Posted on January 24, 2020
by Catherine Austen
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It was a real pleasure to be the Guest Quizmaster at the Ottawa heat of the Kids’ Lit Quiz this year. The contest was held at Elmwood School on Tuesday, January 21st. And even in the middle of a teachers’ strike (Go teachers! Fight…
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Category: authors, children's books, contests, featured, reading, What's NewTags: book trivia, books, Canadian writers, canlit, Catherine Austen, children's books, Contests, elmwood school, featured, glashan public school, guest quizmaster, holly bodger, jo rioux, kate jaimet, kidlit quiz, kids lit quiz, knoxdale public school, literature quiz, ottawa events, ottawa schools, quizmaster, reading, reading contest
Posted on September 11, 2019
by Catherine Austen
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Good things come to those who wait. Years ago, I wrote a story about a clever squirrel who grew tired of waiting for a daily handout, so she decided to steal a whole bag of peanuts, along with the little girl carrying it. I…
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Category: books, children's books, featured, illustration, picture book, picture books, squirrels, What's New, writing, writing procesTags: authors and illustrators, book development, books, Canadian writers, canlit, children's books, creative process, creative writng, delays, editing, featured, fitzhenry and whiteside, grey squirrels, illustrations, inspiration, patience, picture book layout, picture book process, picture books, publishing, revising, sean cassidy, squirrel books, squirrels, squirrels stole my sister, writers, writing
I had a great time at this year’s MASC Young Authors and Illustrators Festival in Ottawa. The 3-day event was held at the Canadian Aviation Museum, where over 450 children aged 9-12 came from around the region — some of them getting up at…
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Category: art, author talks, authors, What's New, writing, writing conference, writing workshops, young writersTags: art workshops, author visits, Bill Juillette, book signings, books, britt wilson, canadian aviation museum, Canadian writers, cary fagan, characters, children's books, children's novels, creative process, david a robertson, fiction, fictional characters, illustrations, inspiration, karen krossing, MASC, MASC Young Authors and Young Illustrators Festival, novels, picture books, plots, plotting, soyeon kim, writers, writing, writing workshops, young writers
I’m ready for the MASC Young Authors and Illustrators Festival taking place in Ottawa April 9-11. I’ll be leading workshops with keen young writers coming to town from elementary schools across eastern Ontario and western Quebec. This annual event draws hosting authors and illustrators from…
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Category: author talks, authors, children's books, illustration, What's New, writing, writing conference, writing workshops, young writersTags: author visits, books, britt wilson, canadian museum of aviation, Canadian writers, canlit, cary fagan, children's books, children's novels, creative process, david a robertson, illustrations, inspiration, karen krossing, MASC, MASC Young Authors and Young Illustrators Festival, novels, soyeon kim, writers, writing, writing workshops, youth art, youth writing
Posted on November 26, 2018
by Catherine Austen
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I posted a motivational blurb on the SCBWI Canada East website today, about slogging it through the last days of November’s novel-writing challenge. I have never actually made the NaNoWriMo journey, meaning I’ve never done a start-to-finish draft in the month of November. I’ve…
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Category: writing, writing procesTags: books, Canadian writers, children's books, children's novels, creative process, discipline, fear, inspiration, motivation, nanowrimo, novels, orca book publishers, procrastination, revising, walking backward, word count, writers, writing, writing practice
Posted on March 30, 2018
by Catherine Austen
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This Tuesday, I had the pleasure of calling the names of twelve young writers whose short fiction won places in the Ottawa Public Library’s Awesome Authors Contest. What a pleasure to be one of this year’s judges and to read excerpts from the fantastic…
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Category: author talks, books, children's books, contests, public speaking, school visits, writing, young writersTags: author talks, author visits, awesome authors, bishop's university, books, Canadian writers, children's books, children's novels, Contests, creative process, english literature, Friends of the Ottawa Public Library, history of children's literature, Ottawa Public Library, public speaking, reading, school visits, symmes d'arcy, walking backward, writers, writing, writing contests, writing workshops
I always look forward to my regional SCBWI conference. This year it’s especially exciting because I’ll be giving a workshop myself. My topic: revision. I used to dread revisions. I loved drafting; I loved polishing; but I loathed the grunt work in between the…
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Category: author talks, authors, children's books, What's New, writing, writing conferenceTags: art of story, author visits, books, Canadian writers, children's books, children's literature, creative process, critiques, kidlit, novel revision, ottawa, publishing, revising, revision, scbwi, scbwi canada east, writers, writers conference, writing, writing conference, writing workshops
