Monthly Archives: November 2011

Avoiding Holiday Hangover on Your Blog

Posted on November 30, 2011 by avatar


You schedule things ahead of time, get yourself raring to go, and then you walk away from your virtual world for a while.

There’s nothing wrong with that, and I think it’s a good thing to do from time to time.
But have you noticed how you feel sort of hungover when you get back to the reality of regular blogging? It’s like Monday times ten.
Here are three of my strategies for dealing with holiday hangover on my blog:
1. Ease into posting.
This takes a variety of forms, including posting a picture or three, sharing lighthearted fare, and even scheduling a guest post.
Instead of jumping back in full-force, I find it’s better for me (just as it is with a cold swimming pool) to ease into the schedule of posting, whatever it is. I give myself permission to miss a day (or three).
2. Schedule some things BEFORE the holidays strike.
I like to have a few things in my line-up well in advance. (Note: I fail regularly at this.) Maybe it’s a “Happy {insert holiday name}” message or a quote that’s struck me recently. I might have a guest post that works well.
3. Pray. Smile. Repeat.
For those of you rolling your eyes, I know. I know! How is this a strategy? How is it helpful? Am I just desperately trying to find a third thing?
But here’s the thing: we’re all Catholic writers, and if we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing, there is prayer involved, first and foremost. Nothing–nothing–is too small for God, and I would argue that your blogging–which probably takes up a fair amount of your writing time–should be something that’s in God’s hands.
So discuss this holiday hangover business with him. Ask for his guidance. Accept the graces and ideas that come to you from him.
How about you? I’d love to hear YOUR strategies for dealing with holiday hangover on your blog!
–
When Sarah Reinhard isn’t blogging at SnoringScholar.com, she can usually be found on Twitter and Facebook. She’s in denial about the amount of reading time she doesn’t have right now and has authored a number of titles, including her latest, Welcome Risen Jesus: Lenten and Easter Reflections for Families.
Posted in Blogging | Tagged | 2 Comments

"Christmas Spirits" and Food for the Poor

Posted on November 29, 2011 by avatar

by Karina Fabian

Dear friends and readers,

This winter, I have two things in my heart and on my mind: caring for those less fortunate than me (or indeed, much of the world) and my DragonEye, PI stories. For Christmas, I’m combining them and would like to share them with you.

Those of you who are “Vern Fans,” know about my dragon who works in our world as a private investigator, and his partner, Sister Grace, a mage and nun in the Faerie Catholic Church. They’ve saved the worlds and their friends in numerous stories and novels. Last year, I wrote a story for Flagship about their first Christmas together. Not only is Grace struggling with the Mundane idea of Christmas, but their home is threatened by a land developer who wants to tear down the entire neighborhood and make a mall. When the Ghosts of Christmas come to visit him, however, Vern and Grace have to solve the mystery before the Christmas Spirits become Angels of Death.

I have revised and am publishing “Christmas Spirits” as a serial story to raise funds for Food for the Poor. This is a wonderful charity that helps people in impoverished nations help themselves. It allows donators to choose their gifts–whether rice for a family for a month, school supplies, livestock, tools or even houses.

I’m asking that you please check out the story, and, if you enjoy it and want to see more, that you donate even a dollar to the cause. Also, if you enjoy the story, let your friends know. I’ll post every Tuesday and Thursday as the donations come in. Right now, we have raised enough to send a family a goat, but the donations have stopped, and we are holding at Episode Four until more come in. Vern would like to send them a cow (he is a dragon, after all), but Sister Grace and I are dreaming of raising enough to buy someone a home. Can you imagine giving a HOUSE for Christmas? Will you help?

Find the story at http://christmasspirits.karinafabian.com. You can also get to it via my website, http://fabianspace.com. Look under the Christmas dragon for the link. You can learn more about Food for the Poor at http://www.foodforthepoor.org.

