Oh no! I think I swallowed a flaming tennis ball again!
Why oh why do I keep doing this? Haven't I learned that swallowing flaming tennis balls makes my throat HURT and burn and swell up and make me feel miserable?
I've been too busy to talk to my (fictional) boyfriend, George Clooney, lately, so imagine how happy I was when I got an (imaginary) call from him a while ago.
GC: Hey, you.
Me: Hey yourself.
GC: So now I have to hear about publication dates by reading your blog? I have to say...I'm not feeling very important.
Me: I'm sorry. It's been pretty crazy trying to finish the book.
GC: So what exactly does take so long about finishing books?
Me: George, don't you remember when I blogged about this? I thought I'd explained everything then but I guess you forgot.
GC: Yeah, I guess you have covered this before.
Me: Yes, I have.
GC: But why is it taking so much longer for GG3 than for other books?
Me: Actually, the hardback of LYKY came out a year and a half before the hardback of CMH. That's approximately how long it will take for GG3.
And most authors don't do more than a book a year. Sure, there are exceptions (Meg Cabot makes us all look like slackers), but a lot of really amazing authors do a book every two years, so I happen to think that a year and a half isn't too lazy of me.
Plus, let's not forget that I had a non-writing full-time job up until November.
And Cross My Heart was a really, really painful/stressful/terrible experience and I needed to take some time off to decide if I even WANTED to keep writing books.
GC: But some of the commentors said that it didn't even take that long for the Harry Potter books to come out.
Me: Well the commentors were...how do I put this gently? Wrong. Or mistaken. Let's go with mistaken. (Note: the dates on that link represent when the books were published in the United States. The early books were released in the U.K. first so that's why the early books came out more quickly here--they'd already been written and published elsewhere.)
GC: But can't you do something to make it come out faster?
Me: Me? You're the big-time movie star, can't YOU do something? I'm just the person staying up all hours of the night trying to finish the darn thing.
Okay, gang, here it is--the post you've all been waiting for...
I've spent the last couple of days trying to think of a fun/cool/clever way to answer probably the most frequently asked question I get, but it turns out I'm all out of fun/cool/and clever, so instead I'll just say...
GG3 will be in stores on JUNE 9, 2009!
Also, the paperback of CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO SPY will be out in December 2008.
Mark your calendars!
--Ally
ps...I'm still working on the GG3 title contest and t-shirt contest, so please be patient.
The exorcism went well yesterday! Thanks to everyone for your good wishes. We're only partly finished, but the pantry is in (and it's wonderful!), and we'll now have to wait about three weeks for the new cabinet doors to be ready.
Today we're focusing on the front door here in Allyville. One might THINK it would be easy to install a new front door, but evidently it requires the removal of the front half of the house.
Pasadena, CA Tuesday, May 20, 6:30 PM Vroman's Bookstore 695 E. Colorado Blvd. (626) 449-5320 How to Be Bad event with me, E. Lockhart and Lauren Myracle!
San Francisco, CA Wednesday, May 21, 7:00 PM Books Inc. (Opera Plaza Location) 601 Van Ness, San Fransisco (415) 776-1111 How to Be Bad event with me, E. Lockhart and Lauren Myracle! A Not Your Mother¹s Bookclub event!
San Jose, CA Thursday, May 22, 3:00 PM Hicklebee's Children's Books 1378 Lincoln Ave. (408) 292-8880 How to Be Bad event with me, E. Lockhart and Lauren Myracle!
Toronto, Ontario Tuesday, May 27, 7:00 pm Indigo Yonge & Eglinton 2300 Yonge Street Toronto, Ontario (416) 544 0049 SPELLS & SLEEPING BAGS event with me! No Lauren or E...
Fairfield, CT Thursday, May 29, 4:00 pm Borders Fairfield, CT 1499 Post Rd (203) 256-1619 How to Be Bad event with me, E. Lockhart and Lauren Myracle!
New Canaan, CT Friday, May 30, 7:00 pm Outback Teen Center, hosted by Elm Books 71 Main St. New Canaan (203) 966-4545 How to Be Bad event with me, E. Lockhart and Lauren Myracle!
Carle Place, NY Saturday, May 31, 2:00 PM Barnes & Noble Country Glen Center 91 Old Country Road, Carle Place (516) 741-9850 How to Be Bad event with me, E. Lockhart and Lauren Myracle!
New York, NY Sunday, June 1, 1-3 PM Books of Wonder 18 West 18th Street, NY, NY (212) 989 3270 How to Be Bad event with me, E. Lockhart and Lauren Myracle!
