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Ally's Diary
On the roadItaly, in picturesSo as you know, I just got back from Italy and the Bologna Children's Book Fair. Here are the pictures that prove it:
Hanging out in Venice with Natasha, my agent Kristin Nelson, and super author Sarah Rees Brennan.
Venice is an incredible city that is really unlike any other place in the world.
And, of course, while we were there we had to take a (very short and probably over-priced) gondola ride.
But it was fun seeing the back alleys of Venice (that are, by the way, water.)
And then it was on to Bologna!
I spent most of my time at the fair in and around the Literary Agents' Center where my agent and I had meetings with the various editors who publish the Gallagher Girls and Heist Society around the world.
Luckily, there was still a lot of time for walking the beautiful (and covered!) sidewalks of Bologna.
One of the absolute highlights of the trip was visiting the Kinder College outside of town for one of the most amazing school visits ever!
And not just because the school was in an old monastery and this was the view out the windows!
Finally, my last official stop was the first ever Bolibri book event that was designed to--for the first time ever--allow the people of Bologna to get a taste of this world-famous book festival. So I guess the moral of the story is that I had a great time on my first trip to Italy.
I sincerely hope it won't be my last! . --Ally . . Highs and Lows from Bologna!HIGH: Meeting my wondeful foreign publishers. LOW: Realizing just how big the foreign market is and how--if a person wanted to--they could literally work themselves to death trying to please every reader in every market. HIGH: Hanging out with fab writers like Sarah Rees Brennan, Holly Black, Cassie Clare, Maureen Johnson, and Kristin Cashore. LOW: Saying goodbye to fab writers like Sarah Rees Brennan, Holly Black, Cassie Clare, Maureen Johnson, and Kristin Cashore. HIGH: So much FOOD! LOW: Diet. HIGH: Talking about books, writing, writers, and publishing with some of the savviest minds in the business. LOW: Realizing just how much about this crazy business is just...crazy. HIGH: Seeing Italy. LOW: Leaving Italy. HIGH: Awesome school visit set up by my wonderful Italian publisher. LOW: Realizing that the reason there are no hot men left in America is because all the hot American men are teaching at schools in Italy! (Seriously, even my agent's husband agreed.) HIGH: Shopping. LOW: Well, I'm not gonna lie, losing my luggage twice wasn't all that fun. HIGH: Coming home is always a good feeling (even without your luggage.) . . -Ally . . Bologna, baby!Hey everybody! Two VERY big items of note this morning: 1. Late last night I finished the FINAL "final" draft of ONLY THE GOOD SPY YOUNG! This was the draft that will actually go into production--no more passes. No more chances to tweak, correct, or just in general change. My part of this book is officially over. Now, I know what you're thinking: but it's March! The book isn't scheduled to be out until June 15th. Maybe this means the book can come out early!?!? As sound as that idea is in theory, I'm afraid it just doesn't work in practice, because even though I'm finished with MY job, dozens--or hundreds--of other people still have to do their jobs. Like the people who input my final changes, the people who print the books. Or ship the books. Or put the jackets on the books. Or...you get the drift. Plus, publishers have to reserve each book a place in stores months in advance. And June 15th is the place they've reserved for me. 2. In other news, I'm absolutely thrilled to be leaving today for my first trip to Italy and the Bologna Children's Book Fair! I've wanted to attend Bologna (as we call this fair in the biz) ever since my very first editor mentioned it to me way back when we were working on LYKY. It's a very big deal. Thousands of international publishers, agents, and authors converge on the city, and I'm thrilled to be one of them! So I'll be traveling for the next week or so. I'm going to try to keep the blog updated and, of course, twitter. In the meantime, I'm going to turn comments off because I've been getting A LOT of spam comments and until we can get that fixed I just don't have time to wade through them all, picking out the comments from REAL people! Have a great week, everybody! . -Ally . . It's tour time!Hey everybody, I'm sitting in my kitchen watching it snow (hard!) and getting ready to go start packing for tour. I'm leaving this afternoon and hoping the snow doesn't mess stuff up too much. Assuming I can get to Chicago (and I bet I can) I hope many of you will come out tomorrow to help me welcome Heist Society into the world! Yay! Heist Society is here! It's finally here! This is going to be a really fun tour. Just FYI I'm including the complete tour dates once again. If one of these is near you, please visit the store's website for details and come see me! Take care! HEIST SOCIETY TOUR
Pre-registration may be required for some stops. Please check the host store's website for details.
Tuesday, February 9 Wednesday, February 10 Thursday, February 11 Friday, February 12 Revised Location! Sunday, February 14
Tuesday, February 16 Wednesday, February 17 Thursday, February 18 Friday, February 19 The complete tour schedule!Yay! At long last I can confirm that I will be doing a signing at 1:00 on Sunday, February 14th--yes, that February 14th--at the legendary Books of Wonder in New York, NY! Yay! And that's it...the last piece of the Heist Society tour puzzle! I hope to see all of you somewhere down the road! -Ally
HEIST SOCIETY
Tour Thursday, February 4* Tuesday, February 9 Wednesday, February 10 Thursday, February 11 Friday, February 12 Saturday, February 13 NEW! NEW! NEW!