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What Color are Your Glasses? by Leslie Lynch

Posted on November 29, 2011 by avatar

What Color are Your Glasses?
How Life Experiences Influence Our Writing
I’m pondering the topic of my next project, and a lot of factors enter into my thinking. I primarily write book length fiction, and draw heavily on my life experiences for inspiration. All writers approach their work through the particular color or lens of glasses that is their life. I am no different.
For instance, one of my critique partners comes from a large, expressive, and loving family. She is a very sweet person, choosing to avoid distressing topics whenever possible, and—fairly predictably—writes sweet historical Westerns. My other critique partner pulled herself out of a poverty stricken, dysfunctional childhood and scraped and scrabbled to create a healthy, close-knit family of her own. Her writing reflects that background, with edgy characters and a darker tone. We encourage the first author to ramp up the conflict in her stories so readers will stay engaged; for the second, we suggest softening characters or dialogue so the reader will be more likely to identify with and like her protagonists.
I fall somewhere in between:  my typical challenge is to make my heroine more three dimensional and create ‘rooting elements’ for her, so the reader will like her enough to keep turning the pages. For some reason, they never complain about the hero, just the heroine! (No armchair psychoanalyzing!)
My heroine for manuscripts #1 and #2 is a young woman who is a pilot (as am I), and who endured—and survived—a violent crime (as did I). The story is semi-autobiographical, but fictionalized. It began as my attempt to come to grips with the long-ago event, and morphed into a what-if scenario involving forgiveness, restorative justice, and repair of relationships gone horribly awry. The characters moved through the very human desires for revenge and retribution into a new place requiring change. True change, not lip service. Of course, being fiction, this all came at great cost to the characters.
As I move forward to a new project, I draw on my roles as wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, grandmother (the ideas there are rich and unlimited); on my aviation background (will any of the new characters be pilots? Will the setting include airplanes or airports?); on my nursing experience (hospitals? doctors? nurses? patients?); on my personal and spiritual experiences, which color my worldview dramatically differently from many people, and (I can only hope) provide depth and interest to my writing! 
As I sift through ideas, the same foundational criteria keep coming to the fore: Write stories that touch and inspire. Write stories that matter, stories that offer hope and light and new beginnings for flawed and struggling people. Write because words matter—to me, to readers, and to God.
Because, after all, that’s the point.  To do His will, be His eyes and hands and voice in this world; and to co-create avenues for all of us to find our way back to Him. 
God, grant me the grace to obey Your every direction to the fullest possible extent. Amen
Leslie Lynch gives voice to characters who struggle to find healing for their brokenness – and discover unconventional solutions to life’s unexpected twists. She is an occasional contributor to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis’s weekly paper, The Criterion. She can be found at www.leslielynch.com and is on facebook and Twitter.

Posted in Catholic Writing and Publishing | 2 Comments

CWG Prayer Chain Post: November 28, 2011

Posted on November 28, 2011 by avatar

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

1 Cor 1:9
You can rely on God, who has called you to be partners with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

The power of prayer and the power of people praying.

November Intention Prayer

Act of Charity #2

O my God!
I love Thee,
with my whole heart and soul,
and above all things,
because Thou art infinitely good and perfect,
and most worthy of all my love;
and for Thy sake,
I love my neighbour as myself.
Mercifully grant,
O my God!
that having loved Thee on earth,
I may love and enjoy Thee
for ever in heaven.

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 | 3 Comments

CWG NEWS

Posted on November 25, 2011 by avatar

THE SOUL READER IS FINALIST IN USA BOOK NEWS BEST BOOKS 2011 AWARD


USA Book News selected Gerard Webster’s The Soul Reader: A Novel of Suspense (WestBow Press, 2011) as a finalist in Religious Fiction for the Best Books 2011 Award. The Soul Reader is a sequel to In-Sight, Webster’s first novel. 


A Catholic suspense thriller, The Soul Reader, follows Ward McNulty and his ex-love Carrie in investigating a money-laundering scheme. Ward’s special gift, the ability to see other people’s souls, helps him to solve his father’s murder and uncover the criminal scheme that led to his death. Their investigation launches a series of events that span the globe and make Ward and Carrie the target of the most dangerous assassin in the western hemisphere, a man known only as “Culebra.”


Ellen Gable Hrkach, author of Stealing Jenny, “enjoyed the Catholic themes and the Catholic flavor of the book.” Author Maria Elena Vidal wrote “the mystery of iniquity and the mystery of divine grace strive with each other for mastery” in The Soul Reader. Richard R. Blake of www.readerviews.com said The Soul Reader is “a well-pace suspense novel…(with) distinctive three-dimensional characters, intrigue, mystery, romance and mounting suspense.”


The Soul Reader has also been approved for the Catholic Writers Guild Seal of Approval.


The Soul Reader and In-Sight are available through Ingram, Baker & Taylor, or the publisher, WestBow Press, or at the author’s website www.Gerard-Webster.com. You can also find The Soul Reader on Amazon and Barnes & Noble in paperback, hardcover and on Kindle. 


Gerard has been a Peace Corp volunteer, a soldier, a businessman and an addictions counselor. Most of all he is husband to his wife, Anne, and a father to their five children. He lives with his wife in Jacksonville, Florida. 

