Member News: Our Writers Retreat Is Almost Here!

It pains me to say it, but summer is almost at an end in my part of the world. The best I can hope to do is muster some excitement for new opportunities that coincide with a new school year. A new routine to incorporate writing, being one!

The Guild has its retreat, back from hiatus, planned for October. We have enough registrants to make it a viable event, but if you’ve been procrastinating, please register ASAP to make sure to save your spot. It promises to be a worthwhile event: a Catholic writer’s dream, if you ask me!

Also, please share news of the event with fellow Catholics and pray for its success. You can share our social media posts or copy and paste information from the details below.

The Catholic Writers Guild’s Retreat for Catholic Writers has returned and is scheduled for October 9-13, 2023, at St. Francis Retreat Center in DeWitt, Michigan.

The retreat offers ample time away from life’s distractions to focus on writing, whether it’s developing a proposal, polishing a manuscript, banging out a first draft, or meeting an editorial deadline. Time is provided for critiques by fellow Catholic writers.

Deacon Greg Kandra, best known for his popular blog “The Deacon’s Bench,” will deliver daily reflections. Deacon Kandra is an author, speaker, blogger, and award-winning journalist, who was ordained a deacon in the Diocese of Brooklyn in 2007.

Cost, including room and all meals, is $875. The retreat center is conveniently located five minutes north of Lansing, Michigan, an easy drive from the airport, and a shuttle is provided.

Thank you to Guild member Nancy Bechel for this beautiful image incorporating our prayer!

You should be able to right-click on the image and save to your computer or save to your device, keeping it handy on your desktop or wallpaper so that you can make a habit of praying before writing.

Heartbeat

We hit a milestone – 60 users online at once!

Whether you’re a new member or you missed the email invitation in your inbox, we’d like invite you to join the Catholic Writers Guild Heartbeat community!

More than 250 of our members have joined, and it has become a lively place for our members to discuss, chat, critique, plan meet-ups, and more!

If you are an active member (meaning your dues are paid up) and have not received or have lost your invitation, reply to this email, and I’ll be sure you receive an invitation. (If you’re not a member, you can still access our Sunday night chats and the public portion of our community.)

If you missed Guild member Kate Frantz’s (Thy Olive Tree) free Heartbeat talk in January, “Self-Publishing a Good, True, and Beautiful Book – The Three Non-Negotiables,” it’s now available here.
Last month’s free Heartbeat talk by Guild member Maureen Platt is now available here.

God, Your Writing, and You

Guild member Karina Fabian is compiling a book of inspirational stories (nonfiction) around writing as Catholics. The idea is to make it a gift to the Guild to give all members and to sell on Amazon (with proceeds to the Guild). These are short stories about how God has affected your writing in a concrete way, stories about saint writers, success stories, etc. This is NOT a devotional or a lessons-style book.

IMPORTANT: To contribute, please read and follow the guidelines.

Due date: Oct 1, 2023.

No compensation. Each contributor gets a one-sentence bio with a link per story.

Seal of Approval

Remaining application dates for 2023:

Fri., September 15

During the 24-hour application window, you can access the Seal of Approval application form. Reminder: If your book has received an Imprimatur, it is ineligible for the Seal of Approval but receives all benefits associated with the Seal. More information on the Seal of Approval process.

To become a volunteer evaluator, email the SOA committee at SOA@catholicwritersguild.com. Training is provided.

Check Your Spam!

If you’re waiting on a reply from an official Guild email account (one ending in catholicwritersguild.com or catholicwritersguild.org), please be sure to check your spam or junk folder. Unfortunately, our messages have a way of ending up there.

If you’ve not received a reply to a message in a reasonable amount of time, please check your junk or spam folder before resending your message.

With rare exception, I personally reply to messages within 2-3 days, maximum.