The title of the third Gallagher Girls book will be...
...revealed to anyone who can complete this puzzle!
GG3%20FINAL%20PUZZLE%20clues%20and%20grid.pdf
All you have to do is open the file (it's a pdf), print it out, and complete the puzzle.
I used a software program called Crossword Weaver that combines words that I submit with its own index of options. So, as a result, it's a REAL crossword! I've tried to make it as user-friendly as possible...but it's still pretty difficult.
I tried to make it as heavy on words/clues that followers of the books (and my blog) will know as possible, but I have to admit that the puzzle itself is still incredibly challenging.
But when have Gallagher Girls (and guys) ever backed down from a challenge?
One final thing I want to point out is that I've been using the word "contest" when talking about this crossword, but that actually isn't correct. There isn't a competition really--just between you and...yourself.
The only prize is knowing what the title will be (and hopefully that's prize enough).
The only thing I ask is that you give it a try, be patient, and please don't post spoilers in the comments.
Thanks, everyone!
And have fun!
-Ally
ps...edited to add: I'M MAKING SOME LAST MINUTE CHANGES. PLEASE CHECK BACK SOON!
pps...the revised version should be up now! The answers are the same but the clues are much improved (ie...easier). I think.
Cranky
I'm feeling disproportionately cranky this evening. That is to say that my level of crank is higher than my level of actual discomfort. Unless you count the discomfort brought on by crank itself, and then things level out nicely.
I have determined that the aforementioned crank stems from three things.
1. My phone died. As in DIED. As in I spent an hour on the phone with someone from Motorola and then drove to two different cell phone dealers only to be told "oh, yeah, it's dead."
The good news is that it's still under warranty so they're overnighting me a new phone. And I got a loaner phone for in the meantime. So this is why I shouldn't technically be as cranky as I am.
But I am.
2. My feet are weird.
Last year about this time I had the following conversation with one of my friends/coworkers, Beth.
Beth: I need new walking shoes.
Me: Me, too. I just dread having to break a new pair in.
Beth: You have to break in walking shoes?
Me: Yeah. Of course. You know how it takes a couple of months to wear holes in that padding stuff at the back of the shoe so that it will stop giving you blisters?
Beth: (says nothing but looks at me like I'm a freak)
Me: You know... How you have to wear holes in your shoes so they don't hurt?
Beth: Um...Ally...you shouldn't have to wear holes in your shoes to keep them from hurting.
Me: No. Really, you do. Look in my closet. Every pair of treadmill shoes I OWN have two identical holes in the back of the shoe.
Beth: Yeah, they shouldn't do that.
Me: YOUR shoes don't have holes in them?
Beth: No one's shoes have holes in them.
Me: So how do you reach the point when your feet don't blister and bleed when you walk?
Beth: YOUR FEET BLEED WHEN YOU WALK?
Me: Only a little.
Beth: Buy new shoes. Seriously. BUY NEW SHOES.
And thus began the great hunt for shoes that DO NOT result in massive blisters on the backs of my heels.
The hunt isn't going so well.
Last week I actually went to a store in town where you have to walk on a treadmill and they watch you and do all these crazy things, and I bought a pair of shoes...
And now my feet are bleeding.
WHY OH WHY HAVE I BEEN CURSED WITH THESE FREAK OF NATURE FEET?!?!?!
3. Maybe there is no three on second thought, but that doesn't make one or two any less crankified.
-Ally
Paul Newman, man who thankfully wasn't fictional
One of the first blog posts I ever wrote was my Top 10 men who sadly are fictional. But there was one man I thankfully didn't have to put on that list because Paul Newman was in every way real.
He was a real movie star.
He was one half of a real love.
He was a real gentleman.
He was a real humanitarian.
He was a real talent.
He was a real heartthrob.
He was a real hero in many, many ways.
And, sadly, today he is no longer with us.
The first book I ever wrote has never been published, but in my mind it has already made into a movie and Paul Newman is starring.
The Heist/Kat book is still a first draft, but every time I read it I see Paul Newman as Kat's Uncle Eddie, the family patriarch and one of my favorite characters I've ever written.
I don't want to imagine a world without Paul Newman. But more than that I don't want to imagine a world where he, and men like him, were only fictional.
No one could have written a better man. No one. And he will be sorely missed.
-Ally
ps...I hate to think that there are people out there who are going to have to ask the question "who is Paul Newman", but if you somehow aren't familiar with his life and his work then I highly recommend you spend some quality time at your video store or on Netflix checking out classics like THE STING.
Or that you read some of the hundreds of articles that will no doubt be out in the coming days.
So please don't ask "who is Paul Newman". Instead, please take this chance to learn about him and be more like him.
