June 2011 – Catholic Writers Guild

Getting Back on Track with Daily Blogging

June 29, 2011/1 Comment/in Blogging/by Karina Fabian

I usually look at my blogging as something that can’t be cut. I mean, I can post a picture of my baby, or a daybook, or a quote. There’s no reason to cut and run and let it gather dust.

Except…

Except that sometimes, life gets in the way.

Because of that, I’ve spent the last few weeks getting out of the habit of daily blogging. I had all this other stuff that had to be done, and the blog had to wait.

Now, I find myself facing something that’s as hard for me as exercise: discipline.

Writing daily isn’t just an inspiration, at least for me. It’s not just something theoretical: it’s work. As work, it requires discipline.

Here are five tips I use when I’m in this scenario, trying to get back in the swing of things:

1. Schedule posts.
Scheduling helps me distance myself a bit and gives me a cushion. It also helps me work a day ahead. (Try as I might, I can’t usually work more than one day out. I just get overwhelmed and I lose all my steam.)

2. Keep it under 500.
It’s not the long post that takes a lot of time, is it? It’s the short post. The 500 mark is one that I stole from someone else when I did a guest blogging gig. I noticed, after that, that 500 seems to be a golden point in my own attention span. It’s not set in stone, but it’s a benchmark. If what I have to say is important, it’s worth editing. If it’s not important, it’s probably going to be even better shorter.

3. A little every day.
I tend to prefer a binge method when it comes to crossing things off lists. I want it all done NOW. But that makes the whole nature of regular blogging really overwhelming. So I do a little bit (usually one post) every day. That’s all.

4. Sometimes a schedule, sometimes not.
Nothing’s set in stone. This is helpful…and not so helpful. On the one hand, it appeals to the PsychoManager in me to have a pattern for each day of the week. On the other hand, I find myself a little annoyed when I start to notice this on other blogs. When it’s helpful, I have a schedule. When it’s not, I don’t. And that is the most helpful thing of all.

5. Have fun, but don’t let fun run me.
Blogging is my fun writing. It’s my warm-up. It’s a passion of mine. (And apparently something I can ramble on about once a week indefinitely!) When it’s not fun, then, it’s tempting to want to walk away. It is then that I have to remind myself of the discipline part of the equation. It is then that I have to buckle down and remember that not only is there no such thing as writer’s block, but this is work that must be done.

How about you? What helps you keep to a regular blogging schedule?

—
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 at SnoringScholar.com. You can also connect with her on Twitter and Facebook.

What’s Up, CWG? (June 2011)

June 24, 2011/0 Comments/in CWG Needs Volunteers/by Karina Fabian

Posted by CWG Secretary

Hi, Everybody!

How’s your summer going? It’s a busy one for the CWG, with preparations for the conference, the retreat, the Catholic Arts and Letters Awards and more! Read on for important updates and discussions of the June Officer Meeting:

1. Catholic Writers’ Retreat. You should have heard about this from now; if not, check out our blog post for details. We have the registration details set up and the retreat center has made us brochures for handing out at the Catholic Writers Conference Live in August. We’re looking into sending a press release via ChristianNewsWire, once we see if we get results from the press release we sent them for the CWCL. (It’s $65, and we want to be sure it’s an effective investment.) We purposely kept the price of the retreat low, but should there be any profits, they will be split between the three sponsors: the retreat center, Faith Publishing and the CWG.

2. Did you know the Guild has a Spiritual Director? Ann Lewis plans to meet with Monsignor Schaedel next month to brief him on the Guild and find out how active he wants to be in our activities. He was Ann’s pastor, but is moving parishes. We also have a representative for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Dr. Harry Plummer. The Archdiocese is our sponsor within the Church; for more on its role, check the bylaws.

3. We have $630 in donations toward our website. Thanks so much! The spec document should be going out in a couple of weeks to all those interested in bidding on building our new website. We’ll be putting this money in savings until we’re ready to go on with the project.

