What’s New, CWG?

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Hi all!  A little late with this because my life has been busy!  The great news is, the Guild has been busy, too!  We’ve been going strong with several of our projects, and a couple that have been on hold took off this month.  Here’s the scoop:

Catholic Writers Conference-LIVE: Arlington, TX, Aug 29-31 (https://catholicwritersconference.com/index.php):  Are you going?  It will be an awesome time, as usual.  In addition to the workshops on writing, the opportunity to promote your work to publishers and bookstores on the events floor, and the in-person pitch sessions, we have secured a special deal with SPQN!  They are having their conference next door to ours, and for an extra $25, you can attend their Friday workshops on blogging.

Ann Lewis still needs some volunteers to help her out.  Contact her at president(at)catholicwritersguild.com.

The Catholic Arts and Letters Award:  We hope eventually this award, also known as the CALA or the Lilly, will become the premier award for Catholic writing.  After a small start, we had to put it on hiatus for a year because of lack of volunteers to help out.  (Folks—we need you!)  However, Michelle Buckman has courageously taken it on, and is gearing up to do an award in 2013 for books published in 2011 and 2012.

In addition to fiction, the 2013 award will have nonfiction categories.  We’re tentatively thinking theology, devotionals, biographies and self-help/misc.  We may also be able to offer a cash prize to the winner—someone has offered a grant, and we are talking with that person about details.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR THOSE WHO MIGHT ENTER:  You must have an Imprimatur or the CWG Seal of Approval to qualify.  That means if your book is published in late 2012, you must get the manuscript approved (if you are a member) or the book submitted no later than Jan 2013 to the CWG committee.  There will be no exceptions!

Right now, we have a committee of three and could use some more folks to help.  Of special need are a couple of people to receive and distribute the books to the judges (CWG will pay for postage), and folks to help promote in conjunction with the publicity committee.  Please e-mail MichellePBuckman(at)gmail.com if you can help.

Catholic Writers’ Retreat:  April 19-23, Indianapolis, IN:  Things are looking good as far as getting a grant to help us keep the costs down on this.  We’re putting a down payment on the Our Lady of Fatima Retreat House in order to hold the dates.  Mark your calendar!

Steady as she goes…

Catholic Writers Conference Online: March 4-13, (https://catholicwritersconference.com/index.php).  We’re already lining up presenters and publishers.  If you know someone who could do a workshop (or want to do one, yourself), contact Laura Lowder at laura.lowder(at)gmail.com

Blog:  If you’re here, you know it’s awesome.  However, it’s getting BIG!  Jennifer would like someone to help her with the tech side of wordpress to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand.

Note for Paying Members Only:  We are taking poetry submissions for the blog.  No pay, just credit, and do remember that publishing on a blog does count as publication to some magazines.  If interested, send your submission and a short bio to:  poems(at)catholicwritersguild.com.  If you can devote an couple of hours a month to tweaking and some simple tasks, e-mail her at blog(at)catholicwritersguild.com

Seal of Approval:  We’re in our second quarterly cycle, and things are running smoothly.  Please note that we have a new PO Box for sending hardcopy books to.

CWG Book news:  We send out a monthly newsletter to bookstores and interested readers.  We’d like to expand this list.  If you know any stores, libraries, schools, etc. that might be interested in learning about new Catholic books, please send a note to Ellen Hrkach at vicepresident(at)catholicwritersguild.com

CWG newsletter:  Maria is always looking for new writers!  She especially wants some help with book reviews, the saints column, and news.  Please contact her at mariarr(at)comcast.net

 

Volunteer call-wiki writers/editors, live conference and publicity

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CWG members!  (and those interested in joining)  We need you!  We have some exciting projects coming up, and would use a few hands in making them happen and making them awesome!

Catholic Author’s Wiki:  this has been a project long in the making, but we are finally at the point where we need help—writers and editors.

This is a wiki of Catholic authors, famous and new, that we want to start to promote Catholic literature and to show Catholic authors are out there in all genres.  Dave Law has been setting it up, and here’s his call for help:

I have a ‘to do’ list of broad general areas that need improvements (https://www.catholicwritersguild.com/wiki/index.php/To_do ) but I am sure once others get into it more may be added to this list. What I am looking for as far as volunteers go is either people who understand the wikimedia text formatting or are willing to learn. The basic formatting is quite easy and straight-forward to learn. The volunteer should have a passion for writers and their lives. As far as time commitment goes, given that this is quite a large project and bit helps so long as it is on a continual basis, so the volunteer should be willing to help out on the site at least few hours a month.  Anyone interested in helping out should send me at: authorswiki(at)catholicwritersguild.com a note indicating the interest as well as if he or she is a current member of the CWG.

