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

(Background: My nieces, codenames: Phoenix and Isis, are approaching 2 ½ years old.)
Someone discovers an enormous quantity of water inside one of the low kitchen cabinets where the girls have just been playing together.
Me: Isis, did you pour the water from your cup into the cabinet? Isis: Yes. Me: Phoenix, did you pour the water from your cup into the cabinet? Phoenix: No. Me: You didn’t? Phoenix: No, but I poured my water into Isis’s cup.
Sometimes it’s difficult to maintain the appropriate stern expression.
***
Isis, Phoenix, and I are lying on the floor together, hanging out, talking. Each girl is holding a bottle she found in the kitchen.
Isis (holding out her bottle to me): Will you read it and tell me what they is? Me (reading the labels): Yes. This one is coconut oil and the other one is balsamic vinegar. Isis: No, they are peepee and poopy!
This joke rocks Phoenix’s world. She tries to repeat it, the way one does when one enjoys a joke, but she’s laughing so hard that she can’t even get t…

Kristin bumps her head and says Ow.
Codename: Phoenix: Kristin, did you break your crown while you were fetching a pail of water?

Codename: Joe is driving the car, at a reasonable pace. Codenames: Phoenix and Isis are in the back seat.
Phoenix (screaming): GO FAST! GO FAST!
Isis (screaming): SLOW DOWN! SLOW DOWN!

I am reading Death Comes for the Archbishop on my e-book reader. Phoenix, awake from her nap, wanders in. I put the device to sleep immediately and close it inside its case, but not before she sees.
Phoenix: What you doing, Kristin? Are you reading your book?
Me: Yes, Phoenix, I am reading my book.
Phoenix: Can I see it?
Me (holding it so she can see): Yes, you can see it.
Phoenix: Can I just hold it?
Me: You can hold it for a minute, but then you have to give it back to Kristin.
Phoenix (holding the reader in delight): Can I just open it?
Me: The book is sleeping now, Phoenix. We need to let it sleep.
Phoenix: Can I just see it sleeping?
Me (opening the case): We can look at it once, but …

Writers out there: I strongly recommend the book Writing the Other: a Practical Approach, by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward. It's the companion book to Shawl and Ward's Writing the Other Workshop. From the workshop website (linked to above): "Are you afraid to write about characters whose racial heritage, sexual orientation, or religion differs from your own? Do you think you'll get it wrong — or cause offense? In this intensive four-hour workshop, authors Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward will teach you to write sensitively and convincingly about characters of diverse backgrounds and cultures." The same can be said for this book, which contains a lot of great information, guidelines, exercises, etc., to help you write characters whose race, sexual orientation, age, ability, religion, or sex differ from your own. The book is gentle. Shawl and Ward tell the reader that it's okay to make mistakes; that it's worthwhile -- more than worthwhile, important -- to try. …

The girls are playing together quietly in the other room. Signs suggest that they intend to keep doing so indefinitely -- but it's 2pm, which is a good nap time, and they aren't bouncing around with energy, so... well, you might as well try.

You pick one up in either arm, stand up (that's one serious squat), and sit in the rocking chair. At first, they don't protest; this could, potentially, be interesting. Maybe you're going to play Trot Trot to Boston with them, or let them bang on your laptop. But then, when all you seem to be doing is rocking them and ignoring their signals that they'd rather get down... well, this might call for some screaming and struggles. At least, now that they're 14 months old, they're more aware of each other and of their own bodies than they used to be, so they're not kicking and pushing each otheras they did 7 months ago. No, the kicks and pushes are directed at the appropriate person: you.

Briefly, the girls are dis…

What used to be birthday week around these parts is now birthday month... because as I approach my 34th birthday, guess who -- and who else -- is (are?) about to turn one whole year old?


That's secret codename: Phoenix on the left and secret codename: Isis on the right, in a photo taken way back in March. My nieces! Congratulations, codenames: Cordelia and Joe! You have gone almost an entire year without sleep!!!

And my dad is also about to be a birthday boy!

If life allows, I'll try to come up with a brand new birthday poll, but please don't hold your breath, folks; things are a bit hairy right now.

Leos, unite.

My post last Thursday spurred some fun reactions from friends and family, so I thought I'd follow up.


1. Did you startThe Name of the Rose(by Umberto Eco) next, like you thought you would?
No. I started Diana Comet and other Improbable Stories, by Sandra McDonald. I like it! It's a collection of interconnected fantastical short stories. Quirky and unpredictable, occasionally grim (war and battle, a warehouse fire, etc. well-written and vivid), with just enough similarities to the world we live in to keep me delighted, and sometimes even giggling. (E.g., a heartbroken cowboy in a Western town called Flagpole is reading the poetry of one Whitney Waltman.) Plus, it routinely plays with gender and sexuality in unexpected ways. My favorite story so far is one of the grim ones and is called The Firemen's Fairy, which is a double entendre.


2. [WARNING: The next question/answer contains The Hunger Games and Catching Fire spoilers. Sort of.]
Are you on Team Peeta or Team Gale?
I…

So, am I insane if after traveling from Vail to Denver to Seattle to Palo Alto to San Jose to Austin to Houston to Miami to Jacksonville all in one week and doing lots of events and not getting enough sleep, I'm ecstatic that today I'll be spending the day in a very small house with my sisters (secret codenames: Cordelia and Apocalyptica), my brother-in-law (scn: Joe), my newborn twin nieces (scn: Phoenix and Isis), my mother, my father, two cats, and one flying squirrel?