Mini blog: randomness
My throat is starting to hurt again.
The state fair is starting soon which means I can't stop craving corndogs.
I have the sudden urge to re-read PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.
My sister was right and buying a second Tivo for the TV by the treadmill is perhaps the greatest exercise incentive EVER.
Did I mention my throat hurts?
-Ally
And speaking of lists...
Remember how a few days ago I blogged about the power of state reading lists? Well, a commenter in the last post mentioned that LYKY has been named to the Rosewater reading list.
Fast forward to ten minutes of frantic Googling...
YES! The Rosewater is the state reading list (I think) for Indiana!
Go Hoosier Gallagher Girls! Go Liz (my friend from my summer in D.C.) and Travis (my friend from that job I had in college!) Go Purdue (the school where I almost did my graduate work). Go John Green (who lives there now). And go Laura (my friend from grad school).
And go all the other people from Indiana whom I do not know.
But that got me to thinking that a lot of lists might come with the superpower of invisibility. After all, LYKY has been on the Rosewater list for at least a month so far as I can tell (maybe longer) and this was the first I've heard of it.
So...I've got a favor.
If either of the Gallagher Girl books is on a reading list in your state, could you please leave it in comments?
So far I know about Georgia, Texas, and I've heard rumors about Rhode Island. (But don't worry, Rhode Island, the rumors were VERY flattering.)
Later gators,
Ally
To-do list update
1. Register to vote in new state of residence
--Finished! The forms are in the mail and I'm ready to be heard on election day. Are you?
2. Figure out what you have to do to register to vote
--It turns out all I had to do was visit www.rockthevote.com and print out the voter registration form there and then place it in the mail to my state's office for such things. It couldn't have been any easier. So again I ask all of you (who are over 18) have you registered yet?
3. Worry a lot that registering to vote probably requires a local driver's license
--It didn't. At least it hasn't yet.
4. Get local driver's license
--Done! I just got back from both the drivers' testing station AND the tag agency. But never fear--I finally have a license for the state where I now reside!
5. Walk AT LEAST two times before Tuesday so Laci, your trainer, won't torture you with additional push ups.
--I walked Saturday. And I'll do it again tonight. I swear!
6. Unload dishwasher
--Done. But I think it needs running again.
7. Nap. A lot.
--I must say, this is the area of to-do-ness where I absolutely EXCEL!
8. Read 39 CLUES by Rick Riordan
--I'm almost halfway finished and boy is it good.
9. Try not to be too terribly jealous that Rick Riordan is the probably the best YA writer going right now and you're...well...not
--Not doing so well on this one. However, it just occurred to me that Rick is more of a middle-grade author, and I'm more YA. So that helps. A little.
10. Go see Burn After Reading
--Didn't get it done. Maybe tomorrow?
11. Call George (Clooney) and tell him that he's really good in Burn After Reading (even if he isn't--which he will be).
--Still owe George a call. Drats.
12. Stop checking email every two seconds to see if Editor Jen has written to say that the Heist/Kat book is colossal failure and that she regrets to inform you that Hyperion Books for Children would like to sever your professional relationship.
--Good luck with that.
13. Finish GG3 Title Crossword puzzle by the end of next week: September 26th
--Will do.
14. Post the GG3 Title Crossword on Wednesday, October 1!
--Absolutely.
Some minor housekeeping issues
Hi Everyone,
I just want to take a sec to remind everyone that the comment sections should be used for brief comments--preferably referring to the post in question or the books in general.
Personal messages to me, off-topic responses to other commenters, and fan fiction posts will not be approved and posted on the site.
To network with other readers and/or share your fanfiction I recommend some of the Gallagher Girls communities that have sprung up online at MySpace, Facebook, LiveJournal, and other networking sites.
Have a great night,
Ally
A purely hypothetical question
Hi gang,
So here's a long story and a short question for you.
My sister is on a committee for a local charity. The charity is having a fundraiser and I've agreed to be (for lack of a better term) up for auction.
Basically, I'll go to lunch with a group of readers and their parents.
Or maybe I'll make an appearance at a birthday party.
Another option is for people to bid to have me do a school visit at their school of choice.
Really, we' don't know WHAT to do! I'm really up for pretty much anything, but here's the problem: we honestly have no idea...
1. what readers and parents will want
and
2. what people doing the bidding (it's a silent auction) will want to pay the most for.
So here's the question for you: if an author (me) lived near you and was offering a few hours of her time, how would you most want to utilize that time? It could be any of the above or ANYTHING ELSE.
Be creative and comment away!
-Ally
ps...please note that this auction will be limited to the area where I currently live. I'm afraid that due to my busy writing schedule I will not be available to travel to accommodate other events or areas.
