Kristin Cashore's Blog, page 77

In Which the Blog Gets Too Serious and Is in Need of Dominoes

You talk about keeping the faith while writing -- but how do you keep going when you can see that your manuscript is a total mess? How do you keep the faith?

Well... I don't know; maybe a combination of mulishness, arrogance, and self-delusion? :o) All under-rated qualities, IMO. More seriously, I keep it because I have to. I mean, what other option do I have? Giving up? Is that really an option? If I keep going, mightn't the book fail? Yeah, it really might. But if I give up, there's no lo...

FAQ: Who reads your first drafts?

How do you choose your early readers -- the ones who give you helpful criticism while you're still writing and revising?

This is a really important question and is a process that can take some experimentation. Here's what I've decided I need in an early reader:
A person who reads books often and intelligently.
A person who is willing to tell me the hard truth.A person who, nonetheless, tells the truth with respect, i.e., delivers criticism in a way that fortifies me, NOT in a way that tears me...

Sending my Congrats into the Ether. Also, VOTE

I watched the Youth Media Awards webcast live with a second tab open to my library account so that I could put books on hold as they were announced. Congratulations are flying around the internet, of course, and I'd like to add mine. Especially to Rebecca Stead and Francisco Stork for When You Reach Me and Marcelo in the Real World, winners of the Newbery and the Schneider, respectively, because (1) I love those books, and (2) we three share an agent, so in some silly way, I think of them as...

An ALA Special Report: When I Said Shenanigans, I Meant Shenanigans

See this rig?


See these authors?


Don't you think these authors should jump off that rig?

Well, anyway, they thought so.

Sarah Miller and I fly on the trapeze (S left, I right; click to embiggen):



Sarah and I reach for the catcher.




The catcher snatches us out of thin air:




Not done yet! Here are videos (practice swings, sans the catch):





For those interested in trapeze lessons, check it out. It was SO MUCH FUN. In particular, the moment when you're flying upside-down like crazy and suddenly a...

Vids, Pics, and Leserpreis Thursday

While I was on my blog break, I gathered a little pile of videos/pictures I wanted to show all of you. They don't really go together, but they don't really go with anything else I have planned, either, so I thought I'd throw them at you all at once. Ready for some randomness?

Here, via my lovely pal and fellow writer Tui Sutherland, is How to Wrap a Cat.



(When I was little, one of our cats was just that mellow. She was the World's Best Cat.)

Next up: Target is selling the fabulous Yay scale, d...

Movie FAQs

Has anyone optioned Graceling and/or Fire yet?
Nope!

Who would you want to play the various characters? Do you have any movie ideas?
On rare occasions, I try to picture Katsa, and usually, I fail. Sometimes, however, Zhang Ziyi springs to mind, because she can be fierce. Truth is, I'd love to see Graceling translated into a Hong Kong action movie. It would be totally different! Not just translating from book to film, and from my vision to the film director's, but from an American genre to a Ho...

Shaking Up the Blog; an Article; a FAQ -- and Some Unputdownable Books!

So, after a lot of thought and some consultation with the wise, I've come to realize that I need to make a change on the blog. I'm so grateful to all of my readers for the enthusiasm you have for my books and my blog -- but the downside to all the wonderful discussion that happens here is that moderation of comments has becoming a consuming activity that cuts into my writing time. It's better for everyone if I spend most of my energy right now on Bitterblue -- so, NO, I'm not going to stop ...

Shaking Up the Blog; an Article; and a FAQ

So, after a lot of thought and some consultation with the wise, I've come to realize that I need to make a change on the blog. I'm so grateful to all of my readers for the enthusiasm you have for my books and my blog -- but the downside to all the wonderful discussion that happens here is that moderation of comments has becoming a consuming activity that cuts into my writing time. It's better for everyone if I spend most of my energy right now on Bitterblue -- so, NO, I'm not going to stop ...

In Which I ♥ My New Year's Routine

Slovak cover of Graceling ------------>

So, one of my favorite tasks this time of year is The Changing of the Daily Planner (henceforth, ∆DP). ∆DP involves putting last year's and this year's planners side by side; going through last year's; and writing into this year's, in ink of significant colors, the things that happen every year (birthdays, bill-paying days, tax-paying days, etc.). It also involves writing into this year's planner all the plans for 2010 that I've already made.

I LOVE...

Meanwhile, Back at the Blog

Hello, beautiful people! I'm back. How was your December? Mine was fabulous. I've been doing a lot of traveling... and I also received two intriguing packages:

(1) My Czech and Slovak Gracelings, published by Ediposs. The Czech cover is on the right. I would tell you what Výjimečná means, except that I don't know! The Slovak title is Výnimočná. If there are any Czech or Slovak speakers out there who'd like to educate me, please feel free to leave a comment!

(2) A super surprise from my Bo...