Catholic Writing and Publishing – Page 36

Why We Catholics “Pray” to Saints

November 13, 2012/0 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing/by Larry Peterson

In parishes throughout the country, the Litany of Saints is a regular feature at Mass throughout the month of November, at Baptisms, and at other important times in the Liturgy. Just in time for those contentious arguments that crop up at the holidays, Larry Peterson tackled the thorny topic of ‘praying to saints’ on his personal blog, and shares his thoughts here as well.

As a blue-collar, Catholic guy I just felt I should give you my take about the day after Halloween, a day that is known to us Catholics as The Feast of All Saints or All Saint’s Day. There is a lot of misconception about this “saint” business so let me try to clear this up in my own way. No research here, I am just digging down inside myself trying to remember what I learned from Sister Mary Ursula and all the other good sisters way back when, and how I have managed to extrapolate that information over a 50-plus year period.

First of all, let’s get something straight–Catholics DO NOT worship or adore saints. God alone is worshiped and adored. Period, Amen. So who are these people we call saints and why do we “pray” to them? Well, for starters, remember that praying is just like talking. When we pray to the saints we are talking to them. When we pray to God we are talking to God. However, there is a HUGE difference. When you talk to God it is direct, one on one, straight up. You cannot go any higher. God is the top Man. The “buck stops with Him”. Many Christians feel that there can be no intercessor between “God and man (when I use the word man I also mean woman, okay?) except God Himself. Well, that is fine and perfectly okay. All of us Catholics always talk directly to God too. So, what about these people called saints? (I know, I know, we Catholics sure can be weird.)

Here is how yours truly looks at this saint situation. I have to compare it to baseball or football. Over the years many thousands of men (and even some women) have played baseball and football. Heck, when I was a kid we were playing stick-ball in the streets of the Bronx when we were seven years old. I guess I could safely say that millions of people have played the game over the years. The years go by and we begin to grow up and most of us fall by the wayside as far as being great football or baseball players. But there are those select few that continue to play and actually become professionals. And from that group the cream comes to the top, the “best of the best” the greatest of them all, the ones that break records and become heroes to young and old alike.

These people we pedestalize and place them in a place called the “Hall of Fame”. Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax and Jimmy Brown and Terry Bradshaw and Joe Namath and the list goes on. Immortalized forever because they were the best of the best. Well, there you have it. The Saints are the “Catholic Hall Of Fame”. They are the best of the best, the ones that loved their faith so much many died for it. There are the ones who spent their entire lives living in poverty and working with the sick and the poor, never wanting anything for themselves and always having a smile on their face because they never lost sight of the prize. They showed us how the game of life should be played.

Here’s the deal. We know that these folks died and went to Heaven. They are with God. This is a faith thing so don’t get logical about it. Imagine if you had a big brother or a big sister and you needed something from your dad but you were sure he would say “no” so you decide to ask your big brother to put in a good word for you. And he does and Dad agrees. And there it is. We ask the saints to put in a good word for us because they are with God and they “have His ear” so to speak. No, I cannot prove it. Once again, it is a faith thing. But I do believe it, without reservation.

You know, we all have pictures of our family members in our homes or wallets and we have statues of great people in history. Why? We honor them. Same with the saints. And for all those who did not make it into the Hall of Fame we talk to them too. You see, we are all one, big family known as the “communion of saints”. That’s right, you don’t even have to be dead to be a saint. It is a beautiful thing.

Does Self-Publishing Mean Substandard?

November 12, 2012/8 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing, Self-Publishing/by Ellen Gable Hrkach

image copyright Ellen Gable Hrkach

Although I now own and run and a publishing company, all my books were self-published. I don’t like the connection that people often make between self-published books and “bad” or substandard writing. The truth is, the vast majority of self-published books (I’ve read a lot of them) are indeed substandard quality. I download free Kindle books every day and many of them aren’t worth downloading because they are embarrassingly bad. I’ve also read some wonderfully written self-published books, but these are in the minority.

So…is the ease of self-publishing bringing the overall quality of books down?

Well, in a word, I believe it is.

Unfortunately, many self-published authors think they can write a book without extensive editing. Others, who do have editors, don’t employ professionals, and instead use friends and relatives. Another self-published novelist I know used a published author as editor but this particular “published” author had no experience in fiction so this showed in the characters and plot. Still others publish their books with little or no proofreading.

