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

So, over three years ago, I spoke with Deirdre Johnson and Maria Ciccone at the Mount Kisco Public Library in Mount Kisco, New York about Fire. Only a few weeks ago, I spoke with Deirdre again and Deirdre's sister Mary Johnson, this time about Bitterblue, and the podcast is now available for listening. We talked about writing from Leck's perspective; my influences; naming; how fantasy can be a way to tell a true, real-world story; romance; lying; fathers and father figures; Hava; Thiel; characters, and how a writer comes to know them; advice for writers; and other stuff. And while you're over there, check out some of their other podcast interviews!

Ready for a walk on Fifth Avenue? As always, all photos were taken with my iPhone 4S.

Here's a candle in St. Patrick's Cathedral.


And here's a cathedral view.

A man doing road work.

 In a shop window, a lady wearing a lion shirt.

Closer look. 

My weirdest Fifth Avenue picture. I, reflected but substantial, am dwarfed b…

I'm thrilled to announce that Melina Marchetta, Gayle Forman and I will be doing an event together at Books of Wonder on Tuesday, July 17, 6 PM, 18 West 18th Street, NYC. We're hard at work, planning something good. Spread the word! Gayle and Melina, who, unlike me, use twitter in the friendly manner in which it's meant to be used, have been tweeting about it -- go check it out.


Also, a note to New York Times Book Review readers: I hope you enjoy my interview this weekend. I think it's going to be online as well (possibly an expanded version online?), and I'll try to come back and update this post with that link, but I'm on the road and on vacation, so no promises.

UPDATE: here is the link to the nytbr interview (I hope).

Also! Cyrus Spencer is a dancer who specializes in animation popping and robotics. Cole Haribe's dance specialty is martial arts fusion. Brandon Mitchell's dance specialty is stepping. Add stupendous choreographer Christopher Scott and …

Award-winning fantasy author Helen Lowe sent me a bunch of great questions all the way from New Zealand, and I answered them.  They're now up on her blog.  Thank you so much, Helen!  Writers always ask the best questions (and never ask the worst ones ^_^). Now I need to go put Helen's books on hold.

Also -- here are some photos from my BEA week.

In lieu of a post today, I'll link you to Cindy Pon's interview with me about Bitterblue, over at The Enchanted Inkpot. Cindy is running a Bitterblue ARC giveaway, so head over there if you're interested! Many thanks to Cindy, who asks really good questions :).

My 30-second Hunger Games movie review: I had to leave the theater around minute 90 because the camerawork was making me sick. If you're prone to motion sickness, consider taking your meds or whatever, and DO NOT sit close. The frustrating thing was that at the moment I left, they'd just entered the arena, and FINALLY there was some point to all the shaky cam, zooming, fast panning, quick cutting, deliberate unfocusedness, etc. Finally it was effective. But my body couldn't deal with it anymore at that point. Very disappointing. The one judgment I was able to form before succumbing to the horror of "Is the whole movie going to be shot like this? Oh NO," was that District 12 didn't seem all …

Extra points if you recognize today's title.

WARNING: Today's post is all business, so if you don't want to read about release dates, my blog tour, my regular tour, reviews (with stars upon thars), interviews, how to read the first 3 chapters of Fire online, etc., etc., please just skip this BORING post and scroll down to read about cool stuff like babies and translations or to vote in my extremely relevant birthday poll.

Okay, here goes! Firstly, I am proud to report that Fire has received starred reviews from The Horn Book, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal, and a gold star from the Romantic Times. *blushes* I've finally gotten around to creating a page of Fire review excerpts; see the link on the left or just click here. (BTW. If you notice that it or any of my other Quick Links are dated 2/28/08... that's just the date I randomly give Quick Link posts, so that they don't pop up as new posts and clog people's read…

Graceling is a finalist for the 2009 SIBA Book Awards in the YA category, along with Sarah Dessen's Lock & Key and Trenton Lee Stewart's The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey. It is so nice to be honored by people you admire (indie booksellers!). Thank you so much to the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance! Go indies!

Speaking of the South, I would like to state for the record that Florida is the only place I've ever lived where I've needed to use sunglasses, a sun visor, a raincoat, rain boots, sunscreen (for the small portion of leg not covered by coat and boots), and a golf umbrella simultaneously. The river is high and the gutters have given up. Is it ever going to stop raining here in north Florida?

In other news, I promised a short post today, but is it cheating if I link you to a long interview? Follow that link to read my Summer Blog Blast Tour interview at Hip Writer Mama and/or to enter a giveaway of ten copies of Graceling. …

A happy addition to my BEA schedule: On Saturday, May 30, from 1-3pm, I'll be signing books with Melissa Marr at Books of Wonder, 18 West 18th Street, New York City.

For today's post I direct you to the podcast of my recent conversation with Deirdre and Maria at the Mount Kisco Library in Mount Kisco, New York. Deirdre and Maria had some great questions about Graceling and YA lit! Here are some of the things we talked about:
Katsa's relationship with Raffinthe nature of Gracesfantasy character nameswhy YA is such a great genreMegan Whalen Turner and why "write faster!", though often meant as a compliment, might not be the most empathetic thing you can say to a writerthe anti-marriage thing (which, incidentally, I blogged about once, here)how my characters surprise me as I'm writing Warning: there are a few Graceling spoilers in the podcast.

