Dallas-Fort Worth Catholic writers are making progress

Last year's Catholic Writers Conference
in Arlington, TX provided the inspiration
for our group. We've achieved a lot since then.

The most recent meeting of the DFW Catholic Writers Group gave evidence that the encouragement of the group is helping writers finish projects. Although attendance was somewhat sparser than most meetings, there was plenty of progress to report.

Curt Lampkin has had two pieces published in recent months, in prominent Catholic publications. First was a letter to the editor of the well-known apologetics magazine, Catholic Answers, highlighted as "letter of the month," in which he discusses the need for better catechesis of Catholics. Also, on April 18, The Catholic Thing website published an essay in which Curt intrepidly tackles both the topical (the Boston Marathon bombing) and the perennial "problem of evil." He argues against the claim that a good God wouldn't permit the evils that have come to seem an almost daily occurrence in our modern world.

Bernadette Waterman-Ward shared a portion of an opera libretto that she is working on, in collaboration with a Catholic composer. The work will recount the Biblical story of Elizabeth and Zechariah, bringing in both the way the Old Testament prefigured the birth and ministry of John the Baptist and the way John's life prepared for and contributed to the mission of Christ himself. And all of this must be compressed into a brief text of only about 4,600 words.

Lisa Nicholas reported that she has completed a 120,000 word first draft of Cast Into the Deep, a Catholic science fiction novel that will be the first of a planned series of 6 or more novels. And Melissa Finn read a short essay on how she finds brief moments for contemplation and restoration in the midst of the life of a busy mother of young children -- this piece will soon appear as a guest blog post on Nancy Ward's blog, Joy Alive in our Hearts.

You can see that our members are working on a wide variety of projects, and we're all benefiting from the mutual support and encouragement that the group provides. If you'd like to attend one of our meetings or want more information, please contact Nancy Ward. If you live in Tarrant County and are interested in a meeting a little closer to home than Dallas, let Lisa Nicholas know.

Meeting this Friday, May 10

The next meeting of the D/FW Catholic Writers Group will be held Friday, May 10, 11:30 a.m. to 1-ish. Once again, we invite any Catholic writer (or aspiring writer) to join us for friendly support and (if you like) critiques or feedback on your current writing projects. If you don't have any writing to share, you can just come for inspiration and encouragement -- current members are working on a wide array of projects, both fiction and non-fiction.

Our Friday meetings are held at Half-Price Books, 5803 E. Northwest Highway near Central Expressway in Dallas. Click here for a map and directions. Look for our group in or near the Community Room at the far left back corner (just past the Hollywood Lights). Feel free to bring your lunch or pick something up at in-house café.

Our Next Meeting, Tuesday, 23 April

This Tuesday evening, April 23, the Dallas/Fort Worth Catholic Writers Group will meet at University of Dallas at 7 p.m. This will be our last meeting at UD until fall, so if you've been meaning to come, this would be a good day to do so. (Click here to find details on the meeting place.)

We may be able to arrange an alternative to the Irving meetings, however, to make the group accessible to members (or prospective members) in Tarrant County. Anyone interested in meeting in Arlington, on a Saturday or Sunday, should contact Lisa Nicholas (see sidebar for contact information). If we have a half-dozen people interested, we'll get something going!

Another month, another meeting! Friday, 12 April

If you're a Catholic writer in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, we invite you to join us! The next meeting of the D/FW Catholic Writers Group will be held Friday, April 12, 11:30 a.m. to 1-ish. Our Friday meetings are held at Half-Price Books, 5803 E. Northwest Highway near Central Expressway in Dallas. Click here for a map and directions.

 

Please bring something to share about your writing that you would like feedback on.

 

Look for our group in or near the Community Room at the far left back corner (just past the Hollywood Lights). Feel free to bring your lunch or pick something up at in-house café. 

 

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Easily Read and Store Research from the Web

One of the oft-overlooked tasks of the writer is doing research to make sure that you are getting details right. Almost all kinds of writing, from academic papers to works of fiction, require some sort of research. Fortunately, the worldwide web makes it easier than ever to do research, but the proliferation of sources of information, paradoxically, seems to make it ever more difficult to keep track of all the info you're tracking down. What's a writer to do?

One of my favorite tools for keeping web-research in an easy-to-read and easy-to-keep-track-of format is Amazon's free Send to Kindle applications. Whether it's the browser plug-in (available for both Chrome and Firefox) to capture sources from the web or one of the other applications, these handy little pieces of software convert your documents to Kindle format, and store them in your Kindle cloud archive so that you can never lose track of your documents. You don't have to own a Kindle ereader device to use it, either -- you can install a free Kindle reading app on your computer or smart device, or just read your documents in Amazon's Cloud Reader in your web browser (nothing to install!).

I really love the browser plug-in -- when I find a useful article, I just hit the Send to Kindle button and then I can read it whenever I want, on just about any device I choose, perfectly formatted for easy reading. The browser plug-in lets you preview before you send, so that you can make sure you've captured the text you need. If it's not quite right, just make sure you first highlight the text you want and select "preview" before you send. When your document shows up in your Kindle reader, it will include a link to the URL from which you captured it, so you don't need to worry about making a special note of the source.

Amazon also has a version of Send to Kindle for your PC, Mac, or Android device, which allows you to convert and archive your own documents -- from your writing or page layout software, choose the "Send to Kindle" printer driver, or right click on a document filename on your computer and select "Send to Kindle." The document will be converted and uploaded to your Kindle archive -- if anything should happen to the original, you'll always have your Kindle copy "in the cloud."

