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

Happy new year, everyone :o)

It's ALA Midwinter weekend and I'm eagerly awaiting a call from the Unreliable Blogger Award committee. Maybe you guys lost my number?

So, it's well past the point of apologies here on the blog, but I am sorry I've been so absent, I've missed blogging, and in fact, one of my New Year's resolutions is to ease back into blogging more often. I've been great, all is well, the work is moving along, the next book is on the verge of being scheduled. I have so much to say about it, but can't, until I get the go-ahead. Right now I'm in a stage that the writerly among you might be able to sympathize with: I'm working many hours, but with SO little forward progress. The work I'm doing right now requires intense identification with each individual character, combined with intense objectivity about each character, which is a tricky balance. It takes a lot of time and energy. The reason I'm doing this is to get a sense of whether each character rings…

... I am reading, and loving, Shannon Hale's Book of a Thousand Days.

Happy new year from Florida.

I just stumbled across a list of books about body image, health, and dieting and had the urge to list them here on my blog, now, at the New Year, when the societal pressure toward weight loss rises to a fever pitch. In case it is helpful for anyone to know that books like this exist:
Andersen, Arnold, Leigh Cohn, and Thomas Holbrook. Making Weight: Healing Men's Conflicts with Food, Weight, Shape & Appearance. Carlsbad, CA: Gurze Books, 2000.

Campos, Paul. The Obesity Myth: Why America's Obsession with Weight Is Hazardous to Your Health. New York: Gotham Books, 2004.

Cash, Thomas. Body Image Workbook: An 8 Step Program for Learning to Like Your Looks. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger, 1997.

Dixon, Monica. Love the Body You Were Born With: A 10 Step Workbook for Women. New York, NY: Berkley Pub Group, 1996.

Doty, William G. Myths of Masculinity. New York: Crossroads, 1993.

Erdman, Cheri. Live Large! Ideas, Affirmations, and Actions for Sane Living in a Larger Body. San Francisco,…

I kept all my New Year's resolutions!

I'm going to be away from home for 31 of the next 40 days, which is always lovely once I'm on the road but COMPLETELY BONKERS before I go... especially this time, because I need to bring so much stuff and so many books. I mentioned my e-book reader in a previous post... I much prefer reading physical books -- there's no contest -- I should write a post sometime about all the things I find frustrating about e-books -- but I do have an e-book reader, pretty much solely for travel, and I can't overstate how much easier it makes life. I'm in research mode for the next three weeks and will probably be reading as many as 15 to 20 books, not to mention a few manuscripts, and all of it weighs less than a pound and takes up practically no space at all, since it's on the e-book reader. As it is, I'm still going to be lugging a lot of books and paper, but at least I won't be a walking bookcase.

Anyway, as I write this, I'm in travel prep mode, so I'm not a…

Dear Santa, I would like a teleporter for Christmas.

Though I have to admit that air travel has gotten less onerous for me recently. Not because anything has changed for the better at the airports or on the airlines; quite the opposite. Things seem to be getting worse. Rather, because I've come to realize that unless I want to be miserable all the time, there are certain things I just need to let go. Like my expectation of being treated with any dignity, for example. :D?  Sigh...

I just took a look at last year's resolutions. I've happy to say that I've kept them all, except for one: I still haven't baked any bread. I was too busy making Bitterblue. HOWEVER, there is still time, and I bet I can convince one of the many people I'll be traveling to in the next few weeks to make bread with me before the New Year.

A couple random FAQs:

Should I read/reread Graceling and Fire before I read Bitterblue?
You don't need to. It wouldn't hurt, and I suppose it migh…

Trapeze photos ahead!

So, this time of year, if it feels right to me, I come up with a few resolutions that make me happy, are designed to bring me peace, and sometimes even take away some of the pressure I've been feeling. They're always realistic, and they are never, ever, EVER punishing or self-loathing. (I don't believe in self-limiting New Year's resolutions. This is probably a reaction to the explosion of fat-phobic resolutions so many people make this time of year that give me the heebie-jeebies. Have you heard about the New Year's ReVolution against weight-loss resolutions?)

This year, I find myself with four.
I'm going to finalize Bitterblue this year. And I'm going to start writing something new. I think both Bitterblue and I are looking forward to this.I'm going to bake some bread this year. Do you know how long it's been since I kneaded bread? I haven't made bread once since I moved back to Massachusetts, and it's one of my most …

I kind of love New Year's. Other holidays make me grumpy, but the new year makes me all contemplative and stuff. I'm thinking about my resolutions for this year, and will probably post something about that soon.

To my readers in Germany: I'll be visiting you this March (yay!), in Cologne, Leipzig, and possibly other places I don't want to name yet until I've confirmed them. (Fire is coming out in Germany this month -- Die Flammende -- you're looking at the cover to the right ^_^.) Also, to my readers in Australia (and maybe even New Zealand, though I'm not sure yet if I'll be able to swing that): a writer friend of mine has talked me into some travel Down Under in late May or early June. I'm extremely disorganized about planning it at the moment but fully intend it to happen. (It didn't take much for her to talk me into it. Basically, she said, "I'm doing some events in Australia. Wanna come?" and I was all, "YEE-HAW!") I&…

Slovak cover of Graceling ------------>

So, one of my favorite tasks this time of year is The Changing of the Daily Planner (henceforth, ∆DP). ∆DP involves putting last year's and this year's planners side by side; going through last year's; and writing into this year's, in ink of significant colors, the things that happen every year (birthdays, bill-paying days, tax-paying days, etc.). It also involves writing into this year's planner all the plans for 2010 that I've already made.

I LOVE THIS TASK. This is partly because my daily planner is the Women Artists Datebook, which contains quotes at the bottom of every page, artwork every few pages, and poems here and there. While moving from the old planner to the new one, I get to review last year's favorite quotes and poems and peek ahead to this year's.

Today I'm going to share some of the joy of ∆DP 2010. :o)

A few favorite quotes from the old year:
... the job of the artist is not to resolve or bea…

Hello, beautiful people! I'm back. How was your December? Mine was fabulous. I've been doing a lot of traveling... and I also received two intriguing packages:

(1) My Czech and Slovak Gracelings, published by Ediposs. The Czech cover is on the right. I would tell you what Výjimečná means, except that I don't know! The Slovak title is Výnimočná. If there are any Czech or Slovak speakers out there who'd like to educate me, please feel free to leave a comment! [ETA 6:42pm: both titles are the feminine form of "someone who is phenomenal or exceptional," more or less. Thank you to Marek from Slovakia for the translations!]

(2) A super surprise from my Book Blogger Holiday Swap Swapee, Heather from Tales of a Capricious Reader!

Heather was thoughtful and did her research. Courtesy of my somewhat awkward MacBook camera, here's my loot (starting at the top and going clockwise): pens; hot chocolate; a beautiful little hand-made journal with a Paris theme (per…

Here's a fabulous slideshow of New Year celebrations around the world.
And now, the New Year's Meme. (Thanks, Jess!)
1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before? Good grief. SO MANY THINGS. I guess the biggest thing, encompassing most of the other things, is that I published my first book. But I also contributed to a political campaign, re-read almost all the Lord Peter Wimsey books, and bought a slow-cooker, all for the first time.
2. What are your New Year's resolutions for 2009? I'm going to spend January mulling this over, and will post about it once I've worked it out. I love the New Year; I love taking stock of time and how one fits into it; I love realistic and heartfelt resolutions. So. More to come.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Several people. And any minute now, one more is going to drop!! :o)

4. Did anyone close to you die? No.
5. What countries did you visit? I didn't leave the USA in 2008. However, while on an ill-fated tri…