4. It was suggested in CWG Chat that we sell ad space to our website. We are making provisions for that in the upgrade, though we will probably sell the space for all three of our sites: the CWG Website, the CWG blog and the Conference Website. We will probably need some volunteers when this happens to make sure our ads are only for people or groups that conform to the Magesterium.

5. We are going to increase dues in January 2012 to $30 a year. As we’ve grown, so have our expenses; our analysis by accountant Diane Embry shows this should meet our needs.

6. Speaking of, Diane is stepping down as Guild accountant. We have a couple of bids for a new accountant and will be hiring someone in the next couple of weeks.

7. Every now and then, we have an author who disputes a decision by the Seal of Approval Committee or the Booth Committee on approving a book. (Primarily on whether we think it doesn’t conform to Catholic belief and traditions or if we do not feel comfortable recommending it to a Catholic Bookstore.) The thought of an appeals committee was discussed, but rejected for several reasons: We already have several readers making the decision, and when there is any doubt, we take it to a trusted readers’ group when the first run readers have doubts; we would be complicating a process that already overwhelms our coordinators at times; we tend to give books the benefit of a doubt, anyway; and our decisions do not carry the weight of an Imprimatur, but are a discretionary process to keep the CWG in conformity with the Magesterium. Therefore, decisions will be final, although we will consider rewrites.

8. We know that Guild members would like to have more intercommunication. Please remember that we have Facebook, and you are welcome to post there. We also have Larissa Hoffman who posts member news on the blog (see the sidebar). We have put into the website spec the provision to create a Yahoo-type e-mail chat group.

9. Dave will be writing up the committee news later, but a few highlights:

* The PR group has been doing an awesome job. Thanks so much!
* We only have ten folks signed up for the Live Conference in August. Please tell your friends. You can use the info on the press release here.
* We Need Conference Volunteers (you get free admission!) Contact laura.lowder(at)gmail.com
* We Need Some Volunteers for the CWG Chat Committee! Contact me (karina(at)fabianspace.com)
* We Need to Rebuild our Catholic Arts and Letters Committee! Contact me (karina(at)fabianspace.com)
* We Need Volunteers to Build the Catholic Writers Wiki! Right now, it’s simple clean up and uploading photos. Contact davealaw(at)shaw.ca.

Blessings,
Karina Fabian
CWG Secretary

The List Sickness

June 22, 2011/0 Comments/in Blogging/by Karina Fabian

I am an avid list-keeper.

It’s a bit of a sickness.

It’s also extremely handy for those times when I find myself light on time, lighter on ideas, and still needing to blog.

I keep lists of things I want to ask readers. I keep lists of people I want to interview. I have a list of ideas for blog posts, of course, but also of questions I might ask those people I want to interview. I have a list of series that I could write someday and a list of quotes.

I have lists of topics that I can suggest for guest posts and lists of books I should review (and maybe even give away). I have lists of things that are just plain interesting (and therefore possibly bloggable) and lists of things that relate to writing.

I’ve just discovered Evernote for organizing these lists and it’s helpful (if a bit of a sickness all its own).

In a season when I find myself shy on time for much of anything, my lists have been keeping me afloat.

How do you keep your lists organized? Better yet, how do you use lists for your blogging and/or other writing?
—
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 at SnoringScholar.com. She’s also active on Twitter and Facebook.

Volunteer Drive: Volunteer Coordinator

June 16, 2011/0 Comments/in CWG Needs Volunteers/by Karina Fabian

Karina Fabian is getting the ball rolling on getting more folks involved in the Guild, but we need someone who can run this program on a regular basis. The Volunteer coordinator would:

–Keep a running list of volunteer needs (The Committee Chair will supply the info)
–Contact new members about opportunities.
–Contact all members about opportunities through a quarterly article posted in the newsletter and blog (or more often if needed)

This is a fabulous way to get to know the members of the Guild, make some new friends and keep our Guild running strong.