New Details! Wednesday, February 17 Thursday, February 18 Friday, February 19 ps...just reminding everyone one more time that I have no say in where and when I go on tour. Hopefully I'll get to do it again in the future. If you'd like to voice your preference for me to visit a store near you, you can do so right here. One more tour stop!Yes, it's official. San Jose, I'm coming your way! My wonderful publicist has confirmed that I will be having a "meet and greet" at the Borders Cafe in San Jose, California on the afternoon of Thursday, February 4th! Yay! Unfortunately, this will be my only west coast stop on this tour. (But there will hopefully be other tours and I will certainly make it out west on one of those. Plus, don't forget I was just there last June.) As for the rest of the tour, we're still working to firm up one additional date, but hopefully I'll be able to report back on that in the very near future. In the meantime, check out the most up-to-date tour schedule below. Also, if you're thinking about attending one of the events, I'd recommend you visit the store's website to read all about their signing policies. Some stores may require you to reserve your seat in advance, so check it out. I am incredibly grateful to my wonderful publisher, Disney-Hyperion, all of the stores who have graciously agreed to host me, and--most of all--to each of your for making all of this possible! Hope to see you soon,
HEIST SOCIETY Tour
NEW!! Thursday, February 4* Tuesday, February 9 Wednesday, February 10 Thursday, February 11 New Event!!! Friday, February 12 Saturday, February 13 New Event!!! Monday, February 15 Tuesday, February 16 Wednesday, February 17 Thursday, February 18 Friday, February 19 http://countdownpage.createyourcountdown.com/countdown.swf?filename=030e... More tour stops!Hey everybody! Most excellent news: we've added TWO new tour stops! See the most recent tour agenda below: Tuesday, February 9 Wednesday, February 10 Thursday, February 11 New Event!!! Friday, February 12 Saturday, February 13 New Event!!! Monday, February 15 Tuesday, February 16 Wednesday, February 17 Thursday, February 18 Friday, February 19 I'm getting excited!!!! Are YOU getting excited? -Ally ps...remember to log requests I visit your city go to www.eventful.com/allycarter A slightly updated tour schedule!Hey everybody! While we're still waiting for some of the details, I know a little more information about the upcoming Heist Society tour and I thought I'd share! Tuesday, February 9 Wednesday, February 10 Thursday, February 11 Saturday, February 13 Tuesday, February 16 Wednesday, February 17 Thursday, February 18 Friday, February 19 I'm so incredibly excited to get to visit such AMAZING stores... And of course to meet ALL OF YOU! Stay tuned for more details and in the meantime, happy reading! -Ally http://countdownpage.createyourcountdown.com/countdown.swf?filename=030e... Reminder: Signing Saturday, Dec. 12th!Hey, everybody! Just a quick reminder that next Saturday, December 12th, I'll be signing books at The Book Exchange in Pryor, Oklahoma! (If you don't know where Pryor is, please look it up.) I'll be there from 11-1, and I can't wait to see a lot of friends and family and hopefully many, many of you! And if you can't make it to Pryor, OK but would like to pre-order an autographed book then that can be arranged as well! (Because, let's face it, signed books make the best holiday presents ever!) Just contact the store for details. Thanks and I hope to see you all there! Ally Thank you, Texas!Hi everyone! I'm home from the Texas Book Festival, and can I just say that the Lone Star State does book festivals right? They set up big tents all around the grounds of the state capital and then fill the tents and surrounding churches and other buildings--and even the capital itself--with books and authors and readers and corndog vendors. Really. Seriously. There are books AND corndogs. Does life ever get better than that?
It was amazing. Volunteers picked me up and dropped me off at the airport. There were fancy, swanky parties that festival supporters and employees generously threw in their own homes.
 Pseudonymous Bosch and Sara Zarr and I spent a long time hanging out with a bunch of YA authors in our host's bathroom. Yeah. It was a REALLY nice bathroom.Everything was so well-organized that I didn't think it could get any better... And then I did my panel. And what do you know? It DID get better! It really, really did!
The panel!
From Left to Right: moderator Jon Scieszka, Derrick Barnes, Pseudonymous Bosch, me, and James A. Owen. I've frequently said that writing a series is a slightly different type of writing, and it was a ton of fun to be on a panel with other people who "get it" and talk about how our series began and evolved and where we hope they might be going.
And, of course, there were fans! So many awesome fans! With awesome questions! I'm genuinely grateful to everyone at the Texas Book Festival for a fabulous weekend. Also, many thanks to Disney-Hyperion for sending me and allowing me to get to know the fabulous Katherine Marsh and spend quality time with publicist extraordinaire, Deborah Bass. It was fabulous! ps...as you Twitter followers might have heard, I had a big flowery bow thing in my hair even though I'm 99% sure I'm not a bow person. But being a Gallagher Girl is about challenging yourself and taking risks and...well...a bow seemed like a good place to start.  So what do you think, guys? To bow or not to bow. That is the question. |
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