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

As I'd hoped, a number of friends emailed me with suggestions of superhero role models for girls. So many, in fact, that I'm going to have to set aside some time to organize it all before I post it – but it will be forthcoming. Unfortunately, most of the suggestions were for teen readers and older, which leaves the youngest girls waiting, but it was encouraging. Many, many thanks to those of you who reached out :o)I'm listening to Peter Gabriel's more recent album Up – one of his darker albums. I love these lyrics, from "Darkness," which is a song that reminds me of early Peter Gabriel (the self-titled albums), mainly in the way he balances silence and sweetness with crashing noise – this sentence has gotten ridiculous, but here are the lyrics I love: "I have my fears / but they do not have me."I've gotten a few of my friends to start using Siri to dictate on their iPhones. (If you have an iPhone and there is a little microphone symbol on your k…

I've been a very poor blogger lately. I have a list as long as my arm of things I've been wanting to blog about, but the spirit has not been moving me. In particular, I've been going through a period of grievously fractured focus with my writing, and have been wanting to blog something about that. I actually sat down yesterday, expecting to write a blog post about it – even contacted a few friends to ask permission to share some of the wise things they've been saying – but then, to my delight, my focus came back, and instead, I worked. I'm hoping the same thing is about to happen as I sit down this very moment. So, instead of one of those blog posts I've been meaning to write, I offer a few random pictures and one wise quote from a friend, presented with no context whatsoever :o). Maybe they will mean something to you.

… via screencaps of all the browsers currently open on my phone. Some of these are priceless, others are slightly pointless…



1. Dance performances on the Ability Unlimited Foundation website. The Ability Unlimited Foundation is a Delhi-based non-profit social service organization for the benefit of differently-abled people irrespective of race, religion, caste, colour and creed. Thanks, Deborah :)

2. Frog Museum in Estavayer-le-Lac, Switzerland. 150-year old satirical tableaux made from stuffed frogs.  Bizarre and awesome. Thanks, Anindita :) 

3. Tiny Pantone Matching System Match. "A personal project of tiny proportion—matching small everyday objects to their Pantone® colors, by designer Inka Mathew." Oddly soothing! I couldn't stop scrolling down until I got to the end. Thanks, Jess :)

4. Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty by Christine Heppermann. This outstanding new book of poetry turned me into a puddle from the first poem. A silent, wondering puddle. Not o…

If it's so easy for Gandalf to call on the aid of the eagles at any moment and in any location, why doesn't he just do so right smack at the beginning of each of these difficult commutes and save everybody a lot of time, discomfort, injury and strife?

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was too long and, worst of all, with the exception of a few moments involving Gandalf, young Bilbo, or Gollum, I didn't believe in any of it. Sadness.

So. I've been observing a relevant difference between mornings when I wake up to my alarm (which is on my phone) and mornings when I have the freedom to wake up naturally. When I wake up to my alarm, this means that my phone is the first thing my hand touches. This further means that unthinkingly, in that blurry moment before I'm even truly conscious of being awake, the first thing I do is check my e-mail, and all those various other forms of input my wonderful, but dangerous, phone provides.

Since when is checking one's e-mail …

It's birthday season on the blog!

Many, many of my peeps have birthdays in August and/or are Leos (including me), and every year I mean to create a new birthday poll, but then August comes along and I'm doing too many other things. I suppose that's okay, since we seem to have established rather firmly that the number of people who want socks for their birthday is surpassed only by the number of people who want the power to summon any kangaroo in a 25-mile radius simply by closing their eyes and thinking, "Kangaroo, your master calls." (That poll is still open, by the way. Feel free to vote.)

Birthdays make me contemplative. I am turning the ripe young age of 36. But instead of coming up with something soppingly meaningful to say about our journeys around the sun, I'm going to express my appreciation for a device I own now, but didn't own a year ago: THIS PHONE.



Dear people who invented the iPhone 4S: THANK YOU. I can't type for extended periods of tim…