Going with a “Self-Publishing” company like Trafford or iUniverse also doesn’t guarantee high quality. Large companies want your business and while they can be helpful, they are also more expensive than a self-publishing book coach.

In my capacity as a reviewer for CatholicFiction.net as well as a reviewer for other websites, many self-published manuscripts come across my desk (or computer) that are so atrociously written, I won’t even review them.

I’ve come up with a few ways to increase the likelihood that your self-published book will not be included in the “badly written” bunch.

Avoid Thinking “I Can Do It All”
I’ve won awards and have had bestselling books precisely because I realize that I can’t do it all. I hire editors, copy-editors, proofreaders and my husband (a professional artist) designs my covers.

Employ a Professional Editor (for overall plot, characters, setting, writing style) and humbly consider their advice. If you’re writing fiction, find a fiction editor. If you’re writing a non-fiction book, find one who specializes in non-fiction. Authors should want their work to be the best it can be. Sometimes a book has to go through many edits in order to be polished and of good quality. My first novel went through about 30 edits. My second and third novels, ten. Be open to construction criticism. Don’t we all want to produce quality books?

Use a Copy-editor (for grammar, word usage and punctuation)
One author I know used a friend as copy-editor. This person (I’m guessing) had little experience in professional copy-editing. That particular book was a great read, but had many comma, quote and apostrophe errors that made it distracting to read. When a reader gets distracted, they’re pulled from the story.

Proofreaders, Proofreaders, Proofreaders!!!
Ask at least 10 of your friends and relatives if they could read your manuscript and find typos. One novelist I know didn’t use any proofreaders (he said he proofread his book himself, which was a big mistake…authors can be blind to their own mistakes). Unfortunately, it showed. Another author used one proofreader, but one isn’t enough to read through 100,000 words and find all the typos. With my second novel, In Name Only, ten proofreaders went through the book and missed “Brtish.” I didn’t catch it until I converted my book to Kindle.

Employ a Professional Cover Designer
The book may be good, but if the cover looks like a five year old designed it or the font is too light to read, then people may not even consider buying your book. A good cover must also look eye- catching in thumbnail. Many of the self-published book covers I see on Kindle are not professionally designed. In fact, many look like a child designed them.

Research
If your book takes place 100 years ago, please do the research that is necessary. I once read a self-published novel that takes place in the 1870’s and the author included an automobile (those didn’t appear on the scene until 20 or 30 years later…).

Kindle Conversions
If you don’t know how to convert your manuscript to Kindle (or other ebooks), hire a professional. I can’t tell you how many books I’ve downloaded on Kindle that were virtually unreadable because of the poor conversion.

If You’re Going to Print…
If you’re printing your book, hire a Print on Demand (POD) Company who has extensive experience with printing books. A company that prints brochures, business cards and flyers may not be the best company to print your book. Create Space (Amazon’s POD Company) prints over 100,000 books per week and, for the most part, they know what they’re doing and their customer service team is extremely helpful.

Consider Using a Book Coach For a small fee, book coaches (like myself) walk the self-published author through the maze of self-publishing. As a book coach, I sometimes help with editing (although not always) and assist the self-published author in releasing a quality book. The book coach’s fees are usually much less than an author would pay for self-publishing companies.

Following all these hints will not guarantee that your book will be high quality, but it will certainly lessen the chances of it being “embarrassingly bad” or substandard. In the future, I hope to see more quality self-published books so we can remove the stigma and the frequent connection that self-published books equal substandard quality.

Have you self-published? If so, did you use a company, a book coach or did you do it yourself? Feel free to comment below.

Gotcha! Hooks: What They Are and How to Create Page-Turning Fiction

October 23, 2012/10 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing, Editing, Encouragement for Writers, Fiction, Self-Publishing, The Writing Life, Writing Tips and Tricks/by Leslie Lynch

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 there, Leslie.” (Insert visual of me scratching my head. Again.) They tried to explain it to me: Leave the reader hanging at the end of the chapter. An unanswered question. A cliffhanger.

Well, that was all fine and dandy, except I didn’t get the concept. Until our critique group got down to business and I began to evaluate other people’s unfinished work. Over time, I began to recognize when the end of a chapter or scene felt flat. I began to see how they worked through the process. And then when I saw what my fellow writers did to spice up the work, it finally began to make sense. The final piece of the puzzle fell into place for me when I read James Scott Bell’s Elements of Fiction Writing – Conflict & Suspense.

