Catherine Austen's Blog, page 18

Book Week in Nova Scotia: Shout Out to Bookstores

 

A huge thank you to all the inquisitive elementary students I met today on the first day of my Nova Scotia tour of schools and libraries for TD Canadian Children’s Book Week 2014. Thanks for asking such great questions and for teaching me the correct pronunciation of “Shubenacadie.” (I’d better learn to say it right if I want to set a book there!)

As I end my first day of the tour, I need to thank the Nova Scotia bookstores stocking extra copies of my titles this week. Teachers and students who hear a taste of my latest middle-grade comedy at one of my presentations want to know where they can read more. So here’s the 411 on where to purchase a copy at a store near you.

While you can order any of my titles – or any title in the whole world – from any bookstore and wait for it to arrive, these three Nova Scotia stores are guaranteed to have lots of copies in stock of 28 Tricks for a Fearless Grade 6 and its predecessor, Hackmatack Award-winner 26 Tips for Surviving Grade 6.

A big thanks to the store managers for stocking the titles in time with Book Week.

Coles - Highland Square Mall

689 Westville Road

New Glasgow, NS

 

 

Chapters - Mic Mac Mall

41 Micmac Blvd.

Dartmouth, NS

 

 

The Inside Story

1016 Central Avenue

Greenwood, NS

 

I was at Coles in New Glasgow today, after speaking with grade 5 and 6 students at the New Glasgow Public Library and the Antigonish Town and County Library.

 

I’ll be at Chapters in Dartmouth’s Mic Mac Mall tomorrow at 2:00, after speaking at Pictou Landing First Nation School and the Spring Garden Road Library.

 

And I’ll be speaking to students at The Inside Story on Friday at 1:30, after a few days of presentations in Halifax, Hubbards, Yarmouth County, and Digby County. Anyone in the Greenwood area is welcome to attend Friday’s talk at the Inside Story.

 

I hope to meet some friendly Nova Scotians at these bookstores this week. And even after I’m gone, the books will be there for interested readers to discover.

 

Cheers.

 

 

 

Filed under: authors, book week 2014, children's books, public libraries, school visits Tagged: 28 tricks for a fearless grade 6, author visits, book stores, Canadian Children's Book Week, inside story bookstore, mic mac mall, new glasgow, nova scotia

Book Week in Nova Scotia: Day One (Saturday)

Blue sky, blue water.

So far things are pretty awesome with my Children’s Book Week 2014 trip to Nova Scotia. (I haven’t actually begun working yet. Gruelling days are ahead. Or at least not quite so easy days as today.)

First, I got to Halifax and found an ocean and sunshine and happy people walking all over wearing T-shirts.

After a big bowl of clam chowder, I walked around the harbourfront taking photos of public art.

Lovely limp lamp post.

Then I turned a corner and saw this sign beckoning from across the street:

No way. Could the day get any better?

I don’t know the origins of this wondrous event that occurs the first Saturday in May, but I defy you to not get excited about it. I haven’t been an avid comic book reader since childhood (my husband saved a box of his and we occasionally pore over them, reminiscing about “Rat Island”), but I still get excited about being given free comics.

(Okay, maybe not excited enough to wait in the hour-long line-up for Walking Dead freebies, but excited enough to scoop a bunch of all-ages comics from the outdoor table.)

Just a few of today’s free kid-friendly comics.

 

(Okay, the Samurai Jack comic wasn’t free. I felt the need to support the comic book industry after taking so much free merchandise.)

After embracing pop culture so fully, I had to visit an art gallery, 1274 Hollis, where I bought a print and restored my highbrow levels. Tonight I’ll be heading to the Nova Scotia Children’s Literature Round Table Book Bash to hear local authors introduce their recent books. Then I can come back to my hotel and read my Hello Kitty comic. What a day.

All tolled, I am loving Halifax. Next weekend, when I’m back here after my Book Week tour ends, the neighbourhood turns into a giant artsy foodie party called Open City. That’s just as good as free comics!

