You may know the old fable, The Widow and the Hen: Once there was a widow who found a hen wandering the yard. The widow gave the hen a handful of barley and, lo, it laid an egg. The next day, the widow tossed the hen another handful of barley, and she was blessed with another… Continue reading Friday Fable: The Writer and the Inspiring World
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Thanks!
Thanks to the Montreal Children's Library for organizing such a fun author visit with the grade five classes of Westmount Park Elementary School yesterday (and thanks to Via Rail for getting me through the storm safely). It was great to meet the students, their teachers and the lovely librarian, Elizabeth. (I now know two lovely librarians named Elizabeth.) I hope… Continue reading Thanks!
Suddenly a blog post
"World is suddener than we fancy it." (Louis MacNiece, "Snow") We've long been warned not to build tension on the cheap by spattering our manuscripts with the word "suddenly." Lately I've read a few posts advising writers not to use the word at all - ever - because it's meaningless. These are posts from editors… Continue reading Suddenly a blog post
Friday Fable: The Writers’ Group Driver and his Three Passengers
You may have heard the classic fable, "The Lion and his Three Councillors:" A lion caught a whiff of his own rancid breath and thought, "Maybe I'm not as kingly as I ought to be. I better check." He called to a sheep and asked, "Say, does my breath stink?" "Yes it stinks terribly," said… Continue reading Friday Fable: The Writers’ Group Driver and his Three Passengers
The Sunburst Awards
The Sunburst Award Society (for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic) has just selected my novel, All Good Children, as the winner of the 2012 Sunburst Award in the Young Adult category. I am thrilled! Check out the Press Release here. I owe everyone at Orca Book Publishers my thanks for making this book… Continue reading The Sunburst Awards
Catherine Austen 