Kristin Cashore's Blog, page 19

*cough*

It's ALA Midwinter weekend and I'm eagerly awaiting a call from the Unreliable Blogger Award committee. Maybe you guys lost my number?

So, it's well past the point of apologies here on the blog, but I am sorry I've been so absent, I've missed blogging, and in fact, one of my New Year's resolutions is to ease back into blogging more often. I've been great, all is well, the work is moving along, the next book is on the verge of being scheduled. I have so much to say about it, but can't, until I get the go-ahead. Right now I'm in a stage that the writerly among you might be able to sympathize with: I'm working many hours, but with SO little forward progress. The work I'm doing right now requires intense identification with each individual character, combined with intense objectivity about each character, which is a tricky balance. It takes a lot of time and energy. The reason I'm doing this is to get a sense of whether each character rings true emotionally. So, I sink myself into each character emotionally to write a line. Then I become the outside objective reader and read the line I just wrote, in the hopes of getting an objective sense of whether it conveys the thing I was feeling while I wrote it. Because it's not enough for a writer to feel something while she writes it. The reader needs to feel it while she reads it, or else effective writing hasn't actually happened. This particular task involves a lot of backtracking, a lot of following one character through the story while ignoring the others, a lot of going back to the beginning. I suppose it's a good sign that this is where I am, because this only tends to happen in the later revisions. I certainly hope this revision will turn out to be one of the later revisions. :o)

I'll ease myself back into blogging today with a reflection on one of last year's New Year's resolutions: I resolved to bake bread once a month. "Bread," in this context, meant something that needed to be kneaded. I mostly baked traditional yeast loaves (buttermilk, potato, rye, etc.) and at one point I baked a soda bread. I baked bread every month – except December! December got away from me. So, on Friday night, I started an extra special bread to make up for my December folly: the better chocolate babka at Smitten Kitchen. Oh my goodness. This was definitely the winner for the year. If you're interested in trying the recipe but you don't have a standing mixer, don't worry, I don't have a standing mixer either and it was just fine (though I strongly recommend using room-temperature butter!). Very gloppy to knead (because of all the butter), but everything came together well. Thank goodness, I got some super-sharp knives for Christmas (thanks, Mom and Dad ^_^); I wouldn't have wanted to cut through the big tubes of raw dough with dull knives. If you make this bread, definitely follow the advice to stick the dough in the freezer for fifteen minutes before slicing. I left out the cinnamon and the nuts, checked them at 25 minutes and again at 30 minutes; they baked for about 35. Yummy! I suppose I should've taken more pictures in progress, but the ones on the website are lovely (and helpful). Here are the few I did take!

This is the dough's second rise. This bread isn't a big riser, so don't freak out if not a lot seems to be happening!
Out of the oven.
Ready for the feast :o)

Checking In

Greetings from the Worst Blogger Ever. I'm sorry I've been such an absent blogger lately! First it was because I was taking a much-needed work break, and now it's because all I ever do is work. I have a new book and I'm so excited for the day when I'm finally allowed to tell you guys a bit about it. For the moment, I'm working hard at it, trying to get it finalized. It's a strange book, and I don't know what anyone's going to think. That's out of my control, so I'm not worrying about it too much for now. I'm mostly just immersing myself in the experience of creating it. Once I'm allowed to talk about it, I think I'll have a LOT to say here about the process of writing it.

Soon I hope to be able to tell you what it's called, the premise, when you might actually be able to see it, etc…

In the meantime, I'll probably keep popping in now and then with more randutiae! Today I really, really appreciate Anna March's article at Salon, "Stop calling Pope Francis progressive: You might love his pastoral style, but don’t fool yourself on Vatican substance." YES YES YES. "Progressives should require that Pope Francis, or any leader, meet a minimum standard — to support equal opportunity regardless of race, gender, sexuality, class, disability and migrant/refugee status. To fail in any of these categories is, quite simply, to fail. And Pope Francis certainly fails. Progressives can do better than to laud this man. Progressives can be intersectional in our approach." Please read this article – and please stop calling Pope Francis progressive.

For fun: At the Guardian, "Saint Étienne's urban doodler with a sense of humour." A street artist named Oak Oak makes site-specific art. Love the walrus, the tight rope walker, and the little guy escaping from jail.

I appreciated Kate Harding's article about Susan Brownmiller at Cosmopolitan:  "When a Feminist Trailblazer Turns to Victim-Blaming, It's Time to Let Go of a Hero."  Excerpt: "If, 40 years from now, someone asks me what I think about young anti-rape activists, I hope my ego will allow me to profess admiration for whatever work they're doing to better the new world they've grown up in. But honestly, there's just as good a chance that I'll respond like Brownmiller, carping about kids' lack of historical awareness and respect for their elders, then adding a bunch of crap that sounds hopelessly outdated to anyone pre-menopausal. Either way is fine with me, really. If I get to the point where I have no idea what young activists are on about, or why they don't seem concerned with what most concerns me, it will probably mean they've taken what they needed from my generation's feminism and left the rest behind. I'm pretty sure that's what progress looks like."

