RWA

Hey gang,

Just a reminder that I'll be in San Francisco this week for the Romance Writers of America convention.

And this year I'm taking TWO suitcases.

Of course, they're not big suitcases. But there are, in fact, two of them.

Remember I'll be signing books and hanging out at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park at 5:00 on Thursday, so please come say hi!

-Ally

Eventful events (that aren't real events)

Hey gang,

I have to say, so far I've really, really loved having the www.eventful.com/allycarter page where you guys can request I tour in your areas. It's been incredibly helpful and insightful and I'm very, very grateful to everyone who has filled it out!

But...

Unfortunately, I think someone has made a mistake and entered two "events" in Spring, TX in August. These are NOT real events.

My hunch is that someone was trying to "demand" (or request) that I come to Spring, TX and they accidentally said that I already had events scheduled there instead.

There are two problems with this.

1. I can't delete any event I did not add.

2. There are no events in Spring, TX, and I'm terrified that people are going to show up. And I, of course, won't be there.

So if you've signed up with the name "GallagherGirl" at eventful.com, please remove the two Spring, TX events.

And for everyone else, please don't add events to the eventful page. (For the life of me, I don't know why eventful allows non-performers to add stuff to a performer's page. But they do. I could go to Miley Cyrus's page and say she's going to be touring with the Easter Bunny and there's nothing Miley's people could do to stop me.)

Therefore, you should also check here, at AllyCarter.com to verify events because it seems that the eventful page won't be 100% reliable.

Thanks!

Ally


ps...I WILL be at Kepler's books in the SF Bay Area this Thursday night at 5:00, though! I hope to see you there!

I'm moving to Ireland!

Okay. Maybe not really. But I'm SERIOUSLY thinking about it because I've been at the Fangs, Fur, and Fey conference this weekend hanging out with fellow Nelson Literacy Agency author, Sarah Rees Brennan.

Who is awesome.

And Irish.

And who informed me that writers/poets/musicians in Ireland DON'T PAY INCOME TAX!

I'm almost dizzy thinking about it.

-Ally

Have you marked your calendars?

Hi again, gang.

Just in case you've missed the news, I'm going to be in San Francisco next week!

Yay!

Trolley cars. Fancy, famous bridges. Really good restaurants.

So, so much fun stuff!

Oh, and I'll be at the Romance Writers of America Annual Convention. It should be great to catch up with some of my favorite writers (and people).

And, of course, I'll be signing books and chatting with readers (that's you guys!) on Thursday night, July 31st at Kepler's books at 5:00.

I hope to see you all there!


-Ally

Progress for the new "Heist" book

Word count update

Progress on Kat. Or Heist. Or whatever else we're calling it today.

More furniture options

What can I say? Decisions are STILL the worst!










And those are just the beds.


-Ally

More Questions

I just answered about a hundred emails and am starting to see some more trends. Here are the top ones:



HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO WRITE A BOOK?

Short answer: it varies. A lot. I've done it as quickly as a couple of months, and I've had it take as long as a year and a half.

I've realized recently that--when I know what I'm writing--I write about 500 words in 30 minutes. Take a break. Come back. Repeat until book is finished.

The problem is getting to the point where you can crank out those 500 words. Today, for example, wasn't a writing day. It was a "floor day" where I sat on the floor and stared at my board of post-its that outline the story until I figured some things out.

The floor days matter too. Big time.


WHAT ARE SOME GOOD BOOKS I CAN READ THIS SUMMER?

The Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan.
THE SQUAD books by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.
THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS by E. Lockhart
BRAS AND BROOMSTICKS by Sarah Mlynowski
And there are no doubt hundreds more that your local librarians would love to tell you about.


WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR IDEAS FOR YOUR BOOKS?
Under each "book" on my website there's a page called "Story Behind The Story" that tells the whole tale in detail.


WILL YOU COME TO MY TOWN ON TOUR?
Maybe. Please go to www.eventful.com/allycarter to help us track your request.


