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

This is a long post. Don't feel pressure to read everything. But at the very least, I encourage you to listen, watch, and vote! My FAQ post the other day lent itself to some Buffy discussion in the comments -- Spike quote-sharing, favorite and least favorite characters, etc. -- if you've seen Buffy , feel free to contribute. And I've started Season 5 and couldn't be happier. I'm thinking way too much about it, really, and want to talk about this show more here someday. And maybe particularly about Spike, because while I continue to love his humor, his insight, his large yet despicable heart, his twisted approach to relationships, and his reliably terrible decisions... I KNOW there must be some Spike dissenters out there who'd like to express themselves. HOWEVER. Now isn't the time to get into it, because I'm only on Season 5, so I don't have all the data yet. So. Maybe we could talk about Buffy more sometime in the future? :) (NOTE: ple

At Sirens , in Vail, Colorado, I learned how to wear chain mail and intimidate people. AARRRR! I WILL CRUSH YOU!!! Thanks to Artemis for the photo :o) Moving on, at stop three in the tour -- Seattle -- my dear friend, secret codename: T. Lovely R., took me to meet the Troll Who Lives Under the Bridge. A tip to anyone going on tour: It will boost your morale if around stop nine you can arrange to wake up to the following: And then it helps to bring thousands of family members to your bookstore events. Here are secret codename: Cordelia, secret codename: Apocalyptica, me, our mother, our father, and Cordelia's daughters, secret codenames: Phoenix and Isis! Joe, sorry you couldn't be there, but hope you enjoyed the brief man-cation. This photo was taken at The Bookmark in Atlantic Beach, Florida -- thanks, Rona! Here's one more photo. Just in case I haven't gotten my point across. I'm trying to exercise restraint on the blog when it comes to photos of

I don't _______________ enough anymore. Fill in the blank. And here's a suggestion: whatever the thing is -- if it's possible -- make a plan to do it sometime soon. My answer: I don't bake bread enough anymore, which makes me sad, because I love to bake bread from scratch, do all that kneading, and have the house smelling yummy all day. But I promise to try to make time for it sometime in the next few weeks. You? (A friendly reminder that I don't see comments on LiveJournal, Amazon, etc.... I only see comments made on my Blog Actual .)

Hi everyone! As I write this, it's Sunday night, it's snowing (yAt!), I'm curled up drinking hot cider, and I'm writing a dramatic scene in which two people are screaming at each other. (double yAt!) Some answers to some questions. 1. I missed your signings. How can I get signed copies of your books? Good timing -- I've just set up an arrangement with my local indie. To purchase signed/personalized books, please place an online order at Harvard Book Store . Before you finish your order, a Comments box will appear. Please specify in the Comments box that you'd like the book signed, and to whom you'd like it personalized, if anyone. Kindly use the online ordering system rather than trying to order over the phone -- this will eliminate confusion at the store! All orders are pre-paid and non-returnable. These instructions are also available on my Contacts, Info, and Credits page. (Note: Please DO NOT try to mail me books or bookplates to sign! I regre

Yesterday morning I set out for the Mall in Washington DC, planning to walk the whole thing, end up at the Library of Congress or the Folger Shakespeare Library, and sit there soaking up the booky goodness. But then, just past the White House, I got distracted by the Corcoran Gallery of Art , which was intriguing not only because workpeople were laying a new coppery roof but because they had an exhibit running called " Sargent and the Sea ." I happen to love John Singer Sargent. So I went inside and ended up spending the day looking at paintings and writing in the cafe. Here's the thing about John Singer Sargent: He did extensive sketches, even full oil paintings at times, in preparation for his larger works. So, you'll see a whole wall full of small paintings of individuals, and then you look at the next wall, and there's a large painting containing all the individuals together in a scene. When I first realized this, I thought to myself, gah , how boring an

So, am I insane if after traveling from Vail to Denver to Seattle to Palo Alto to San Jose to Austin to Houston to Miami to Jacksonville all in one week and doing lots of events and not getting enough sleep, I'm ecstatic that today I'll be spending the day in a very small house with my sisters (secret codenames: Cordelia and Apocalyptica), my brother-in-law (scn: Joe), my newborn twin nieces (scn: Phoenix and Isis), my mother, my father, two cats, and one flying squirrel? In other words, it is Monday; I am in Jacksonville; my parents are here from New Jersey; Apocalyptica is bringing her flying squirrel all the way from Massachusetts; and I remember my pride . And tonight everyone will (tentatively) be at my event ! BEST DAY OF THE TOUR. :o) In other news: I love the way Jay Smooth thinks, and I love the way he talks. This time, his subject is Roman Polanski.

Here are some song lyrics a friend emailed me on the day my tour began: I never wanted to be a star, I never wanted to travel far I only wanted a little bit of love So I could put a little love in my heart I never wanted to be la-de-da , go to parties avec le bourgeois I only wanted to sing my song well, So I could ring a small bell in your heart. - from "I Never Wanted" by Cat Stevens I've been carrying that around in the copy of Fire I read from. I like being reminded of the little love and the small bells. :o) All's going well! And I'm even getting to do some sightseeing. Monday I was in Denver; Tuesday, Seattle; Wednesday, Palo Alto; and today I fly to Austin. I have no idea what's going on in the news (Cordelia had to explain the David Letterman thing to me via text message) and my email is out of hand... but things are going well. If you're going to be in the Houston, Miami, Jacksonville, or DC areas in the next few days, please check my

Fire , welcome to the big wide world! Sirens was a wonderful time with wonderful people. I took a self-defense class that perhaps got overly enthusiastic (it's fun to defend yourself from someone trying to choke you), tried on mail (I may have pictures to share of this at some point), and hung out with great folk. *waves to the folk* I understand that Sirens will happen again next fall, and I highly recommend it -- and any conferences produced by Narrate Conferences ! Those ladies are AWESOME. The tour for Fire's release starts today. My stomach is in knots, but hopefully I'll ease into it. Because my brain is jangly nervous jelly, I'm going to post something funny rather than trying to say anything intelligent. (Thanks, Jess, for the link ^_^)

If my subject heading doesn't make it clear, this post and its link are potentially triggery. So, I'm in Vail, and the Sirens conference is about to start, and I know I'm supposed to be writing a post about how beautiful it is here, but there's only one thing I find myself able to blog about today, because of how deeply it pisses me off. It pisses me off so deeply that... *speechlessness* ...I can barely type. Since the news broke on Sunday of Roman Polanski's arrest for a rape he committed 32 years ago, I have grown more and more stupefied by the public's response. Yes, I agree it was a while ago. Yes, I agree it's strange that they apprehended him now, after all this time. But it's not strange because they shouldn't have apprehended him. It's strange because they should have apprehended him a long time ago . The man made some fantastic movies and clearly he's loved by many people. Newsflash: lots of people who do criminal, awful thi