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

A few days ago, while walking down a nearby street, I came upon an enormous wild turkey. It was rather a surprising sight in the middle of Cambridge, Massachusetts. A confused man was taking pictures of it. We had a little chat about how confused we were about it.

Later the same day, I was walking through the Harvard Business School campus and this big crowd of people went by. Several people in the crowd, at several points, began dancing when they saw me, waving their arms around, sticking their legs in the air, and saying hello to me. I smiled at them politely, all the time secretly wondering WTF was going on. Were they a dance troupe? And drunk? Later, I passed a reflective window and realized I was wearing my t-shirt that says "ALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN THROUGH INTERPRETIVE DANCE."

Next (it was quite a day for encounters), I was walking along Memorial Drive -- probably the most trafficked road around, crowded with very fast cars -- when suddenly, the traffic came to a comp…

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…

Hellooooooooooo beautiful people!
I'm home.
I'm still processing the last two weeks, so this post might be scattered.
I'll start in Bologna, where I had dinner in a restored medieval tower with my editors / publishers from Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Finland, and Spain (both Castillan and Catalan), not to mention my wonderful agents and scouts from all over Europe. The dinner took place on the middle floors of the tower, but beforehand, we climbed up the steep (and I think it would be fair to say perilous) steps (and, closer to the top, ladders) to the roof, for a toast. The view of Bologna at night from the roof of the Torre Prendiparte was just... well, let's just say that I started to cry. I simply could not believe that I was on top of this beautiful tower looking out at this beautiful city with all of these beautiful people.
What else?
A knight accompanied me to my press conference and stood behind me the entire time. I've never felt so safe in my …