Back Cover Blurb: Need Your Input

It's that time again, already!  Mind Over Psyche, the second in the Mind Over trilogy, comes out in September, and I need to get a back-cover blurb to my publisher this week.  I've narrowed it down to these.  Please vote and/or give comments.  I will have time to tweak, but we need something to send to advance reviewers.

1. Desperate to escape the insane asylum, psychic  Deryl Stephens teleports to Kanaan, a world of telepaths who regard him as an oracle.  But freedom comes at a price.  The Kanaan expect their oracle to teach them to use their powers to wage war.  Meanwhile, he’s falling in love, but to be with her means to share his psyche, which could drive her insane.  Most dangerous of all, he hasn’t escaped the Call of the Master, enemy of the Kanaan.  The Master will forge Deryl’s powers into a weapon to kill all he loves or strip destroy his mind trying.

 2. Deryl Stephens has finally conquered his psychic abilities and escaped the asylum to Kanaan, the planet whose inhabitants have believed him to be an oracle.  Confronted with Deryl the man, however, the people wonder if he will bring their world peace or destruction.  The answers lie in the recorded memories of a 5000-year-old predecessor of the Miscria, memories that are driving the current Miscria insane.  Now Deryl must risk his newfound sanity to save the Miscria's and unlock the secret of his role on Kanaan--before the Kanaan decide he's too dangerous to live.

3. Deryl Stephens has finally mastered his psychic abilities and escaped the asylum.  He even found his way to Kanaan, the world where he’s considered an oracle.  He’s met Tasmae, the last of a line of people called Miscria who contacted him in his insanity—and the woman he’s drawn to.  But paradise has problems:  He’s accidentally dragged his friend, Joshua, on his interstellar escape and doesn’t know how to get him back.  The Kanaan are suspicious of an oracle brought to life.  And the memories of the first Miscria are driving his love Tasmae insane.  Deryl must sacrifice his own newfound sanity to save Tasmae’s and unlock the secret of his role on Kanaan.  And soon, before the Kanaan decide he and Joshua are too dangerous to let live.

 4.  (A different approach):  Deryl has no home until he escapes the asylum and  teleports to Kanaan, a world of psychics like himself.  There, he meets Tasmae, who believes he is the Oracle of God come to life—and her destined mate.  But acceptance comes with a price.  Tasmae would have him teach her the ways of war, and he’d rather die than kill.  He is plagued by voices from his past, and soon Tasmae is, too.  Even worse, he comes under psychic  attack by the Master, enemy of the Kanaan. Deryl must discover his true purpose on Kanaan and defeat the Master before he destroys those he loves—and the only home he’ll ever know.

Ten Random Facts about I Left My Brains in San Francisco

1.  There have been attempts by various groups to rename the Tenderloin district because the name means a chunk of meat.

2.  The building where Neeta and Ted stay is not a YMCA like in the book, but is a retail store.  I looked at it with Google Maps for an hour to get a good feel for the building.

3.  Before I could write I Left My Brains in San Francisco, I had to come up with the characters and episodes of Zombie Death Extreme—Bayou.  Some of that is on the website at http://zombiedeathextreme.com.  I think I may novelize it later.

4.  When Roscoe said Marcel was a cad, I had no idea how true that was.  I was VERY surprised at his behavior later.  I’m telling you—there are dark corners in an author’s mind.

5.  I originally intended to have a casino attack in this book, but it wouldn’t work.  I intend to write about zombies in Reno someday.

6.  The zombie attack when Neeta and Ted start dating is in “Wokking Dead” in The Zombie Cookbook.  It’s actually the first Neeta Lyffe story.

7.  For those who read Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator:  Remember the Cameron that Roscoe waxed poetic about in the episode where they faced animatronic zombies that looked loved ones?  That’s the Cameron Luke wanted to go see in Reno.

8.  Ted’s unusual family is a nod to Caprica, which was a short-lived Battlestar spin off.  One of the main characters was in a group marriage.  However, I have known people in California who are in “multiple” living together relationships; they just keep it on the down-low—hence, the “cousins.”

9.  I asked a biochemist and a geneticist to write Dunbar’s lines and told them to be as academic as possible. I love the results.  I also had chemical engineers help me with the refinery.  I love having brilliant friends with crazy imaginations!

10. Someone reminded me that in Mad Max, Thunderdrome used pig feces to produce methane to supply the town with energy and fuel.  I was not thinking of that at all, and in fact, had postulated that they were using something other than methane, which is too volatile for cars.

