The most profitable aspect of writing has little to do with money. When I began my writing journey, I believed I might make enough profit to buy…to repair…to solve… To fill in some blank in my life. Yet, during the ten years that I’ve been writing and publishing novels, non-fiction […]
Learning the Craft: Introduction
It’s never too late! I didn’t start writing until I was fifty-two. I loved reading religious magazines and while I was reading I thought to myself, I would have phrased this that way or I would have written about this. Finally, one day, I put pen to paper, or rather […]
A retreat to remember
The camaraderie with other writers at the Catholic Writers Retreat was exciting and the speakers encouraging. The space and time to write was a breath of peace in my over busy life. We had plenty of time slots designated for writing and a critique group of ten writers in various […]
When Picking up Your Pen Is Picking up Your Cross
By Janice Lane Palko How do you regard your writing career? Perhaps you’re like me. I’ve been putting words on paper for more than 20 years, and I’ve always regarded my propensity to write as a being a blessing and as a calling of sorts. I wrote last month how […]
Who Do You Say That I Am?
By Janice Lane Palko You’ve seen those Ancestry commercials about people who believe they are one race or nationality and then take a DNA test and find out they are not who they thought they were. My husband could be featured in one of those commercials. This past Christmas, I […]
Pick up the Orange
By Janice Lane Palko Some people receive profound promptings from the Holy Spirit. Me? I get messages like “pick up the orange.” A few weeks ago, I walked into my local grocery store and saw a woman select some oranges and put them in a plastic bag. As she walked […]
A Writer’s Voice
Do you spend time in conversation about the material you write? If not, you may be in danger of losing your voice. Writing is, ultimately, a means of communication – a two-way street. Without an audience – in mind, or on hand – it can become flat and lifeless. Such […]
Writers: Journal your Faith Story, Part 1
Part 1 – Always be ready to evangelize As a sidebar to my presentation of “Sharing Your Faith Story as a Writer” for the March 4-6 Catholic Writers Conference Online, I stress the value of preparing to evangelize by maintaining a spiritual journal. Writers keep a journal to capture inspirations, […]
Paraphrase of Romans 12 for Writers
For all you writers out there, here’s the inspiration of St. Paul, according to Darlene Bogle. I have it framed and hanging in my office to remind me of my calling when I need a little balancing: I beseech you, therefore writers, by the mercies of God, that you present […]
The synergy of the Catholic Writers Guild
What is it about the Catholic Writers Guild that makes networking so fulfilling? For five years, I have attended the live conferences and learned much from the sessions on how to write better and market better. I gained even more from the relationships formed with Catholic writers across the continent. […]