The basic idea is to end a chapter with the character facing peril of some sort, whether an internal conflict or an external plot development. The higher the stakes for the character, the better. In fact, Bell suggests the character must face death in some form – physical, psychological or professional. Of course your story isn’t filled with melodramatic, overblown situations, but each character must have something crucial at stake in each scene. By setting it up so someone is forced to face failure at some level, and then leaving the conflict unresolved, you create a hook.

Hooks come from disaster (Bell’s death) looming, occurring, or simply being implied. The hook can be expressed through dialogue, as a plot twist, as emotion, or via action. The hook can be an actual question, although I’d caution you to use that technique sparingly. I read a book once that ended every chapter with a question, and it felt like old-fashioned middle grade fiction. It didn’t work so well in an adult novel. Whatever method you chose to create a hook, take care to do it in a way that doesn’t leave the reader feeling manipulated. That usually has the opposite effect from what you intend!

One of the most common errors is the form that many of us learned in school: To write each chapter with a beginning, a middle, and an end. This works for nonfiction, but if you want a fiction reader to say “I couldn’t put it down!”, try ending the chapter a paragraph or two early. You’ll be surprised at how well this simple technique works. Then use that bit as the beginning of the next scene.

Go to your personal library of favorite books, or to the library or bookstore. Page through your favorite authors’ work and read the last paragraph of each chapter. You’ll get a solid sense of what creates a hook in short order.

It’s always a question that leaves the reader wanting—no, needing to know what happens next??? Whatever you do, don’t answer the question until the end of the book! Well, you can answer bits of it as you go along, but don’t answer the main question of the book until the end.

Hopefully, the result will be an ocean full of readers happily chasing the hook you’ve dangled – and saying, “That book was so good, I couldn’t put it down!”

How do you define a hook? What’s your approach to creating one? Share your favorite technique!

We Catholics are not a threat to anyone—or are we?

October 2, 2012/2 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing/by Larry Peterson

After President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton made a video apologizing for a 13-minute video trailer that offended the vast Muslim world, it dawned on me that maybe we Catholics are the ones who deserve an apology. At about the same time they were spreading their apologies, the “PissChrist” exhibit was going back on display in midtown Manhattan. This nifty work of art was created by the “renowned artist” Andres Serrano. Yeah, this guy is famous for using urine and feces in his “art”. Remember his exhibit of a statue Our Dearest Mother Mary on a pedestal in a Brooklyn museum, covered in his feces? How absolutely depraved. I was not only deeply offended, I was sickened by this. But, it was okay. This kind of thing is protected by our First Amendment.The National Endowment for the Arts funds this man and his art. Common decency and a smattering of respect for others never enters into the equation.

I am, just like you are, among those that total one third of the world’s population—a Christian. Not only a Christian, but a Catholic Christian, and there are over a billion of us. So tell me, my brothers and sisters in Christ, where is our apology? Shouldn’t we get one? How come our beliefs can be mocked and defiled and laughed at whenever someone feels like it? How come our guy, JESUS CHRIST, who we BELIEVE is the Messiah and the Son of God, can have His name publicly reviled, His mission lampooned, and His very existence taken to secular courts in the quest to have Him eradicated from the public square? Where is our apology for demeaning our very core beliefs?

Oh–is it because we are peace loving folks? Folks who turn the other cheek? Folks who forgive others? Of course it is. We are not about to blow you up or slit your throats. We are not a threat to anyone. Or—are we? Jesus went about teaching love and peace and forgiveness. What happened to Him? The powers that be feared Him, so they tortured and killed Him. We are His followers. What should we expect, hugs and kisses?

With all of these things going on, I find it quite interesting that the majority of Catholics (according to the latest polls) are going to vote for President Obama. The USCCB is united in its attempt to stop the HHS Mandate. The bishops have asked for our support. They had the Fortnight for Freedom that ended on July 4. They have issued prayer requests repeatedly. Like it or not, our entire faith system is under attack. How come so many Catholics are not responding? Don’t they care? I have a gut feeling that they don’t. I cannot believe I just wrote that previous sentence. ————I just spent a few minutes re-reading that sentence. I’m leaving it right where it is. Pretty sad.