Find I Left My Brains in San Francisco at:

Damnation Books: http://www.damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615727643

 

Amazon: http://amzn.to/Nzm01L (paper) http://amzn.to/OBBmkL (Kindle)

More about it at http://zombiedeathextreme.com

 

My Novel's Journey: Cart Before the Horse

I thought in May, when I took my six-week break for graduation and vacation, that I'd be reveling in normalcy by now, but "normal" (by which I mean a slower but still regular pace similar to what I'd enjoyed earlier this year) continues to elude me.

Case in point:  "Shambling in a Winter Wonderland."  You'd think this would be a simple matter of writing an episode a day, then editing, then putting together the website.  Somehow, though, things got mixed up.

First, I decided to play with Photoshop Elements to see if I want it for Christmas (or if I want the more expensive and powerful CS6.)  I'm not good at purposeless dorking around, so I made a cover for "Coyote Fires" which I am pretty pleased about.  Then a friend suggested this article about covers, so I tweaked it.

Thus emboldened, I decided to try my hand at a cover for "Shambling in a Winter Wonderland."  (Remember, I tend to get into obsessions, so writing has fallen aside while I play on Photoshop.)  I could not find any free photos of zombies, so I messed with silhouettes and tried to color them like skiers.  As you can see, the results were less than impressive, although I thought the font was fun.

Well, I posted it, and immediately, Frr Mallory said, "Yuck!" and offered to make me a cover for free.  Look how awesome--the difference between know-how and access to good graphics.

So all of this talk about the story has meant that I needed a website to refer folks to, even if it's just a stand-in until I post the first episode.  Rob and I came up with skizombies, which isn't the title but is catchier.  Today, I made the subdomain, http://skizombies.karinafabian.com, and designed the website, the home page of which is posted.

So, cover art, website, promotion...and no story?  Well, three episodes are written of an expected 19, and the others are planned out in very general terms.  What I need to do this week is apply BICHOK* and write them.

In other writing news, I finally found out that Discovery was rejected by Ignatius.  Somehow, the rejection letter had gotten lost in the mail.  The timing is good, though, since Harper Voyager is taking unagented submissions in October, so I'll start with them.  It's also with an agent, but I've not heard back from her yet, either.  I talked with the slush reader at BAEN about The Old Man and the Void, and it's made it to #2 in his to-read pile, which he says might not mean much as the publisher keeps handing him stuff to read first.  

So more waiting, but the best thing to do while waiting is write.

*BICHOK: Butt in Chair, Hands on Keyboard.

My Novel's Journey: Sins of the Brother & Charity of Others

This past week, I finished "Sins of the Brother," which I submitted to Weird Noir.  It felt good to finish the novella.  It will feel even better if I get accepted.  Here's an excerpt.  This is a noir story, not comedy, and is from before Vern met Sr. Grace.  Here, he's checking with a source about a kidnapped mage:

The lighting was low, but not dim, and scented candles filled the room with lavender. A simple but comfortable chair faced a large gilt mirror. I pushed the chair aside and sat on my haunches.

“Mirror, doomed to affirmation, I’m looking for some information.”

The glass smoked, then a face appeared—noble, compassionate, understanding radiating from its eyes…

Then it saw who was talking to it and dropped the façade. “Vern! By all that is clear! What a relief. Get me out of here.”

Oh, no. I was not carrying this conversation in rhyme. “Bad day at work?”

His jowls drooped and circles darkened around his eyes. “You have no idea what it’s like—having to find nice, truthful things to say all day long. These people are so...needy!”

I shrugged. “It’s this or back to the vaults in the Vatican.”

“It’s not fair!”

“You’re the one who took a confident queen and turned her into a megalomaniac—“

“Hey! I warned her beauty was fleeting, and she was the fairest in the land until her stepdaughter just…blossomed. I mean, seriously! Did you ever see Snow White? What a dish. But you know, at least the Queen believed me. The losers I get in here are always doubting me! Me! The Magic Mirror who sees all and speaks truth. But no! It’s always, ‘I still think my nose is too big,’ or ‘You haven’t seen me without make-up’—“

“Babbling mirror of affirmation, I came here for information!”

Shiny huffed, but he could not resist a command in rhyme. “Fine! At least it’s a change of pace. What do you need, O Great Dragon of the Church?”