If interested, please contact Karina Fabian karina(at)fabianspace.com

Blogging with the Spirit

June 15, 2011/0 Comments/in Blogging/by Karina Fabian

I’ve been pretty embroiled in preparing for our parish’s Confirmation Boot Camp over the last couple of weeks. This week, in front of the class of Confirmation students, I thought about my journey to published author.

Blogging’s what lit my fire for writing. It’s how I came to be published.

I started blogging because I felt like maybe, possibly, PERHAPS, I should be writing. I thought about writing as something serious thanks to time spent in Eucharistic Adoration.I found myself in Eucharistic Adoration because, the year after I became Catholic, our parish started an Adoration program. I became Catholic because of the Holy Spirit at work in a guy I loved.

This week, I spoke and taught passionately about many different aspects of our Catholic faith. I tried to step back and let the Holy Spirit work.

He didn’t let me down.

Before each 45-minute session, we prayed Come, Holy Spirit. And I think I’ve found my new writing prayer.

So often, my writing is a link to God. It’s my letter to him, often literally. It helps me process how he’s at work in my life.

It’s hard to take myself seriously as a writer, but I find it even more challenging to think of myself as a serious blogger. Oh, I love it and I AM serious about it. But…it seems silly, doesn’t it? It’s words on a screen. I’m no big deal in the world of blogging.

But those words in the air, the ones I pray, get transformed into so much more, thanks to the Holy Spirit. I think, with his hands over mine on the keyboard, blogging might be one more way of being his instrument.

image source

—
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 at SnoringScholar.com. She’s also active on Twitter and Facebook.

Discover Your Cover

June 13, 2011/0 Comments/in Self-Publishing/by Karina Fabian

A book’s cover is the first thing a prospective reader sees so it is important that it be professionally created. If it is poorly designed or if it is too simplistic, it can turn your reader away. I know of some self-published books in which the story and writing were pretty good, but the covers screamed “Self published!”

In these days of digital printing and e-copies, a good cover also needs to look interesting in thumbnail.

With traditional publishing, the author may not have much say regarding the cover. However, with self-publishing, the author has 100 percent responsibility for making sure the cover is professionally created.

I cannot stress enough the importance of hiring a professional cover designer. In my case, my husband is an artist and he has designed all my covers.

Some self-publishing websites also offer cover design services. However, if you want a professional looking cover and not too simplistic, it’s better to hire a cover designer. Ask fellow authors for recommendations. Do an online search. Cover designers are as diverse as authors. Look for a designer whose portfolio includes covers which are professionally done and thematically in line with your book’s topic.

Once you’ve hired a designer, it’s important to work with him or her to create a cover design which sets the mood for your book and intrigues a prospective reader.

Two things an author should realize with regard to good cover design is that:

1) one of the most important things about a cover design is the composition
2) artistic/visual composition is probably one of the things authors/writers know the least about

Look for books which have interesting designs and ask yourself:

What’s the theme?
Why does the layout work?
What’s the emotion?
What’s being represented?
Do the lines, color and composition support the theme?

A book’s cover is a marketing device. Professionally produced covers will not only enhance your book, they will also help in marketing it to prospective readers.

Ellen Gable Hrkach is an award-winning novelist, freelance writer and vice president of the CWG. Her new book is called “Come My Beloved: Inspiring Stories of Catholic Courtship.” She blogs at Plot Line and Sinker. She lives with her husband and five sons in Pakenham, Ontario Canada.

Volunteer Drive: CWG Wiki

June 9, 2011/0 Comments/in CWG Needs Volunteers/by Karina Fabian

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.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a place where you could find just Catholic authors? Dave Law, the man with the mad computing skills, is setting up a wiki for the Guild. It will concentrate on Catholic writers, living and dead.

Wiki authors: Once this is set up, we need wiki authors to write and post the articles. This will require research, references, etc. We will include Guild members, but they must adhere to the same standards of research. (So if you write your own wiki, you will need to keep it biographical and not advertising, and include references.)
Wiki Editors: We will need some editors to fact-check the articles.