Praise God, All Creation–Even the Magnetosphere!

September 27, 2012/2 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing/by Karina Fabian

This year, I teach 4th grade RE. On September 23rd, we read this Psalm:

Last weekend, we read this psalm:

Praise the LORD from the heavens;

praise him in the heights.

Praise him, all you his angels;

give praise, all you his hosts.

Praise him, sun and moon;

praise him, all shining stars.

Praise him, highest heavens,

you waters above the heavens.

Let them all praise the LORD’s name;

for he commanded and they were created

Psalm 148: 1-5

I tried to explain to the kids how all creation praises God, even if not in voices–the stars burn and the birds sing. This led to praising God in our actions by living according to His will. However, this morning, Space.com printed an article about the sounds of the magnetosphere,* and how they sound like birds:

The magnetosphere, btw, are the magnetic waves that surround the earth to protect us from solar radiation. So, it seems in its own way, even the magnetosphere sings praises to God. How awesome is that?

This has given me a great idea for a short Rescue Sisters story. Three of my favorite characters are Sister Rita, an Earth-born woman who joins the Sisters, and Sisters Thomas and Ann, who were born in space. Ann is a very literal person. Rita’s parents send her a recordingof the birds around her their home, and she listens to them when she’s homesick. Ann will comment that they sound “off.” She’ll start listening to the recording, then tweaking it, then analyzing it… She’ll insist it’s not from Earth, but it’s not until one of the other sisters sees her equations that she realizes Sister Ann thinks it’s the magnetosphere of a planet. I could also see this in other SF stories, where they pipe in the sound of the magnetosphere and someone confuses it for birdsong. I wonder, if they did it in hydroponics, would the birds harmonize or be disturbed by the sounds? I like the idea of harmony.

So, my Catholic writing friends, what does this fire in your imagination?

Tag! You’re It! Writing Dialogue in Fiction

September 25, 2012/7 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing, Editing, Encouragement for Writers, Fiction, Humour, The Writing Life, Writing Tips and Tricks/by Leslie Lynch

“Hi, Beth,” waved Justin.

“Why, Justin, I haven’t seen you since our high school prom six years ago, the one where our mutual friend, Erik, got suspended for spiking the punch,” gushed Beth.

“Ho, ho,” chortled Justin. “Those were the days! He went on to become a successful, if whacky and innovative executive with an online social network. What have you been doing since then?” he queried.

“As you know, my family life was difficult and I had many obstacles to overcome, but I triumphed by speeding through college in record time, completing my undergraduate, double major degree in only two years, and am graduating from medical school next week,” Beth elaborated.

Are you bored yet? Grinding your teeth and wanting to throw this story across the room? I am; it was painful writing it!

Good dialogue can carry a story; conversely, badly written dialogue can sink one faster than the Titanic’s spectacular and ignominious end. Many resources are available, from Renni Browne and Dave King’s Self Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition to Write Great Fiction: Dialogue by Gloria Kempton, and more. If a good book on the craft of writing dialogue doesn’t reside on your shelf, I strongly suggest you consider acquiring one.

Let’s examine this fragment to see why it’s so grating. There are four issues here: dialogue tags, stilted language, indistinct voice, and information dump.

Dialogue tags are the words we use to indicate that a character is speaking. When I wrote the first draft of my first novel, I spent hours dreamily staring into space while trying to conjure the cleverest dialogue tags ever. My characters retorted, snorted, coughed, shivered and quivered their lines. After reading the above example, you can see how awful it was!

In reality, you only need a few simple guidelines.

1. Use the word ‘said’ whenever necessary. It’s an almost invisible word to the reader, whereas all the chortles, queries, etc. do nothing but draw attention to the author—not the story. The author should be entirely invisible, and your goal is to keep the reader engrossed in the story, not yanked out by strange word choices.

2. Keep in mind that physical actions are not involved in uttering speech. Rather than succumb to the temptation of using the action as a tag, use it in a separate sentence as a ‘beat’ that reveals body language and moves the story forward. For example: Justin pulled up short when he recognized the woman approaching him. A spurt of pleasure shot through him, and he waved. “Hi, Beth!” (Note how this example could go any number of directions. Maybe he wanted to avoid her, but couldn’t; maybe his response is anger over an unresolved conflict. Whatever the case, the greeting becomes much more complex and compelling.)

