Catherine Austen
Creative Writing
Back to School
Oh, that lovely schoolbus roar. Yes, it has begun – here in Quebec, school is in session. (As of yesterday.) Packed lunches, 6:30 alarms, goodbye waves, and – at last – peaceful offices.
My entire family takes August off. When my children are not unplugged at the cabin, they are hogging the computer. I have half-forgotten how to write. (Lame excuse, I know. I have a laptop. And a pen.)
My expectations for my first day back at work tomorrow – revise a picture book, write 2,000 words of a novel, and plan a blog tour – are probably a little high. And you can guess which of the three will not get done.
But no. This year I will do better. I am going back to school, metaphorically. I will organize my workday like a child’s schoolday, slot it into 2-hour classes with little recesses in between. (I’ll grab a jump rope and push myself outside for those, like any sour-faced yard monitor would do.)
Here’s my daily schedule:
- Novel writing 8-10;
- Editing 10:30-12:00;
- Picture books 1-2;
- Marketing 2:15-3:00.
Sure, that’ll work. Except for the fact that it doesn’t allow any time to make a living.
Revised schedule:
- Work 8-3
- Picture Books 3-3:45
- Editing 3:45-5:00
- Novel writing 9-11 p.m.
- Marketing weekends
See how those 2000 get shoved to the bottom? That’s it. I’m dropping out.
But the back-to-school season is still the kick in the pants I need to organize my writing closets and make some new habits. Like keep a decent blog instead of aimless occasional rambles.
I’m embracing alliteration as my new organizational tool. (I’m not sure what it’s replacing but I’ll call it “new” anyway.) On Tuesdays, I’ll blog about Tips for writing/marketing. On Thursdays I’ll offer Thoughts on what I’m reading. Fridays I’ll go all out with Fables. I’ll take Moody Mondays off (along with Silly Saturdays and Smiling Sundays). Which leaves Wednesdays. That’s today.
Wednesday Worries? Nah. I’d go on forever.
Wednesday Wonders? With a photo of something beautiful in nature? Nah. I’d spend all week taking photos instead of writing.
Wednesday Words? That’s a bit too vague unless I restrict it to fridge poems. Nah. They take me all day.
What’s New Wednesdays? Excellent. I never have news. This’ll be the briefest blog ever. I’ll actually look forward to Wednesdays. Here we go…
What’s New this Wednesday? I finally updated my website.
I had to get rid of the gorgeous hobbit drawing from my old website because it was (a) copyrighted – that’s what comes of using free templates; and (b) completely inappropriate because I don’t write fantasy or even read it.
My new site looks a bit business-oriented but it navigates well. I like it. Check it out at www.catherineausten.com.
So that’s my news this Wednesday.
Oh man, this is great. I’m going to go alliterate my whole life.
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Catherine Austen writes books for kids and teens, short stories for adults, and reports for corporate clients. She lives in Gatineau, Quebec.
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Catherine Austen 
I really do need to go back to school, don’t I? Next time I link to my website, I’ll be sure to proofread the spelling of my own name. Sigh. The link works now.