I'm pleased to report that I am, in fact, back from my top secret mission.
It was a lot of fun, and I had a wonderful weekend in DENVER!
COVERT OPERATIONS REPORT
Operative Ally Carter (hereafter referred to as "the Operative") traveled to Denver, Colorado to engage in a TOP SECRET mission.
My best friend from college, Crazy Beth, has been living in Denver for the past several years and, sadly, I've been too busy to go visit her until now.
The Operative recruited backup for a very important covert operation.
Have I mentioned that my literary agent, Kristin Nelson, also lives in Denver?
And then she recruited MORE backup.
So it seemed to make good sense for me to make the trip out to see Kristin and Beth. And then Beth and I were talking about books that we love and how Stephenie Meyer was going to be coming to Denver...
The Operatives went into a deep cover operation in order to infiltrate a very large (and potentially volatile) crowd.
There are occasionally perks to being an author and one of them is that you can have your agent call Stephenie's publicist (the uber-awesome and totally Gallagher Girlish Elizabeth) and set really TOP SECRET plans into motion...
The Operatives engaged in a clandestine rendezvous with very cool People of Interest.
Writing is such a solitary endeavor that I always enjoy meeting other writers, and obviously Stephenie was no exception. She was, of course, incredibly busy so we only got to speak for a second, but it was fun none-the-less.
Also, it was just AMAZING to see the crowd of screaming and crazy, yet patient and attentive fans.
Beth, Kristin, Sara (Kristin's co-worker) and I all had a great time, and I'm really glad I went.
The Operative tried to sleep on the plane because the vacation is now officially over and she really needs to get back to work!
-Ally
ps...if any of you live in Denver and would like a signed Gallagher Girls book, I stopped by the Tattered Cover and Barnes and Noble (both downtown Denver locations) to sign what they had, so check them out.
I know I'm supposed to be working, but this was just brought to my attention, and...
WOW.
I have the coolest readers EVER!
-Ally
(please note: this was made by readers--not by Hollywood. I still don't have ANY information about whether or not Walden Media will actually be making a LYKY movie and, if so, how you can audition.)
Yes, I'm on a deadline. Yes, I know I don't have any time to spare. But did you seriously think I could hold off on reading the fourth Percy Jackson book? Yeah. I'd be more likely to give up chocolate! (But not Diet Coke.)
I'm happy to report that The Battle of the Labyrinth does, in fact, rock.
HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY, everyone! Especially all those super amazing moms out there who read teen fiction WITH their daughters. You are certainly the coolest moms around. (And those of you who don't have teen daughters and read teen fiction anyway, you are a very, very close second!)
I had a good one.
Went to church with MY mom this morning, then she cooked my favorite lunch ever (pork roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans.)
I made blackberry cobbler. (From scratch. It was yummy but the crust to filling ratio was a little higher than I would have preferred.)
I bought my mother the greatest gift ever: STRETCHY PANTS!
And now I'm home.
Hope you had a good one, Ally
ps...CONGRATULATIONS are in order for my old friend and frequent blog reader/commenter Amanda Renee who graduated from college with honors yesterday! Way to go, Amanda!
pps...where the heck does the apostrophe in Mother's Day go? Or is it Mothers' Day? I think technically it should be the latter, but that looks weird. Sigh. There's never a copyeditor around when you need one.
worried about deadlines installed my new wireless laser printer worried about deadlines tested the laser printer worried about deadlines took a nap woke up worried about deadlines.
Seventeen things you may (or may not) know about the Gallagher Girls books.
1. The arena at my alma mater, Oklahoma State University, is called Gallagher-Iba Arena, and it's routinely recognized as one of the toughest places for visiting teams to play. It's a very historic building, and I love going to games there, so when it came time for me to name the school where smart girls learn teamwork and defense, then that was the only name I ever considered.
2. The first line of Love You Kill You was the first thing I ever wrote for the book and--through all the drafts--it never changed even a single syllable.
3. I chose some of the girls' last names to make it easier for you to remember who is who when the teachers call them Ms. ____. For example, BexBaxter, Eva Alvarez. I don't know if it works or not, but that was the general idea.
4. Mr. Solomon's codename is "Wise Guy" based on King Solomon who was known for his amazing wisdom.
5. Cammie spends her summers on a ranch because a. that's the most un-spy-like place I could think of and b. that's something I know a lot about.
6. The pharmacy in Roseville is based off of the pharmacy in the town where I used to live where I used to eat lunch a lot on the days when I'd write at the library.
