believe it has taken me so long to realize I've been paying homage to my favorite movie (ages 10-12).

So see Mom, when Amy and Lesha and I were dancing around like crazy in the living room while you were trying to vacuum, it wasn't for nothing.

And no, none of this was meant to be a hint about the code contest.

This is a hint about the code contest...


HINT: while I did, in fact, make up this particular code, this type of code has been around for forever. Like, I'm talking centuries and centuries forever. And good spies are all about the research.


Good luck and happy spying (and dancing) and I hope you're all having fun!

Ally

To hint or not to hint

Wow! You guys rock!

It's taken a while, but I've gone through all the comments and emails, and--listen up--here are some important things you should know.

Yes, some people (plural) have already correctly de-coded the title. (I'll soon be emailing them to say so.) And yes, they are very smart and cool and I'm awed by their super-spyness.

No, I'm not going to post what categories have already been won because I don't think you guys should be doing it for the prizes, but for the challenge! (Because I'm preachy that way.)

In response to those of you who have asked if you can work with a mom/teacher/brother/friend I say okay. We're on the honor system here at the Gallagher Academy, but we also appreciate teamwork, and one of the key things a spy can do is get help when you need it. (But if you work with an adult and the adult does A LOT of the work, why don't you enter in the above 18 category.)

I still don't have any entries from classes, so all of you working and struggling alone, why don't you pitch the idea to your favorite teacher to see if they might make a project of it?

And finally...


TODAY'S HINT: If you're using a calculator you're making it way too hard.



Happy spying!

Ally

And the title of the next Gallagher Girls book is...

Here it is!

This is an eyes only document (not really) which means that, until now, it has been top secret, hush hush. Classified.

HINT #1: it doesn't mean that the name of the book is "Eyes Only". Sorry but you don't really think it would be that easy, do you?

I really hope everyone likes the title and that you really challenge yourselves and learn a lot about this very interesting art/science in the process.



THE CONTEST RULES AND PROCEDURE:

Step 1--Pick your category!

You are allowed to participate in one category only (with the
exception of the I'm-Terrible-With-Numbers-But-Tried-It-Anyway
Category).

In other words, if your class is doing it, you can't enter again as an
individual under 18 and again as a book blogger--you've got to pick one!
Categories are as follows:


Individuals 18 and under:

Open to all operatives ages 18 and under.

1st place: $100 gift certificate to the bookseller of your choice, an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of GG2, and you will be mentioned in the acknowledgements of GG2.

2nd place: $50 gift certificate to the bookseller of your choice and an ARC of GG2.

Individuals over 18:

Open to all operatives over the age of 18 (no limit to how much older you can be!)

1st place: $100 gift certificate to the bookseller of your choice, an Advance Reading Copy (ARC) of GG2, and you will be mentioned in the acknowledgements of GG2.

2nd place: $50 gift certificate to the bookseller of your choice, an ARC of GG2.


The Book Blogger Category:

Open to any authors/booklovers/librarians/readers etc who blog about books and/or writing!

You don't have to mention the contest on your blog to be eligible, but that would be really, really cool of you.

1st place: Extreme bragging rights, an ARC (advance reading copy) of GG2, and a $100 donation to the library of your choice.

2nd place: Right to brag that you're better than everyone (except whoever finishes first), and an ARC of GG2.



School Group

Open to any class or school club that is working with a teacher's guidance and supervision to crack the code as a group.

1st place: Ally will visit your school and take questions, eat lunch with you, do an assembly--whatever! You'll have an author for a day!

(But she will not take place in anything gym-related--especially the climbing of the big rope. She couldn't do it in the fifth grade and she sure as heck can't do it now.)

This prize will only be awarded to classes that are located within the continental United States since Ally only has so many frequent flyer miles.

2nd place: The class will receive a $100 gift certificate to the store of your choice for books or other cool stuff to be used at the teachers' discretion.


The I'm-Terrible-With-Numbers-But-Tried-It-Anyway Category

This is where you submit your wittiest, funniest, craziest, wildest result EVEN if you've already submitted to another category!

This one is a wildcard...a free-for-all.

Anyone can submit to this category.

This is the one category in which you may make multiple submissions.

Ally will post her top five on her blog and then people will be able to vote for the winner.

1st place: $100 gift certificate to the bookseller of your choice, an ARC of GG2, and mentioned in acknowledgements of GG2

2nd place: $50 gift certificate to the bookseller of your choice, an ARC of GG2



Step 2: Come up with your answers

Step 3: Email answers to Ally at ally (at) allycarter (dot) com
Unless stated otherwise, the winner in each category will be the first
person who emails Ally with the correct title.

