News – Writing and the New Evangelization

This year the Catholic Writers Guild is holding annual live conference for Catholic Writers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on August 29-31 at the Arlington Convention Center Aug 29-31.

The Catholic Writers Guild wants to help writers share those words with the world with this wonderful opportunity for writers to hone their craft. “Writing and the New Evangelization” will permeate the conference environment with:

Update on pitch sessions from CWG president Ann Lewis:

The registration deadline for our face-to-face pitch sessions with Catholic publishers is August 15th. We have many, many spots open for pitches. So please, if you are considering giving pitches to our publishers, simply email Laura Nelson at pitches@catholicwritersconference.com. You get two choices as well, so give it a shot! All the information on how to prepare for your pitch is at this link here on our web site.

Here’s a preview of a few of the CWG inspiration and motivational speakers and workshops:

• Welcome to Catholic Writers Guild – President Ann Margaret Lewis (Murder in the Vatican)
• When God is Your Editor – Patti McGuire (Stories for the Homeschool Heart)
• Writing and the New Evangelization – Fr. Andrew Apostoli (EWTN)
• Catholic Writers We Need to Know – Bernadette Ward (University of Dallas)
• Everything You Wanted to Know About Catholic Marketing and Publicity but Were Afraid to Ask – Gail Coniglio and Teresa Tomeo (EWTN Catholic Connection) followed by a Q&A
• Publisher's Panel: Where is Catholic Publishing Going? – moderated by Claudia Volkman (Servant Books) also with Q&A
• Bogging 101 – Sarah Reinhard (A Catholic Mother’s Companion to Pregnancy)
• Fiction and the New Evangelization – Ellen Hrkach (In Name Only)

I attended my first CWG Live conference last year in Philadelphia. I was overwhelmed at the professionalism, the quality of the seminars and kindness of the people—and how much I didn’t know about Catholic publishing. I loved the atmosphere where I got to know Catholic writers, editors and publishers during the workshops and then saw them at daily mass and social events in the evenings.

The highlight of the conference for me was meeting with an editor interested in a Joy Alive series of inspirational books I have been writing for several years. She encouraged to start a blog. That’s how JoyAlive.net was created.

Someone asked me recently, “Why blogging?” When the Joy of the Lord overflows from your heart, you can’t share it enough. I’m really surprised how much enjoy the challenge of blogging. I had almost lost the discipline of writing every day. I now contributed to four other Catholic websites. Your will find me on Friday at the Catholic New Media Blogging Summit learning from great speakers.

This Blogging Summit and the other two days of the Catholic New Media Conference are parallel with CWG. It’s geared toward parish and ministry leaders who are involved in blogging, podcasting, websites, social media. Their theme, “Marketing your Message” describes the sessions to explore and navigate the competitive new media world both inside and outside Catholicism.

Don’t miss the spiritual and social events:

• Aug 28 – Tuesday evening (the day before the workshops begin) – Presentation and one-hour film by Immaculée Ilibagiza on the Rwanda genocide and the apparitions that preceded it.
• Mass and Rosary – Wednesday through Friday
• Aug. 29 – Wednesday evening, CMN Cocktail Party, then Jeff Cavins (Ascension Press) speaks, followed by a film presentation by the Maximus Group.
• Aug 30 – Thursday Breakfast Speaker: Fr. Michael Gaitley  (Marian Press)
• Aug 30 – Thursday Dinner features Country Western Singer Collin Raye

You can find all the details on registration at CatholicWritersConference.com