In other words, it is Monday; I am in Jacksonville; my parents are here from New Jersey; Apocalyptica is bringing her flying squirrel all the way from Massachusetts; and I remember my pride. And tonight everyone will (tentatively) be at my event! BEST DAY OF THE TOUR.

:o)

In other news: I love the way Jay Smooth thinks, and I love the way he talks. This time, his subject is Roman Polanski.

Dear Readers,

Last week, I flew to Florida to meet two new friends.










































We had lots of fun! We did some eating....

















We did some writing....


















We hung out.






























































We also had dance parties.


















Do you realize how many songs lyrics are secretly about babies? For example, "I want a girl with a short diaper and a LOOOOOOOOOONG blanket." Or, "If I had a boat, I'd go out on the ocean, and if I had a baby, I'd bring her on my boat."










Also, sometimes we howled.














And then, maybe later, we felt a little better.


















Despite appearances...


















...my new friends don't sleep that much. Frankly, the rest of us are a bit boggled by their stamina.

Last week I did something I've never done before.



Suffice it to say that I'm neither the next Marian nor the next Daine nor the next Katniss (read all those books!), nor was I able to move my left arm for the next two days; nonetheless, I really liked it, and I want to go again. Thanks to Mr. Charlie Nelson, a kind and patient teacher, and to my outlaw brother-in-law, secret code name: Joe, for having the idea in the first place.
Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to reveal the Danish cover of Graceling!

It was designed by Danish artist Bent Holm, and I love it. He did both the illustration and the fonts.

"Talentian" is the closest Danish translation for "Graceling." "Katsas fortælling" means "Katsa's story." And the #1 is because, unlike my other publishers, Tellerup is publishing Graceling in two volumes. Volume One will be released in a month or two, and Volume Two will be released a month or two after that. I'm not posi…

Hellooooooooooo beautiful people!
I'm home.
I'm still processing the last two weeks, so this post might be scattered.
I'll start in Bologna, where I had dinner in a restored medieval tower with my editors / publishers from Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Finland, and Spain (both Castillan and Catalan), not to mention my wonderful agents and scouts from all over Europe. The dinner took place on the middle floors of the tower, but beforehand, we climbed up the steep (and I think it would be fair to say perilous) steps (and, closer to the top, ladders) to the roof, for a toast. The view of Bologna at night from the roof of the Torre Prendiparte was just... well, let's just say that I started to cry. I simply could not believe that I was on top of this beautiful tower looking out at this beautiful city with all of these beautiful people.
What else?
A knight accompanied me to my press conference and stood behind me the entire time. I've never felt so safe in my …

Forget your perfect offering.There is a crack in everything -- That's how the light gets in. - Leonard Cohen

It has been a lovely few days.
The photo shoot on Thursday was an absolute hoot, thanks to my photographer, Jensen Hande, who has a great personality and knows just how to coax out my inner warrior and my inner wimp. (Not that the wimp took much coaxing.) Hopefully I'll have some pics to share soon to show you what I mean!
On Friday I went to the sea. I don't do this too much in the summer, because it's too hot and crowded. But Friday was stormy and cool (a relative term here), and well, I just felt like it, so I went. It's a 20 mile drive, and parts of that drive are icky and never to be attempted during rush hour, but other parts are beautiful with tall bridges that shoot you off into the sky, and water water everywhere, and big boats. I LOVE big boats.
And when I got to the sea, there was a rainbow!
I had a wonderful walk and sang at the top of my lungs a…

Extra points to anyone who can identify the source of my title. Cordelia, Joe, Athanasius, and Mr. Meriwether Tigleth Bonaparte Monkey: you are not eligible for this contest. (Edit: And no googling!)
This post is a shout out to my Aunt Mary, who just arrived in northeast Thailand, where she'll be volunteering as an English teacher for the next few months before moving on to Vietnam to do the same. Here's what she wrote in her first email: "Made it to Thailand safe and sound; how could I not? I had going for me prayers to Jesus, medals of St Lucy, Jesus, and the Holy Family in my pocket, the Buddha and Sophia at my side, and a prayer cloth around my neck! No wonder I was feeling such calm during the trip."
Aunt Mary, you also had with you the undying love of one atheist in Florida. :o)
Aunt Mary is a person who inspires me. She has a way of finding her place in the world -- making her place, and finding her places -- that I admire so much that I almost pop when I t…

So, a little over a week ago I blogged a lot of big words about how spelling bees don't scare me. Frankly, I was a little obnoxious about it. There was bragging. Even gloating. I issued a public challenge.

And then what happened that very same day? I tootled off to my volunteer work at the Jacksonville Public Library and learned that the library was looking for participants for the first annual Jacksonville Public Library Spelling Bee. And I thought to myself, Rats. Now not only do I have to compete in this spelling bee (on account of publicly announcing that spelling bees don't scare me, which I now realize was a lie), but I have to WIN this spelling bee (on account of the gloating). And I'm NOT going to win this spelling bee. There are a million words I don't know how to spell, like staphylococcus and Rumpelstiltskin, and karma is going to throw one of those words at me because I bragged. There was hubris, and now karma is arranging for my tragic fall.

What followed wa…