Catholic Writers Conference Live:  If you are going to the live conference in Arlington, TX (Near Dallas) Aug 29-31, we need folks to help work the conference and the booth.  Here’s the list from Ann Lewis, annlewis(at)joesystems.com:

Presenter’s Aids: introduces speaker, makes sure presenter has everything they need. They also help with pitch sessions

Go-fer: someone who is around to help go for things

Registration:  runs registration table—hands out badges, takes new registrations, handles money (checks or credit card info) Also serves as information desk.

She could also use someone who lives in Arlington who would be willing to get some things for us like bagels in the morning (We loved bagels in the morning!) or last-minute items.

CWG Booth: promotes CWG, makes sure none of the books walk away

She’s also looking for a couple of people to help her before the conference, so if you can’t go but would like to participate, this could be your chance.  She mostly needs someone to liaise with the presenters—recruit them, answer questions for them, etc.  It’d be nice to get someone who has been to the conference before, but Ann will train you.

Also, she did not ask, but I know she spends a lot of time making name tags, creating the program, etc.  She didn’t let me know if she has folks helping her or not, but if you have skill in these, please contact her and offer her your help.

Publicity:  We are gearing up for the CWCL and could use a few more dedicated volunteers and a co-coordinator for the publicity committee.  Please contact Maureen Martin at dovemem(at)gmail.com

Committees: Introduction by Karina Fabian

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I’m Karina Fabian, and I’ll be posting on second Fridays (and perhaps other times) about what’s going on with the committees of the Catholic Writers Guild.

Committees are the hands and feet of the Guild—they do things and take us forward.  When you see someone announce that they’re book received the Seal of Approval or that a bookstore has just ordered copies because they saw it in a newsletter, when you attend one of the conferences, when you read this blog—you are seeing the result of the hard work of our Guild committees.  These people give of their time, talent and sometimes their treasure to take on projects to help others achieve their writing dreams.  The Committee Chairs in particular give a lot of themselves to keeping these programs going.  Without their dedication, we would have a Guild that is name only.

I’m honored to be the Committee Coordinator in 2012.  I’ve been with the Guild since it was just an idea on a Yahoo group.  I helped found it, create rules for it, and have led it as President, Vice President, and Secretary.  However, I feel like the most important practical aspect of our Guild is in the committee work.  There, we harness the power of our group and its reputation to help not just each other, but Catholic literature in all its forms.

However, this is often frustrating work—there’s so much to do, and so few who step up to help out—or those that offer their help aren’t consistent.  This is a long-running problem in the Guild, and this year, I want to dedicate my efforts to building our cadre of volunteers and finding ways to make the experience of working in the Guild more rewarding.

I’m certain this isn’t a matter of “finding the right people.”  We have a wonderful, giving membership!  However, we also have a busy membership, so we need to find ways to make it easier to volunteer, to match guild needs to member strengths, to encourage consistency, to improve communication and direction.  I’ve started talking to the committee chairs about what they need.  Members, soon, you’ll be seeing a request from us to fill out a survey with your talents interests and how much time you can volunteer, as well as specific volunteering opportunities.  In the meantime, if you have any ideas about how we can improve Guild operations, please make your comments below or e-mail me privately at https://karinafabian.com/index.php?name=ContactPro.

What’s Up, CWG? (September 2011)

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After a break for the summer (though we did meet), the officers are up and Skyping again, catching up on the past and prepping for the future. First thing we want you to know:

Officer Elections are in November! We discussed it and we will stay on as your officer cadre if you wish (though Karina would like to be committee coordinator and Dave would be secretary). However, that’s if no one else wants to run. Check out the forums for a list of duties and to nominate yourself or others.

We only have a couple more days to get registrants for the retreat. We have 12 so far. Register by September 26 (Monday). This is a terrific opportunity and a great price. All members and CWG website guests got an e-mail about this Wednesday; for anyone else interested, check out the press release on the homepage, https://catholicwritersguild.com

Ann Lewis, our intrepid Madame President, met with our advisors at the Archdiocese of Indianapolis about how they want to be involved. They’ll attend our annual board meeting and keep an eye on our doings via the minutes. Monsignor Schaedel also wants to help out with the Seal of Approval and blog once a month. What a treat! They’ll also send out notices of CWG events to the Catholic education heads in the diocese.

We have about $950 for the website–half our goal–and have sent out the spec documents, and will let you know more about the website rebuild as the bids come in.

