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

What could possibly be better than Hercules curled up in a ball?

Hurcules and Kasa curled up in a ball!

It was raining like crazy today in Cambridge. Rain dripping from all the flowering trees. A perfect day to walk to my friend Titus's house and just hang.


Titus can't open the door by himself, but luckily, his butler was there to let me in. Titus is a problem solver (you can probably tell that by looking at him). As we hung out, my problems disappeared into the ether.

So, a while back, I mentioned that I'm going to be in Australia in May. I now have events, dates, and locations!

SYDNEY STUFF
Thursday 19th May at 17:30Galaxy Books, 173 York Street, Sydneywww.galaxybooks.com.au/I’ll be doing a book signing.
Friday 20th May at 18:00Kinokunyia, 500 George Street, Sydneywww.kinokuniya.com/I’ll be doing a talk, Q&A, and signing.
Sunday 22nd May at 11:30Sydney Writers’ FestivalSydney Dance Company, Studio 4, Pier 4/5, Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay http://www.swf.org.au/I’ll be ‘in conversation’ with Judith Ridge, and will do a signing at 12:30.
MELBOURNE THINGS
Friday 27th May at 17:00Reading…

The night before I left for Bologna, an orange cat (of whom I'm very fond) randomly, with no urging from humans, walked a protection circle around me.

I realize this year what a good visit to Bologna I had last year because I keep stumbling across my favorite old haunts and realizing, "Goodness me, I have favorite old haunts!" Some things feel so familiar that I can't believe I've been here only once before. Maybe I lived here in an earlier life.

I've run into so many people I know, and that has been a delight, and I've had planned meetings with so many people I know, and that's also been a delight. BOOK PEOPLE ARE THE WORLD'S BEST PEOPLE, THE WORLD OVER.

Tonight, dinner was at a Sicilian restaurant. Need I say it was delicious? Cannoli are different here at the source! No mascarpone. I sneaked my cannolo into my bag because I was too stuffed with fishies to eat it but unwilling to surrender it to the kitchen.

Today I had an event at noon at th…

While I was on my blog break, I gathered a little pile of videos/pictures I wanted to show all of you. They don't really go together, but they don't really go with anything else I have planned, either, so I thought I'd throw them at you all at once. Ready for some randomness?

Here, via my lovely pal and fellow writer Tui Sutherland, is How to Wrap a Cat.



(When I was little, one of our cats was just that mellow. She was the World's Best Cat.)

Next up: via my pal C, Target is selling the fabulous Yay scale, designed by Marilyn Wann, author of Fat!So?: Because You Don't Have to Apologize for Your Size. Weigh yourself on this:


Next up: my favorite Itzhak Perlman segment from Sesame Street (I did warn you these were a little random, right?):



Next: my favorite dance from the most recent season of So You Think You Can Dance: Kathryn and Legacy dancing, choreographed by Stacy Tookey. I couldn't find a good quality shorter version; if you just want to see the dance, it st…

I start every scene with a plan in mind, and occasionally the characters behave, and the plan in mind becomes the scene on paper. But more often, I discover something I didn't realize about one of the characters, or an interaction doesn't play out with the particular type of feeling I thought it would, and the scene starts to go off course, and I have to chase after it, and pages get written and then crossed out, and I can't figure out what needs to happen, and I begin to get Extremely Grumpy and mope around under a storm cloud.
Happily, I'm at my parents' house right now, which means that a cat named Lickety comes by rather often to commiserate. Well, really, she comes by because she wants to make herself the center of my world and be petted forever. I was lying on the couch the other day in artistic despair when Lickety jumped up and threw herself against my hand, which only ever means one thing.
Me: [not petting her] Lickety, how come this relationship is so one-…

There was always something a little off about our cat Maggie. It was hard to say whether she ran headlong into walls because there was a problem with her brains, or whether there was a problem with her brains because she kept running headlong into walls. She lost her balance like other cats never did; she neglected her own grooming; she missed the litter box most of the time; she was a little bit stinky. She was terrified of strangers and she was so skittish -- the smallest noise, and she'd bolt. And she'd sit purring contentedly while you petted her, and you'd think, Hey, Maggie's turned normal -- but then, when she'd been petted enough, she'd let you know by biting you. I don't mean a friendly little nip -- I mean she'd BITE you. Hard. Sometimes there was blood. I'm certain she wasn't trying to be mean or aggressive; it was just another example of Maggie not knowing the socially correct way to do things. I think everyone in my family …

Graceling readers: notice anything peculiar about this cat?

(Or should I say, this cat-sa?)

(with thanks to my pal Rebecca, the clever one who informed me that there are white cat-sas that have Katsa's eyes. ^_^)
I want a cat, but I do everything at my own pace, and this is a thing I need to prepare for slowly. It's a big responsibility for a person who only likes to be responsible for herself. I mean, I don't even have a plant. I'm ready for a cat, though, it's time for a cat, so these days I have felix catus on the brain. I'm remembering the best cat I ever knew, this deep gray, green-eyed little lady called Jane. Jane and I grew up together. She was the kind of cat who knew when you were crying under your covers and scratched on your bedroom door so she could come in and keep you company in your despair. She did a lot of loving things, but not the disturbingly loving things our other cats did, i.e. kill mice and leave a pile of perfectly dissected intern…