Searching for a Reason to Write

I've been tossing around novel ideas in my head. That's always something of a fun process. I have a germ of an idea - could I make something out of it? The whispers of inspiration start coming. Will I listen? Should I listen? Is this what God wants me to be doing with my time right now? Is it really worth it to spend so much time on a project that I know will never recoup the cost in time or money? Is it worth it to write when my stories find such a small audience? Clearly, the literary world gets along just fine without my meager contributions.

One of my friends posted this article today on writing: Who Will Buy Your Book? There are lots of words of wisdom there, but these really spoke to me:

As a writer, you need to approach every project with the understanding that you’re doing this work for yourself, and everything that happens once it’s in the world is out of your control. Whatever project you’re working on now doesn’t derive value from your friends’ approval, but rather from the love and energy you pour into it. You can do the work, and you can keep showing up, and that’s all you’ve got. Most of the time, it’s all you need.  

A Fascinating Look at How Dictionaries are Made

Like most people, I have never given the dictionary much thought. It’s a useful tool that I appreciate having, but I never considered that there are people whose job it is to write all those definitions. In her new book, Word by Word, Kory Stamper, lexicographer at Merriam-Webster (located in my hometown of Springfield, MA), takes you behind the scenes of what actually goes into creating a dictionary. 

She states, the dictionary “is a human document, constantly being compiled, proofread, and updated by actual, living awkward people. In that unassuming brick building in Springfield, there are a couple dozen people who spend their workweek doing nothing but making dictionaries – sifting the language, categorizing it, describing it, alphabetizing it.”

Word by Word is awesome for anyone who loves the English language. Stamper’s writing style is incredibly engaging with a healthy dose of humor. This book was both fascinating and laugh-out-loud funny.  There is a healthy amount of swearing in this book. After all, all those expletives count as words as well. But even with that caveat, I am heartily recommending Word by Word. I’ve never read anything like it before and it opened my eyes to a whole new appreciation for both dictionaries and the English language. 

Your Word is My Delight: A Catholic Writer's Retreat

Do you need time away to finish or start a manuscript? Work on that proposal? Organize your writing project? Finish work to meet your editor’s deadline?

On October 8-12, 2017 the Catholic Writers Guild, for the fourth time, is offering a writers retreat near Lansing, Michigan.

St. Francis Retreat and Conference Center, 703 E. Main Street, DeWitt, MI, is situated on a 93 acre site of woodlands, meadows, and prayer gardens.

$550 includes a private room with a bath, three meals a day (and all the coffee you can drink!), internet access, breakout spaces, resource library, three daily presenters, critique sessions, Mass and reconciliation.  

The power of the Catholic Writers Guild is why we can keep the cost so low! This retreat, offered every other year, is popular because it is a true writers retreat offering you abundant time to work at writing, and time to critique with other Catholic writers.

You can register on line at http://tinyurl.com/cwgretreat2017 , or if you have questions email the coordinator, Margaret Rose Realy, Obl. OSB at retreat@catholicwritersguild.com .

Handicap accessible and dietary needs accommodated.

If you fly into Lansing Capital Region International Airport, a shuttle to the retreat house—only 7 minutes away—is provided.

Retreat is limited so register soon!

Register for Catholic Writer's Online Conference by Feb. 10th

The Catholic Writers’ Guild will hold its annual online conference for writers Feb 17-19, 2017.  This faith-focused authors conference offers presentations covering all aspects of writing from the faith aspects of your calling as a writer to publishing and marketing your books.  There will also be online pitch sessions with noted Catholic publishers and secular publishers.

Attendees must register by Feb 10 at https://catholicwritersguild.org/catholic-writers-conference-online-admission-non-members.

The conference will be held using webinar software, making the experience more personal and immediate.

"Last year, we had amazing success with presentations in webinar format. It took the learning to a new level," said organizer Karina Fabian. Fabian said the workshops offer terrific opportunities to ask in-depth questions and get feedback from knowledgeable instructors.   

