2012 Catholic Writers' Guild Conference in Arlington, Texas

Last Saturday during the meeting of the Catholic Writers of St. Louis, our leader Denise Montgomery gave a brief overview of the Catholic Writers' Guild Conference, which will be held in Arlington, Texas August 29-31.

The focus of this year's conference will be on "writing and the new evangalization."

Some conference features include:
Workshops on marketing and writing
Pitch sessions
Group critiques
Publishers panels

Publishers include: Ignatius Press, Ave Maria Press, St. Anthony Messenger, Pauline Books and Media, and others.

Presenters will be: Patti Armstrong, Faher Andrew Apostoli, Ann Lewis, Claudia Volkman, and several more. Click here for more information on presenters.

Sadly, my schedule doesn't permit me to attend this year, but I hope to make it next year.

To find out more about the conference, contact Ann Lewis, President of the Catholic Writers' Guild at cwglivecon@catholicwritersguild.com

Monday's Market - St. Anthony's Messenger

(Cover from St. Anthony's Messenger magazine webiste)

Today's forecast for St. Peters: Partly cloudy, high 41 degrees, light snow this evening.

One way to overcome the winter blahs is by writing--a story, an essay, a poem--or even a book.

St. Anthony's Messenger is a market recommended to me by one of my writing friends who has had two short fiction pieces published by them. She was pleased with the way she was treated by the editors and with the compensation she received. Even more gratifying, both of her stories were nominated for awards (one received an award from the Catholic Press Association for best fiction story of the year).

Here's a message for writers from their website: "St. Anthony Messenger is a monthly, general-interest, family-oriented Catholic magazine. It is written and edited largely for people living in families or the family-like situations of Church and community. We want to help our 300,000+ subscribers better understand the teachings of the gospel and Catholic Church, and how these apply to the life and the full range of problems confronting us as members of families, the Church and society."

For fiction, they are: "interested in stories about family relationships, people struggling and coping with the same problems of life our readers face. Stories should show people triumphing in adversity, persevering in faith, overcoming doubt or coming to spiritual insights, without being preachy. Stories don’t always need a 'happily-ever-after' ending, but they need to offer hope with real and believable characters and resolutions. Sudden realizations, instant conversions and miracle solutions won’t do. " Visit their Information for Fiction Authors guidelines on their website for more details.

If you don't write fiction, don't despair. According to their website, they also accept articles, poetry and books.