Go here to listen. Thanks to Deirdre and Maria!

I am determined not to yammer about the election in today's post.
But I am also extremely nervous about... um... the thing I'm not going to yammer about.
Therefore, the order of the day is: DISTRACTION.
First, my recent interview with the Shelf Elf. The Elf Herself asks some great questions. If you could live inside the world of any book, which one would you choose? Please distract me by telling me in a comment!
Next, a must-see. If you only watch one of the videos in this post, make it this one. Posted in honor of all teachers (especially, you, Mom). (And ganked from Melissa Marr, who had it first!)


And now, ladies and gents: I give you Beethoven.


Finally, an awesome, um, prairie dog moment. (You can tell things are getting desperate around here...)


Yep. So, doesn't that prairie dog make you feel like going out and voting for BARACK OBAMA? Especially if you live in, oh, say, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Missouri, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohi…

The first is roots, the other wings."
Don't know who said that, but I've liked it since the first time I read it.
My conversation with School Library Journal's Rick Margolis is online. Thank you, Rick! You're awesome.
Speaking of things Italian and Catholic -- as I did with Rick, in case that segue seems anemic -- I am having a blast reading The Possibilities of Sainthood by Donna Freitas. Antonia is a 15-year-old Catholic schoolgirl of Italian descent in Rhode Island, obsessed simultaneously with being proclaimed the first living saint and achieving her first kiss. The half of me that isn't Irish is Italian, and like Antonia's mother, my mother is a gourmet -- these characters are so familiar to me, and so, so lovable! Freitas does a wonderful job portraying a young girl who is fixated on the idea of romance but terrified by the reality of it. I wonder if Freitas has been spying on my own high school memories? And apparently it is a universal Catholic…

1. I have a Finnish deal -- thank you, WSOY -- which means that sometime soon, as promised, I'll be posting about why I love Finland. Also, School Library Journal gave Graceling a starred review. Also, the amazon blog Omnivoracious posted this interview with me the other day. Also, I've added a link to the left called "Praise for Graceling," which will take you to review clips. Also, Fire revisions are going okay. So, no complaints from here. :o)
2. My publicists, Barb and Sarah, have been coming up with some stupendous variations on the battle cry, "SNOOD, BE DAMNED!" Here are some of my favorites: "OUT, DAMN SNOOD!" And, "WHAT THE SNOOD?!!" (As in, What the snood is that smell?)
3. Why are baby cards so awful?

Seriously, why is it so hard to find a baby card that is not either (1) extremely gendered; (2) extremely gooey (along the "ickle beebly baby" lines with pom poms and bows); or (3) implying that all life problems …

I can do it! I can lift it! Just give me a minute and I will crush you!


I am fierce! I will squash you with giggles!

1. At long last, here are the images I promised from the School Library Journal photo shoot, all photos by the wonderful Jensen Hande. Some of you may notice that I am not wearing the snood. If this upsets you, which would be perfectly understandable, blame my sister, secret code name Cordelia. She said the snood didn't match the sword. (In color? In shape? In atmosphere?) Also, she kept calling it a snoot.
2. My uber-cool friend Rebecca Rabinowitz guest posted at Shapely Prose the other day with recommendations for fat-positive children's books. Part One is about picture books and Part Two is about middle-grade and young adult books. Definitely worth checking out.

3. I saw FOUR baby blue herons on the pilings the other evening. When they flew away they were all flappy and floppy. It was stupendous.

4. Cordelia may have snood anger issues, but nonethele…

Well, folks, reports have been coming in from friends with sharp eyes: Graceling has been spotted in bookstores in Union Square (NYC); Harvard Square (Cambridge, MA); Decatur, GA; Atlantic Beach, FL; Jacksonville, FL; and St. Cloud, MN. And it's in stock at amazon.com and bn.com, though not yet at powells.com. I guess it's official -- Graceling exists. Please support independent bookstores! And if you have any interest in buying a signed copy, please contact my local bookstore, the Bookmark, by calling (904) 241-9026 or emailing bkmark at bellsouth dot net. Then they'll call me and say, Kristin, get your ass out here and sign this, and I'll be tickled pink, because the Bookmark is only a block from the sea, and I always like a good excuse to go to the sea.
In other news, sometime in the next week I need to record an interview for an audio podcast, and one of the questions is about what I'm reading. I want to answer the question honestly, but I find myself in a…

It is so effing hot here that there are no words to describe it. The air conditioners are working their little hearts out, but to little avail.

Last week School Library Journal interviewed me, and on Wednesday I went to a costume shop and selected a beautiful medieval dress and a sword for my photo shoot! I even selected a snood. What's a snood? Well, it's not unlike a thneed. And a thneed, as you probably know, is a fine something that all people need.
It was super-fun, which surprised me, because I hate choosing clothes and am not really a girly-girl when it comes to things like trying on dresses, but as it turns out, deciding whether I'm a bar wench, a princess, a peasant, or a lady-in-waiting brought me much contentment. There was a snood emergency at one point, but a kind young lady on the staff helped me through it.

We're taking the pictures today.

And now! My 32nd birthday is coming up in a few days, and I have a birthday announcement! As of today, I will nev…