WILL GG3 BE IN HARDBACK OR PAPERBACK?
It will most likely be in hardback first and then about a year later the paperback will be released.


CAN YOU TELL US ANYTHING ABOUT GG3?
Um...not right now. Sorry.


WHEN WILL WE KNOW THE TITLE FOR GG3?
I'm working on a puzzle kind of thing right now, and as soon as that is ready and as soon as my publisher says I can, I'll release it. Don't worry, I'll let you know in advance when that will be. We're not sure now, however.



Nighty night,
Ally

It's back.

Project Runway is back!

PROJECT RUNWAY IS BACK!!!!

Project Runway...

IS BACK!

Oh Tim Gunn, won't you please come over and read Heist. Or GG3. And look over my shoulder and say "This is stunning. But this concerns me... Make it work!"


--Ally


ps...all you writers out there need to head on over to Libba Bray's blog today to read all about the love story that is the author/novel relationship. Funny--and true--stuff.

Progress on The Book That Has No Name

A growing trend

Hey gang,

I've noticed a growing trend in the last few months where--at least a few times a week--someone will write me with a "great idea" for a future Gallagher Girls book.

Of course, I'm very touched that you guys are so engrossed in the characters and the stories that you're wondering what might happen next.

But, as much as I'd love to accommodate every single request, I'm afraid books aren't written by committee.

I actually already know where the books are going, and I'm going to have to ask y'all to believe me on that one. I'm not saying I know every little detail, but the big picture has been mapped out for quite a while now.

So for legal and creative reasons, (the legal reasons are really, really big, by the way) any emails I receive that say something like "here's what needs to happen in GG3" have to be deleted immediately. I'm sorry.


-Ally

Decisons are the worst

Who remembers that line in Clueless where Cher is looking at her (revolving) closet for something to wear and she says, "Decisions are the worst"?

Anyone? Anyone?

Well, I do.

And it pretty much sums up my life.

You see, I am the worst decision-maker. Ever.

Now this doesn't apply to big decisions. I recently decided to buy a house in about twenty seconds. The decision about what color to paint the living room of said house?

Well, that one has been going on for about to six weeks.

Not only that, but should I HIRE it painted? Should I do it myself? Should I hire someone to paint the living room (where the heavy entertainment armoire will have to be moved) or should I just hire movers to come move the armoire and then paint it myself?

And curtains?!? I'm going to need new curtains!

And my couch! I've made three separate furniture decisions in my life and two of them were bad so now I REALLY want to get rid of the world's most uncomfortable couch and chair, but then what?

I had a sectional in my apartment in college and I loved, loved, loved it, but I just don't know if that would fit in the room I have now.

And my bedroom furniture is old and dated and not all that jazzy, but have you seen all the beds there are now?

Do I do a wooden headboard? Or the cool old-looking metal ones? Upholstery?

AND SHOULD THE UPHOLSTERY MATCH THE CURTAINS I CAN'T PICK OUT!

Crud.

I'm not exaggerating at all when I say that this is a source of some serious stress in my life right now. On the one hand, I wouldn't mind paying for a little assistance in making these decisions. On the other, I have opinions and I want a house that represents my likes and preferences and not someone else's.

I do know that I really, really like this dresser.


Although I had initially had something darker in mind.

And this is the bed that goes with it...

And I think it is really, really pretty.

But seriously... do you really think I'm going to clean under the bed? I'm a dust-ruffle person for a reason, people! I have dust under my bed. And probably a few random socks. And books. And maybe a half dozen dried out pens and highlighters.

I know that really cool, hip, fashionable people don't buy all the furniture from the same collection. But let's face it, I'm not nearly cool enough for that.

And don't even get me started on the dining room situation.

There's this table I really like at Pottery Barn.



But I'm not in love with the chairs. And, ideally, it would extend slightly farther than this one (even though my current dining room probably isn't big enough for it to extend too far).