Posted in Catholic Writing and Publishing | 2 Comments

Blogging for Beginners: Terms & Concepts

Posted on November 23, 2011 by avatar
First, we covered getting yourself a blog. This week, let’s talk vocabulary.

This is a starter list, so chime in if you have questions or you’re unsure about something bloggy.

Blog
Everyone says this is short for weblog. In five-plus years of blogging, though, I have never seen anyone who actually blogs refer to their site as a weblog. It’s like putting the “-” in e-mail (as opposed to writing it “email” without the hyphen). Your blog is where you write. It’s updated through RSS, so it’s changing. A blog is a kind of website. A website is not always a blog.

A blog is like a newspaper–changing frequently. A website that’s not a blog, on the other hand, is like a book, with content that’s not changing. Though you probably update your website, it doesn’t require a steady flow of new material day after day.

On a blog, you keep a frequently updated series of entries, providing news, commentary, or other content.

–Related terms:
  • Blogosphere
    The world of blogging. Is it a real word? Nah, probably not. Except that those of us who are completely entrenched in it don’t know that, so let us live in our little world of made-up words, wouldja? :-)

  • Blog (the verb)
    The act of writing for your blog, as in “Sorry, can’t help you right now, I’m blogging!”
Post
An entry on a blog. What you are reading right now is a post.

–Related terms:
  • Category or Tag

    You have the opportunity to categorize your posts, depending on what kind of blogging software you use. I use WordPress on my personal site, so there’s a chance to use both categories and tags. This allows you to flag key words and specific content and organize yourself. For example, here on the CWG blog, I often tag my posts blogging. We have other bloggers who write about fiction.
  • Comments
    This is where the conversation takes place on blogs. Comments are the responses other people (or even the author) leave on a post.
Page
This is an unchanging portion of your blog. It’s a webpage, essentially, and it’s different from your blog feed because you don’t type a post to change it. For example, here on the CWG blog, the Blog Schedule is a page. And here I’m talking about a page within a blog, which is different than a webpage. (Confused yet? Sorry!)

–Information that belongs in a post versus on a page:
Blog posts highlight information that’s not going to be around forever. Eventually, it will be in archives (though you could link to it later, repost it, etc.). Pages, on the other hand, would contain information you want people to find and that doesn’t need to change. On my website, for example, I have a page for my speaking topics, which changes every so often but is mostly static.

Sidebar
Many blog designs have areas on the side. Those areas are called sidebars.

–Related term:
  • Blogroll
    A listing of links to other blogs, often found in a sidebar or on its own page within a blog or website.
Link
This is an example of a link. See how it’s a different color and when you hover your mouse over it you can click? That’s a link. It’s text or an image that takes you to another webpage or file.

–Related terms:
  • Backlink
    This is when someone links back to your blog or a post on your site.
  • Permalink
    Some posts have long and unwieldy links, or you’ll notice that the URL has extra junk at the end, because you were referred by somewhere else. A permalink is the permanent link for a post, one that does not change and always leads to that post.
Feed
This is what makes it possible for your blog posts to be delivered to people via email or different reader programs (i.e. Google Reader). There are a variety of feed types, such as RSS, Atom, or RDF.
Those who read your blog from a feed reader (like me!) have a different experience of your blog than those who actually visit your website. For one thing, they don’t see anything other than your post–no background, no fancy sidebars, no pretty header. Just the post. It makes it easier to take in a lot of information from blogs in one place.
If you want to know how it is for your readers, I suggest signing up for a feed reader (I like Google Reader) and subscribing to a few blogs. More details at this article, Feed 101.
–Related term:
  • RSS
    Stands for “rich site syndication” and is one type of magic that makes your blog content appear in my feed reader (I use Google Reader, but there are lots of others). RSS allows web content that’s regularly updated to be delivered to people via different methods (as opposed to them having to always check back with the actual website). If you want to learn more, here’s a great explanation of what RSS is (and it’s written in English, too).
Stats
Statistics, including how many people are viewing your site, what posts are most popular, and what color you should wear. There are a variety of different programs and add-ons for this, and we’ll cover stats in more depth in a future post in this series.