7. I have A LOT of cousins, and I used one of their names in CROSS MY HEART. Now, I've been given orders that I have to use ALL of my cousins' names in future books (so far, three make an appearance in GG3.)
8. LYKY is dedicated to a wonderful woman who was a great friend of my sister's. She worked for the CIA and the Justice Department and ran marathons and was genuinely kind to everyone, and it is a great, great tragedy that she passed away about the same time that I had the idea for the Gallagher Girls. She was very much on my mind at that time, and I think there's a great deal of her spirit that made it onto the page.
9. CMH is dedicated to my two nieces.
10. The Gallagher Mansion is filled with secret passages partly because I thought it made sense, and partly because Cammie needed them to exist, but mostly because ever since I was a little girl I've really, really, really wanted to live in a house with secret passages.
11. Originally, Macey was only going to show up for the Code Red, but she wasn't going to stick around. Thankfully, my agent, Kristin Nelson, forbade me from letting Macey leave.
12. Like Cammie (and Josh), I completely, totally, 100% prefer waffles to pancakes (even though Mom will no doubt point out--again--that it's the same batter!)
13. Cammie's eyes change color depending on what she's wearing. (And so do mine.)
14. Like Liz, I absolutely LOVE studying with flashcards.
15. Like Anna Fetterman, I once gave myself a bloody nose while opening a can of Pringles.
16. I cut seventy pages out of Love You Kill You during the editing process (and ended up with twice the book).
17. Cross My Heart went through about four different PLOTS--yes, entire plots--before I finally found the center of the story.
One of the questions I seem to get a lot when I'm doing school visits is "who is your biggest competition?"
I think people are usually surprised by my answer: "bad books."
You see, I was a reluctant reader as a kid (a fact that I've heard a lot of other authors echo lately), and I spent a long time thinking I didn't like to read simply because the first books I tried to read were bad books.
So I never think of authors like Stephenie Meyer, E. Lockhart, Rick Riordan, Sarah Dessen, Meg Cabot, etc., as my competition because if readers love their books then those readers are going to go through life looking for MORE books and eventually they might read some of mine.
If readers--particularly reluctant readers--pick up a few BAD books then they're going to start thinking that they don't like to read--period. And that's not doing me any favors whatsoever.
-Ally
PS...I'm still a reluctant reader, by the way. I finish maybe a third of the books that I start--we're talking big, national best-selling books and award-winning books and books that everyone and their dogs just loves and I'm like "oh, yeah, I'm 30 pages from the end of that but I sat it down one night and never had the desire to pick it up again."
(By the way, I never actually SAY that, I just think it!)
I don't know what kind of example that's going to set the readers of the world, but I think it's a pretty good lesson for the writers of the world: never, ever, ever give a reader an excuse to walk away from your book--or readers like me will take it.
Still super duper uber busy trying to wrap up GG3, so it's mini blog time:
All of you writers out there frequently write me with questions about what to do when they get blocked or stuck or just, in general, and I always say "well, you just have to write through it."
And that's true.
But today I remembered there's actually another (totally more fun) alternative:
TAKE A NAP!
I'm so not even kidding. Sometimes I'll work for hours and hours and hours on something, and then as soon as I go to bed or lay down to take a nap, I'll start to drift off to sleep and then my subconscious will kick in and say "here's the answer to your problem, stupid."
So, when it doubt. Sleep.
-Ally
PS...what made me realize this is that I took a nap this afternoon and as I was drifting off to sleep I had a major idea...
I'm always amazed when I get an email from a reader who is doing a class project and/or report about me and/or my books.
Was Jane Austen taken? I have to ask. Then I tell the reader to go try to swap with the person who gets to write the report on Jane Austen because that would be way more interesting than writing about me!
In any case, I have to explain why I don't have a ton of biographical information available on my site. The reason is simple, really: most of the biographical information that people think they need is information that isn't really necessary to understand me or my books. It is, however, information that you might need if you wanted to steal my identity/hack into my credit card accounts/ bankrupt me/ stalk me/ or just in general make my life miserable.
So, sorry. I will not tell you where I was born, what my mother's maiden name was, or the name of my childhood pets. (Because it most definitely was not a cat named Suzie.)
I've said all this (and a lot more) before in this very detailed post. If you need info for me I'd suggest you look there.
Ally Carter is the author of the Gallagher Girls series. Right now she's hard at work on book three, the title of which is currently classified, and she could tell you more, but...well...you know...
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