But then maybe I'd need a bigger dining room.

But that would require a different house.

Double crud.

So maybe those "twenty-second decisions" aren't any better than no decisions.


-Ally

The Hulk

Do you know what a writer (or...well...this writer) gets to do when she finishes 20,000 words (see chart below)?

She gets to go see a movie.

What does she see (and by "she" I mean me)? The Hulk.

Who does she see it with? Jennifer Lynn Barnes because Jen just finished an entire book and she deserves to get to see A LOT of movies.

Why do they choose THE HULK? Because the first writer (that's me) loves Edward Norton, and the other writer (that's Jen) loves comic books.

Well, all I can really say is that there is a lot of shirtless Edward Nortonness (so I got my money's worth.)

There were also very long stretches of time when people were shooting at Bruce Banner who, when shot at, turns into a big ugly guy who is (evidently) bulletproof.

How do they respond to that?

By shooting some more.

This was a little perplexing to both Jen and me (and, by the way, it is Jen and Me and not Jen and I in this case since you wouldn't say "it was perplexing to I". No real point to this except that is my number one grammatical pet peeve since it's the grammatical pet peeve that seems to stem from pretension. And ignorance. My least-favorite combination.)

Jen and I would have just waited until The Hulk stopped being Hulky and shot him then. Or, we would have taken all the scientific data and blood that Bruce Banner left behind to make more Hulks instead of shooting the (bulletproof) Hulk. A lot.

But that's just us.

Still...shirtless Edward Norton? Worth eight bucks.

Okay.

To bed.

-Ally

Heist. Or Kat. Or something that's significantly better progress.

In answer to some questions...

Hi Gang,

Lately, it seems like I've been getting a lot of emails from you guys all asking the same questions.

Let's take a second to answer some, shall we?

Question #1: Do you not know the title for GG3 and that's why you're not telling us? Or do you know and are just waiting?

Answer: Yes, I know. And yes, you have to wait. A little while. But I have to say that this title fits the book REALLY well and that makes me very happy.


Question #2: I was reading your book and I got to page (insert page here) and the part where (insert part here) happens. And I'm confused. What did (insert character's name here) mean by (insert line here).

Answer: This is a tough question for me to answer because a lot of the time it's a case where you need to read further and the answer will be revealed. Sometimes you just need to re-read. But the key is that I can't explain every little thing in the books. I'm sorry. It's out of my hands now and the relationship is between you and the book--what YOU think happens is what matters. (Oh, and if you didn't already know, a lot of the BIG QUESTIONS are answered in future books.)


Question #3: I want to be in the movie, but it says on your website you don't know anything about the movie. So what can you tell me about the movie?

Answer: Yes, I am still getting this question. And no, I'm afraid the answer hasn't changed. I wish I could tell you all exactly when/where/how to try out but as far as I know they're still months--or years--or centuries--from that.


Nighty night,

Ally

"Heist" Progress

For all the writers...

Hey gang,

All of you writers out there should head over to Maureen Johnson's blog for her latest entry, Death to Muses.

Good, good stuff, gang.

I couldn't agree more--especially about the bread fairy.

A lot of times people who were raised like I was raised try to down-play the good things in their lives.

"I've been very blessed."
"Things have really worked out."
"I guess I was in the right place at the right time."

Etc. Etc.

What we don't come right out and say is, "I put my butt in my chair every day until the book was finished. And then I took a nap. And saw a movie. And then I put my butt in the chair every day until the book was GOOD."

Yeah, that's something we don't say.

But Maureen Johnson did. And I really, really hope you guys will go check it out.



-Ally

"Heist" Progress

The exorcism. In pictures.

It started with me cleaning out most of my kitchen cabinets.




And then the guys had to come and cut out the evil brace thing that served no purpose other than to make me miserable.


This, as you can imagine, required very sharp tools. And dust. Lots and lots of dust.




But then we started seeing some progress...