–Related term:
  • SEO
    Search engine optimization, or “how you get people to find you,” although that makes it sound more important than it is. Wait, it IS important. But it can also be distracting. Just like stats.
Further Reading:
Have I left anything out? What term or concept has you scratching your head and wondering? Ask away in the comments!
–

When Sarah Reinhard isn’t blogging at SnoringScholar.com, she can usually be found on Twitter and Facebook. She’s in denial about the amount of reading time she doesn’t have right now and has authored a number of titles, including her latest, Welcome Baby Jesus: Advent and Christmas Reflections for Families.
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CWG Prayer Chain Post: November 21, 2011

Posted on November 21, 2011 by avatar

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

Ezekiel 34:11
For the Lord Yahweh says this: Look, I myself shall take care of my flock and look after it.”
The power of prayer and the power of people praying.

November Intention Prayer

Act of Charity #2

O my God!
I love Thee,
with my whole heart and soul,
and above all things,
because Thou art infinitely good and perfect,
and most worthy of all my love;
and for Thy sake,
I love my neighbour as myself.
Mercifully grant,
O my God!
that having loved Thee on earth,
I may love and enjoy Thee
for ever in heaven.
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.

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Guest Post: Endings and New Beginnings…I hope!

Posted on November 21, 2011 by avatar
Editor’s Note:  CWG member Leslie Lynch sent in this guest post to share on the guild blog.  If you are a CWG member with a re-print or new article you’d like to share with the guild, send inquiries to blog [at] catholicwritersguild [dot] com.  We look forward to hearing from you!
I’m between projects right now. I just finished the second manuscript in a two book series that, together, I have spent several years on. Please keep in mind that the first manuscript was my ‘learning’ piece, and it has been revised so many times I’ve lost count! But the second book didn’t take nearly as long, and thanks to my critique group’s input along the way, didn’t require as much revision. 
But for the first time in a long time, I don’t have a work in progress. Typing the words The End was exhilarating…and terrifying. This is turning into another journey of faith for me, one I’m sure I don’t experience in isolation, though it feels that way. I must trust my creative nature to generate an idea for the next book (and I gotta say, I hope it generates really soon!)  
But far more importantly, I must trust the Holy Spirit to lead me in a path that will honor God and fulfill His purpose for me on this earth, in this place, in this time, via this particular talent. For it’s through His grace that the drive, the passion, and the talent to write exist within me – and you!
What do you do when you’re between projects? What is your process for mining ideas and gathering the raw materials that will become your new story? How do you reinvigorate your creative self, refill your creative well? And what role does prayer play in the ups and downs of your creative life?
Lord, grant us the grace to write words of hope and healing. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
Leslie Lynch gives voice to characters who struggle to find healing for their brokenness – and discover unconventional solutions to life’s unexpected twists. She is an occasional contributor to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis’s weekly paper, The Criterion. She can be found at www.leslielynch.com and is on facebook and Twitter.
Posted in CWG member benefits | 7 Comments

Publishing My First Historical Novel

Posted on November 19, 2011 by avatar
Nothing is impossible. In 1995 I wrote a novel about Marie-Antoinette and called it Trianon. I had been fascinated by Marie-Antoinette since the age of nine. By the time I was a grad student I had visited Versailles twice, but it was not until I saw a picture of Petit Trianon in Smithsonian Magazine that I felt inspired to write something about the Queen. It was just a photo of a staircase, but in my mind’s eye I could see Marie-Antoinette walking down it. I wanted to capture a moment in time, one of those happy moments that were like islands in a sea of tragedy in the life of Marie-Antoinette. I was already deep into research about the French Revolution as part of my graduate studies. I wrote the Prologue and then put the whole thing aside for ten years.
After a trip to Vienna in late 1994, I found the manuscript and the notebooks with my research in my father’s basement. I felt inspired by my trip to Vienna to take it up again, for I had visited the tomb of Marie-Antoinette’s mother, the Empress Maria Theresa, in the Capuchin crypt.
It was a turbulent time in my life, as I was undergoing a major career change. I had no computer, no internet, and little money. Nevertheless, I was imbued with the desire to tell the story of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette as it had never before been told, shedding a new light upon the gravely misunderstood King and Queen. I wrote ten hours a day, stopping only to eat, sleep and pray. Before I even completed the final manuscript, I began sending out query letters and sample chapters to every publisher I could think of. Rejection after rejection came. I knew in my heart that somehow Trianon would be published although at the time it seemed futile.
In the meantime, I got married and set up housekeeping in Pittsburgh, PA. One weekend in late August 1997 my husband and I were visiting friends in Maryland. It was the weekend that Princess Diana died and we were all reeling from the shock. My friend Virginia and I were sitting in her kitchen after brunch, drinking coffee. We talked about Princess Diana, and how similar she was to Marie-Antoinette, and yet how different. We lamented that my novel was not in print. Suddenly, Virginia, who designed and published catalogs for a living, exclaimed: “Mary, let me publish your novel.” The impossible had become possible.
And so it began. Neither of us had any idea what we were doing, although Virginia was quite adept at lay-out and graphic design. She not only published the book, but designed brochures and press releases to send out to bookstores, colleges, seminaries, newspapers and magazines. We mailed them far and near, offering free review copies of the book as soon as it was printed. 
Trianon was published on November 1, 1997, just in time for Marie-Antoinette’s birthday. The first printing was comprised of 700 volumes. A week later we held a book-signing at Virginia’s house, inviting all of our friends and family. The books sold well. I began to be invited to other book-signings at colleges, women’s clubs, bookstores and church groups. Meanwhile, the orders for the books began to trickle in, from individuals and booksellers alike. There were a few reviews, but mostly the news spread through word of mouth. 
Within a year we had sold out our inventory. The Neumann Press offered to publish the second edition. They asked for a sequel as well, so I wrote Madame Royale. In 2000, Madame Royale was published, as well as the second edition of Trianon, by The Neumann Press. Both books quickly found an international following which continues to this day.
Now with the internet and a blog, the sky is the limit as far as book promotion goes. As of this year (2011) both books are on Amazon Kindle and in new paperback editions. They continue to sell steadily along with my 2009 novel, The Night’s Dark Shade. I have found that determination and the refusal to give up count for much of what it takes to publish and successfully promote a book. The rest is the grinding effort of hard work. Most indispensable of all, after the grace of God, is the help of a good friend, a friend who believes in one’s ability, which for many can be the boost they need to succeed.