In between now and then, I’ll be visiting with elementary students across the province to talk about writing books. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to blog about it here. If it’s not too gruelling.

The month is off to a good start.

 

Filed under: authors, book week 2014, children's books Tagged: Canadian Children's Book Week, free comic book day, halifax, writers

Off to Nova Scotia for Book Week!

I’m heading off to Nova Scotia tomorrow for TD Canadian Children’s Book Week 2014. Hurrah!

I’m one of 29 lucky authors, illustrators and storytellers selected to tour schools and libraries outside their own province this year. I was thrilled to get Nova Scotia as my destination. I am smitten with the Atlantic coast.

(So smitten that I’m taking extra time at the end of Book Week to linger in the province with my better half to check out the Fundy tides from the south side.)

I have a full week of visits lined up with elementary students around the coast. I’m going to tell them everything I know about writing books, which advice I’ve packaged up with my latest middle-grade release to produce this old-school cut-and-past presentation title: 10 Tricks for a Fearless Writing Life.

(I’m not sure I have a fearless writing life – it’s spattered with anxiety and doubt, truth be told – but I’m working toward it.)

Must go. I have a deadline to meet. (Annual report, due today, not quite done, only 4 hours left. Argh.) And it’s not like I procrastinated. I’ve been working on it for ages –  compiling, writing, rewriting, chopping, searching the trash bin for chopped bits that turned out better than the new bits, etc. Sheesh. Writing is hard.

(I’ll gloss over the panicky bits in my school presentation. And I may omit the mornings spent in jammies and unbrushed teeth, drinking pots of coffee and muttering at my computer screen. Seriously. TMI.)

If I have my act together, I’ll blog en route.

So, yeah, that means I probably won’t be blogging till mid-May. Happy spring.

 

Filed under: authors, book tour, children's books, school visits, What's New Tagged: author visits, books, Canadian Children's Book Week, nova scotia, procrastination

Imagine a Story – Montreal Conference

Yes Oui CANSCAIP presents

Imagine a Story

A day of workshops for those interested in writing, illustrating, and performing for children.

Time: Saturday, May 31st, 2014

9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Location: Dawson College

Montreal, Quebec

Cost: $110

(Includes three workshop choices among 12 on offer plus a plenary session.)

Learn from award-winning authors, illustrators, playwrights, and artistic and editorial directors. (Including me.)

Check out the line-up and registration information on the CANSCAIP website.

See you there!

(Yes Oui CANSCAIP is the Quebec chapter of the

Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers.)

 

Filed under: authors, children's books, What's New, writing, writing conference Tagged: CANSCAIP, creative process, editing, Imagine a Story, publishing, writing, writing workshops

Friday Fable: The Climax that went “meh”

You may know the old tale, “The Mountain in Labour:”

A magnificent mountain began to rumble one day, and it made such a mighty noise that it was heard across the land, and people came from far and wide to witness the wonder that was bound to follow. Thousands gathered at the base of the mountain, and more than a few climbed up to the top, all aquiver at the thought of what might come next.

After days of anxious expectation, the mountain quieted and out popped a mouse.

And everybody went home, thinking, “That sucked.”

And the moral is: A promising beginning often ends in disappointment.

That is an okay tale, but if Aesop were a modern slave to the written word, he might have called his fable, “The Climax that went ‘meh’:”

A writer (who thought she was magnificent) wrote a novel full of interesting characters, high stakes, and clever turns of phrase. There was romance, drama, thrills and chills, plus some penetrating insight into the human condition.

The story began with star-crossed lovers blocked at every turn by a wicked villain who stalked them and dug up all the secrets of their past and threatened to ruin their lives forever. The tale rumbled on through lying and spying, stealing and cheating, bodily harm, a gruesome murder, a frame-up the cops believed and, oh my god, it was all so exciting! Who would die in the end? Who would go to jail? Whose secrets would be exposed? How would it unfold?!?!

At last came the final scene, in which there was a bit of a scuffle before the cops arrived and everything was hunky-dory.