Loved the pictures in this tiny slideshow of "The World's Most Iconic Skylines" in Elle Decor (there are only nine).

I love Flipboard's "Pictures of the Week," which bring me the rest of the world on a weekly basis. Every week, the range of topics is stunning. There are so many things going on every day in the world that I don't have the slightest clue about! Lately, I notice that the pictures keep coming back to Syrian migrants and refugees trying to make their way to safety, and I really appreciate the way the photo editors are doing it. Sort of like, "Yes, there's a parade in Mexico City, yes, people are praying in South Sumatra, yes, there are devastating fires in California and Porsche has released a new model... and here's what's still happening to the Syrian people."

Finally, for the pure glamour and weirdness that is New York Fashion Week, here is "New York Fashion Week Goes Glam: Pictures," at Flipboard's Photo Desk.

Long-Overdue Randutiae (Yes, I'm Still Here!)

Lenny Kravitz's Dick Fell Out, and Women Everywhere Are Being Terrible about It. So. The gorgeous rocker and everyone's go-to Arena fashion designer had a wardrobe malfunction at a concert in Stockholm, and social media went wild, in a bad way. I appreciate this response, which is thoughtful about questions of consent, problematic double standards, and racism.Dear America: Here's Why Everyone Thinks You Have a Problem with Guns. From Business Insider. Charts, graphs, maps.I love these photos of endangered animals that lit up the Empire State Building in early August.And these nature/monument mash-up photos that are part of the National Park Service's current advertisement campaign.Seven Women Share the Pain and Joy of Pregnancy in Tender Photo Shoot. "With her 'Honest Body Project,' photographer Natalie McCain wants to help women of different shapes, sizes and backgrounds feel beautiful and empowered. "And finally, because, DRESSES, Vanity Fair's 2015 International Best-Dressed List.Enjoy, everyone :o)

Lengthy Linky Randutiae. Also, Rainbow Nails

Ready?
David Levithan and Billy Merrell are putting together an expanded edition of The Full Spectrum and are looking for essays about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, questioning and other queer identities by writers under 21.  If you have a story you want to tell, go to www.queerthology.com for details on submitting.  Deadline is August 1st! I loved this: photos of the onscreen and real-life wedding dresses of 13 movie stars, in Vogue. Emma Thompson, Grace Kelly, Julie Andrews, Keira Knightley, etc.  If you have 15 minutes to watch a video: Sydney Opera House / Living Mural. "A global animation project by Universal Everything, collaborating with over 20 different animation studios worldwide to create a living mural on one of the world’s most iconic buildings." In other words: lights and pictures specially designed to be projected onto the Sydney Opera House. Pretty cool.From the Huffington Post: "Laverne Cox's Reaction To Caitlyn Jenner Reveals The Impossible Expectations Trans Women Face." A lot of food for thought.A WONDERFUL blog post by renegademama. "Hey Teenage Girls: YOU ARE NOT THE WORST." Love these photos of dresses from an exhibit at the Museum at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) in NYC. The slideshow, at W Magazine, is actually rather aggravating, but check out that BIG BOW in the fourth picture. Yowza.In Cosmopolitan, I enjoyed "12 Things Every Twentysomething Woman Needs to Do to Get a Bikini Body," by Lane Moore, and before you think I've gone to the dark side, the subtitle is, "Spoiler: You already have one." Number 11 is, "11. Realize you already have a bikini body because you have a body and a bikini can physically go on it. Also, I have literally never seen a woman and thought, Ugh, she doesn't belong in a bathing suit, because I am not human garbage. And I like to think most people aren't either."At mic.com, "These Stunning Photos Shatter Society's Stereotypes About Dancers' Bodies." Beautiful fat dancers.From @TechnicallyRon on Twitter, a sample of Ron's new erotic novel, "Love in the Time of Autocorrect." I suppose this is, technically, safe for work, thanks to autocorrect :o).Do you ever look at Flipboard's Pictures of the Week? It's a stunning range of photos from around the world.Finally, from The Guardian: "Love wins: America celebrates same-sex marriage ruling -- in pictures." Some of them may make you cry.

Dear Supreme Court, I love you, will you marry me?

The Supreme Court declares same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states. States cannot keep same-sex couples from marrying and must recognize these unions.

Dear world: THANK YOU FOR SOME WONDERFUL NEWS.

ETA: Check out the White House facebook page!!!

 

I have the solar system on my fingernails

This was pretty challenging, especially because in order for everything to line up correctly, the more complicated planets had to end up on my dominant hand. Turns out it is really hard to paint a tiny Saturn with a nail polish brush and toothpicks, right-handed!