We have hired a new treasurer. Diane Guay was a great help to us for the first six months of incorporation, but she’s moving on, and we are hiring Mark Rhodes of Indiana. He came recommended by the Archdiocese and has already given us some great advice on simplifying the accounting–a real relief for us non-financial types!

We’re gearing up for the online conference! Anne McNesby will be working to get our awesome presenters, and Laura Lowder our much-needed and appreciated volunteers. More on this later!

We may be changing the date and location of the live conference. The Catholic Marketing Network gives us the conference space, so we follow them, and they are looking at Dallas and later in August. Thanks to those who took the survey on the dates. (We have no input on place, though we recommended Indianapolis.) We’ll let you know.

Our publicity committee has been doing an awesome job. Thanks.

We have a new Sunday Chats Coordinator. Susi Pittman is taking over this month and will be working to line up some terrific folks to chat with us. We have a guest chat once a month; the rest are open chats. Theresa Henderson and Lisa Mladinich will stay on to help. Welcome, Susi!

Sarah Reinhard has a new right hand for the Seal of Approval. Welcome Carol Ann Chybrowski, and thanks for stepping up!

Michelle Buckman will take over the Catholic Arts and Letters Awards Committee. We still need more volunteers to help with this, but thanks to Sharon Pickrel, Carol Ann, and Bobbi Sheahan for volunteering!

We toyed with the idea of a facebook group, but decided to stay as a fan page.

We are moving slowly with the CWG essay contest. Maria Rivera now had two volunteers to help (Joan Kelly and Ann Costa), and needs to coordinate with them on everything from rules to judging. We had a pro-life group offer to help judge and had suggestions for a couple of others, so stay tuned for further details!

Karina has at long last gotten all the minutes loaded onto the member forums, so if you are a member and deathly curious about the minutia of an officer’s meeting, check them out.

That’s the highlights of the summer. Thanks to all who are pitching in to make the Guild a terrific organization. We can’t do it without you!

Blessings,
Karina Fabian
Secretary

What’s Up, CWG? (June 2011)

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Posted by CWG Secretary

Hi, Everybody!

How’s your summer going? It’s a busy one for the CWG, with preparations for the conference, the retreat, the Catholic Arts and Letters Awards and more! Read on for important updates and discussions of the June Officer Meeting:

1. Catholic Writers’ Retreat. You should have heard about this from now; if not, check out our blog post for details. We have the registration details set up and the retreat center has made us brochures for handing out at the Catholic Writers Conference Live in August. We’re looking into sending a press release via ChristianNewsWire, once we see if we get results from the press release we sent them for the CWCL. (It’s $65, and we want to be sure it’s an effective investment.) We purposely kept the price of the retreat low, but should there be any profits, they will be split between the three sponsors: the retreat center, Faith Publishing and the CWG.

2. Did you know the Guild has a Spiritual Director? Ann Lewis plans to meet with Monsignor Schaedel next month to brief him on the Guild and find out how active he wants to be in our activities. He was Ann’s pastor, but is moving parishes. We also have a representative for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Dr. Harry Plummer. The Archdiocese is our sponsor within the Church; for more on its role, check the bylaws.

3. We have $630 in donations toward our website. Thanks so much! The spec document should be going out in a couple of weeks to all those interested in bidding on building our new website. We’ll be putting this money in savings until we’re ready to go on with the project.

4. It was suggested in CWG Chat that we sell ad space to our website. We are making provisions for that in the upgrade, though we will probably sell the space for all three of our sites: the CWG Website, the CWG blog and the Conference Website. We will probably need some volunteers when this happens to make sure our ads are only for people or groups that conform to the Magesterium.

5. We are going to increase dues in January 2012 to $30 a year. As we’ve grown, so have our expenses; our analysis by accountant Diane Embry shows this should meet our needs.

6. Speaking of, Diane is stepping down as Guild accountant. We have a couple of bids for a new accountant and will be hiring someone in the next couple of weeks.

7. Every now and then, we have an author who disputes a decision by the Seal of Approval Committee or the Booth Committee on approving a book. (Primarily on whether we think it doesn’t conform to Catholic belief and traditions or if we do not feel comfortable recommending it to a Catholic Bookstore.) The thought of an appeals committee was discussed, but rejected for several reasons: We already have several readers making the decision, and when there is any doubt, we take it to a trusted readers’ group when the first run readers have doubts; we would be complicating a process that already overwhelms our coordinators at times; we tend to give books the benefit of a doubt, anyway; and our decisions do not carry the weight of an Imprimatur, but are a discretionary process to keep the CWG in conformity with the Magesterium. Therefore, decisions will be final, although we will consider rewrites.