The writer closed her file, thinking, “That sucked.”

And the moral is: It’s called a climax for a reason. Though your writing partner might try to make you feel better by saying, “oh no, it’s not that important, it’s nice just to read along, really, it was fine,” don’t believe it. 

Don’t take writing advice from WikiHow. Seriously. Your book should not climax in the middle.

Anti-climactic means disappointing, and the worst place to be disappointed in a book is at the end. It’s like having a good meal in a wonderful restaurant but then waiting half an hour for the bill. It sucks.

If your book gets more and more exciting through the middle, with the tension building to thrilling levels, the ending has to be a doozy. Or at least pretty good. Better than the middle. Not a total let-down.

So I have some revisions to do. Again. Damn it.

(Mouse drawing by Grant Cochrane at FreeDigitalPhotos.net; pondering writer by unnamed artist under Creative Commons license at WikiHow’s “How to Become a Writer” page, which is unintentionally entertaining.)

Filed under: Fables, Friday Fables, writing Tagged: aesop's fables, books, creative process, editing, revising, YA novel

Cordelia’s Valentine, part of “Shakespeare High”

Check out my modern take on the Lear family in “Cordelia’s Valentine,” part of a new series of original short fiction by Canadian young adult authors published on the CBC Canada Writes website this month, in honour of Shakespeare’s 450th birthday.

Here’s the shortlink direct to “Cordelia’s Valentine.” But be sure to browse around the full cast of Shakespeare High and read all 9 stories. From authors Catherine Austen (me), Beverley Brenna, Sean Cullin, Mahtab Narsimhan, Monique Polak, Arthur Slade, Mariko Tamaki, Eric Walters, and Paul Yee.

Our  characters: Cordelia, Ophelia, Caliban, Portia, (Lady Mac)Beth, Richard III, Mercutio, Petruchio, and Emilia. Enjoy.

(Then try your hand at rewriting Shakespeare for the CBC Canada Writes Shakespeare Selfie Challenge.)

Filed under: authors, short stories, young adult fiction Tagged: Contests, cordelia, king lear, shakespeare, shakespeare high, writing workshops

Be a Bard: CBC’s Shakespeare Selfie Challenge

Do you have immortal longings in you?

Is there no creature loves you?

Could you be bounded in a nutshell and count yourself a king of infinite space were it not that you have bad dreams?

Now’s your chance to tell all.

To celebrate Shakespeare’s 450th birthday this month, CBC Canada Writes is hosting a “Shakespeare Selfie” writing challenge for Canadians. Take any Shakespearean character, put them in a present-day setting, and let them speak.

She has immortal longings in her.

You have from today, April 14th, through May 9th to enter your 200-400-word soliloquy (or monologue – there’s a difference and I know that because I just googled it) into the “Shakespeare Selfie Challenge.” Your literary selfie could win an iPad mini. The contest has prizes for adult and youth writers (aged 12 and up), so if you’re reading this blog you’re probably old enough to enter.

Full contest details and submission info (and a blurb on the difference between soliloquies and monologues) on the Canada Writes Website.

You may be thinking, Wassup with this promo, Catherine? Did you get a job for the CBC? No, alas, I didn’t.

There is no creature loves him.

But I am one of 9 Canadian authors of young adult fiction taking part in “Shakespeare High,” an original short fiction series on Canada Writes. We’ve each written a contemporary YA short story about a Shakespearean character. (I chose Cordelia from King Lear.) You can read all 9 of these original stories this month, starting tomorrow, on the Canada Writes Website. (I’ll post a link to “Cordelia’s Valentine” when my turn comes up. But be sure to read them all.)

Needs no caption.

I also was one of three YA authors – with Mariko Tamaki and Monique Polak – who spoke about “Shakespeare High” with CBC’s Shelagh Rogers on The Next Chapter radio show, in which I said a bunch of things I have absolutely no memory of because I was really nervous and probably not making much sense at the time. I don’t know when the show is airing because I was unable to form memories in my nervous state of mind but I’m sure it’s coming up, and definitely worth a listen to Monique and Mariko. I’ll post a link to the podcast here, after it airs.