Step 4: Be sure you place your category in the subject line of your email.

Step 5: Go buy Learning to Play Gin (optional step, but one that is highly recommended.)

And that's it. That's the contest.

I will announce the winners and the answers on WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22!




And don't forget, today is launch day for LEARNING TO PLAY GIN!


Have a great day, everyone, and happy de-coding!

Ally

Okay, so I guess it IS hard...

Judging by the number of emails and comments that have come my way I should say...wow.

I should also say that I totally should be working right now, but why would I do that when I can check my email every ten seconds and update my blog...again.

Let me just say that I'd be VERY surprised if someone gets it tonight. Or tomorrow even. It's gonna take some work. And for that reason I won't start giving hints for a few days (but I have some doozies.)

Okay, back to work now!

Ally

Monday!

It's Monday! Not normally cause for celebration, I know, but this week feels like an exception.

The newsletter will be going out soon. Very soon. (It's 2:12 pm CST as I write this.)

Good luck to everyone who is going to take part in the code challenge. I've shown it to some trusted peers and everyone has been a little....intimidated. So I hope it isn't too hard. But honestly, once you know how to read it it's incredibly easy! I swear.

(And I'm not above offering hints.)

I also got my first review for LEARNING TO PLAY GIN. Romance Reviews Today says...

The characters are relatable and likable; the plot moves along and grows well. The book has a wonderfully wry and humorous view of relationships and life decisions. For a thoroughly enjoyable read, pick up a copy of Ally Carter's LEARNING TO PLAY GIN.

Also, I received this from my mother...

Thought I'd tell you how much I love "...Gin." The writing is so goooood!

So all the literary heavyweights are weighing in.

But now my mother is going to start thinking she's fat.

Which she isn't--at all.

So I'm going to shut up before I say anything else.


later,
Ally

Gin-watch

Let the Gin watch begin!

I've gotten reports of Gin on shelves in Louisiana, and I dropped by a Borders in Tulsa today and they had copies in-store but not on shelves yet.

They also had Love You Kill You on shelves, face out, and in PRIME position! This is something authors note very, very carefully, and I'm always amazed that the book is still getting so much love six months after being released. THANK YOU BOOKSTORE EMPLOYEES AND LIBRARIANS AND FAMILY MEMBERS WHO REARRANGE SHELVES ON MY BEHALF!

In other news, I had a mad dash to Tulsa last night and this morning for Niece #2's christening where many people told me that they read my blog and I should totally order that Coach purse.

But first I have to finish the sequel.

Which I won't be able to do if I spend all my time writing this...


Later!
Ally


(PS, as far as I know the newsletter with the coded version of the second Gallagher Girls book will go out tomorrow, November 6th! If you can't get the newsletter for any reason, I'll post the details to the blog before noon on Tuesday!)

(PPS, have you seen Gin anywhere?)

email woes

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note to say that I just heard from my web designer that emails going to my ally (at) allycarter (dot) com email address haven't been coming through for a few days (maybe weeks)!

Yikes! I had no idea.

So, if you've emailed me in the past couple of weeks, please re-send because evidently there have been server problems that are currently being resolved.


Happy weekend and GO POKES!

Ally

A little more Gin

It's a crazy deadline day (as they all will be for a while), so I thought I'd post one of my favorite scenes from LEARNING TO PLAY GIN.

Enjoy!

“Planes are fun!” Nina said forty minutes later as she held the tiny bottle of vodka against the light of the flight attendant call button and watched the last drop of silvery liquid slosh inside. She seemed to revel in the doll-house proportions of the little bottle, the little buttons on the ceiling. The little carts. The little plastic forks for eating little TV dinners with little servings of chicken cordon bleu. Every frequent flier Julia had ever known complained about the narrow seats and cramped surroundings, but Nina acted as if she’d been waiting her entire life to find a place built exactly to her scale.

Of course, the vodka didn’t hurt.

“Aren’t planes fun?” Nina asked the man across the aisle who was glued to his Wall Street Journal. She patted his arm, reveling in the texture of his Brooks Brothers suit while he pretended she didn’t exist, even when she leaned closer and whispered, “I love flying.”

Julia reached across the seat and grabbed her best friend by her shoulders and pulled her back across the aisle. “Yeah, Neen,” Julia said, as she glanced around at the cabin full of staring people. “Did you know your seat reclines? Did you know you can take a nap?”