 I hated when he called me that. “Mage Willard Whitehaven—what have you got?”

“One moment, please.” The face disappeared, replaced by an hour glass that kept flipping. Cute.

After several long moments that I spent dozing off the food, alcohol, and pain, he returned. “Willard Whitehaven, Mage of Natural Magics, Seventh Level, theorist more than practical. Wonderful beard—quite vain about it, too. Has some very nice mirrors in his office as well as at home. Quite popular at university—particularly with his fifth-level interns. Likes them smart, but not too much—“

“Annoying mirror, full of gossip; cut the crap.”

The mirror raised his brows.

“That’s it.”

“Well, what are you looking for?”

“He was doing research on the transference of magical energy across the Gap—large scale, generalized transfer, is my guess, not contained in relics or artifacts. How close was he to a breakthrough?”

The mirror laughed. “Depends on who he was talking to-- Sorry, no gossip, just facts.” He released his mirth with a sigh and spoke slowly as he pulled truth out of the complexities of university politics and (apparently) romantic pursuits. “He has some interesting ideas and much confidence, but they still know too little about the Gap. No one’s even sure that magical energy does spill from Faerie into this world. I mean, it stands to reason there is, or I would not continue to function and you would not be able to do whatever magic it is you do when not harassing honest mirrors like me. However, some say we carry that much magic within ourselves and our time is running out.”

I also raised $234 for the victims of the Colorado Fires through my serial story fundraiser, "Coyote Fires."  You can read the story at http://coyotefires.karinafabian.com, although I'm no longer taking submissions.  I'm actually a little disappointed in how much we reaised, but I have to remind myself that if I'd sold the story, I'd have never gotten that much for it, anyway, plus it's something for the victims.  I still need to see what we made via book sales.

Even though I didn't do as well as I'd hoped, I will be having another fundraiser around Christmas.  the story will be a Neeta Lyffe one, "Shambling in a Winter Wonderland."  I enjoy doing these and it does raise more in donations than if I sold the story outright and donated the profits.

My Writer's Journey: Taking time to ask WHY

Thanks to all the folks who commented on my blog and Facebook with encouragement, suggestions and kind words.  It seems many of us face this issue at one time or another, so I am going to blog now and again about my thoughts and experiences as I do some self-examination regarding my writing career.

First, some clarification and reassurance:  I am not going to stop writing.  I do love sharing my stories.  And I am not in a crisis of faith, or even a life crisis, nor am I depressed or overstressed.  I have a wonderful marriage, terrific kids who are smart, compassionate and well-behaved, and a comfortable home.  Rob earns a good income.  We're all healthy.  I have wonderful parents, a great sister, and a terrific mom-in-law and sis-in-law.  Plus, I obviously have caring and supportive friends. And true, Rob is deployed for the year, but he's in a safe job and we've done this before; plus technology means we have plenty of contact.  So my feelings about my writing career are probably 25 percent of my feelings about life--significant enough that I need to address them, but not significant that it's ruining my quality of life.  So, while I appreciate all the prayers, please don't worry about me.

That doesn't erase the fact that I do feel discontented, and I need to face those issues head-on.  I wrote Thursday's blog on Tuesday.  Afterward, I found an old journal I never filled, and started using it to record my thoughts.  I start with a page of freewriting, then ask myself a question, many of which I got from reading articles about midlife crisis and career change.  It's actually been an illuminating experience.  Many things, I already knew, but not as clearly; some things I was surprised to learn.  I'm also clarifying my areas of weakness.

In my readings, I came across this:  The young adult asks, "What should I do with my life?"  The midlife adult asks, "Why am I doing this with my life?"  That really speaks to me, because it's not that I don't love what I'm doing.  Writing is what I feel I should be doing with my life (or at least part of it).  But I haven't examined the "why."  Instead, I filled that with goals and expectations, easy answers, and maybe even what others think "success" means. 

"Why" is the Big Question, the end goal.  These past few days, I've been laying the groundwork--thinking about what I love and hate about writing, examining my strengths and weaknesses.  Once I have a better idea of where I stand, I can then determine where I really want to be--not where ego or outside opinion says I should be.

Have you ever stopped to examine "WHY" you do what you do?

Conference Woman II!

Remember my video about having to wear a hat to conferences so people recognize me?  I'm not alone!  Ann Wilkes talks about being Conference Woman--the woman with the hat.  this video was taken during WorldCon 2012.

