Monthly Archives: May 2011

CWG Prayer Chain Post: May 30, 2011

Posted on May 30, 2011 by avatar

The CWG Prayer Chain Post is a weekly post for members to include their special intentions by adding a comment. 

1, Acts 8:14-17
“When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John  to them, and they went down there and prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet he had not come down on any of them: they had only been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.”



The May intention prayer, to remind us of the basic principals handed down to us from those early days, is The Apostle’s Creed.
The power of prayer and the power of people praying.

May Intention Prayer 
THE APOSTLE’S CREED: I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried, He descended into hell; the third day He arose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen. 

Please leave a comment with your intention. If you have problems adding an intention, email it to Mike Hays at coachhays@gmail.com and I will add it.  God bless. 

Posted in Catholic Writing and Publishing | 1 Comment

Writing and the Practice of the Presence of God

Posted on May 30, 2011 by avatar

Brother Lawrence, in his book The Practice of the Presence of God, writes about a prayer life that is not dictated by hours or structure. To practice the presence of God is to use every moment as an opportunity for prayer, be it words, action, or a simple awareness of and openness to God’s presence.

By practicing the presence of God, our writing stops being a source of income or enjoyment and prayer. To understand how to accomplish this, let’s look at three key elements of writing.

Creativity

God is creative. If He weren’t creative, we wouldn’t be here. As we are made in the image and likeness of God, we are naturally creative as well, whether that creativity involves writing, designing, or doodling. It is when we offer that creativity back up to God and invite Him to be a part of the process that our creativity truly comes into its fullest form. Remember that we all have a God-shaped hole within us (St. Augustine speaks of our hearts being restless until they rest in Him). It is when we invite God into all areas of our life that we fully become who we are. And using our ability in its fullest form praises God and is a form of prayer.

Discipline

The need for discipline is everywhere we turn, whether that discipline is remaining true to the Church’s teachings or keeping to a writing schedule. The Bible calls for us to complete tasks that require discipline, especially where gifts are concerned (see Matthew 25:14-30). Discipline requires sacrifice and sacrifice makes for good penance, because we’re giving something up in order to glorify God through right action. Therefore, discipline is prayer. We are glorifying God by taking the necessary steps to rightly use the gift He has given us.

Planning

Being open to the movement of the Holy Spirit is a big part of prayer. The difference between just reading and lectio divina is an openness to the Spirit. That is, the Holy Spirit makes a word, phrase, or idea jump out and that’s our platform for prayer. With that in mind, consider the planning stages of any piece of writing. If we have invited God into our creativity, then we’ll want Him to be a part of the planning. By being open to the Spirit (and therefore aware of God’s presence), we are praying.

In these three ways, our writing can be prayer and will be richer for it. This does not mean that all of our writing has to fit into the Christian fiction section of the bookstore. Like Tolkien, we can use Christian themes and ideas in our work without anyone being the wiser. But by allowing our writing to be a way of talking and communing with and praising God, we are letting it come into its full potential. After all, we can do nothing without God.

Suzanna Linton writes the blog Haunting the Sacristy, has a degree in Professional Writing, Linkand works at her local library. She lives in South Carolina with two dogs, Benedict and Scholastica, and is recently married. Her genre of choice is fantasy, though she also enjoys writing poetry.

Posted in Catholic Writing and Publishing | Comments Off

CWG NEWS

Posted on May 27, 2011 by avatar
CWG CHAT IS LOOKING FORWARD TO…

Catholic Apologist and author, Dave Armstrong, on June 19th from 9-11 p.m. EST.  Membership is not required to attend the chat room and meet this wonderful guest.  Click on this link or go to http://tinyurl.com/cwgchat.
Dave is a Catholic apologist, author of 24 books and more than 2,500 papers, and has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity for almost 30 years.  Formerly a Protestant campus missionary, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including Catholic Answers Live (twice), Faith and Family Live, Kresta in the Afternoon, Son Rise Morning Show, and The Catholics Next Door.

