Are you headed for this year’s Catholic Writers Conference Live? If you are, check out my blog from last year regarding conference etiquette. It was good advice then, and I can’t think of a thing to improve on it. Just substitute the words Somerset, New Jersey for Arlington, Texas. If […]
Religion and Politics – A Polite Conversation
You know the old saw about not bringing up religion and politics in polite company? Well, I’m going to bring up both, as we have just entered the second annual Fortnight for Freedom. The U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has again called for two weeks of prayer and action […]
Dismantling Writer’s Block
Writer’s block. I don’t believe in it. Okay, I’ll hedge that a bit. All writers have moments when the words don’t come, or they have to be pried out of our brains like candy out of a three-year-old’s grasp. I do acknowledge that fact. Those moments are not fun. Those […]
Community! Find it in Unexpected Places!
I took up a swimming challenge at our local YMCA in January, and I’ve had plenty of time while plowing through the H2O to contemplate. One of the things that came to me recently – and which I did not anticipate – was what swimming (or any solitary sport), writing, […]
Jesus, our Saviour and our Example
The tension builds. Halfway through the week from his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, hosannas still echo in the streets and Jesus is preparing for his passion. The disciples don’t understand; they still expect Jesus to conquer their political enemies. But he knows better. He knows what he faces. Betrayal. Abandonment. […]
Balance in Fiction Writing
Balance. A few days ago, Ellen Gable Hrkach posted a great blog on common errors to avoid in writing fiction. One item she mentioned got me to thinking, namely too much dialogue. What’s ‘too much’? A lot of times that depends on the genre you’re writing. Clearly, screenplays and graphic […]
Creaky Bones? Fitness for Writers
My granddaughter, who is three, thinks that I am really (stretch that word out for maximum effect) old. We have a standing joke: Gramma has ‘creaky bones’. We even have a song and a dance to go with it, and it’s great fun. Of course, I’m not that old, nor […]
Merry Christmas
Luke 2: 1-20 The Infancy Narrative In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up […]
Query Letters – How to write a good one
You’ve just typed The End on your manuscript, your gloriously awesome book that’s going to rocket to the top of the New York Times best seller list! Editors are going to line up at your door, fighting to be the one privileged enough to publish your work. Thousands of people […]
Gotcha! Hooks: What They Are and How to Create Page-Turning Fiction
What’s a hook??? I admit to scratching my head over that term, and for a much-too-long time. I would hear it when people were discussing top-selling novels; I’d see it in articles about the craft of writing. It was a frequent comment from my critique partners. “Not much of hook […]