Incidentally, I'm reading her book Awesome Lavratt right now, and snickering. Fun read so far, what my husband likes to call "popcorn" books. Fast and fun.

Want to learn worldbuilding?

People who read my blog know how bizarre my imagination gets, and how detailed and wild I can get in my worldbuilding. Even though I'm more of an intuitive, seat-of-the-pants kind of writer, I have broken down worldbuilding into several steps and I'm teaching them at savvyauthors.com September 5-October 3. I really stretched this class out so that folks had a lot of time to think, research, etc. However, you can go at your own pace, do don't let the length intimdate you. I have taught this in week-long conferences. However, you are going to get up to four weeks of my attention for only $25 ($25 for Savvy Author members.)

Get more information here: http://www.savvyauthors.com/vb/showevent.php?eventid=1001

Summer and best laid plans for writing goals.

Remember what I said about 3000 words a day?

Forget it. Summer has intervened. Plus, waiting on information--CHUCK, CALL ME!!--and teaching classes and a book that got moved up a month in launch date (Mind Over Mind comes out in August!)...

I'm not giving up on my goal, mind you, just being more forgiving of myself if I don't meet it. However, having had the goal has helped me in a couple of ways:

1. I know I can meet it. I have done it. I can do it again.
2. Just trying to meet the goal has increased my productivity. I think I average about 1500 words a day.
3. I know a little more about what I need to meet such a goal in terms of preparation and environment. I can better apply that when the school year starts again and I have more quiet time.
4. I am able to handle more than one project at a time when so inclined. I'd been kind of monofocused of late, but this month, I was not able to do that and achieve anywhere near my goal for reasons beyond control of the story.

So, I've not met my writing goals, but I did learn a few interesting things about my writing and myself.

And now, I'm going to get to my writing. I might not make 3000, but I can certainly try!

Author-Activated Attention Deficit Disorder

I have Author-Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. It works like this:

I get ready to write a new scene of Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator. As I open Word, I see the previous files, and it reminds me that I still need to write a guest post for my April book tour.

I open a new document to start the guest post, but I remember that I wanted to do a coordinated campaign in conjunction with the tour, so I get some paper and a pencil and start mapping ideas. Mapping ideas reminds me that I wanted to do an e-mail campaign with a program I downloaded.

I open the program and realize I never put in my contact list. Since it's free, I have to do it by hand, so I open up Outlook to get the addresses. When Outlook is open, I see a message from a CWG member announcing the Sunday Night Chat guest. It's just a huge bio, and I think we really need a standard announcement format.

I call the person, and we discuss a format. I write her a template and a list of folks to send it to. I send her the template.

I see another e-mail from a friend asking me to post her book's press release on my website. I have a great list for sending press releases, which is perfect for her book, so I send it to her. This reminds me that I was working on my own contact list.

While writing the contact list, a friend IMs and asks why I am not using an online service. I realize then that my e-mail will only send to 200 people at a time and my list is much bigger. I call my internet server and they cannot change that, but they have an e-marketing service I can try for a month. On impulse, I sign up for it.

I read the service agreement and discover that to use their service, I must only have people who have opted in--but my first e-mail is to ask folks to opt-in. I call the provider again and they say that's fine, as long as there's not a lot of bounced-back. Now I'm worried about some of the older addresses in Outlook.

I go back to the original program, and debate using it to clear the list of bounce-backs then put the list in my paid service. I decide that's more trouble than it's worth and recopy my message to the paid service. My friend IMs with a link to a free service that does more than the one I just paid for.

I go to the free service and see so many features--but nothing that tells me that it will do what I want it to do. I decide to sign up for their webinar for tomorrow.

So, I have been "working" off and on for six hours. My e-mail list is incomplete and needs to be scrubbed. I do not have a message ready to send. I have not even decided on a service. My market plan/schedule is half done, my guest post is blank. I'm frustrated and stressed and feel technologically inept. Plus, I have not started on my scene.

I realize I have Author-Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

So I write this blog.

Writing and the Clean House

Last week, I talked about my writing schedule in very general terms. This week, I'm going to give you some principles and tips for balancing writing and life--or more specifically, the house.

These are just the things that worked for me. Results vary and everyone's situation is different.