Dave’s writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Karl Keating, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J.
Happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984, they have three sons and a daughter and reside in Melvindale, Michigan (metro Detroit).
Please find more information on Dave at his blog:  Biblical Evidence for Catholicism with Dave Armstrong.
ABOUT CWG CHATS…
CWG hosts Chats every Sunday evening from 9-11 Eastern.  On the 3rd Sunday each month, CWG chats feature a guest from the Catholic or writing world to talk on some aspect of faith and/or publishing.  If you would like to recommend somebody or would like to be a Featured Guest yourself, please contact Theresa Henderson at steve-and-theresa [at] yahoo [dot] com.
Posted in Catholic Writing and Publishing | Comments Off

Volunteer Drive: Publicity

Posted on May 26, 2011 by avatar


CWG MEMBERS ONLY: This is the next in series of activities the Guild does, and that it needs volunteers to help with. The CWG wants to be a force for promoting quality Catholic works–and quality works by Catholics. Won’t you give of your time and talent for this worthy endeavor? If the program below doesn’t appeal to you, but you want to help, check out the other programs here.

We are starting at ground zero on this one. Right now, our publicity efforts have been haphazard at best. However, the wonderful Clare Bills has agreed to start by being out press release person. She also wants to brainstorm with other committees about coordinating efforts. Right now, however, she needs

Contact lists: Do you have a Catholic contact list you’d be willing to share? Maybe for magazines, podcasters, reviewers, etc? If so, pass them on to clarebills(at)live.com.

A Social Media Marketer: Clare has a of expertise to share in the realm of traditional publicity. However, she is not yet up to speed on harnessing the social media phenomenon. Someone with that expertise would be a great help.

A Crew: People who will send out press releases, call radio stations, process publicity requests, etc. We’re only talking about promoting the Guild activities, but you can use the knowledge and resources you gain here to help your own publicity efforts.

Contact Karina Fabian karina(at)fabianspace.com if you can help.

Posted in CWG Needs Volunteers | Tagged , , | Comments Off

Tips from Experts

Posted on May 25, 2011 by avatar

I’m tight on time for this week’s column, so I thought I’d share some links to other people’s wisdom.

On Becoming Better:
Matthew Paul Turner, of Jesus Needs New PR, shares 9 Ways to Become a Better Blogger. I’m a big fan of #3: “Be funny, sensational, opinionated, over-the-top, interesting, deep, provocative–just be SOMETHING that sets you apart from others.”

And #4: “Stop complicating blogging. People over-think blogging all the time. It’s just a blog! Simplify your process.”

Oh, and…well, pretty much all of them. Go read it and see what you think.

On Mistakes You Make:
Michael Hyatt asks “Do You Make These 10 Mistakes When You Blog?” I do. Which is why I have this post bookmarked to revisit from time to time.

For Novelists (and the rest of us, too!):
I’m an avid reader of fiction, but not a writer of it. Even so, I found this listing of 25 blogs every aspiring novelist should read to be interesting and, well, addictive. :)

Because She ROCKS:
I make no secret of the fact that I’m a BIG fan of Jen Fulwiler, the blogger behind Conversion Diary. She’s quite a writer, and her posts about running two blogs in the midst of a busy life (she has four kids under 7 and is pregnant with #5) and her series on building traffic to your blog (part 1 and part 2) are great.

Share any great links you have in the comments!

–
Sarah Reinhard, author of Welcome Baby Jesus: Advent & Christmas Reflections for Families, is a Catholic wife, mom, blogger, reader, and farm girl who can be found online at SnoringScholar.com.

Posted in Blogging | Tagged , | Comments Off

Writing: Setting and Keeping Realistic Goals

Posted on May 24, 2011 by avatar

Anybody who’s been watching me on Facebook knows I’m on a mission: to build up to writing 3000 words a day, five days a week, on the my work in progress. (So this does not count blogs, website content, short stories that hit out of the blue, e-mail etc.) Some friends have told me they think this is an amazing goal, almost unbelievable, but I know it’s one I can achieve.

We all have aspirations and goals for our writing, but how do we know it’s something doable? If we set undoable goals, then we set ourselves up for frustration. Sometimes, God enables us to do the impossible, but in the day-to-day, He expects us to us to use our abilities as best we can, but realistically. So let’s talk today about setting realistic writing goals.

#1 Set a goal that depends on others. For example, you can’t set a goal of getting x number of books published unless you publish them yourself. That’s because you can’t guarantee that x number of editors will accept your stuff, that production will go according to plan, etc. You can set a goal of x submissions a week, or x stories written a year. Goals are something you accomplish on your own–with help, perhaps, but not where if someone falters, the goal does, too.

#2 What’s realistic in your field? Fantasy author Holly Lisle recently said in a newsletter that she can write 3600 words in a two-hour period. Dean Wesley Smith has 90-plus books and probably even more short stories published. Another author I read about (the go-to guy for many publishers when authors can’t/don’t fulfill their contracts) said he’s had to write entire novels in two weeks. NaNoWriMo has the goal of 50,000 words in a month–less than 3,000 words a day, but comparable in effort.

