Ally’s Answers

 

Hi All!

Here are the questions and answers from last week!

How did you come up with Blackthorne? The name and the story/place behind it?

I wanted Blackthorne to be the anti-Gallagher—some place with lots of secrets and shadows and a very unsavory past. To be a Gallagher Girl is kind of golden. Revered. But I wanted Zach to come from a place that is exactly the opposite. That is why the Gallagher Girls live in a mansion and Blackthorne is basically a prison.

Magnificent Monday Excerpt!

Hi All!

I had a crazy week last week and didn’t get your questions to Ally until yesterday so…..I won’t have answers until later this week!

But to make it up to you I am going to give you an excerpt from United We Spy!

It was dark when the jet finally landed. I’m sure I must have slept on the long ride over the Atlantic, but I didn’t really remember. I just stared out the window: watching, thinking, waiting for something, but what, I didn’t know.

Movie try outs

What follows is an honest, genuine, and hopefully helpful post about having “try outs” for movies.

I get this question a lot. As in every day. As in multiple times a day.

In fact, I’ve already answered it several times, but such is the way of the world. I will answer it here and…you know…tomorrow someone will ask it again. And yet I feel myself compelled to answer it tonight because tonight is the night I snap.

Okay. Here goes.

Again, I don’t want to be flippant or condescending. I’m trying to HONESTLY answer your question.

Magnificent Monday Questions!

Hi Everyone!

I hope everyone has had a chance to read Ally’s post with some really cool fun facts about how she came up with character names and other fun stuff!! This got me thinking about what fun questions YOU guys could come up with for Ally.

So, Today’s mission is to send in a fun/interesting question for Ally!

I will choose about 20 questions from those submitted and make Ally answer them!

I will post all questions and answers next Monday.

xoxo,

Shellie

P.S. You guys are the best fans EVER!!!!

Commentary

Hi everyone!

And a happy weekend to you.

I just turned in a first draft of a secret project (kept secret because it is highly unlikely that anything will ever come of it, and I don’t want to confuse anyone or open myself up to endless questions about it.)

But…short version…this means I’m taking it easy this weekend. And for me “taking it easy” = “watching lots of movies”.

One of my favorite things about movies? The special commentaries!  I just love listening to how the filmmakers…ya know…made the film. I’ve often wished there were a way to do that for novels–to add my personal notes and stories as you read along.

Wednesday Mission Winner!!

Hi All! I am so glad so many of you participated in Monday’s Mission!

The answer was: “When you grow up in a house full of spies, you grow accustomed to silence.”

This was taken from Out of Sight, Out of Time page 225.

Languages used were French, Swedish, Dutch, Latin, and Spanish.

I also accepted: “When you grow up in a house full of spies you grow used to silence.”

 

And the winner is…..

Ruby A. says:

Magnificent Monday Mission Giveaway!!!

Hey Everyone!

This week I have an AWESOME Prize!!!!!!

It is a Limit Edition Excerpt Booklet with the first 9 CHAPTERS of United We Spy!!!!

united we spy excerpt book

How do you win this AWESOME prize????

By solving this super tricky phrase:

LPVIY QJPN BMVIYDNNZU D ZOO CPN QJG NKDJIIZI OZ XMZNXZMZ VXJNOPHWMVYJN VG NDGZIXDJ.

First you will need to do a Caesar Cipher and shift the letters to the right 5 spaces.

Second you will have to translate to English from 5 different languages. (Words are grouped together in phrases so they will translate correctly)

Wednesday Winner!

Congratulations! Amanda M. you are this week’s winner!!!!!!!!

 

Amanda M says:

Magnificent Memorial Day Giveaway!

Hi Everyone!

I hope everyone has read Ally’s Memorial Day post about the true meaning of Memorial Day!

To mark the holiday and because we got some super cool tote bags at the Ally Carter Headquarters this week, I have an awesome giveaway!!!!

To be entered please answer in the comments “What is Josh’s favorite ice-cream flavor?”

IMG_1068

Winner will receive one “I read YA” tote bag and button, one pair of Heist Society promotional sunglasses, and three GG audio books (GG 1-3)!!!!!!

 

Rules: Please only answer ONE time! Only US resident only. No comments will be approved for 48 hours.

Happy Memorial Day!

Hi everybody!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend to those of you who live in the U.S. For my family, it also marks the end of the school year (something about which my nieces are super excited).

Memorial Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. Not because it is about going to the lake or the pool or having barbecues. I was raised to believe that Memorial Day is for…remembering.

We always went to the cemetery as a family to decorate the graves of veterans and our family members. We always have big family meals and gatherings (one of which we had last weekend, actually).