3. If only two persons are involved in a stream of dialogue, omit tags entirely. This works especially well when the characters’ voices are so different that it is obvious who is speaking by their speech patterns. But don’t be afraid to add an occasional beat to keep it clear for the reader.

Which leads us to stilted language and indistinct voice.

The best way to avoid stilted language is to read your dialogue out loud. If it feels or sounds awkward, change it. Each character should have distinctive speech patterns, too; make sure the words and delivery you choose remains authentic to the individual character. As you read the dialogue out loud, it should be obvious which character is speaking at any given time. Let’s make Justin a Texas cowboy and Beth a California Valley girl (yes, I know I’m dating myself, but it’s an easy ‘dialect’ to show for our purposes).

Now we have: A spurt of pleasure shot through Justin when he recognized the woman approaching him on the sidewalk. He whipped off his ten-gallon hat and waved. “Howdy, Beth! I ain’t seen you for a coon’s age.”

Beth, preoccupied with her Smartphone, lifted her gaze. A smile wreathed her face and she squealed. “Ohmygosh! Justin! It’s been, like, too-too long! Since high school?” As you can see, these two wildly different styles will never overlap in dialogue. Not all characters will be such polar opposites, but if you give each character a distinctive voice, whether through style (i.e., women tend to use longer sentences, while men tend more toward brief statements) or specific verbal traits, it will strengthen both their characterization and their dialogue.

A word about foreign words and idioms: a little goes a long way. If your character is fluent in French and sprinkles French phrases into her speech, limit those to one every few pages. If a character’s speech is very back-woodsy and old fashioned, pick one word to highlight that pattern and write the rest in ‘regular’ English. For a southern drawl or an Irish brogue, use that as a descriptor outside of the dialogue and use word choice and placement to reinforce the pattern. Trust your reader to catch on. They will.

Last: information dumps. This is where characters bring in information that the author wants the reader to know but doesn’t have an organic way to get it across. Hence, awkward dialogue that no one in real life would use, such as: He went on to become a successful, if whacky and innovative executive with an online social network.

When you find those in your writing, ask yourself if the information is truly important. If so, is it crucial at this point in the story? If yes, then find a more relaxed way to get it into the story, either as internal dialogue (Beth’s mind went back to the last time she’d seen Justin. The high school prom. The one where Erik had been suspended for spiking the punch. “Justin! It’s been years!”), or in more natural sounding dialogue (“Justin! It’s been years!” Beth’s face heated at the memory of their high school prom. “I’m still embarrassed at how I acted after—“ She broke off her sentence, and Justin, grinning, finished it for her. “After Erik spiked the punch.”

Dialogue can make your story sing, and those who can do it well often do well on other aspects of the craft. As a plus, the more of your story you can tell via dialogue, the better the structure will be, so it’s worth the effort to improve your skills in this area.

What are your tricks or tenets about writing dialogue? This has been a quick and dirty, and by no means comprehensive look at writing dialogue. Please share your experience!

Catholic Writers Guild Elections Coming Soon

September 24, 2012/0 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing/by Ellen Gable Hrkach

Hello CWG Members! It’s time again for CWG elections. We have four current officers who are willing to remain on the board (two in different positions).

However, since our current vice president (me!) is willing to run for president, we are in need of a vice president. If you or any other member would like to nominate themselves, visit the following link at the CWG website:
http://catholicwritersguild.com/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=5439#5439

We will accept nominations until November 7. If anyone would like to run for any position, please include a short paragraph about why you want to run for a particular office. Voting will be Nov 8-21. You’ll be receiving future emails with instructions on voting. Please vote before the day indicated. Here is a list of each officer’s duties:

PRESIDENT:
Nominees: Ellen Gable Hrkach
Daily:
–handles Guild correspondence as needed and forwards to appropriate parties
Weekly
–Post comments on boards
–Check project forums to see if we are progressing; if not, contact Committee Chair
–Ensure:
–Officers are completing duties on-time

Monthly
–Post on CWG Blog
–President’s letter for Inside the CWG
–Coordinate/approve agenda for monthly meeting with Secretary
–3rd Tues of month: Monthly meeting
–by 30th approve minutes of meeting