CUT THE CLUTTER: Nothing makes a house harder to handle than an overabundance of stuff. Storing it, cleaning it, moving it, wading through it to find the important thing among the stuff. Dealing with the memories and emotions contained in the stuff. I've talked about cutting clutter before. Here are three ideas:

--Take it in steps--one closet a day, or 15 minutes a day, or 15 items a day
--Evaluate: does it have positive sentimental value? Do you use it? Do you fit it? If not, toss it.
--Get rid of duplicates and things that bring back hurtful or sad memories.

FLY LADY: flylady.net teaches you how to keep your house clean on a regular basis. Now if you let her, she can take over your life, but here are the three things that I find keep my house reasonable on a daily basis:

--Swish and Swipe: once a day wipe the bathroom sink and toilet. Use the toilet brush and wipe the inside. It takes 60 seconds; I usually do it while I gargle.
--Daily laundry: one load a day and only one load a day. There are 6 in our house, and we all have a laundry day, plus a day for towels and linens
--Kelly's Missions. Kelly, one of the FLY Lady team members, breaks down deep cleaning chores into 15 minute chores a day. I follow her, and the house stays nice without much effort.

HOUSE MINIONS: This is easier for some than others, of course. Each child in my house gets 2 chores a day. The morning chore is like the swish and swipe: a quick wipe down of the sink and toilet or cleaning the catbox or picking up the Wii and videos in the living room. The afternoon chore takes about 15 minutes: vacuum a room, windex the bathroom mirrors, dust the basement bookshelves. All simple and small, but when 4 kids are doing them, the house stays very nice.

HIRE OUT: Not everyone can do this, I know, but sometimes, it's worth the money. For example, I hate yard work, but I've done it all our marriage. This year, I discovered a landscaper who will mow, trim and take care of the weeds for $25 a week plus chemicals as needed. It's worth every penny to me.

REASONABLE STANDARDS: It's nice to have a clean house, and things do run more easily when the house is clean, but that doesn’t mean a clean house is the ultimate goal. It also changes according to your life. My house was a lot messier when I had younger kids. I let it get crazy when I'm on a big writing assignment, and then take a day to "reset it."

Writing Schedules!

I got asked today about my writing schedule, which is ironic since it caused me to notice that I did NOT follow my blog-writing schedule. Sorry, folks. I'll pick it up tomorrow, promise.

In the meantime, let me tell you how schedules work for me. Each January, I think about the past year--what worked, what didn't, what I want to do different--and I make a schedule accordingly. Working around the school schedule. I always devote a couple of hours to just writing, then divide the rest according to tasks, usually assigning dedicated time each week, whether I have definite plans for the week or not.

Then, when the new school year starts, I revise the whole thing to suit the new schedule.

So, for September-December 2010, my schedule looks something like this:

5:30-8:30: Get older kids ready for school.

Do household chores and one load of laundry. Make chores list for the kids.
Pray Divine Mercy Chaplet and read daily Gospel
Wake younger kids, get them to school

8:30-10: Write my current novel
10:15: exercise (haidung gumdo or go on rosary walk with the dog)
--12:30 e-mail and other chores

Mon=website work/marketing
Tues=CWG/CWCO
Wed= 30-minute marketer/marketing
Thurs=Dragoneye Newsletter/marketing

--1:00 lunch
--3:00 write

Friday is simply errand day and blog day. If I write, good. If not, I'm taking care of my family. Last Friday was birthday party prep day and we were coming off a very bad week, family-wise, so blogs got forgotten.

That's the ideal, of course. Right now, for example, I am editing Mind Over Mind, and a lot of stuff is getting tossed by the wayside in order for me to get it done. Other days, I might be dealing with a child issue, or Guild work or whatever.

Next week: Principles and tips for managing writing and home

Lessons Learned at an idea workshop

Just for fun this year at the Catholic Writers' Conference Live, I ran a panel on ideas. Rather than a lecture, I took some questions and we all shared our personal tips on handling ideas, then we did exercises. I'd gone around the exhibitors' floor and picked books at random, writing down the protagonist, the setting and the crisis/object:

13th century cathedral
a thief
a relic

OR

a planet where trees are sentient
a deaf woman
an alien wants to marry her

Then I gave them 15 minutes (later cutting it to 10) for them to write a story synopsis, novel outline or article proposal. The response was phenomenal. Not only did these people come up with different twists on the same three elements, but several of them produced writing that they could do some minimal tweaking to and submit. One person realized she can come up with a complete story progression. Another discovered she had a talent for flash fiction. (Her stuff was amazing!)