Elena Maria Vidal is the author of the historical novels Trianon, Madame Royale, and The Night’s Dark Shade. Please visit Elena at her Tea at Trianon blog and on Facebook and Twitter. 
 

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Heroes, Part I- When Is A Flawed Diamond More Valuable?

Posted on November 19, 2011 by avatar

“It is because he is never less than perfect that Milton’s God is so dull.”

Isaac Asimov said this while writing about writing scientists as villains. I read it in the early 80s when I was twelve, long before I ever knew who Milton was or what Paradise Lost was about. But I understood well enough how a perfect hero can be dull.

What makes a hero? More important to a Catholic writer, what makes for an engaging Catholic hero?

For many cradle Catholics, the Saints are held up as our first heroes. But until I read Ann Ball’s Modern Saints, I had a hard time connecting with all the perfect people with golden halos whose eyes were always looking up to Heaven, even if the instruments of their torture and death were just a few feet away.

Seriously, do you remember your grade-school holy cards? I dunno about you, but if I was standing five feet from the grill they were going to cook me on, I’d have a hard time looking up at the ceiling. But that’s just what St. Lawrence always seemed to be doing whenver I looked at him on a holy card. Among other reasons, this was why I had a hard time thinking of them as real heroes. Heroes I wanted to follow, anyway.

To make your hero a protagonist that I’ll want to share with others, a few points need to be in place. To make a Catholic hero is trickier, but not impossible for the honest writer:

First, your hero needs to be flawed like me in one or more important ways.

Superman could leap tall buildings in a single bound, but had to keep some things about his life hidden in order to live semi-normally. Lizzy Bennet may have had wit, charm, moxie and good looks, but wasn’t as pretty as Jane nor poised enough to gain her in-laws’ approval. King David led a life of military victories and nigh-unimpeachable virtue, but let a wild crush mess up a good part of his and other peoples’ lives.

Your hero’s flaws endear him to the reader. We like Superman because most of us have secrets of one kind or another, but learn to live our lives and do good in spite of them. We love Lizzie in part because most of us have had in-law troubles, and she surmounted them through her unashamed love for Darcy. And we love King David, not because he always kept winning, but because when he fell he rose up again. Just enough to get to his knees, that is, so he could repent and sin no more.

Showing a hero with flaws helps the reader identify and connect to them. Showing a hero overcome those flaws in a believable way, using God, the Sacraments or a host of other options, can make your hero into a Catholic hero, one your reader with hopefully emulate when faced with challenges of their own.

Next time, Heroes Part II: Against All Odds!

John McNichol lives in Vancouver, Washington. He is the author of The Young Chesterton Chronicles, an exciting Catholic adventure series for young men of most ages.

Book 1, The Tripods Attack!, is available from Sophia Press.

Book 2, The Emperor of North America, is available from Bezalel Books.

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