Infrequent
–Spokesperson for Guild on radio, TV, conferences
–Spearhead projects of importance to Guild–find a project head with Committee Coordinator
–In Secretary’s absence, creates and distributes agenda for monthly meeting

VICE PRESIDENT
nominees: Open
Daily:
–handles Guild correspondence as needed and forwards to appropriate parties
Weekly:
–Post on the forums
Monthly
–third week of month: attend monthly meeting
–Post on CWG Blog
Fall:
–Works with Secretary to run elections
Infrequent:
–in absence of Secretary, takes minutes for the meeting
–as directed by President: writes article for Inside CWG on status of the Guild

SECRETARY
Nominees: Dave Law
Weekly:
–post on forums
Monthly:
–Post on CWG Blog
–by 5th: meets with President to determine agenda
–by 10th: send out the agenda to officers with reminder of meeting time and date and phone conference instructions
–2 days before meeting: sends second reminder of time, date and Google/Skype instructions
–third week: attends monthly meeting; takes minutes
–Monday of fourth week: sends minutes to President for approval
–by Thursday of fourth week: posts approved minutes in forum
Fall: Sets up Elections:
–September: make announcement that elections are in November–set up or get webmistress to set up forum so people can announce candidacy
–October: send out 2 announcements that nominations are starting for elections
–Oct 23-Oct 31: Prepare for election: send newsletter announcement to all members and set up forum polls
–First part of Nov nominate members, post, discuss
–last part of Nov elections

TREASURER:
Nominees: Ann Lewis
Weekly:
–posts on forums
–Updates membership list:
— Checks PayPal for new membership fees payments – make sure eChecks have cleared.
— Receives info from Ann on checks she receives & deposit in CWG bank account
— Balance/ reconcile CWG check book
— Receive request for payments & reimbursements and write checks
— Keep updated & accurate records of all CWG financial transactions

Monthly
–Prepare treasurer report for meeting
–attend meeting
–transfers money from PayPal to bank account as needed
–Post on CWG Blog
Quarterly
— Prepare Quarterly Financial Statements – Income Statement & Balance Sheet –
and present them to CWG’s board/officers
Yearly
— Prepare Year End Financial Statements – Income Statement & Balance Sheet –
and present them to CWG’s board/officers
— Prepare or find a preparer for the Tax return, and insure its timely filling w/ IRS
— Prepare and file the “Business identity report” w/ the State of Indiana

COMMITTEE CHAIR
nominees: Karina Fabian
Weekly:
–posts on forums
Twice a month:
–Contact committee heads regularly to check on their progress and see if they need any help from officers
–Second and Fourth weeks: either send one-line updates on projects with forum link to secretary for the “forum blast”

Monthly
–Get each committee head to send a monthly report to CWG insider summarizing progress on their project DUE TO CWG INSIDER EDITOR BY third Monday of the month.
–Attends meeting
–Post on CWG Blog
_________________

God bless all of you,
Ellen Gable Hrkach,
Vice President, Catholic Writers’ Guild

Networking and the CWCL

September 10, 2012/2 Comments/in Catholic Writers Conference Live, Catholic Writing and Publishing, Self-Publishing/by Ellen Gable Hrkach

As a Catholic writer, do you sometimes feel out of touch with other Catholic writers? Do you feel out of place at your secular writers’ group?

Years ago, when I first began writing fiction, I joined a local secular writers group. However, I soon felt like a fish out of water. No one in the group was even Christian, let alone Catholic. They were nice, but I didn’t feel a connection. When I joined the Catholic Writers Guild at the suggestion of my friend, Lisa, I soon realized that it was the best thing I ever did, not only to become a better writer, but to become a better Catholic.

Jerry Webster, his wife, Anne, and volunteer coordinator, Margaret Realy, at the CWG Registration Desk, photo Jerry Webster

One of the most valuable ways to network with fellow Catholic writers is to attend the annual CWCL conference. A few weeks ago, at the Catholic Writers Conference Live/Catholic Marketing Network Trade Show/Catholic New Media Conference in Arlington, Texas, attendees had the incredible opportunity to meet many like-minded Catholics and Catholic writers in particular. Jennifer Fitz shared some of the events from the conference a few weeks ago when she was blogging live.