If interested, contact Dave Law at davealaw(at)shaw.ca

Social Media & Blogging

June 8, 2011/3 Comments/in Blogging/by Karina Fabian

I resisted it for quite a while. “I already blog,” I thought. “Who needs Twitter? And I can’t even really navigate Facebook. So I’ll just keep blogging.”

That was years ago. Now, I’m just as embroiled in the web of status updates as anyone else. It just seemed to be the next step, the natural progression of my blogging activity.

I have noticed, in the time since trying to figure out how status updates fit into my life to now, that these 140-character updates serve a few different purposes in my life, both good and bad.

1. They take time. It’s hidden time, time that I would have committed to other things (like picking my fingernails and staring at the sky, in many cases). Sometimes, this time is also better committed to other things (like the dishes or the messy living room). Blogging also takes time, though, and when I find myself against a brick wall, sometimes those status updates (either writing a new one or looking back at past ones) can get me launched into a new post.

2. They help me remember moments in my life. I live with little kids who say the darndest things, and by sharing these things, I create a bit of a log. There are times when I realize, as I’m capturing a blissful moment or a slice of hilarity, that I have plenty of material all around me for my blog. I see the evidence of God at work; I feel the need to make connections; I have a way of keeping myself aware of the world around me because I’m documenting it for myself. (Maybe it’s just the voices in my head, needing a way to express themselves?)

3. They give me ideas for longer pieces. Somehow, the act of writing things down–whether on a scrap of paper or a status update–aids my spotty memory. (I have hopes of getting my memory back, but…who knows?) It also, as I mentioned in #1, warms me up, so that when I have a chance to sit down at my computer for the window of time I have to write a blog post, I can DO IT: the ideas are there, cultivated in my mind or saved on my Twitter feed.

4. They connect me in different ways to more–and varied–people. This can be a pro and a con, but it’s there all the same. There are quite a few people who read blogs through Facebook, and though that does NOT suit me, it gives my blog a wider audience and sometimes a more interactive audience. When I take time (which is sometimes not often) to read other people’s updates, I might find yet another source for ideas.

5. They’re fun and they give me interaction with other people. (They’re also addictive, but we’ll leave that discussion for others.) I feel, so often, like an island in my little writing world, especially as an avid extrovert. The interaction and amusement I get from social media feeds that part of me that sometimes feels like it will wither away in the middle of a lonely, blank screen. The fun has to be balanced, it’s true. But it’s important for me to enjoy my work, and since my work these days is rather isolated from other adults, I appreciate the outlet and input of social media.

How do you use social media to support or aid your blogging efforts? Or do you find that they, instead, hamper your writing?

—
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. She’s also active on Twitter and Facebook, if you’re so inclined.

"Inspiration–???"

June 7, 2011/0 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing/by Larry Peterson

Hi everyone. This is my first blog for the CWG and, since it is the first Tuesday of the month, it is supposed to provide information and inspiration for beginning writers. Okay, let me begin by saying that the word, inspiration, immediately intimidated me and I froze. (Like how am I supposed to inspire a bunch of writers?) It took four days to thaw out and then, as my blood began to recirculate, all I could do was doodle. So I doodled all over almost every piece of paper that was nearby including a prescription which I inadvertently voided by drawing the neatest little trapezoids which turned into spaceships and were dashing this way and that all over it. I was promptly inspired to spend half a day getting it replaced. Onward and forward.

