http://web.mail.comcast.net/service/home/~/invitation.png?auth=co&loc=en_US&id=495361&part=2

 

The Guild Blog Team

 

Since Guild members actively assist each other, the Catholic Writers Guild officers agreed that the CWG Blog would benefit from increased participation and that a larger team of editors would share the responsibility for inviting and posting contribution from the 500+ Guild members.

 

Benefits:

 

1)     Guild Blog posting will challenge your spirit and talents, and shape your witness and writing abilities in a new way.   In a recent audience Pope Francis called us to take up the challenge of “The newness which God asks of us.” 

 

2)     The more inclusive the Guild Blog the stronger the Guild member-network.

 

3)     Over the last year, Zenit, an international Catholic news service, based in Rome (http://www.zenit.org/en) has selected Guild Blog posts for worldwide circulation. The more samples we offer Zenit each month, the more likely Zenit will find Guild Posts that meet their needs.

 

 

4)     Publication of your blog post in the Guild Blog and possibly by Zenit enhances your reputation and that of the Guild.

 

Costs:

 

Expanded access to the Guild Blog requires an expanded staff of volunteers. Everyone is busy, but the extra stretch yields benefits for everyone. The “team approach” shares responsibility and credit without placing an overwhelming burden on the shoulders of the few. The larger the team, the lighter the individual burden.

Specifically, the Blog Team needs Guild members with strong editorial skills, and the assistance of those who already have access to the Guild Blog. The Blog Team will also develop guidelines for submissions. Your input toward any aspect of this process will assure benefits for the entire CWG. Members may use the comment section to volunteer as editors, access facilitators or guideline contributors. Please include your name, contribution and contact information. Thank you.

 

Current Blog Team Members:

Jennifer Fitz,              Kathryn Cunningham,          Steve Weisenbach,

Leslie Lynch,              Erin McCole Cupp,                Karina Fabian,

Don Mulcare.              Several others have expressed an interest.

 

Prayers:

I ask all that all Guild members to please pray for the success of this effort.

 

Thank you and God Bless,

 

Don Mulcare

Coordinator of Committees

Drawing by Nancy Ann Mulcare

A retired biologist with current interests in vegetable gardening, volunteering at a local nursing home, reading, and writing. Other activities include the study of the practical aspects of applied Gerontology, splitting logs, digging for quahogs and writing blogs. https://dmulcare.wordpress.com/

23 Replies to “An Invitation to the Blog”

  1. Hi Don,
    I will volunteer to edit and post on blog as needed. I will also contribute blogs of my own that may be appropriate. Are you going to the live conference? God Bless, Karen

  2. Don,
    I’d love to help out the Guild! I’ve been feeling I ought to make more use of my CWG membership and this seems to be a good opportunity. I’d be willing to help edit.

    Blessings,
    Mary Woods

    1. Mary,

      Those are magic words. The foundation of this entire project rests on those who have strong editing skills. You won’t (unless you want to do more) have to edit more than one submission/month and we’ll limit them to 800 words or less.

      Thanks Mary! I’m putting you on the distribution list.

      God Bless,

      Don

        1. Mary,

          You have an impressive blog.

          In which genre do you wish to edit? Poetry, Celtic literature or…?

          Have you thought of joining the CWG Education Committee?

          Will you attend the CWCL?

          RSVP

          God Bless,

          Don

          1. Poetry and Celtic literature would be cool… 🙂 Any kind of literature, really, I’d be interested in. I haven’t heard of the Education Committee; I’ll look into that. I’m hoping to come to the conference. I’m right in the Chicago area, so there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to. How about you?

  3. Hi Kassie,

    Nice post within a post!

    “Magisterium” reminds us of the CWG pledge. Your interpretation seems to match that expressed by most of the other Guild Bloggers. For instance: What World is This? And Other Stories, described in Jen Fitz blog (immediately previous to this one) deals with some of these very issues. “Lily on the Bus” reminds me of O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” One of the bad men gets on the bus and sits next to Lily. Terrified, she runs in the darkness and hides in the “loo,” but there is also hope. The darkness of her encounters with bad men leads to her fall, but also rise. The contrasts accent each other.

    With 500+ dues paying members, we should be able to find a few dozen volunteers who can handle the expected volume of Blog Posts. The guidelines have to facilitate flow, while keeping up quality. So while you are thinking about “guidelines” be sure to encourage the members to be themselves and remind them that they already observe the Guild pledge. We’d not impose additional burdens.

    God Bless,

    Don

  4. I would love to submit articles for the blog. I write a weekly blog called “Extraordinary Stories From Ordinary Life” that can be found on my blog page at memorareministries.com. I can help with guideline submissions. Thank you, Judy Klein

    1. Hi Judy,

      Thanks for your offer. Are you also an editor who would be willing to assist others who wish to post to the CWG blog? I put your name on the distribution list and will writ to all involved in a few days. I did visit your blog and will return.