My favorite version is one I haven't even tried yet, the new Send to Kindle button now available for websites and Wordpress blogs. Now you can make sure that your readers on the web can send your blog posts or other online copy to their own Kindle devices.

Give it a try -- chances are you'll find that you love being able to "send once, read anywhere."

Do You Commit These Deadly Sins of Self-Editing?

This was too good not to share -- and appropriately themed for Lent! Janice Gable Bashman & Kathryn Craft, on the Writers Digest web site, analyze the Seven Deadly Sins of Self-Editing, describing not only the "sin" but also prescribing the salutary "penance" to overcome it.

They seem to understand not only writers but human nature, saying:

We’re most likely to sin when we’re at our most vulnerable—and for creative writers, there may be no more vulnerable time than the delicate (and often excruciating) process of editing our own work. Sidestep these too-common traps, and keep your story’s soul pure.

What are  your besetting sins as you seek feedback and revise? Perhaps you tend toward sloth:

The lazy scribe is one who’s failed to develop and utilize all her natural talents. To draft a story—and then stop there—is to ignore the very nature of literature, which constructs meaning through the deft layering of craft elements. If you find yourself bucking that notion, you may be guilty of sloth.

If you hate having your work critiqued, you may fall into the sin of wrath:

The editing process can inspire uncontrolled feelings of rage in a writer. It’s difficult to discover or to hear from a trusted reader that you might not yet have fully developed your work—but it’s also an important step in growing your organic talent.

Read the article to learn what "penances" the authors prescribe for these and the other 7 deadly sins of self-editing.

Writers Beware! Electronic Vanity Presses

In the last few days, I have noticed a lot of chatter about new "imprints" of major publishers for electronically published books (ebooks), which target "new authors" specifically. It appears that these new electronic-only imprints are little more than vanity publishers for ebooks, luring in writers thrilled by the idea of having major publishers such as Random House and Little & Brown publish their work.

A vanity press is one that caters to the writer's desire to get published at all costs. They take (almost) all comers, with no editorial screening of submissions -- undoubtedly, one of the things that contribute to their appeal. Typically, their services are limited to getting your book laid out, typeset, and printed -- which you pay for. If you want the services of an editor, you pay extra. If you want cover design, you may have to pay extra for that, too. They do not pay you any royalty; they do not market your book; they do not distribute the book; they may not even warehouse your inventory (hope your garage is empty, because you'll need some storage space). The vanity press is just that -- a press, not a publisher.

Now, with ebooks there is no press -- no paper, no ink, no bindery required, no warehouse needed to store printed copies, because there are no printed copies. How on Earth, then, can an electronic vanity press justify its existence? Only by offering big-name recognition in the inventories of online retailers, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. And yet they still want your money.

This post from the Savvy Writers & eBooks Online blog explains what is wrong with these new ebook publishing ventures:

Now it seems that reputable, traditional publishers step into the foot prints of these “vanity publishers” and go into the business of deceiving authors.  Many jumped on the bandwagon of the success of e-books and created imprints for digital books, such as “Hydra” [science fiction], “Flirt” [romance] or “Alibi” [mystery and suspense] an imprint of Random House, or “Blackfriars” an imprint of Little & Brown in the UK.

These new digital imprints became the subject of controversy recently since John Scalzi, president of Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA), carried on a public debate with representatives of Random House's new Hydra division, which publishes science fiction ebooks (Random House has also started arms for books in other popular genres). Writers are not eligible to join SFWA, a prestigious organization of science fiction authors, unless they have published at least one title with a "legitimate" publisher -- one that pays advances on royalties from the sales it expects to generate from an author's work. Scalzi has stated that SFWA will not recognize these new electronic publishing arms of Random House as "legitimate" publishers, chiefly because they will not pay royalties, and also because the contracts they offer are massively disadvantageous for the author.

This article on io9.com summarizes Scalzi's objections:

1) They don't pay an advance, which is usually pretty standard, even for most smaller publishers

2) They charge the writer up-front for all sorts of costs that the publisher normally pays for, including editing, sales and marketing, cover art, publicity and so on -- which can pile up, and which are quite possibly whatever Random House says they are.

3) Random House takes the license to your book for the full term of copyright, and the clause allowing you to regain the right to your book after it goes out of print is really problematic.

All in all, this adds up to a situation where authors might never see any money from Random House, and meanwhile they never get to own their own work.

By comparison, ebook publishing services such as Book Baby and Book Tango, which help you self-publish your book for a reasonable fee, look quite inviting. Such services help you with formatting, publishing, and listing your book with major online booksellers, and also offer optional paid assistance with editing, cover design, and other tasks that you may wish to contract out. And unlike the new Random House ventures, they do not command the lion's share of your profits on book sales. Even so, make sure you know exactly what you'll be getting, or giving, if you decide to use such a service.

Writers looking forward to publishing their work should become acquainted with the Preditors & Editors website, which offers a wealth of information on publishers and publishing services. The publishing world is suffering a lot of upheaval these days, and the business end of writing is more complicated than ever. Make sure you educate yourself so that you understand all of your options before you decide how, and where, to publish your book. There are some wonderful opportunities that didn't exist a decade ago, but there are also plenty of pitfalls to be avoided. Writers, beware.