8. We know that Guild members would like to have more intercommunication. Please remember that we have Facebook, and you are welcome to post there. We also have Larissa Hoffman who posts member news on the blog (see the sidebar). We have put into the website spec the provision to create a Yahoo-type e-mail chat group.

9. Dave will be writing up the committee news later, but a few highlights:

* The PR group has been doing an awesome job. Thanks so much!
* We only have ten folks signed up for the Live Conference in August. Please tell your friends. You can use the info on the press release here.
* We Need Conference Volunteers (you get free admission!) Contact laura.lowder(at)gmail.com
* We Need Some Volunteers for the CWG Chat Committee! Contact me (karina(at)fabianspace.com)
* We Need to Rebuild our Catholic Arts and Letters Committee! Contact me (karina(at)fabianspace.com)
* We Need Volunteers to Build the Catholic Writers Wiki! Right now, it’s simple clean up and uploading photos. Contact davealaw(at)shaw.ca.

Blessings,
Karina Fabian
CWG Secretary

Volunteer Drive: Volunteer Coordinator

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Karina Fabian is getting the ball rolling on getting more folks involved in the Guild, but we need someone who can run this program on a regular basis. The Volunteer coordinator would:

–Keep a running list of volunteer needs (The Committee Chair will supply the info)
–Contact new members about opportunities.
–Contact all members about opportunities through a quarterly article posted in the newsletter and blog (or more often if needed)

This is a fabulous way to get to know the members of the Guild, make some new friends and keep our Guild running strong.

If interested, please contact Karina Fabian karina(at)fabianspace.com

Volunteer Drive: CWG Wiki

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CWG MEMBERS ONLY: This is the next in 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.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a place where you could find just Catholic authors? Dave Law, the man with the mad computing skills, is setting up a wiki for the Guild. It will concentrate on Catholic writers, living and dead.

Wiki authors: Once this is set up, we need wiki authors to write and post the articles. This will require research, references, etc. We will include Guild members, but they must adhere to the same standards of research. (So if you write your own wiki, you will need to keep it biographical and not advertising, and include references.)
Wiki Editors: We will need some editors to fact-check the articles.

If interested, contact Dave Law at davealaw(at)shaw.ca

Volunteer Drive: Facebook

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CWG MEMBERS ONLY: This is the next in 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.

Did you know the Guild has a facebook page? (https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Catholic-Writers-Guild/122546024421) We have members as well as non-members that view it. It’s a great tool for getting the word out to interested Catholic writers. However, aside from blog notices and chat notices (and the times that I see something newsworthy about a member), it doesn’t get many posts. We’d like to improve that, so we need:

Posters! Two or three people who are on facebook to once in a while check out some Guild members’ profiles for news, and post it on the Guild page. (Awards, honors, births, weddings, etc.) (15 minutes every couple of days)
Someone(s) through the list of people who “like” the Guild page, and invite them to subscribe to the blog. (Takes about 15 minutes a session.)

If interested, contact Karina at karina(at)fabianspace.com

Volunteer Drive: Publicity

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CWG MEMBERS ONLY: This is the next in 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.

We are starting at ground zero on this one. Right now, our publicity efforts have been haphazard at best. However, the wonderful Clare Bills has agreed to start by being out press release person. She also wants to brainstorm with other committees about coordinating efforts. Right now, however, she needs

Contact lists: Do you have a Catholic contact list you’d be willing to share? Maybe for magazines, podcasters, reviewers, etc? If so, pass them on to clarebills(at)live.com.

A Social Media Marketer: Clare has a of expertise to share in the realm of traditional publicity. However, she is not yet up to speed on harnessing the social media phenomenon. Someone with that expertise would be a great help.

A Crew: People who will send out press releases, call radio stations, process publicity requests, etc. We’re only talking about promoting the Guild activities, but you can use the knowledge and resources you gain here to help your own publicity efforts.

Contact Karina Fabian karina(at)fabianspace.com if you can help.

Volunteer Drive: Inside the CWG Newsletter

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CWG MEMBERS ONLY: This is the next in 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.

Inside the CWG is our monthly newsletter. It’s grown into a great source of information about the Guild and has some great marketing tips, too. However, Maria Rivera, our intrepid editor-in-chief needs:

WRITERS: folks to do regular columns, book reports/critiques, once-in-a-while columns, etc. This is a once-a-month commitment for a short article (500 words or less)
EDITORS: Folks who can look the final over for typos, etc.
LAYOUT: Someone familiar with HTML to codify the document. (It’s simple stuff, mostly links and bold-italics and such)

For more information, contact Maria Rivera at mariarr(at)wi.rr.com

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