Talking with Patti Armstrong after my Marketing talk. Photo courtesy Jerry Webster

For me, it was an overwhelming and enjoyable experience, although it was also exhausting as I’m sure Ann Lewis, (President and organizer of the Conference) as well as Margaret Realy (Volunteer Coordinator) would agree. There were opportunities for book signings at the booth. Some CWG members had a unique opportunity to be interviewed by Doug Keck from EWTN’s Bookmark. At the Conference breakfast on Thursday morning, Doug was given an honorary CALA award for his support of Catholic writers.

CWG President Ann Lewis signing copies of her book – photo courtesy Jerry Webster

New friendships were made and long-time friendships were solidified. Volunteers came forward to help out. Ann, Margaret and I are extremely grateful for their assistance.

The hustle and bustle of the CWG Booth – photo courtesy Jerry Webster

On Thursday morning, authors seeking publication had the opportunity to pitch their book ideas to several publishers.

CWCL participants listened to great talks by Fr. Andrew Apostoli, Teresa Tomeo and Gail Coniglio, Sarah Reinhard, Michael Russell, Patti Armstrong, Ann Lewis, myself and several others.

At the sponsored meals, we heard talks from Fr. Michael Gaitley, singer Collin Raye and Dr. John Bergsma. There were also presentations by Immaculee and Jeff Cavins. Author book signings for well-known authors as well as not-so-well known authors happened hourly during the Trade Show. Many of us attended the screening of the new St. Augustine movie, Restless Heart.

If you’re looking to network with other Catholic writers, there’s no better way than to attend our annual conference. Needless to say, I had a great time and I highly recommend attending next year!

Ms. Manners Goes to Conference! Conference Etiquette for a Better Experience

August 28, 2012/3 Comments/in Blogging, Catholic Writers Conference Live, Catholic Writers Conference Online, Catholic Writing and Publishing, Encouragement for Writers, Fiction, Inspirational, Journalism, Marketing Your Work, Self-Publishing, The Writing Life, Writing Tips and Tricks/by Leslie Lynch

Headed for Catholic Writers Conference? Are you excited? You should be! What an opportunity to rub shoulders with industry professionals, to put faces and personalities to folks you’ve met online, to renew friendships, and to network. This is a once in a lifetime experience; make the most of it. There will never be another gathering of exactly the same people at this point in their faith and writing journeys. Truly you are in Arlington, Texas, because God has called you to be there!

Each of you has a specific reason for attending, a goal you hope to accomplish. If this is your first conference experience, the coming days are likely to be a roller coaster of euphoria juxtaposed with self doubt. Be assured that you are not the only one grappling with these feelings. I hope this knowledge translates into a greater sense of ease in a new and sometimes intimidating environment. Here are some words of advice (of wisdom, too, hopefully!) for both newbies and veterans, for authors, for agents, and for editors, geared toward making this conference the best it can be for everyone:

1) Everyone’s goals are the same, ultimately. Editors want to find the next diamond of a manuscript to publish. Agents want to discover the next author whose career they can guide to new heights. Authors want to find a publisher and/or agent to promote their awesome work. And in this particular setting, all of these people want to serve God with their talents and gifts in the way that pleases Him the most.

When viewed through that prism, competition loses the edge of greed and rejection loses its sting. We’re all on the same side, and God’s looking out for the good of each person’s life and career. This doesn’t mean you should fail to promote your product, just that there is no need for fear. Which brings us to the next point.

2) Be confident. You have something no one else does: your voice, and your work. These are gifts that God has given you, gifts that you have honed with hard work and prayer. No one can duplicate your contribution. Take heart in that fact, and know that your work will find its home. Maybe through this conference; maybe not – which leads to…

3) Don’t take rejection personally. Sometimes it just isn’t a good fit for the publisher or agent. Imagine a library with thousands of books. You have three days to find the best two. You will have to create a system to sort and discard the ones that aren’t suitable for your purpose. Do you see that many wonderful, deserving books will be overlooked? This does not reflect on the worthiness of each one, the same way it does not reflect on your particular project. And in today’s climate, many options are available. So…

4) Be open. There are many possibilities that we may not recognize in our limited, human view. Be open to new ideas, new directions, new options. You may discover a brand new path, or even a calling! You may discover it through…

5) Networking. This is the whole purpose of a conference. Meet people! Ask them what they write, who they want to represent, what they want to publish. Have a brief answer for these questions, too, so you can give a nutshell sense of your project when it comes up. (I write ___, and my current project is about ___.)

