Over the last few years I've had the privileged of meeting some amazing people who love books and reading and just life in general. One of those people is Faith Hochhalter.

I first met Faith when I was in Phoenix a year ago, and she was easily one of the nicest people I'd met in a long time. So you can imagine how sad I was to hear that Faith was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

But there is some good news. Faith is so universally loved and respected in the literary community that over 40 authors have pledged anything from signed books to the dress Stephenie Meyer wore to the Breaking Dawn prom (yes, the Stephenie Meyer) to the Project Book Babe auction--the proceeds of which will all go directly to help Faith, the Book Babe herself.

There are so many amazing things going up for auction that I can't even start to list them all here. Just know that it is very, very worth checking out the Project Book Babe website for information on the items that will be auctioned off at the live auction on Saturday, April 4th in Tempe, AZ.

But what if you don't live in Phoenix? Well, then you are going to miss out on an incredibly fun evening, but that doesn't mean you're going to be left out entirely. Not at all.

There are dozens of items that are going to be auctioned off online. These also include autographed items from people like Stephenie Meyer and Rick Riordan, Shannon Hale and Christopher Paolini.

I am offering to critique the first ten pages of some aspiring writer's manuscript (it's under the Other Items section at the bottom of the page).

So please take a moment to check out the Project Book Babe website. Read about all the auction items and rules there (I'm not one of the organizers, so I'm afraid I won't be able to answer your questions as well as they can, so please go to the source if there's something you need to know.)

And, most of all, please keep Faith in your thoughts and prayers. She's someone who has given to the book world for most of her very young life. It's time, I think, for the book world to give back to her.

Take care, everyone,

Ally

Hi gang,

Welcome to all the newcomers who seem to be coming to the blog these days! I try to update several times a week, so please stick around!

Also, I wanted to remind everyone about the awesome, handy-dandy search bar in the top left hand corner of the blog. This is an incredibly useful little box, you see, because if you have a question about me or the books or the blog like, for example, "what is the Kat book" or "what are ARCs" then you can search the blog and almost always find the answer to your questions.

Take care,
Ally

Hi Everyone!

I'm mini blogging it today because, evidently, sometime in the night I swallowed yet another flaming tennis ball! (I'm certain about this because otherwise why would my throat be bright red and so sore it hurts to eat, drink, talk, etc.)

Sigh.

So instead of a big blog I think everyone should go over to the FUN STUFF page of AllyCarter.com and check out some of the new things we just added.

Long-time blog readers will have seen most of those things before, but newcomers might find something there that will amuse them.

Take care, and by all means, if you find a flaming tennis ball don't try to eat it!

-Ally

Who is the girl on the covers of your books?

Actually, it's three girls. My awesome publisher, Hyperion*Disney, has tried to get the same model for each shoot but so far that hasn't been possible. For the GG3 cover they actually did some fancy stuff with Photoshop so that the girl's face is the same from LYKY. But there were technically three different models.

Why does the uniform change colors on every book? Is that important to the story?

The decision to make the uniforms a different color on each book doesn't have anything to do with the books or the school. Actually, it's a little trick that hopefully helps the "look" of the book walk the line between making people recognize it as a Gallagher Girls book but also keeps people from thinking that they've read that one before.

So, in other words, ideally people will think: hey, I know those books. But they will also say "my books are blue and green--this red one must be new!"

It's a thin, thin line and a tough one to walk--that's why it takes so long to get the GG covers right sometimes.

Will Zach or Josh be in DON'T JUDGE A GIRL BY HER COVER?

No comment.

Will there be a new boy in DON'T JUDGE A GIRL BY HER COVER?

There will be one or two new major characters. They may or may not be of the boy variety. You'll just have to read to find out.

Have you really already started writing GG4?

Yes. I started it in Ireland, so I'm not that far along yet. Trust me, gang. We're still a looooong way from bookstores, I'm afraid.

Do you have a title for GG4 yet? Will you tell us?

I have a title I'm very much leaning toward for GG4, but I always keep my mind open as I'm writing the actual book in case something better occurs to me.

You should make your books into a movie! And when you do, can I be in it?

I've been hearing this a lot lately, and while it's still incredibly flattering, I'm afraid everything is exactly how it says it is on the movie page (except that the writers strike is obviously over--but other than that everything's the same). As I've said before, if and when there is movie news I will share it as soon as I possibly can.

In the meantime, the best thing we can all do to make sure a movie happens is to cross our fingers and tell everyone we can about the books.

How many Gallagher Girl books are you going to write?

Six. Probably. Maybe more or less depending on how the writing goes, but right now I'm thinking six will wrap things up nicely.

When will we know more about Kat (aka the Untitled Heist Project)?

Well, we're wrapping Kat up even as I type this. The book itself will probably be out next winter sometime. We have finally settled on a title (yay!) and in a few weeks I hope to do something fun to reveal it to you guys (assuming you've enjoyed the code contest and crossword puzzles and stuff we've done for the last two GG titles???)

Are you going to pick another book for your book club anytime soon?

Yes. Hopefully. I need to get my feet back under me and get some things marked off the to-do list, but I do hope to pick another book club book in the near future, so stay tuned!

Are you going to go on tour?

Yes! I think so. My fabulous publisher has been talking about sending me on tour when DON'T JUDGE A GIRL BY HER COVER is released. They're working on finalizing the cities and dates now, and when I have details I promise I'll pass them along.