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

It makes me happy that mail carriers understand the importance of getting your Netflix to the mailbox in time for pickup, to expedite the delivery of your next movie. I left my house a little later than I meant to the other day and saw the mailman down the street, beside the blue mailbox, getting into his truck, about to drive away. When he saw me running toward him with my red envelope, he stopped his truck and waited for me. :o)

To the charitable organizations with a policy of stationing aggressive representatives in Harvard and Central Squares to target sympathetic-looking pedestrians for donations: I do research into nonprofits before donating to them, I seek the opinions of people outside the organization as to whether the organization is going to use my money wisely, and I do not make split decisions about such matters on the street. To the charitable organizations that instruct their representatives to yell questions along the lines of, "Hi! Do you have a minute for the env…

After two weeks of lovely, restful travel I am back home and am blogging from my red couch. So many things to do. I have about 40 books out from the library (mostly for work), about 150 movies on my Netflix queue (many for work!), a megaton of email (mostly work-related!), lots and lots of, um, work, less than two weeks until I fly to Australia, my Christmas cactus is in bloom, an orchid died, and the flowering trees in Cambridge are all abud. (Isn't "abud" a word? The dotted red line is telling me it isn't. I'm going to use it anyway.)

Fueled by my outrage, encouraged by friends, and armed with some great suggestions, I'm moving forward with opening a new checking account at a bank that doesn't suck, and closing my Bank of America account. (I blogged about my banking rage in an earlier post.) Have you heard of community development banks? They're commercial banks, but they have a mission to generate economic development in low-to-moderate income…

Text messages on the morning of the royal wedding:
CORDELIA: What is a troth?
ME: It's a kind of trowl. (actual definition of "troth")
******
So. In Verdi's opera Il Trovatore, the handsome, maniacal stalker Count di Luna is determined to have the lovely, brainless Leonora, but much to his fury (which is a passion raging fiery in his breast, or some such -- he goes on and on about it), she has fallen in love instead with a gasbag named Manrico who frequently flies off the handle at the slightest provocation. Unluckily for all three of these bombastic individuals, Manrico's stepmother Azucena is harboring a secret: the Count and Manrico, sworn rivals, are actually brothers. To avenge her mother, who was murdered by the Count's and Manrico's father a very long time ago, Azucena leads the Count, Leonora, and Manrico to tragic ends.
Welcome to the world of a certain brand of tragic, romantic, unintentionally-comic opera, everyone. The music is gorgeous and everyon…

Readers in San Francisco, Austin, Chicago, Cambridge MA, New York City, and San Diego -- Cindy Pon and Malinda Lo's Diversity in YA Fiction tour is coming to you in May. Here's the Diversity in YA tour schedule. Cindy and Malinda will be presenting panels in the company of a whole lot of other great YA writers in each city, to talk about diversity in YA books. For example, on May 12, Malinda Lo, Cindy Pon, Holly Black, Sarah Rees Brennan, Deva Fagan, and Francisco X. Stork will come together to present a panel at the main branch of the Cambridge Public Library. And for those who can't make the events, check out their website, www.diversityinya.com, and the Diversity in YA blog!
Lots of blogging ideas; no time. Happy weekend, everyone. If you run to your TVs and internets tomorrow to see what Kate, Chelsy, William, and Harry are wearing, not to mention Camilla and Elizabeth's hats, I will not judge you.

Writers out there: I strongly recommend the book Writing the Other: a Practical Approach, by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward. It's the companion book to Shawl and Ward's Writing the Other Workshop. From the workshop website (linked to above): "Are you afraid to write about characters whose racial heritage, sexual orientation, or religion differs from your own? Do you think you'll get it wrong — or cause offense? In this intensive four-hour workshop, authors Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward will teach you to write sensitively and convincingly about characters of diverse backgrounds and cultures." The same can be said for this book, which contains a lot of great information, guidelines, exercises, etc., to help you write characters whose race, sexual orientation, age, ability, religion, or sex differ from your own. The book is gentle. Shawl and Ward tell the reader that it's okay to make mistakes; that it's worthwhile -- more than worthwhile, important -- to try. …

Conversation between two people, overheard on the street:
PERSON 1: You could certainly drop the appendix.
PERSON 2: Yes, the appendix!
Here's what I'm wondering. Do you think they were graduate students or writers (or some such) talking about a document? OR, do you think they were surgeons, having a conversation about which organs it's acceptable to drop on the floor?

I prefer the second option.

Anyway. I don't have a lot of time today, but I want to recommend two things: the Edward Gorey exhibit at the Boston Athenaeum. And, this blog post by Lesley Kinzel about her thoughts on the TSA, scanning machines, patdowns, and differences between men and women. (Thanks, B!)

I'm going to send you to a website that you're never going to want to leave. Of course, maybe you've already been there. I keep sending it to people and they tell me they've already been there. Annoying people hooked into the pulse of the internets! Stop being so on top of things!

Go to this page, turn up your sound, click on a few squares, and see what happens. Then click on more. Keep clicking! Write your name and see what it sounds like. Draw lines and grids. Draw the Grim Reaper! Draw flowers!

YOU ARE WELCOME. (Thanks, Jess!)

Moving on. The following is a public service announcement for people who are new to the activity of running/jogging. Newbie runners, in case you don't know: when given the choice between running safely on sidewalk or running safely on pavement, choose the pavement. If the choice is sidewalk, pavement, or dirt path, choose the dirt path. Please. Running is a high-impact activity. You cannot condition your body to it too slowly. Take it easy…