I like to stay grounded in the present in my writing (with an eye on future deadlines), but every now and then I try to look back on the work I've done. Or walk back to it, in this case. My first children's novel, Walking Backward, was published by Orca Book Publishers in 2009, which feels like quite a while ago.… Continue reading Laurel Leaves
Category: books
Everybody Wants to be a Starring Cat
I got an email this week from an old friend whom I haven't seen for twenty years. She wrote to say that she'd been in Washington, D.C., and there in the bookshop of the Museum of Natural History was My Cat Isis. My beloved feline is really getting around. (She's getting nice reviews, too, in Booklist and… Continue reading Everybody Wants to be a Starring Cat
Making Time to Write
I wanted to blog today in order to procrastinate on writing an Annual Report due Friday - most of my meagre blogging attempts coincide with the due dates of paid writing contracts - but alas, procrastination is not in the cards for me because fellow writer Lizann Flatt has made me her guest blogger today. Check out my interview… Continue reading Making Time to Write
Intrinsic Motivation Running Out
I have to drag myself to the keyboard to finish drafting my new teen novel, Across the Water (a sequel to All Good Children, forthcoming Fall 2011 from Orca Book Publishers). It's not that I can't figure out the ending. It's that I know what horror awaits me in revising my rough draft into something readable, let alone publishable. The return… Continue reading Intrinsic Motivation Running Out
Book Launch Afterword (II)
Success! About a hundred people showed up at my local library yesterday to help me celebrate the release of my first picture book, My Cat Isis, illustrated by Virginie Egger, published by Kids Can Press earlier this month. Yes, that read, "a hundred." Good thing my library had such a nice big room to hold them.… Continue reading Book Launch Afterword (II)
Catherine Austen 