This is a remarkably small community, and the contacts you make in the next few days will serve you for your entire career. Do not discount the importance of these interactions. They are crucial for your success. But remember…

6) Be nice. This should go without saying, especially in this setting, but we are human and sometimes we need to be reminded. Keep your comments positive; you never know who might overhear or repeat something you said in a frustrated or disappointed moment. Again, this is a remarkably small community even though it may not seem that way.

Also, restrict your interactions to appropriate venues. Don’t try to pitch to an agent or publisher in the restroom, or shove your manuscript under the door of the stall. I have witnessed the first and have heard of the second, so these are not as far-fetched as they seem. Be considerate of folks. If the target of your interest has a headache or gets a pained look on their face when you approach, be brief. Introduce yourself and say you’d like to send them a query if that is acceptable; believe me, they will remember and appreciate your kindness. And that goes a long way. Which leads to the last point…

7) Be yourself. This may call for leaving your comfort zone, though. If you tend to be shy (many writers are!) push yourself to be more sociable. It’s not hard; smile and ask people around you about themselves. You’ll be glad you did. If you are an extrovert, recognize your tendency to overshadow the more timid among us and let them shine, too.

I hope each one of you has a wonderful experience at the Catholic Writers Conference! And… Oops! I forgot the most important words of advice! HAVE FUN!

Working With An Editor

August 13, 2012/2 Comments/in Catholic Writing and Publishing, Self-Publishing/by Ellen Gable Hrkach

All authors need an editor. Self-published authors should not publish a manuscript without hiring a competent editor to improve and polish it.

For the purposes of this post, an editor is someone who suggests changes in overall plot, setting, characters and theme. I am not talking about a copy-editor (although copy-editors are important too).

Before I started writing fiction, I had written many non-fiction articles. I mistakenly thought fiction would be easier. The first draft of my debut novel, Emily’s Hope, was so bad that when I gave part of it to my kind (and honest) husband to read, his response was, “You’re not going to let anyone read this, are you?”

Admittedly, I was crushed. I hired an editor and over the next two years, she helped me to take a badly written first draft and transform it into a much better novel. She helped me not only to improve my writing style, but to also create a convincing narrative voice.

Here are a few key points to remember when working with an editor:

Be Humble: If you think your book is going to be a Nobel prize-winning book or that it’s the best book ever written, well, it probably isn’t, not yet anyway. It may have the potential of being a great book but, generally speaking, most books need a lot of polishing and editing to get it to the stage of being “great.”

Like many authors, I spend more time polishing and editing than I do actually writing the first draft.

Consider and Reflect on Each Criticism/Suggestion: It may take hours or days of reflection to realize that most of the editor’s ideas will actually make the book better.

Authors tend to be blind to the defects in our own works. Some of us can be rigid with regard to what we want the story or characters to be. For example, in my second novel In Name Only,, the first draft was entirely from the main female character’s point of view (POV).

The editor said that she understood why I chose that particular POV, but either I needed to include the major male characters’ POVs or find another way for the reader to understand and bond with the male characters better.

I initially rejected the idea of including the male characters’ POVs. Then as time passed and, as I reflected, I admitted that she might be right. As it turned out, writing from a male POV was also great fun. This novel went on to win a Gold medal in the IPPY awards and is currently is an Amazon Kindle top five bestseller in Religious & Liturgical Drama.

Resist the Urge to be Defensive: This is where I have the most trouble. Then again, that’s probably my personality. Even now, when I read my editor’s suggested changes, I have to resist the urge to be defensive.

You Don’t Have to Agree with Everything: Sometimes, the editor will suggest changes the author is reluctant to make. If, after reflection, you still feel strongly about keeping things the same, talk it over with the editor. I find I usually agree with about 85 percent of the suggested edits and I disregard the rest.

Keep in mind that your editor is not being paid to be nice or to make you feel good; he or she is being paid to make your book a quality book.

Trust Your Editor: If you don’t trust your editor, you should probably find another editor.

Working with an editor can be a challenging experience. However, if you exercise humility, consider and reflect on each edit, be open to change, resist the urge to be defensive and trust your editor, you will hopefully produce a great quality book.