      God Bless,

      Don

  5. Don,
    I very much appreciate your leadership on this. I am also happy that the CWG seems to be making more of an effort to reach out to members and add deeper meaning to all that we write. I enjoyed the comment above asking basically—blog? what blog? I would say we are all a little guilty there. I know that there are parts of the website available that I have never accessed being a creature of habit. I click through from my email notification when a post goes up, read it, comment if I have something to say, and then go on with my day. That being said, I think that I probably speak for other (smarter) timid bunnies in the grass, when I say ~ “I don’t get the Magisterium.” That’s a big, scary theologian’s word that most of us lay-writers don’t immediately know the meaning of. My translation is generally–don’t make stuff up, don’t do weird interpretations of parables or (worse) gospels–do not be mean spirited–but do not take the human element out of your stories. In Catholic writing, we reflect both the world we are surrounded by, and the face of God. We speak of the struggle (sin) that we encounter so often between situational life and the way through the sheephold that we all yearn for. So, a blog post, a story, an essay or even a novel, does not have to be without a “darkness” but it does need to be a light to the providence available to all who seek it. When I suggested a good Catholic fiction novel to my book club, there was a lot of eye rolling. Everyone acted as if we would be reading “Sister Mary Catherine’s Guide to Oatmeal.” A couple of weeks later when we met again and discussed Flannery O’Connor’s the Violent Bear it Away the conversation was pretty extensive. Magisterium does not mean “milk toast” or oatmeal, it means truth in what the world offers us as humans, and truth in the Church’s teaching of how to live to come beyond this world. So to others who may be scared off by this big important sounding word, come out of the grass timid bunnies…there is room at the table for us all!

  6. Greetings!

    Dennis, I knew that you were the chair of the Zenit Committee and that the selection of CWG blog posts from which to pick, had shrunk somewhat. The idea of opening the CWG Blog to the entire membership addresses this limitation and is intended to assist your committee as well as the Public Relations Committee.

    Barb, thanks for volunteering. A thin framework for the Blog Team approach exists, the details are in the works. Generally, the posts would run 800 words or less and would meet the normal guidelines for all Guild publications, especially their strict adherence to the Magisterium. You would not have to edit more than one submission/month. You would be free to do more if you like. I’ll look for your e-mail address so you can have more information as it develops. Thanks again!

    Janet, thank you too for volunteering to edit. You even gave an example of your skills. Yes, this is the blog. I’m not the technical person (nor an editor) but you do have valid points. Let’s keep them in mind. The CWG web site is about to emerge from its cocoon. Before it was hacked, the old GWG web site sent daily e-mail links to the newest bolg posts. I’ll forward your suggestions to the designer. At the moment we are trying to increase traffic by including as many of the 500+ members. “Fashion and Faith” fits! You are right to tone down the politics. Poetry, fiction, illustration and all the genres belong here. There are young members and representatives of every age cohort, each with their talents and points of view. We have regional branches of the Guild. Let’s hear from them. Thanks again, Janet!

    Kassie, Many thanks. Put on your thinking cap and envision what guidelines might serve to maximize access and rapid editing of member posts. A limited number of members have direct access to the CWG blog. Initially, those with access will act as intermediaries who post for those without direct access. Three of the Blog Team members are already listed as, and have served as intermediaries. These same members may also serve as editors. In order to open flow to the 500+ members, we need more editors and more persons with access. Thanks for your generosity.

    Thank you all!

    God Bless,

    Don

  7. I don’t know how the blog works, or even where it ‘is.’ I get notices at rather wide intervals of posts in my email, but don’t have a feeling for what kind of material is desired such as one would get from looking at all the posts together. I would be happy to put my editing skills, such as they are, to work for the Guild, and I would be happy to post (material less offensive than my usual political work! For example, I have a little piece on Fashion and Faith up on my own blog right now that might work).

    If this site IS the blog in question, the right side bar does not have titles of earlier posts but rather the names of guild members linked to their own blogs, and the top bar is Guild business, so I never accessed any old posts. I see now there is a search mechanism for both categories and posts by the month, but it’s not quite the same. I wonder if the blog might be more effective if the business end of the guild had its own home page, with links to the members’ blogs, the blog another page of its own. Just thinking, trying to figure out how a reader would make the guild blog a regular part of the day.

    1. Hi, Janet. I am the one tasked with the new website. Thanks for the suggestions. I know that’s what most people are used to when it comes to blogs. There are frequently broad categories and articles listed on the right side. I wasn’t part of developing this blog, but I think it was designed to be less collaborative and more of a “hub” for the large number of writing blogs our members have in addition to filling the role our current website is not serving.

      In the future, we will be discussing how to transition this blog to the company website because WordPress has collaborative tools that we haven’t discussed much yet. The plan was to integrate it with our forum in some way. However, I can say that until that happens, posts from the current CWG Blog will be featured on the future CWG website homepage once the new website is live. I will try to think of a way of featuring old topics, because I think it’s a good suggestion.

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