Catherine Austen Blog Tour and a Giveaway

Today it is my pleasure to welcome Catherine Austen to the blog. She's a mighty fine author of picture books, middle grade and young adult authors. And, she's Canadian so I'm adding her to my OH (MG/YA) Canada collection of interviews!

Adding a quick note to say...The Marvelous Middle Grade Read-a-thon is on!

Catherine has two new books out now and she's on a whirlwind blog tour that I'm thrilled to be a part of. Plus, her publishers are giving away both of her books. Details follow the interview.

First, let me share the books.

Her Young Adult: ALL GOOD CHILDREN
From Catherine's site: Quick-witted, prank-pulling graffiti artist Maxwell Connors is more observant than the average New Middletown teenager. And he doesn't like what he sees. New Middletown's children are becoming frighteningly obedient, and their parents and teachers couldn't be happier. As Max and his friend Dallas watch their classmates transform into model citizens, Max wonders if their only hope of freedom lies in the unknown world beyond New Middletown's walls, where creativity might be a gift instead of a liability. For those who like their dystopias with a rich character sauce and a side of humour.
Her Middle Grade:  26 Tips for Surviving Grade 6
From Good Reads:Becky wrote the book on getting through grade 6, but these aren't the kinds of tips that come from school books or teachers... 
Forget social studies, math, and science - this hilarious new novel is about surviving some of the real problems tween girls face. Honest and heart-warming, the story follows 11-year-old Becky Lennnox over the course of the school year as she figures out how to survive friendships, first crushes, embarrassing parents and annoying older brothers. 

And now, the interview!

Congrats on having two more books out! One is middle grade, one young adult. Was the process for writing each one different? Or do you have a basic path you follow from idea to book?

I am all over the map. If I make any progress at all in a manuscript, I call it a good day.

I wrote All Good Children  fairly steadily for about ten months (5 drafting and 5 revising), working from a detailed outline. Some days were hard to face (I got stuck in my narrator’s terrified head a bit too deeply), but I was I was dedicated and methodical.

I wrote the first part of 26 Tips as a short story about 8 years before I wrote the rest of the book, and I expanded it SUPER FAST: I jotted out some ideas and drafted the whole thing in the space of a few weeks. Then came revisions, but still, it was a fast and completely joyful process because that book is all fun.

You have been pretty busy this fall with launching ALL GOOD CHILDREN & 26 TIPS FOR SURVIVING 6TH GRADE, blog tours, interviews. What were some of the highlights. Did you getting any sleep? ) Any advice for other authors embarking on a blog tour or getting out there and promoting their books online?

I always get my sleep. I always exercise. And I practice drums at least a couple times a week. The real question is: Did I get any writing done?

As for highlights, I love my book launches. I throw a party at my local library. It’s relaxed and warm and busy and chatty. I am always touched by the friends and neighbours who come out to help me celebrate.

I also enjoyed meeting other writers this past year – I joined a critique group and attended events and visited an awful lot of coffee shops. I’ve always envied the way musicians collaborate. “I’ll do the dialogue and you jump in with some narrative summary,” just doesn’t work the way guitar and piano can. But writing and publishing is still made easier by friends who are peers. 

For promotion advice, I’d say: Do what you’re comfortable with. I like interviews because they make me pause and think about my own creative process. I have fun on my website, and a few people actually look forward to my blog posts. But if you’re not comfortable doing those things, then don’t. One good review in a respected journal will sell your book better than a ton of self-promotion. So write a great book and let other people blog about it. Would Salinger tweet? Would Dostoevsky do a blog tour? You need to write; all the rest is optional.

In my book club I have some keen readers (of course!), but also some keen writers. They range in age from 8 to 14. When did you start writing and do you have any advice for my book clubbers?

I don’t remember if I wrote stories as a kid, but I took extra English credits in grade 13 and I published my first story in university, so I’d guess that I started young.

As for advice: Cultivate your imagination (unplug and go stare out of windows or sit on a stoop and conjure up some characters and stories – adults will call this lazy but it’s hard work). Devote yourself to a task long enough to accomplish something (keep working until it’s the best you can make it – adults will call this obsessed but it’s completely normal and necessary). Read A LOT. And just write, whatever it is that you feel like writing – a poem, a journal, a comic, a story – as often as you can and as well as you can. And be proud of it.

What’s your typical writing day like?

Drag self to computer. Procrastinate for twenty minutes. Berate self for procrastinating and UNPLUG INTERNET. Open work in progress. Reread yesterday’s writing. Experience pleasant surprise that it’s not as bad as I remembered. Resist temptation to plug internet back in. Resume writing (for whatever time I have available that day).

Recent read/s you’d like to recommend?

A House Called Awful End by Philip Ardagh cracked me up. The Glory Wind by Valerie Sherrard made me cry. Blink and Caution by Tim Wynne Jones was beautifully written. And Christopher Paul Curtis’s Elijah of Buxton is my favourite narrator ever. 

Thanks for stopping by, Catherine! Happy touring.


If you'd like to learn more about Catherine please do head to her website and her blog. And, be sure to check out the blogs on the tour. I know I am!

The giveaway is for US and Canada. All you need to do is comment and make sure I can contact you so I pass the info to the publishers. One winner with receive BOTH books. You have until midnight (MST) Monday, November 28. Good luck!

And to all our neighbours south of the border...Happy Thanksgiving.


And a quick note to say...Marvelous Middle Grade Read-a-Thon is on!