#3 Know what’s realistic for you. This is the big one.

? Do you have the skill? Even Holly Lisle said when she first started writing that she could not have written that quickly and produced a quality work. Decades of experience, instruction and practice brought her to this level. I have enough experience to know I can make my set goal. I have done it before, as well.

? Do you have the time? When I first started writing, I was homeschooling two kids, had a toddler and a baby. My goal then was a sentence a night. That’s all I could realistically achieve. Now, my kids are in public school, and I have several hours a quiet that I’ve learned to guard for my writing.

? Do you have the support? I don’t mean do you have cheerleaders. Those are nice but not necessary. I mean practical support like making your family leave you alone for an hour to write (or mostly alone.) Can you get access to the Internet to send our submissions? Can you work around obstacles? (Some folks write on lunch hours; others go to the library for a while on the way home from somewhere or even just sit in their cars and write. However, their goals will be different fro the person who has three hours of time to concentrate on writing.)

Okay, that should help you to set a realistic goal. Here are a couple of ideas for keeping it.

* Put it in writing on your schedule.
* Do it first–reward yourself with the time wasters like Facebook afterward (or after significant progress, like every 1000 words.)
* Be accountable. I post my goal and wordcount on Facebook and Twitter.
* Get buddies. I have a couple of friends I meet with online. We write and occasionally comment to each other, ask for help or post our progress. We don’t judge each other or ourselves on our goals, incidentally. We know and respect that we are at different stages.
* Reward yourself.
* If the goal proves unrealistic, revise. I may find that 3000 words a day takes too much of my quiet time, and that I’m struggling to keep up with other projects; if so, I’ll tone down, but this goal will also give me a good idea about what’s reasonable.

Last thing: Along the lines of buddies: a couple of us have been toying with the idea of meeting in the CWG chat room, mostly to touch base in the day and post writing goals, ask for help, etc. If you are interested, then comment below with your usual writing time (and time zone). If we see that there’s enough interest, we can do it.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments Off

CWG Prayer Chain Post: May 23, 2011

Posted on May 23, 2011 by avatar

The CWG Prayer Chain Post is a weekly post for members to include their special intentions by adding a comment. 

1, Acts 6:4 
We ourselves will continue to devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word.

The May intention prayer, to remind us of the basic principals handed down to us from those early days, is The Apostle’s Creed.
The power of prayer and the power of people praying.

May Intention Prayer 
THE APOSTLE’S CREED: I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried, He descended into hell; the third day He arose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen. 

Please leave a comment with your intention. If you have problems adding an intention, email it to Mike Hays at coachhays@gmail.com and I will add it.  God bless. 

Posted in Catholic Writing and Publishing | 1 Comment

May Committee Updates

Posted on May 22, 2011 by avatar

Here are the updates of current CWG committee.

CWCO: (Leader: Karina Fabian)
- About: Annual online conference. Next conference scheduled for March 17-30 2012.
- Status: Committee currently in hiatus until September when planning and organization will begin again.

CWCL: (Leader: Ann Lewis)
- About: Annual Live conference
- Status: In the final stages of planning and organizing. The next conference will be held August 3-5, 2011 – in Valley Forge, PA at the Valley Forge Convention Center. It is held in conjunction with the Catholic Marketing Network Trade Show. For more details or to register go to our CWG Conference website at: http://www.catholicwritersconference.com/

Publicity Committee: (Leader: Maureen Martin/Clare Bills)
- About: Public promotion of Guild and our activities.
- Status: Committee just formed and is beginning organization of upcoming promotions.

Sunday Night Chats (Leader: Theresa Henderson)
- About: Weekly chats with guests of interest to our membership
- Status: Next chat this Sunday with Matt Swaim. Dave Armstrong will be chatting in June.

Seal of Approval (Leader: Sarah Reinhard)
- About: Review of books for a seal certifying that content is Catholic
- Status: Additional volunteers added and latest collection of titles are currently under review.

Seal of Excellence (CALA) (Leader: Nicole Langan)
- About: Annual award of excellence for book length titles.
- Status: Judges are currently going over entries and we should have finalists announced sometime next month.

Facebook Page (Leader: Ellen Hrkach/Karina Fabian)
- About: Promotion of the Guild on Facebook.
- Status: Additional volunteers are now helping maintain our Facbook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Catholic-Writers-Guild

Inside the CWG newsletter (Leader: Maria Rivera)
- About: Monthly newsletter to members
- Status: May newsletter was recently sent out.