This year’s sessions include a wide range of talents, including speakers like Lisa Mladinich, host of the TV talk show WOMAN; Lisa Hendey, author and founder of CatholicMom.com, horror author Karen Ullo, and attorney Antony Kolenc. In addition, there are practical workshops on indie publishing, Goodreads, characterization and more.

Pitch sessions give authors with finished books a chance to personally interest a publisher.  Pitch sessions include well known Catholic publishers like Our Sunday Visitor and Ave Maria, and secular presses like Liberty Island and Vinspire.

"Every year, we hear back from an author who finished a book, started a project, or got a publishing contract thanks to the Catholic Writers’ Conference Online.  Plus people make contacts and good friends.  It’s a terrific opportunity, especially for those who can’t afford to attend a live conference,” Fabian said.

This year’s conference is $40; $30 for members of the Catholic Writers’ Guild. To register or for more information, go to https://catholicwritersguild.org/online-conference.

My Interview on the Image and Likeness Blog

Today is the day I am featured on the Image and Likeness Blog as one of the contributors to the Image and Likeness anthology.

You can read my interview here: https://imageandlikenessanthology.wordpress.com/2016/12/26/interview-with-contributor-anne-m-faye/

You can purchase the anthology here: http://amzn.to/2ixeS6y

What is the Aim of our Writing?

I recently read Scribbling in the Sand by Michael Card. The book offers a reflection on creativity in terms of faith

Card begins with the Gospel story of Jesus scribbling in the sand. A woman had been accused of adultery. The Pharisees had brought her to Jesus as part of a trick to find out what he would do. Instead of saying anything, Jesus bent down and wrote in the sand. Once he finished writing, he stood up and stated "Whoever is without sin, let him cast the first stone."

We have no idea what Jesus wrote and it really doesn't matter.

What Jesus did that morning created a space in tome that allowed the angry mob first to cool down, then to hear his word, and finally to think about it . . . It made time stand still. . . .Jesus' action created a frame around the silence - the kind of silence in which God speaks to the heart. In short, it was a supreme act of creativity. It was art. . . .

All the art ever done in his name since that day cannot hope to be more, and should not be allowed to be less, than Jesus' scribbling that morning in the sand. If what we create, write, dance, or sing can open up such a space in time through which God may speak, imagine the possibilities! . . . From the flat, gray point of view of the fallen world they are only scratches and scribbles in the sand, but in the light of eternity they become the occasion for divine revelation. What more could we ever hope for, and once we've seen this new possibility, how could we ever settle for less?

The book is excellent and offers much food for thought. While it is geared most to musicians, most of it applies to anyone who is Christian and involved in creativity in any way.

Image & Likeness Theology of the Body Anthology Coming 10/22

I'm thrilled to have a short story, "The Walk," published in Image and Likeness to be released on St. John Paul II's feast day, October 22nd. 

If St. John Paul II ever summarized his Theology of the Body, it may have been when he said, “Man cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.”  But how does this sincere gift look when lived out by human beings with all their failings?  What happens to our humanity when we withhold that sincere gift?  What does life require of us when we give most deeply?  
 
Full Quiver Publishing brings you this moving collection of poetry and prose, featuring some of today’s brightest Catholic literary voices, including award-winning authors Dena Hunt, Arthur Powers, Michelle Buckman, Leslie Lynch, Theresa Linden, and many more.  By turns edgy and sweet, gritty and deft, but always courageous and honest, the works contained in Image and Likeness explore countless facets of human love—and human failure.  Readers of Image and Likeness will experience in a variety of ways how humanity, in flesh as well as spirit, lives out the image and likeness of a God who created human intimacy to bring forth both our future and to illustrate our ultimate meaning as human persons.  

With a foreword by international Theology of the Body voice Damon Owens, Image and Likeness puts life and breath into St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body in ways that readers won’t soon forget.