This Is My Secret: The Blog and Website of Writer Kristin Cashore

The other day, I wrote a blog post with the heading, "These times make me inarticulate."

I wonder if any of you noticed my misspelling? I changed it as soon as I noticed it, but for a little while, it said, "These times make me inarcticulate"…

I'm afraid I have the Arctic on the brain :o). That's because in October, I'm going to be doing an artist residency for a couple weeks on a tall ship in the Arctic Circle, opening my writing heart and mind to that vulnerable ecosystem. I bet it will affect everything I write thereafter.

The remarkable organization making this possible is called The Arctic Circle. The photos you'll see if you go to that link are not out of this world, they're right at the top of this world, but you may think otherwise when you see them. In the words of the organization, "International artists, scientists, educators and innovators will live and work aboard a Barquentine Tall Ship while sailing the waters of the inter…

Do you know the art of Arizona-based painter Carolyn Schmitz, whose paintings include a series of animals wearing gorgeous natural hats? Go check her out. It's hard to choose, but I might love the bear with the bluejay on its head best of all.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you may have caught on that I like wearing cool stuff on my head. In that spirit, I want to share the Etsy shop ElsewhenMillinery, whose proprietor, Wendy, recently made me a beautiful green hat.

I have an upcoming social event that requires a hat. (If there are good pictures, I promise to share them, because, weather depending, it's going to be a photo-worthy event!) I decided to treat myself to exactly the hat I wanted, which meant finding a skilled artist who could make it for me. Look how it turned out.


I love it. Here's a photo that shows the pretty shape and fine details...

 I chose a green linen fabric because I wanted a hat I can wear anytime that will always match my ring. …

These times make me inarticulate.

I've felt for a while that I want to blog more. I miss my blog! But regularly blogging about the current political / social / international / environmental / [insert crisis here] situation is a fast route to a mental health meltdown for me, in addition to which, I don’t see that I have anything useful to add. I’m working with these topics in my writing and in my daily life. This blog has always been my respite.

Yet I'm also somewhat uncomfortable with saying anything online that isn't an acknowledgment of the state of our world today. It's a dilemma.

I’ve decided to give myself permission to return to blogging and blog about relatively inconsequential things. Little things are important too, you know? Which is why today I’m going to share pictures from a recent day off :o).

I knew on Wednesday, when my book-in-progress seemed not just currently awful but certain to be permanently awful (in addition to never being completed, which wo…

While digging through our storage room this morning in search of something else, I found some early manuscripts of Bitterblue. Then took a closer look, and had to laugh.

Here's my own copy of the first draft I ever sent to my marvelous editor, printed out, with "concerns flagged."


I guess I was pretty concerned.

In some other universe somewhere, some other version of me blogs all the time. She blogs about the writing she's doing every day, how hopeless it feels, where her motivation comes from, what's hardest today, how she keeps her spirits up when the end feels so far away, what it's like for those who support her emotionally and/or live with her :o). She blogs about the small adventures she's having all the time, and what they mean to her. She blogs pictures of the crocuses poking through the endless snow. She blogs more about what it was like to write Jane, Unlimited, and how it feels that next fall is the tenth anniversary of Graceling. (Next fall is the tenth anniversary of Graceling, everyone! ^_^) She probably doesn't blog much about current politics, because even Imaginary Kristin has her emotional limits.... But. She blogs a Whole Lot More.

I have some adventures coming up in 2018 that I will definitely be blogging about. 100%. But not today. Today, once again, I&…

There are so many things I've been wanting to blog, including the lovely news that Jane, Unlimited made the list of YALSA's 2018 Best Fiction for Young Adults. But I'm trying to finish a book -- getting so close to finishing a book -- and that takes precedence. So. In lieu of real, in-depth, interesting blogging... here's a photo of us today at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA. Their current exhibition XYZT is around through most of April and is one of the most fun things I've ever done in a museum. And this room containing this light is just so beautiful.

More when I can! Godspeed to all writers.