I tried to represent their relative sizes correctly, more or less. Well anyway, I did my best, given my limitations of tools and skill. :o) And yes, Pluto gets to be part of my solar system!

Click to embiggen.


On the far left (my right pinky) is the sun. Might be hard to see here.
I'm quite pleased with Jupiter and Mars.
My palette!
The giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) and Pluto.
Thanks, Kevin, for the pictures. Somehow we failed to take a close-up of my right hand, so here's a bad iPhone selfie, just to share details:

Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

My Lion and My Unicorn

Sometime last fall, I discovered the strange and beautiful work of Pete at The Builder's Studio. Pete creates his work by hand out of wood. I got in touch and asked him if he would consider making me a lion robot.

This guy showed up on my doorstep a few weeks later.

Oh my goodness.
Look at his mane.
He's wearing GLASSES.
 I wrote back to Pete.  I said something along the lines of, "Pete, given that this is the most wonderful thing I've ever seen, would you consider making me a unicorn robot?"

A lot of time passed. I had given Pete a specific window of time for the lion, but I decided not to do that for the unicorn. As the months went by, Pete emailed me now and then to let me know how it was going. He was having trouble with the mane, he couldn't get various parts quite how he liked them. I wasn't in any hurry. I foresaw no emergency need for a unicorn robot. I told him to take his time.

Boy am I glad I did, because look what just showed up on my doorstep.

Oh my GOODNESS!
Look at his hooves.
Look at his horn.
LOOK AT HIS FACE.
Some details.
More details.
I'm sharing these photos because I don't know what your personal robotic sculpture needs are, but you should talk to Pete about them. The lion is just over 4 inches long and about 3 1/2 inches tall. The unicorn is almost 6 inches long and about 5 inch tall. They do not have moving parts. They are SO GREAT. They are shown standing on my scanner, which is where they like to hang out at the moment.

Pete, thank you for your gorgeous work!

The Book Group

Some industry news: my marvelous agent, Faye Bender, formerly of the Faye Bender Literary Agency, is forming a partnership with three other fabulous agents, Julie Barer, Brettne Bloom, and Elisabeth Weed, to form a new literary agency. They're called The Book Group. ((1) Isn't that a great name, and (2) how was that name not taken???) Together, these four women represent a broad diversity of literary interests, including fiction and non-fiction, literary and genre fiction, and middle grade, young adult, and adult literature. Check out some selected titles. And here are their submissions guidelines.

And, children's writer Rebecca Stead will be joining them as an agent! Faye and Rebecca are two of my favorite people so it's hard for me to be all objective and reporty about this. You will have to take my word for it that it's going to be GREAT. Aw, look at this picture of Faye and Rebecca. *melts*

Here's one of the press releases. And here is the agency's new website! Shiny.

Faye has been a joy for me to work with from day one, and she tells me that her partners have a similar approach to their authors and to the industry... which makes me think that The Book Group is going to be wonderful for its writers, and just a little bit of an industry powerhouse :)

Congratulations, guys, and godspeed as you set out on this exciting new venture.

Q&A at Write the World

Write the World, a global online community for high school-aged writers, is currently running a fantasy story contest for writers aged 13-18, writing 400-1,000 word stories. Go check it out if you're interested, and take a look around their website while you're there! To coincide with the fantasy contest, I've just done a Q&A for their blog.

Cindy Pon's Serpentine Cover

There are a bunch of things going on that I really want to blog about, but work is very consuming right now. I keep telling myself I'll just wait until I have a long moment, then blog them all at once, but I'm finally accepting that this is not going to happen. So instead, I'll do what I probably should have done in the first place, which is blog each of them separately when I can…

The first is the beautiful cover for Cindy Pon's new book, Serpentine, coming out in September!


Um, sorry about that enormous blurb covering her hair, which actually makes this a somewhat embarrassing cover to post on my blog (because it feels self-indulgent)! If I'd known they were going to do that, I would've given them one of those one-word blurbs. "Awesome." But putting that part aside, isn't it a lovely cover? You can read more about Cindy's new book over at her blog. An excerpt from the description there: "Serpentine chronicles the tension and struggle among mortals, demons, and gods in the Kingdom of Xia as it tells the story of Skybright, a handmaid, who worries about her growing otherness upon her discovery that she’s half demon." For my own part, I find this book to be wonderfully fresh, unusual for the YA market in the way it deals with sexuality and interpersonal relationships (more books like this, please!), and not to repeat my own blurb, but the fantasy world and the Kingdom of Xia setting drew me in immediately. (More books like this, please!) Here's the cover reveal page from Month9Books, and I'm kicking myself, because I see there's a giveaway that ended on May 29, which makes me really sorry I didn't blog this sooner.