I can't claim any credit for teaching them because I did not teach. We shared our ideas about generating ideas, prioritizing when we have too many, and fleshing out ideas. Nonetheless, these simple exercises taught them some valuable lessons:

* Ideas are out there
* You can flesh them out if you concentrate
* It doesn't have to take a lot of time and contemplation
* Sometimes a forced creative flow can produce awesome stuff--you don't always need to "wait for the muse"

I hope the lessons they learned will help you as well.

BTW, thanks to them I have another idea for a DragonEye, PI novel: a thief steals a relic from a 13th century saint and smuggles it across the Gap to Faerie. However, the relic, being from the Faerie St. Dismas, wants to return home. It starts a epidemic in Los Lagos--but only among thieves. I'm thinking of calling it "Dismas-ly Ill"

Advertise the Catholic Writers Conference and Win a Book

The Catholic Writers Conference Live is being held Aug 4-6 in King of Prussia, PA. It's an awesome writers conference, but we're not getting a lot of registrants. We're trying to make one final publicity push and you can help--and win one of my books.

I'm asking folks to post about the conference. Here're the rules:

* You can post anything below on your blog, website, facebook, twitter, Yahoo groups, Linked In, Ning groups, etc.
At minimum, you need to post the conference name, date, location and website to register
* E-mail me with the link to where you posted. karina(at)fabianspace.com
* For each post, I will enter you in a drawing. Aug 1, I will pick a winner. That winner will get their choice of any of my books. Check out my books at Fabianspace.com

You'll be doing a service not only for me and the CWG, but for any writer who happens to be Catholic and is looking for a place that not only will help them hone thier skills but will support their beliefs. If you might have someone like that in your readership, please help us out.

Minimum Post (140 characters): Catholic Writers! The Catholic Writers Conference Live is Aug 4-6 at King of Prussia, PA. Info/Register http://catholicwritersconference.com/

Video link: http://animoto.com/play/QsIiivcmRlI7XsXnDDTDvQ

Conference graphic link: http://www.catholicwritersconference.com/ref/web-ad.png



Most Current Press Release

M E D I A R E L E A S E

CONTACT: Ann Margaret Lewis
e-mail: annlewis(at)joesystems.com
Karina Fabian
E-mail: karina(at)fabianspace.com

For Immediate Release

Catholic Writers to Hold Conference in Valley Forge, PA

World Wide Web--The second annual Catholic Writers’ Conference LIVE will be held August 4-6, 2010, at the Scanticon Hotel Valley Forge in King of Prussia, PA. Sponsored by the Catholic Writer’s Guild and the Catholic Marketing Network (CMN), and held in conjunction with CMN’s annual retailer trade show, the Catholic Writers Conference LIVE provides Catholic authors with a prime opportunity to meet and share their faith with editors, publishers, fellow writers, and bookstore owners from across the globe.

This year's conference will feature presentations on such topics as market tips and time management for busy writers, poetry, creating evil characters, working with an editor, creating winning proposals, journaling and much more. Speakers include Catholic publishing representatives Claudia Volkman - General Manager of Circle Press, Regina Doman - acquisitions editor for Sophia Institute Press, and Tom Wehner - Managing Editor of the National Catholic Register, all of whom will also hear pitches from writers.

Among the other speakers are Mark Shea (Mother of the Son), Michelle Buckman (My Beautiful Disaster), Donna-Marie Cooper-O’Boyle (Mother Teresa and Me), Susie Lloyd (Please Don’t Drink the Holy Water), and Publicist Lisa Wheeler from the Maximus Group.

“Attending this conference has been the best thing I have done for myself professionally,” Carol Bannon, author of the children’s book Handshake from Heaven, said of the 2009 conference. Her fellow writer Melanie Cameron agreed, saying she left the last conference re-energized. “I recommend [this] conference as a resource for any author (or wannabe) at any stage. You will walk away empowered!”

The Catholic Writers Guild, a religious non-profit organization, sponsors both this live conference in August and an online conference in February to further its mission of promoting Catholic literature. “Our conferences are totally focused on encouraging faithful Catholics to share genuine Catholic culture and faith in their writing no matter what genre,” says CWG President Ann Margaret Lewis. “These events are integral to our mission of ‘creating a rebirth of Catholic arts and letters.”

Registration costs $85 for CWG members, $95 for non-members and $42 for students. There's also a discounted combined membership. To register or for more information, go to http://www.catholicwritersconference.com.

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Graphics, interviews and further information available upon request.


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