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

Hi everyone. Just one more note about Bitterblue: if you're a Nook reader or read on an app that supports Nook books and have been considering buying the Bitterblue ebook, do it on Tuesday, September 17, when I understand Bitterblue will be the Nook Daily Find. I'm told it will cost only $2.99 that day. (Edited to add, Tuesday morning: There was some price confusion this morning, but it is, indeed, now available at that link for $2.99. My apologies for the earlier mixup.)

Also, I got my author copies of the paperback edition in the mail the other day, and I have to say, the Firebird imprint at Penguin did a really beautiful job with the paperback. Included as extra backmatter is a printed version of a long post I once wrote about the process of (hand)writing and revising Bitterblue -- that post, for those with long memories, that had pictures from my notebooks, etc. Of course the paperback also includes all of Ian Schoenherr's beauteous art.

Over the weekend  I visited the NAIBA conference in Arlington, VA, to accept an award for Bitterblue along with Ian Schoenherr. Ian is the fellow responsible for the beautiful illustrations and decorations in Bitterblue: the chapter and part openings, the title page, the endpapers, the maps, the bridges, etc.

Ian and I had some trouble getting a nice picture together.



Matters improved when stupendous editor Kathy Dawson stepped in.


During my acceptance remarks, I told an anecdote about something that happened after Bitterblue was released, and I think I'll share it here. What happened is that Ian sent me my two favorite sketches from the process as a gift -- sketches of two fantastical bridges. And when they appeared on my doorstep, they had an effect on me that I doubt he anticipated... because here's the thing. There's a little bit of handwriting in Bitterblue.It's in the Appendix, in the "Who's Who" written by my crabby royal librarian, Death (rhymes …

The response of my two-year-old niece, codename: Isis, when she saw the ARC of Bitterblue: "It no have pictures in it."

Well, guess what, Isis? You're going to like the final version of the book better, because it does have pictures in it. The lovely Ian Schoenherr, who most recently did the art for The Apothecary, has created maps, castle diagrams, various Appendix illustrations, endpapers, the cover page, ornamental chapter openers, and, probably my favorite illustrations of all, double-spread part openers (the book is in five parts) for Bitterblue, and the final result makes me SO HAPPY.

If you "like" the Graceling Realm page on Facebook, you'll have access to some of the art, which is slowly being revealed there.

The process of working with my publisher and Ian on the art was fascinating. It was surprising -- and delightful -- to realize how involved I needed to be, and lots of fun, too -- I enjoyed every minute of it. Often, it wasn't until I saw a…