Like my new pull-out cookie sheet holder and trash can!



And now, of course, I finally have a pantry!

Sure, it's an incredibly shallow pantry, but I have to admit I sort of love it. Nothing ever gets lost in the back of the cabinet!

Plus, there's a place for the Baked Lays to go~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



And, finally, my favorite feature, pull-out shelves for the one big lower cabinet. Yay!


I literally fit about twice as much stuff in there now that there are two full (pull out) shelves and no evil bar cutting the doorway in half!




So even though we're still not totally finished, I must say that this has probably been worth my time and money.

It's still not the custom kitchen of my dreams...

But it's a start.





-Ally

(and, yes, those flowers are from the zinnias that I started from seeds a few months ago. I told you zinnias were the one flower I could grow.)

Eventful

Hi Guys,

It seems like lately I've been getting a lot of emails and blog comments from readers asking...

1. if I'm going to be going on tour.

And

2. if I could come to (insert their hometown here).

Well, the answer to 1 is no. For now. There's been some talk of me maybe doing a little bit of touring when GG3 or Kat is released, but that's still a long way away and a lot can change between now and then.

The answer to 2 is that I'd love to visit ALL of your hometowns, but unfortunately that isn't very feasible.

And it is very helpful for you guys to write and tell me where you'd like for me to visit. Unfortunately, it isn't exactly practical.

I'd have to keep lists and build spreadsheets and it would be...insane.

So imagine my joy when I saw Hank and John Green (the geniuses behind Brotherhood2.o) had a link on their site where people can request they visit their towns!

Yay, John (whom I know) and Hank (who I've never met in my life)! You are, in fact, made of awesome.

(And yes, that is something of an inside joke for all the nerdfighters.)

(And double yes, "nerdfighter" is very much an inside joke, too.)

So I headed on over to eventful.com today and made an official Ally Carter page where people (and by "people" I mean all of you) can request that I visit your town!

So, if your first response to a blog about touring was to head to the comments section and say something like "Can you please come to (insert your town)? Please! Nobody ever comes to (insert your town)!"...

Don't.

Please. I'm begging you don't because your blog comment vote will not be tracked or measured or logged in any way.

But your request at http://www.eventful.com/allycarterwill be recorded forever.

So do that instead.



Thanks!

Ally

Kat Progress

ps...thanks to all of you who have gone to eventful to request events in your area. Just note, please, that it's probably best to request "metro area" events. For example, I don't know the names of all of the Chicago suburbs, so a dozen people requesting a dozen events in a dozen different Chicago area towns probably wouldn't get a visit. But if you all request "Chicago Metro Area" then I'll have a much better idea where the demand is.

Thanks!

More on writing. Sort of.

I knew when I made the decision to write two separate series (the Gallagher Girls and the new series, Heist. Or Kat. Or whatever I end up calling it) that there would be challenges.

I thought the hard part would be leaving one world and entering another. Or changing between Cammie's first person voice and Kat's third person narrator.

Nope. Turns out those things are easy.

What's killing me is going from doing a polish draft on one book and a rough draft of another. Turns out, once my internal editor wakes up she is REALLY hard to shut up!

Well, gotta get back to it!


-Ally

Heist

I can't think of a good title for this post

The kitchen situation is improving. We're still missing three sets of doors, but I've spent the last couple of days putting stuff back into cabinets and I have to say that I can already see a HUGE difference!

Pull out drawers!

Plates that don't have to be turned on their sides!

A place for the baked lays to go!

All-in-all the work will certainly be worth it.

In other news, it's that time again: rough draft time!

Yes, for those of you who are dying for GG3, I'm still working on it. But we're to the point where my editor and I are going to be leap frogging versions back and forth, so I'm going to use the time when my editor has GG3 to start working on Heist (or Kat, as I sometimes call it.)

Note the word-count-o-meter below.

Feel free to keep me honest.

-Ally

HEIST STORY PROGRESS