Julia tried to pry the bottle from her hand, but Nina pushed her aside and yelled, “Jason’s an idiot!” Then she looked at her best friend. Her face was part obstinate child, part woman-on-mission. “He told me I couldn’t go to that business conference in Cancun because I hate to fly. But I loooove flying!” she cried as she climbed onto her knees and looked all around the first class cabin.

“Jason’s an idiot!” she said again like it was brand new information. She looked down at Julia with a terrifying sort of purpose that, in Julia’s experience was usually followed by trips to the emergency room and/or bail money. She nodded in defiance as she said, “I should tell him he’s an idiot.”

Julia sat perfectly still in her leather chair and no longer cursed her small friend’s carrying voice or inability to be knocked unconscious. I should tell him he’s an idiot. The sentence echoed through the cabin, and instead of wishing the words would go away, Julia hoped that everyone, from the pilot to the poor soul in 47C, would hear them. She had been waiting her whole life to hear Nina say something of the sort. Maybe I should have gotten her drunk and put her on a plane years ago, Julia thought, realizing the power in vodka and thirty thousand feet of perspective.

“Yes,” Julia said finally, “you should tell him that.”

“Good! Right!” Nina chirped. “Will do!”

Nina leaned back in her seat, and Julia finally felt safe in closing her eyes. She felt her head fall to the window, and waited for fatigue to wipe her mind blank and sleep to take her, then she heard someone yell, “Cell phone!”

She bolted upright and ripped the device from Nina’s hand before she could punch send.

“Tell you what, Neen. Why don’t we call Jason after we land?”

“But—"

“Or you could write him a letter,” Julia offered. “A nice, old-fashioned letter that he can save and read over and over again.”

The idea of eternal torment must have appealed to Nina because she ripped a piece of paper from the legal pad on the tray in front of Mr. 3A and asked Julia for a pen.

Dear Jason,

I am on plane. Far far above ground and everything looks tiny—especially you!!!

I am going to California with Julia, but while I’m there I’ll probably become very, very famous because you won’t be there to embarrass me by sending back your meat one hundred million bazillion times and snapping at the waiter and, oh yeah, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING ON YOUR LIP? Gross. On behalf of women everywhere, gross! Gross! Gross! Gross! Gross!

(FYI women aren’t impressed by men who spend that much time thinking about their own faces. It shows they don’t have anything better to do…like build stuff or cure a disease or something.) And while you’re at it, lose the pinkie ring, Elton.

I am just so very happy to be NOT MARRIED TO YOU because many, many NICE men want to marry me. In fact, very nice business traveler-type man in 3A has just said he will marry me if his wife has tragic accident or terrible Lifetime Television for Women-type disease. Just wrote my phone number on his hand with lucky blue ink pen to seal the deal!!!

So see, I’m going to be wonderful, tanned, Mrs. 3A living in California. You are more than welcome to come visit. You can stay in the pool house (like on the O.C.).

Okay, just asked Mr. 3A if he has pool house, and he said no but that if he married me we could move, so see, there’s you a place to stay…in my pool house!!!

So, I’ll send you a postcard when I get there or an invitation to my wedding to Mr. 3A or at least a card with the address of our pool house!

Love, Sincerely, Best Wishes, Goodbye forever!

Nina

More contest ramblings...

Wow. I'm getting really excited because

a. I love the title and I can't wait for the world to hear it!

and

b. I think the code is pretty cool and (in Ally fantasy world) girls everywhere will soon be using it for all their covert communications.

Which brings me to some things I want to say about the code itself.

--It will go out via newsletter on Monday, November 6th.

--If you don't subscribe to the newsletter, don't worry, it will be posted here--on the blog--on Tuesday, November 7 (in honor of the publication of LEARNING TO PLAY GIN).

--I'm starting to freak out that it's way too hard.

--Then I immediately freak out that it's way too easy.

--Basically, once you figure out how it works it's tremendously easy, but figuring it out might be kinda hard.

--Actually, one of the tests of a code is just that--it should be easy to read if you know how but figuring out how should be very difficult, so in that respect it's a pretty good code.

--I'm not really a number person, so you totally don't have to be a number person to get it. At all.

--If, after a few days, I don't have any correct answers I'll start posting hints.

--I'm totally scared that no one is going to enter.

--I don't have an "ending date" exactly because I think I'll just wait until we have winners in all the categories. But maybe I do need a date...

--Okay, I've decided the ENDING DATE will be WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22! So I will officially post the answers and the winners then!


