The eight weeks to go before the CWCLive in Lancaster, PA, will fly by for most of us. That’s especially true for those of us who are preparing for the critique sessions. A record four workshops are on the schedule this year! Three are on Tuesday, July 31, including covering Fiction #1, Non-Fiction and Poetry. Fiction #2 is on Friday, August 3.
My Non-Fiction Critique Workshop is the first thing on the schedule, Tuesday afternoon, July 31, at 3:00 p.m.
This is my fifth year for this and I always get excited about meeting the participants. That’s because many of them are CWG and social-media friends I’ve not met in person. Others are active in the CWG Non-Fiction Critique Group, which operates via email. Many of them came to the conference workshop in the past and then joined the online group. For the past two years, some members of the online group have visited the conference workshop to encourage those new to critique groups.
I’ll be “meeting” this year’s participants July 8, as they submit their ten pages for critiquing. Yes, they have homework to bring to the conference – the critique they will be assigned July 9-10. Like most critique workshops, ours is based on the tenet that critique groups are reciprocal. The best way we succeed at this is to apply the golden rule: critique others as you would like to be critiqued. Period.
Non-Fiction Workshop
Always wondered what a critique group was like? In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn to critique the manuscripts of other participants and receive a critique of their submission. They will learn how to give and receive a critique. Both experienced and novice writers have valuable input for the other writers around the table.
Participants submit their 10-page double-spaced manuscripts to Nancy Ward by July 8. Each participant will receive two manuscripts after registration closes and must bring those manuscripts, with critiques, to the workshop.
Fiction Workshop #1
Join Michelle Buckman and Karina Fabian as they offer personal critiques in an open forum.
If the thought of having your manuscript critiqued in front others gives you the willies, no problem. Through a PowerPoint presentation, writer/editors and longtime buddies Michelle Buckman and Karina Fabian will share their professional revision suggestions on 750 words of the first eight submissions they receive. Participants will have the benefit of two different – and possibly opposing – points of view. All other attendees will learn from watching the eight submissions being shredded…uh, critiqued. (Kidding – we’ll be kind, but honest.)
The eight manuscript authors will receive written notes after the critique and will be invited to join Michelle and Karina in the lobby that evening for a more personal Q&A session.
Submitting authors need to register for the event and send their submissions by July 1. Approx 750 words. Fiction, any genre. Email submissions as Word attachments to Michelle Buckman with subject line CWG SESSION SUBMISSION.
Anyone can attend, but only the first eight submissions will be critiqued.
Poetry Critique Workshop
Award-winning author Arthur Powers leads a group critique. Limited to 10 participants (auditors welcome). Come with ten copies of a poem; be prepared to read (or have someone else read) your poem to the group.
Arthur Powers is the author of Edgewater (2015) and Sketches/Brazil (2018), both published by Finishing Line Press. His poetry has appeared in America, Chicago Tribune Magazine, Dappled Things, Hiram Poetry Review, Kansas Quarterly, New Blackfriars, Roanoke Review, South Carolina Review, Southern Poetry Review, Windhover, and many other magazines & anthologies.
Fiction Workshop #2
CALA winner Arthur Powers leads a group critique of 10 pages of your work. Limited to six participants.
Participants should email up to 10 pages (double-spaced) of fiction to Arthur Powers by June 30. Each participant will receive by July 10 all participants’ submissions and should be ready to discuss them in the workshop.
Critique groups are not for the faint-hearted or those writers who are accustomed to feedback from beloved family and close friends whose job it is to encourage, not advance the writer in their craft. Catholic critiquers speak the truth, but always in love. We listen attentively, ask questions, and encourage and support our writing buddies because we care about their success. We help the hobby writers become professional through targeted suggestions. We gain insight into our own writings as we analyze the manuscripts of others. We invest ourselves in their work.
My first CWG critique group preceded and developed into the current CWG Non-fiction Group. Connie Rossini and I traded manuscript chapters each month when she was writing Trusting God with St. Therese. I learned so much about writing and about St. Therese. With no other critique group members yet, I read the draft of every chapter. When the book came out, I felt honored to be a part of the process. Reviewing it brought back wonderful memories of building the critique group and our relationship while the manuscript evolved from draft to published book.
Whatever critique session you choose it will enrich your writing and your relationships with other Catholic writers.
Here’s the link to the Critique Sessions: CatholicWritersGuild.org/Critique-Sessions
See you at CWCL!
Nancy Ward
Nancy Ward, convert, journalist, author, and speaker, writes from Texas about Catholicism, conversion and Christian community at NancyHCWard.com, JOYAlive.net, and other websites and magazines. Through her Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story workshops, retreats and DVD, she shares her conversion story in Catholic parishes and at conferences, equipping others to share their stories. She contributed to the award-winning The Catholic Mom's Prayer Companion, facilitates two Catholic Writers Guild critique groups, serves on the Guild’s Board, and speaks at national writers conferences.