To-do list
1. Register to vote in new state of residence
2. Figure out what you have to do to register to vote
3. Worry a lot that registering to vote probably requires a local driver's license
4. Get local driver's license
5. Walk AT LEAST two times before Tuesday so Laci, your trainer, won't torture you with additional push ups.
6. Unload dishwasher
7. Nap. A lot.
8. Read 39 CLUES by Rick Riordan
9. Try not to be too terribly jealous that Rick Riordan is the probably the best YA writer going right now and you're...well...not
10. Go see Burn After Reading
11. Call George (Clooney) and tell him that he's really good in Burn After Reading (even if he isn't--which he will be).
12. Stop checking email every two seconds to see if Editor Jen has written to say that the Heist/Kat book is colossal failure and that she regrets to inform you that Hyperion Books for Children would like to sever your professional relationship.
13. Finish GG3 Title Crossword puzzle by the end of next week: September 26th
14. Post the GG3 Title Crossword on Wednesday, October 1!
Times Delay
Hey gang,
As I mentioned a few days ago, my agent recently blogged about "overnight success" and how Love You Kill You hit the Times list almost two years after it was initially released.
Since Kristin's blog, a lot of people have commented with questions about how/why this happened.
There seems to be a misconception that because LYKY hadn't been a bestseller it was, by default, a failure. In truth, it's quite common for a book to sell well--really well--without hitting a major list.
You see, lists are determined by who has had a great week. LYKY was a book that, during its first two years, had a lot of very good weeks--bookstores kept selling out and reordering; the publisher kept going back to print. And, perhaps most importantly, people seemed to be telling their friends.
So it was a success. But it was a success that was certainly flying below the radar (which, I think was the point of Kristin's blog).
It sold well enough that when CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO SPY was released in October 2007 enough people were interested in the sequel that it had a "great" week and landed on the Times list.
At the time, LYKY was still doing well, but it wasn't as shiny and new as its baby sister, and that was okay by us.
And then a weird thing happened: in early January I got the call that both LYKY and CMH were going to be on the TIMES list. This absolutely floored me and to this day I still don't know exactly why/how it happened.
But that hasn't kept me from formulating some theories:
1. Holiday gift cards are a very important part of the teen book market. Let's face it, grandparents have no idea what to give the 13-year-old in their life, but they know they approve of reading, and so they give a lot of gift cards for the holidays and, as a result, YA sales in general tend to be very strong in end of December and early January.
And yet, a high tide floats all boats and I honestly don't know why LYKY floated a little higher than it had been. But it did.
Which brings us to...
2. When CMH hit the list it put new attention on the series in general and people wanted to start at the beginning, thus resulting in a new surge of people heading for the paperback.
Which leads us to...
3. With book 2 out and doing well, it stands to reason that both books 1 and 2 would get better placement in stores, included in "Bestseller" displays and ads, etc.
So, in some ways I think a person could say that book 1 hit the list because book 2 was there first. But you could also say that book 2 hit the list because book 1 got people hooked.
It's a chicken and egg thing, I guess, and whenever it comes to the Times list, I don't think anyone every knows ANYTHING for sure.
In the end there are only three things about which I am positive:
--it wasn't from self promotion.
All this time I was home...writing. And if book 3 hits the list it will probably be because people liked book 2 and, in that case, that was time well spent.
--it wasn't overnight.
I firmly believe that this is a business of referrals. Some books may come out and hit the list their first week (all the recent discussion of celebrity books makes for good examples of this), but in the long-run, word-of-mouth determines what you can still find on shelves months or years after a book's initial lay-down.
--all success is relative--especially in this industry.
The unagented just want an agent.
The agented just want to publish something.
The published just want to be published better (better reviews... better store placement... better sales, etc.).
So I can understand how some might say "Well, Ally got Kristin as an agent and Kristin sold her first (published) book (CHEATING AT SOLITAIRE) after it was on submission about a month--she's an overnight success!"
Well...that's true. If you gauge success in the amount of time your agent has to wait for an offer. That, of course, doesn't take into account the ten years I spent writing (really bad) screenplays. Or the still unpublished novel I wrote after that.
It also assumes that having two books on the Times list is where "success" ends. Because, in truth, it doesn't. Or at least for me. There's always some new challenge/goal. And not only that, but new books have to perform at least as well as previous books or else my "success" story of today becomes tomorrow's cautionary tale.
It's all relative. And it's all fleeting. And the only thing that stays the same so far as I can see is that every day my butt has to go in the chair and every day my fingers have to go on the keys and the less I think about the rest of it the more sane I'm able to stay.
Happy writing, everyone!
Ally