There. I'm glad that's taken care of. Now I need to get to work--seriously to work!


--Ally




ps...let me just say thanks again to all of you who have read the book and told your friends about it because I just heard about some new sales figures and I know there must be some serious word-of-mouth advertising going on out there, and I can't thank you guys enough for loving these characters as much as I do!

The Rules!!!! (or a draft thereof)

I apologize for the picture not working yesterday. It worked for a while, but now it's not and blogger won't let me repost.

And now I've gotten a couple more I really want to add (and yes, I'm talking about you, numchuck-carrying Jennifer Lynn Barnes), but don't worry--I'm on the case.

In the meantime, yesterday's pic is also posted on my agent, Kristin Nelson's, blog, so check it out over there!


In other news, for everyone who has been asking about the title of the second Gallagher Girls book I can tell you I know it.

And I love it.

A lot.

And I'd tell you...

But first you've got to earn it!

That's right, the title has been encrypted by Gallagher Academy faculty members (Mr. Mosckowitz really needs to get a life), and at this moment I'm looking at a 49-digit code that will tempt you, tease you, and bring the puzzle-loving cryptographer in all of you.

Oh yeah--it's a REAL code!

Real spies have used this real method to convey real covert secrets for years--so if you think you've got what it takes to be a Gallagher Girl (or boy), now's your chance to prove it!

I'll post it to the blog on Tuesday for the general public, but if you subscribe to my newsletter you'll get an email with the code sometime Monday--so go sign up now if you want a head start.

In the meantime, here are the rules as they stand now. I'm still working on them, so if you've got suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Step 1--Pick your category!

You are allowed to participate in one category only. In other words, if your class is doing it, you can’t also submit an entry as an individual under 18 and another as a book blogger—you’ve got to pick one!

(With the exception of the I'm-Terrible-With-Numbers-But-Tried-It-Anyway Category.)

Categories are as follows:

Individuals 18 and under:

Open to all operatives ages 18 and under.

1^st place: $100 gift certificate to the bookseller of your choice, an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of GG2, and you will be mentioned in acknowledgements of GG2.

2^nd place: $50 gift certificate to the bookseller of your choice and an ARC of GG2.

Individuals over 18:

Open to all operatives over the age of 18 (no limit to how much older you can be!)

1^st place: $100 gift certificate to the bookseller of your choice, an Advance Reading Copy (ARC) of GG2, and you will be mentioned in acknowledgements of GG2.

2^nd place: $50 gift certificate to the bookseller of your choice, an ARC of GG2.

The Book Blogger Category:

Open to any authors/booklovers/librarians/readers etc who blog about books and/or writing!

You don’t have to mention the contest on your blog to be eligible, but that would be really, really cool of you.

1^st place: Extreme bragging rights, an ARC (advance reading copy) of GG2, and a $100 donation to the library of your choice.

2^nd place: Right to brag that you’re better than everyone (except whoever finishes first), and an ARC of GG2.

School Group

Open to any class or school club that is working with a teacher’s guidance and supervision to crack the code as a group.

1^st place: Ally will visit your school and take questions, eat lunch with you, do an assembly—whatever! You’ll have an author for a day!

(But she will not take place in anything gym-related—especially the climbing of the big rope. She couldn’t do it in the fifth grade and she sure as heck can’t do it now.)

This prize will only be awarded to classes that are located within the continental United States since Ally only has so many frequent flyer miles.

2^nd place: The class will receive a $100 gift certificate to the store of your choice for books or other cool stuff to be used at the teachers’ discretion.

The I’m-Terrible-With-Numbers-But-Tried-It-Anyway Category

This is where you submit your wittiest, funniest, craziest, wildest result EVEN if you've already submitted to another category!

This one is a wildcard--a free-for-all.

Anyone can submit to this category.

This is the one category in which you may make multiple submissions.

Ally will post her top five on her blog and then people will be able to vote for the winner.

1^st place: $100 gift certificate to the bookseller of your choice, an ARC of GG2, and mentioned in acknowledgements of GG2

2^nd place: $50 gift certificate to the bookseller of your choice, an ARC of GG2

Step 2: Come up with your answers

Step 3: Email answers to Ally.

Unless stated otherwise, the winner in each category will be the person who emails Ally first with the correct title.

Step 4: Be sure you place your category in the subject line of your email.

Step 5: Go buy Learning to Play Gin (optional step, but one that is highly recommended.)

And that's it. That's the contest.


What do you think?


-Ally