Volunteer Drive: Seal of Approval

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CWG MEMBERS ONLY: This is the first of a series of activities the Guild does, and that it needs volunteers to help with. The CWG wants to be a force for promoting quality Catholic works–and quality works by Catholics. Won’t you give of your time and talent for this worthy endeavor? If the program below doesn’t appeal to you, but you want to help, check out the other programs here.

Seal of Approval:

This is a BIG project for the Guild. Not only are we providing a perk for marketing, but we are developing relationships between the Guild and bookstores. However, as this has increased in numbers applying, Sarah Reinhard, the hardworking coordinator, is getting overwhelmed as are the small core of readers. Here’s what Sarah needs:

A SECOND COORDINATOR TO SHARE THE LOAD: You two would decide how to split the load of applicants. Here’s the process Sarah follows:

1. Receive the application via email. (Though some applications come via hard-copy in the mail.)
2. Gather information into email, send to distribution list of possible reviewers.
3. Enter information into spreadsheet (which I can share with you if you’d like, it’s a Google Doc) as reviewers reply.
4. Send appropriate electronic copies OR contact submitter with addresses of those who get hard copies.
5. Track down reviewers to find out if they have finished reading the book (this is what leaves things lingering; some people take the full 60 days, or find out halfway through that they can’t do it. Also, there are the times that people raise questions/concerns about aspects of the book and I then contact Father Pat Toner, who’s my “is it okay theologically etc” expert.
6. Once I have the responses from reviewers, send letter to submitter confirming or denying.
7. Copy Margot Davidson on that email if it’s an award letter, because she takes care of sending them the actual seals.
8. Once a month, I send an email of all the SOA titles awarded to Maria and a few other folks (Ann, Ellen, Jennifer Gladen, Margot, you, Ann).
9. Rinse and repeat.
Sarah wants four volunteers who are well-versed in Catholic teachings to be a core go-to group for when a reader has concerns about a book. These people would read the book and make a final decision.

WE ALSO NEED READERS! This is your chance to get free books! You just need to read them for their Catholicity and minimum quality standards. (We are not a critique group, but if a book is so badly edited that it would embarrass the Guild to approve it, we will reject on those grounds.) Sarah sends out a call for readers. You pick what you’d like, send back a request (and whether you want it electronic or print.) You do not have to read all the books! Once you read it, you fill out the judging sheet, send it in–and that’s it! The book is yours to do with as you will. (except resell on eBay.)

To help with the Seal of Approval, contact Sarah Reinhard at sarah(at)snoringscholar.com

What’s Up, CWG?

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Happy Friday! I am so looking forward to the weekend, but there’s always so much to do–and it starts with telling all of you about the exciting stuff going on with CWG!

We had our officer’s meeting last night–what a crazy thing that was! You’d think getting 5 people together would be easy, but not with our schedules! Here’s what kept some of us going until nearly midnight:

We are hosting a Catholic Writers’ Retreat October 5-9 in DeWitt, Michigan. We’re still working the price with the St. Francis Retreat Center, but we have a draft program set up. Pat Gohn, Claudia Volkman, Father Charlie Irvin, Fr. Joe Krupp, and Father David Bosenberg will have workshops on faith in writing, and how faith inspires writing. There will be ample time to write and regular critique sessions. This is an intense workshop with limited attendance. We’ll be sending out a notice when we get things finalized, but in the meantime, mark the dates!

We are working on a Members-Only page for the website where we will post such things as useful mailing lists, copies of the newsletter Funds for Writers, and other goodies just for Guildies!

Incidentally, as many of you have noted, our website is difficult to navigate. We want to hire a professional company to revamp it, but that takes money. We’ve decided to start by asking for donations. We’ll let you know when we get that set up. We’ll also be doing some raffles and other fundraisers. We figure we need at least $2000 to get a really rocking site that will be easy for members to navigate–and take some of the pressure off those working the back-end.

We’re planning an essay contest! Guildie Maria Rivera has wanted to do this for a long time. The topic is “How to promote a Pro-Life culture” and it will have a $10 entry fee, but pay prizes to the top three winners–plus up to seven will be in an e-book the Guild will publish. We’re just working details now, and plan to start the contest around August, so get your ideas brewing. If you would like to help judge, please comment on this blog.

We want to recognize Jennifer Fitz and Sarah Reinhard for starting this amazing blog! KUDOS!

The Catholic Arts and Letters Award for 2011 is in the judging stage. Thanks to the amazing folks who made this happen!

The Seal of Approval program has been going well, but we’ve also learned a lot in the process. We made a couple of changes to the judging criteria, and have decided to make a couple of standards a little more stringent as well. Stay tuned and be sure to check out the website for current guidelines when submitting.

Finally, the topic dearest to my heart. We do a lot in this guild, and want to do more, but we need more helpers. Right now, about 15 people are handling a dozen projects of national scope–and usually are involved in several. We need some leaders, but we also need some worker-bees: folks who will read a book, do a mail-out, contact an individual, write a short article or press release… If we get more folks doing just one task a week–a month!–we would relieve some pressure. I’ll do a separate blog on this next week, but if you want to help, just comment below!

Our meetings always begin and end with a prayer. Please know that we pray for all of you–for your writing successes and that you may always stay close to God the Inspirer.

Blessings,
Karina