But in the meantime, get thinking about Shakespeare, his characters and all their tragic flaws, and get writing your literary self-portrait. Good luck.

Filed under: contests, short stories, writing Tagged: shakespeare, shakespeare high, shakespeare selfie challenge, writers, writing contests

Gaspe’s BookFest

It was a pleasure to spend the week touring schools along the Gaspe coast as part of the region’s BookFest 2014.

I visited English elementary schools from Gaspe southwest to New Richmond, driving from town to town along the Atlantic Ocean (peeking over snowbanks sometimes to check out the view) and stopping to give 12 presentations to groups of students in schools large and small.

All schools should be ocean-view schools.

(The smallest school I visited had just 19 children, divided into two classes: 1-2-3 and 4-5-6. It was lovely.)

I even got to visit the Magdalen Islands, which is where I am right now. So what the heck am I doing inside blogging? I have just a few hours to go snap some more pictures of the ocean, so I’d better be going.

Where I am now.

Thanks to all the students, staff, and Bookfest organizers who made this trip possible. (And thanks to the ocean for always being there on my left to keep me from getting lost.)

Filed under: authors, book tour, school visits Tagged: author visits, book promotion, bookfest, children's books, festival du livre, gaspe, writers

Thanks for the Lovely Launch!

Me introducing my new book, 28 Tricks for a Fearless Grade 6.

Thanks to all the family, friends, writers and readers who braved the snow to attend my book launch on Sunday. It was so nice to see you. (Really, I couldn’t stop smiling.)

 

A huge thank-you to la Bibliothèque municipale de Gatineau for providing the room and refreshments, and to Michabou for handling book sales. Thanks to Anni del Sol for the live music, and to sixth-graders Daimon, Aiden, and Angel for the wonderful readings. And thanks to everyone who dropped in and stayed a while.

It’s a particularly touching experience to celebrate the publication of a new book with friends. Writers are lucky that way – people in other professions rarely have a party to celebrate some success at work.

Some of the happy folk at my launch. (See the snow outside? Sigh.)

I think everyone should start doing this. Delivered a report on time? That calls for music. Cleaned the whole house? Let’s get together and chat. Made a customer’s day? How about some brownies, people?

Most of us spend too much time being hard on ourselves for all the things we haven’t done, and not enough time revelling in the good things we have achieved. So cheers to the book launch tradition that makes us pause to say, “Hey, look what I did!” May it thrive and expand to celebrate all the large and small ways in which we are creative every day.

Cheers.

 

 

Filed under: authors, books, middle grade novels Tagged: 28 tricks for a fearless grade 6, book launch, book promotion, children's books, writing

Book Launch

Gatineau/Ottawa friends (and out-of-towners who enjoy a Sunday drive), please come out to the Aylmer (Lucy Faris) Public Library on Sunday, March 30, from 2:00-4:00 p.m., to celebrate the release of my latest middle-grade novel, 28 Tricks for a Fearless Grade 6. There will be lots of refreshments, crafts for the kids, live music from local singer/songwriter Anni del Sol, a phobia quiz (recycled from my Walking Backward launch – score one for packrats), a contest or two, and an open mic session for fearless young writers. And books, of course.

A huge thank-you, in advance, to la bibliothèque municipale de Gatineau for providing the gorgeous room and refreshments. Thanks to my indie bilingual bookstore, Michabou, for handling book sales. Thanks to my publisher, Lorimer, for the awesome invitations. And thanks to everyone who shows up or sends their warm wishes.

I haven’t had a launch for ages and I’m so excited to throw this party. (And yes, there will be baklava from La Brioche, the Lebanese bakery on Bank Street – I know some people missed that at the last launch. I will try not to eat it all this time.)

Filed under: books, What's New Tagged: 28 tricks for a fearless grade 6, Anni del Sol, bibliothèque municipale de Gatineau, book launch, children's books, party planning, writers