It was also suggested that I write about my “journey” as a writer up to having my first book published. Well now, let me say this right away, on this journey of mine I did not use a GPS. No siree, not me. I just started going. (Hey, I’m a guy–who needs directions) Let me tell you, I got dizzy from going in circles, drove into more ditches and gulleys than I can remember, and hit dead-ends all over the place. But–I kept scribbling. I think that it is some kind of disease writer’s have called paragraphobia which is the urge to keep on writing stuff no matter what. Finally I stopped, turned off the engine, and picked up a few road maps for direction; writer’s manuals, magazines, and other various tutorials. They did help me start going in a straighter direction. I did learn to be careful with these self-help publications. No matter what I did it was never good enough and my only hope was to buy some new self-help book (at a discount) that would help me even more because I always needed help. So, there comes a point when you have to realize when to believe in yourself.

Anyway, doodle, scribble, write and suddenly I was doing newspaper commentary for several local publications. That lasted about five years and ultimately, they all went “belly-up”. (I swear to you, it was not my fault.) I had also submitted a children’s book to a MAJOR publisher (I won’t say who but they were BIG) and a few months later I received a call from their office in Florida . A sweet lady with a bubbly voice said, “Hi, Mr. Peterson, welcome to the —-family.”

I was stunned—WHAT! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? HOLY MOLY! One of the biggest publishers in the world and they were going to publish my book. Two weeks later I received a letter in the mail from the publisher. Oh wow–maybe it is an advance. Not really—it was a standard rejection letter from their office in California. Can’t be! No way! Must be a mistake. So I called the nice lady in Florida who had even given me her personal number and she apologized over and over and over. She had a miscommunication. Imagine that. Anyway, one person on the editorial board out in sunny California decided against it. OH well–that was that. Talk about being smacked upside the head.

I know this. Once you have created your brilliant piece of work and have rewritten it a half dozen times and polished it and honed it and are sure you have nailed it there is one final step. DA-DA—submission. This is when you expose yourself to the insensitive, uncaring, publishing piranhas who, more likely than not, will devour you. They won’t tear your flesh from your bones, no, they will gently filet you you with “no thank you” and” good lucks” and the like. Well, better get over it. It is simply part of the business. They have a job to do and what you presented them with was material that would not help their company. Hey, it might have been the greatest piece of writing since Shakespeare or it may have been just plain lousy, they are not going to tell you that. If they give a bit of a critique that means you piqued their interest. That is a good thing.

Okay–lessons learned by me: a) Be prepared for rejection and DO NOT take it personal. It is the “nature of the beast”. Learn from it and move on; b)Be tenacious—like a pit-bull holding onto a hunk a raw meat, you have to hang on. You love to write, don’t you? So—write; c)learn from rejection. Editors want quality stuff that fits their needs. You may have picked the wrong market for your work or maybe it needs improvement. You have to decide; d) finally, believe in yourself. You should know in your gut when you have it right. Then, run with it.

To finish up this “inspirational” discourse le me say that the book that was accepted and rejected sat on a shelf for more than 15 years. I finally picked it up again, re-wrote it, changed the story line and now it is published as “Slippery Willie’s Stupid Ugly Shoes” you can find it at www.slipperywillie.blogspot.com in case you want to check it out. I also have a novel at the publishers at the moment and when I hear something back, I’ll post about it.

The best advice I can give anyone reading this is to, foremost, trust in God and give it all over to HIM. And remember that there is no time frame in HIS world and that HE always has your back.

Volunteer Drive: Facebook

June 2, 2011/0 Comments/in CWG Needs Volunteers/by Karina Fabian

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.

Did you know the Guild has a facebook page? (https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Catholic-Writers-Guild/122546024421) We have members as well as non-members that view it. It’s a great tool for getting the word out to interested Catholic writers. However, aside from blog notices and chat notices (and the times that I see something newsworthy about a member), it doesn’t get many posts. We’d like to improve that, so we need:

Posters! Two or three people who are on facebook to once in a while check out some Guild members’ profiles for news, and post it on the Guild page. (Awards, honors, births, weddings, etc.) (15 minutes every couple of days)
Someone(s) through the list of people who “like” the Guild page, and invite them to subscribe to the blog. (Takes about 15 minutes a session.)

If interested, contact Karina at karina(at)fabianspace.com