Catherine Austen
Creative Writing
Hitting the Virtual Road
I just learned that my just-launched teen novel, All Good Children, has had a couple of very new reviews, including this one from Booklist (November 15, 2011 – which hasn’t happened yet but I didn’t make it up, honest):
“Austen writes with cinematic definition, driving the action with taut dialogue and unremitting menace. By alternating recognizable adolescent struggles with dystopian horrors, she makes the threat of totalitarian mind control all the more visceral….Action packed, terrifying, and believable, this entertaining novel will provoke important discussions about subservience, resistance, and individual freedom.”
This review follows Quill & Quire’s awesome accolades (“smart, polished novel” “imaginative and affecting” “emotionally engaging” etc., an entire columnful of compliments) and The Montreal Review of Books’ wonderful write-up that ends with the phrase, “Great literature is never limited by its genre.” (All Good Children being the “great literature” – score!)
Clearly this blog is no longer big enough for my ego. I’ll have to gloat on other blogs for a while. To this end, I’m taking my fall releases (the much-acclaimed All Good Children and my middle-grade comedy, 26 Tips for Surviving Grade 6) on a virtual tour.
Several bloggers have been kind and curious enough to interview me or ask me to guest blog over the coming weeks. Some of these bloggers are Library Thing Early Reviewers who received an ARC of one of my books. Two are fellow Canadians whose virtual paths have crossed with mine in our strangely-small big country. All of them are complete strangers who share a love of books and are willing to help spread the word on mine. I’ll do my best to answer their questions instead of just referring them to my reviews while I paint my toes.
Here’s where I plan to visit over the next several weeks:
November 10th: Cubicle Blindness (I’ll answer Krista’s thought-provoking questions about All Good Children.)
November 14th: Bookworm Lisa (I’ll guest blog about why I write for middle-graders, teens, and young children.)
November 17th: The O.W.L. (I’ll visit with Jill and answer questions of a 7th grade nature.)
November 21st: Tina’s Book Reviews (I’ll guest blog about getting lost inside a character’s head.)
November 24th: Just Deb (I’ll answer everything Deb throws my way and do a book giveaway, too.)
November 28th: Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers (I’ll answer a couple of questions to accompany a review of All Good Children.)
December 1st: 10 Stories Up (Lindsey will interview me about both my new books in a most insightful manner.)
December 5th: YA Books Central (I’ll join the ranks of YA authors with interviews on this hub site.)
December 8th: I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read (I’ll guest blog on some strange beliefs about writing for young adults.)
And that’s enough already. Virtual travel is exhausting. I’ll be so glad to get home, back to my Friday Fables and What’s New Wednesdays. (Both of which I hope to keep up while I’m away guest blogging, but what are the chances of that? It’s November, after all. I have the novel-in-one-month thing and the picture-book-idea-a-day thing, plus the polishing of my latest ms that’s past due, plus the research on my Roman Britain book-to-be. Oh, what the heck, I could squeeze in a fable here and there. But not today. Must wait till Friday. Alliteration is all.)
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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 
Have fun, blog-hopper! And congrats on all the positive press! (:
Looking forward to Q&As on Cubicle Blindness tomorrow!