A friend of mine was surprised to read my last enty, in which I confessed to being deeply moved by a song about a lost cat. She has known me for years and never seen me cry. That's because I don't cry, except at the odd movie or song. Don't get me wrong: I like to cry. It's relaxing and good… Continue reading Fictional Emotions
Category: books
Words and Music
I wrote Walking Backward to the Weakerthans. Something opened in my heart while listening to their song, "Virtue the Cat Explains her Disappearance." I have no idea why, but something in the song connected to my story in a way I don't understand. (The song is about a lost cat, which doesn't factor into my dead-mother novel.) If I wanted sad… Continue reading Words and Music
Book Release
My first book, Walking Backward, is being released today from Orca Book Publishers. This is a good day for me. Not that I know what to do about it, promotions-wise. I feel like there's a world of networking possibilities out there beyond me. (Many thanks to Terry Lynn Johnson, whom I met at an Agents Day conference hosted by SCBWI Canada, for pointing… Continue reading Book Release
Cliff Hangers and Letting Go
Last night I cuddled up with my 7-year-old and read a few chapters from the Deltora Shadowlands series by Emily Rodda. It's our habit to read three chapters a night. With Rodda's books, storytime usually ends with a cliffhanger and a whining plea for more (which I never give in to unless I'm dying to know what happens next). Last night my… Continue reading Cliff Hangers and Letting Go
Self-searching online
When a friend told me that she pre-ordered my novel, Walking Backward, from Amazon.ca, I got all excited to think that was even possible. I visited the site, found my book ranked 135,629th, and felt happy to be there at all. On a whim, I plugged my name into the various search engines to see what came up... What came… Continue reading Self-searching online
Catherine Austen 