Kristin Cashore's Blog, page 80

Happy Birthday to Fire

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....

Roman Polanski and WTF

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...

Authors, Appearances, Anxiety, and Dropping One's Pants

I'm annoyed that my voice recognition software recognizes Ludwig Wittgenstein on the first try but doesn't recognize Miss Marple. Humph. (To be fair, it doesn't recognize Lord Peter Wimsey, either. But nor does it recognize Luce Irigaray. But it recognizes Jo March. But not Gilbert Blythe. AARGHHH!)

(Incidentally, my favorite VRS kerfuffle recently was when I dictated, "He dropped his pen suddenly and stood with eyes closed, massaging his hand," and my computer wrote, "He dropped his pants ...

Rethinking the Blog

So, the blog posts I like to write are the ones that don't have anything to do with news. They're the posts about random thoughts, the poetry or poll posts, the posts in which I answer FAQs or talk about writing and life. They are NOT the posts in which I say, guys, here's what's happening to my books in the world. And recently I've felt overwhelmed by news in my own posts.... and that's why I've decided to make a link on the left for news, and put all news there. If anything spectacula...

In Which Schmetterling Is My New Favorite Word

The discussion of favorite and least favorite words has been delightful. I've learned that Schmetterling is the German word for butterfly -- isn't it beautiful?

So, do you ever feel like you need a good cry -- not necessarily because anything terrible has happened, but just because you need to clear out your system and process things? What do you do in times like that? I do things like listen to sad music (like Barber's Adagio for Strings -- here's a gorgeous choral version), or meditate, o...

In Which the Author Is So Grateful She Falls Over. Also, Here's What to Do if You Have a Few Minutes

Today I'm starting with a thank you to my readers. THANK YOU for making Graceling a bestseller in Germany, and THANK YOU for putting the American paperback of Graceling on next week's (Sep 27) New York Times bestseller list! I am overwhelmed. I am staring blankly like a slow loris. And giggling.

*flops*

So, how much time do you have?
If you have 12 minutes today, listen to the story "In Search Of," which was chosen as the very first podcast for the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and...

Two Reminders and a Question

Hi everyone! I'm sneaking in a Wednesday post just to remind y'all about my live chat at readergirlz this evening at 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific. The chat will take place here and last an hour; feel free to stop by!

Also, the blog tour has begun; the schedule is here if you're interested in following along.

And now, the question. First, some context: I'm preparing for the Sirens conference in Vail in October, and am thinking a lot about language and identity. Do you have a favorite word or word...

A Poll About True Love. (And Slow Lorises ^_^)

Everyone, please feel free to vote in today's important poll of importance! (If you're reading this post somewhere other than my Blog Actual and cannot see the poll, please click here.)


With whom would you prefer to be stranded on a desert island?(trends)


Never seen a slow loris being tickled? Well, here you go:



Happy Monday, everyone.

Blog Tour News

Hi everyone!

So, next week I start a three-week blog tour. The theme of the tour is "Getting to Know the Characters of Fire," which means that at each stop on the tour, I'll introduce a character (or characters) from Fire. My character intros have been carefully screened by a team of experts (read: my patient and generous friends Deborah, Sam, and JD -- thanks, guys) to ensure that they're accurate (*ahem* for example, Sam pointed out that I was calling a character by the wrong name) AND n...

Welcome, September

It's been a while since I've lived in a place where September marks a true change in season, so the weather in Massachusetts lately has been making me beside myself with happiness. In Florida, the weather didn't dip below the 80s (I mean, even at night) until maybe November. In my excitement, I've been dressing too warmly. Autumn, you are welcome!

Those of you who've been reading my blog for a while know I used to walk along the St. Johns River almost every day. Well, now I walk along the C...