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

That's a mouthful.

February 14 is Pan-Universal Be Who You Are Day! (For those of you who are new to the blog, eight years ago I decided to reclaim Valentine's Day and turn it into something else.)

I don't have a lot of time this afternoon, but in the spirit of this alternative holiday (ack, the word "alternative" no longer means what it used to mean),  here are fifteen funny cards for people who see Valentine's Day differently from how we're told to see it.

And here is an article, with lots of pictures, about an artist named Ambivalently Yours who considers ambivalence to be a form of feminist resistance. After I read this article, I wandered over to Ambivalently Yours's website and spent some time scrolling through her various drawings. It made me feel... seen, as a sensitive, emotional, complicated, and strong-as-nails person. Maybe it'll make you feel that way too.

I hope you have a lovely day, being whoever you are. :o)

Happy Pan-Universal Be Who You Are Day, everyone! (For those of you who are new to the blog, a few years back I decided to reclaim Valentine's Day and turn it into something else.) Here's sunrise this morning, in the order in which the various colors happened. Kevin, this is a good day to thank you again for Fancy Camera. :o)

Happy Pan-Universal Be Who You Are Day! Someone who uses voice recognition software and draws should start a VRS comic strip. The objects that appear suddenly in my scenes because my VRS has misunderstood me are visually amusing. I just dictated the line, "'I will,' she said with a sob," and my VRS typed, "'I will,' she said with a saw." I feel like a spontaneous saw could really add something to a conversation.Gentlemen of Cambridge: to the man, when faced with a long, narrow corridor of sidewalk between snowbanks, you have waited at your end and let me pass first. This has literally happened to me twelve times since the storm (which I know because at a certain point I started counting). In this northeast USA city (meaning, a city where strangers tend not to pay much attention to each other and rudeness is not particularly unusual), I am startled and touched by this thoughtfulness, then startled that I am touched. Thank you for your gentlemanly beh…

If you've been around my blog for a while, then you know what I think of the societal assumption that a life isn't full without romance. You also know that while I sympathize with romantic (and every other kind of) cowardice, I really wish that after tea and cake and ices, J. Alfred would force the moment to its crisis. Finally, you know how much I dislike Valentine's Day. LISTEN, I have many opinions and they are all CORRECT.

Sigh. Valentine's Day makes me belligerent.

Pan-Universal Be Who You Are Day, on the other hand, makes me happy and proud. Click on that link if you have no idea what I'm talking about and are curious about why I have renamed Valentine's Day. I'm not being obscure on purpose, I'm being obscure because I am being hit over the head repeatedly by a manuscript right now and linkiness is possible whereas coherent explanations are not. Apologies; this is not going to be my best Pan-Universal Be Who You Are Day post ever. Here's a pic…

Click my Indonesian cover to enbiggen. Hello to my new Indonesian readers! *waves* ------->

So, three years ago, I decided to declare February 14 Interplanetary Be Who You Are Day. If you don't have the energy to click on that link, don't worry, I'll explain. But first, I would like to announce that in the spirit of inclusiveness, I am changing the name to Pan-Universal Be Who You Are Day. Now, not only extraterrestrial and extragalactic people but also alternate versions of ourselves can join our celebration! (Listen. You go ahead and start a holiday and see how hard it is to draw lines.)

So, there are a lot of things I don't like about Valentine's Day. For example, the working conditions of the people who grow our flowers. The muddy, murky issue of conflict diamonds. The child labor crisis in the chocolate industry. (I'm not actually trying to be depressing here! Just honest. The reality is depressing. I'm also not suggesting I'm any more innocent …