Catholic Writers Conference Online - Reminder

Just a reminder that the Catholic Writers Conference Online registration ends FRIDAY! This is a free conference, with speakers from all areas of Catholic publishing--from the writer to the publisher--covering all areas of writing--from idea generation to query to contract and beyond. Sign up at http://conference.catholicwritersguild.org.

Here's a list of presenters and their presentations.

Ami McConnell	Trends In Fiction
Audrey Shaffer	Branding and Your Marketing Platform
Barry Michaels	Feature Article--Ideas and Queries
Bert Ghezzi	Ins and Outs of Publishing
Brian St Paul--Crisis & InsiderCatholic	Meet the Editors of InsiderCatholic
Carolyn Howard-Johnson	10 Ways to Let Agents Know You are an Amateur
Carolyn Howard-Johnson	Marketing Basics (with Karina)
Colleen Drippe	Driving Writers Crazy-- The Editor
Heidi Hess Saxton	The Good Writer
Heidi Hess Saxton	Meet the Editor of Canticle Magazine
Hope Clark	Shy Writer
Hope Clark	Funds for Writers
Karina Fabian	Worldbuilding
Karina Fabian	Marketing Basics (with Carolyn)
Karina Fabian	Virtual Book Tours
Karina, Michelle Buckman, Terry Burns	Contract Basics
Lea Schizas	Writing the Short Story
Mark Shea	How Faith Connects to Everything
Maya Bohnhoff	Show Me, Don't Tell Me --Character and Dialog
Maya Bohnhoff	Plotting Through Writer's Block
Melenie Rigney	Ethics of Memoir Writing
Melenie Rigney	Book Modeling
Meredith Gould	Self-Publishing as a First Resort
Michelle Buckman	Writing For Teens
Michelle Buckman	The Right Details
Patrice MacArthur	Art of Blogging
Patricia Punt	Writing for the Inspirational Market
Patti Armstrong--Ascension Press	Hooking Your Reader
Pete Vere	Canon Law and the Catholic Writer
Sister Maria Grace-Pauline Books	Pitch Session--Pauline Books
Steve Saffel	Working With a Book Editor
Steve Saffel	Using E-Media to Promote
Sylvia Dohram	Character Development and Dialogue
Terry Burns--agent	Pitching and Working With Agents
Tim Drake	So You Want to Write a Book?
Tim Powers	SFF and Catholicism
Tom Grace	Crafting the Catholic Thriller
Vinita Wright	Making Friends With the Creative/Spiritual Process
Woodenee Koenig Bricker	Writing With Faith But Without Bias

Hope to see you there!

Singing in Swedish

This past weekend I was given a rare opportunity. I was asked by the local SVEA chapter of VASA (Swedish American organization) to sing for their 95th Anniversary Dinner. And here - I'm not Swedish. Well, not literally, anyway. I am 1/4 Northern Italian and the area was invaded by Nordic tribes thousands of years ago...but in any case, I knew nothing of singing Swedish except what I saw on the Muppet Show.


Now - Swedish Chef aside, I was asked to sing, and so I dug around and was also helped by the members of the organization who asked me to sing (Ed and Joella Hultgren) to find songs. I have no idea if I pronounced things well. I sang several of the songs in English. But in the end, upon returning to my table, I saw Joella had tears in her eyes.

But for me it was a wonderful learning experience and it made me really work again as a singer. I had to learn to sing in a new foreign tongue, I had to teach myself the music, and I had to stand up and do it in front of people I didn't know. What a great exercise and it was something that made me move from my complacency in the music department.

And the music...all of it was wonderful. Some was fun. Others were just plain gorgeous.

I look forward to giving it another try someday. In the meantime, I'll find some more songs to sing - maybe even some by ABBA. ;)

I could never eat these things...

But they certainly do look fun to play with!

Artsy Peeps!

New sins? Hardly...

It is amazing to me to watch how the media reports on the Catholic Church. A majority of the time they are so off the mark, I just have to shake my head and sigh. Oh, no one wants to admit the media is biased. And I think sometimes they do report with good intentions. Maybe. But usually they're out for headlines that sell, and this whole thing about the Church adding seven deadly sins must have seemed like a something to bite onto. More for Catholics to worry about, and more for secularists to condemn.

Too bad none of it is true.

Phil Lawler writes in this article here:

When a second-tier Vatican official gives a newspaper interview, he is not proclaiming new Church doctrines. Archbishop Girotti was obviously trying to offer a new, provocative perspective on some enduring truths. The effort backfired-- but in a very revealing way.

What did it reveal? That the press, particularly the British Press from whence this story originates, can't get any story right on the Catholic Church. Another case-in-point is when it said the pope is thinking of un-excommunicating Martin Luther, which is another load of bull.

Amy Welborn writes about this on her blog and calls it "Rule 27" - "Whenever the British Press reports something on the pope or the Vatican, don't believe it."

You can read about it here.

But just for the record - for anyone who is reading my blog who is not Catholic or is a non-practicing or whatever: No, there are not seven more deadly sins. No new doctrines or dogmas have been proclaimed. One of our second-tier bishops just gave a new look at some old Church teachings, to show how they apply in the modern world.

There is no story here. Move along, move along.