Marketing Bulletin (Leader: Ellen Hrkach)
- About: Monthly email sent to bookstores highlighting two members’ books
- Status: Our last bulletin was sent out on Monday.

Membership Relations (Leader: Mike Hayes)
- About: Committee to greet new members and improve membership communication.
- Status: Membership relations is going well.

Showcase (Leader: Dave A. Law)
- About: Showcase for members and others to present their books and/or services.
- Status: Slowly trying to caught up with previous SoA books. You can check out currently listed titles at: http://catholicwritersguild.com/marketplace/

Author’s Wiki (Leader: Dave A. Law)
- About: Online knowledge base (like WikiPedia) of Catholic authors
- Status: Currently being setup.

CWG Blog (Leader: Jennifer Fitz)
- About: Blog for promoting the Guild and posting new and articles by members
- Status: Going well.

Posted in Catholic Writing and Publishing | Comments Off

CWG NEWS

Posted on May 20, 2011 by avatar

Save This Sunday Night for …

Live Chat at www.catholicwritersguild.com with guest speaker, Matt Swain.  

Swain, producer of Son Rise Morning Show on EWTN Radio, will be speaking and fielding your questions from 9-11 p.m. EST. His books include The Eucharist and the Rosary and Prayer in the Digital Age.  

Anyone is free to join in the LIVE discussion.  Look for the link CHAT under the CWG logo.
Like a Good Laugh With Your Fright?
Then you probably love CWG member Karina Fabian‘s stories of dragon detectives, zombie slayers, and nuns in space.  

Karina’s newest publication is Frightliner (Damnation Books), coauthored by Colleen Drippe’, and now available at Amazon.  This time Karina takes us on an eerie ride with Jay Carlson whose life is turned upside down when he encounters a strange, dark truck on a lonely road. 

“He sees things that others don’t see.  He learns things he wishes he could forget, and he is drawn into an ancient battle he wouldn’t have believed in even a day in the past.  This time, even country music and the open road can’t save him.”
Pull out your rosary and read Jay’s story along with two extra stories and an excerpt from our favorite Zombie Exterminator, Neeta Lyffe.
Also Congratulations to Karina Fabian
 
for her recent publication of Perfect Ten from Muse Publishing available now at Amazon.
Perfect Ten (Muse Publishing) draws us back into the world of DragonEye PI, and tells the story of insurance actuary Sheila Mars who lands a date with Coyote the Trickster and finds not every “Ten” is perfect.  
As Walt Staples said in his review of Perfect Ten, “If writing is a concert of character, plot, and setting, Karina Fabian has yet to hit a clinker.  After reading this tale, one realizes not only is it very good Chic Lit, it’s also great Guy Lit, and is safe to leave out where the kids can get their hands on it.
The common wisdom is that men are from Mars and women are from Venus, but for insurance actuary Sheila Mars, her “perfect 10″ hails from somewhere a bit farther off the beaten path.  In an effort at spontaneity, she finds herself dogged by a potential lover who is out to howl.  In the end, it takes the Las Vegas police, a Native American nation, and a magic-slinging nun from out of this world to put the collar on her date.”
Perfect Ten is also available through Amazon in electronic form.
Posted in Catholic Writing and Publishing | Comments Off

Volunteer Drive: Inside the CWG Newsletter

Posted on May 19, 2011 by avatar

CWG MEMBERS ONLY: This is the next in series of activities the Guild does, and that it needs volunteers to help with. The CWG wants to be a force for promoting quality Catholic works–and quality works by Catholics. Won’t you give of your time and talent for this worthy endeavor? If the program below doesn’t appeal to you, but you want to help, check out the other programs here.

Inside the CWG is our monthly newsletter. It’s grown into a great source of information about the Guild and has some great marketing tips, too. However, Maria Rivera, our intrepid editor-in-chief needs:

WRITERS: folks to do regular columns, book reports/critiques, once-in-a-while columns, etc. This is a once-a-month commitment for a short article (500 words or less)
EDITORS: Folks who can look the final over for typos, etc.
LAYOUT: Someone familiar with HTML to codify the document. (It’s simple stuff, mostly links and bold-italics and such)

For more information, contact Maria Rivera at mariarr(at)wi.rr.com

Posted in CWG Needs Volunteers | Tagged , , | Comments Off