In the next few months the Catholic Writers Guild has some super good events coming up. In July there’s the annual Catholic Writers’ Conference, meeting in Chicago this year (it moves around), held in conjunction with the giant annual trade show for Catholic bookstores. In October is the Catholic Writers’ Retreat, held at a beautifully gardened retreat center outside of Lansing, Michigan. All year long, members of the CWG confer online (and sometimes in person), helping each other in the quest to get our work into readers’ hands.
It might be a good organization for you. Here’s the inside scoop, coming from a former VP of the CWG and now not-very-active member who has basically nothing to gain, at all, from your decision to participate or not.
Who Would Benefit from Membership in the Catholic Writers’ Guild?
Some people join the CWG and quickly realize it’s not a good fit for them. If CWG membership isn’t for you, you might still enjoy our public events, more on that below. Assuming you are a faithful-to-the-magisterium Catholic who is interested in some aspect of publishing (writing, editing, illustrating, graphic design, running a publishing company, etc.), here are the other things that seem to be most important in determining whether you’ll benefit from belonging to the CWG:
#1 You’re serious about your decision to write or publish.
Some people join the CWG for a year or two while they explore the possibilities, and that’s fine. But the goal of the Catholic Writers Guild is to cultivate strong Catholic writers and other publishing professionals, in order to bring good literature to the world. Our members are involved in every aspect of the business and every genre and venue, but we all have one thing in common: We are actually doing the thing.
You can be a rank beginner (indeed, that’s a great place to start). You can be uncertain what your future publishing career looks like. You can be someone mostly interested in writing for a private audience. But you won’t really be satisfied with belonging to the guild unless you are eager to keep moving forward in your craft.
#2 You are ready to take an active part in making the mission of the Guild happen.
The CWG is 100% member-run. We aren’t one of these prestigious press associations with crazy-expensive dues and a staff to field phone calls all day. We are a network of writers and other professionals helping each other with career advice, honest evaluations, contacts in the industry, moral support, and feedback on all the weird things that come into your head when you’re a Catholic writer. You won’t benefit from CWG membership if you are planning to sit back and have other people infuse career help into your life. You will find your support team and get the help you need through the process of engaging with other members and volunteering for projects that put you in the place you need to be.
#3 You are looking for help.
Some people don’t need this. If you already know your craft, already have a strong support team, and already have the professional connections you need in order to get your work to your readers, then you should probably be focusing on getting your next project finished, or feeding the poor, or spending another hour at Adoration. People who aren’t looking for some kind of help or social support in their publishing efforts usually only enjoy membership in the guild if they derive particular pleasure from helping others. Many non-members satisfy the itch to mentor other Catholic writers by volunteering to give presentations at the CWG’s in-person and online conferences, or quietly providing other kinds of assistance to growing writers.
The Catholic Writers Guild is above all a way for Catholic writers to help each other learn how to improve their craft and get their work in front of readers. If that is the kind of help you’re looking for, check out the CWG.
For everyone else? Even if membership isn’t for you, the upcoming events might still be of interest.
The Catholic Writers’ Conference
The CWG’s annual conference is a chance to spend time with other writers, attend classes, meet editors and publishers, and find out what’s going on in Catholic publishing. If you like books and Catholic stuff, walking the floor of the CMN’s trade show is Catholic fairyland. The whole event is friendly and exciting and more or less one long festival of all things Catholic writing geek.
I try to go when I can, though honestly? I come away with so many ideas for projects that in the years that I can’t go, it’s probably just as well. If you like to be with people, and you get energized by seeing what others are doing and by spending time with people who are passionate about the things you care about, this is the place.
Registration is still open for July 2017, so take a look if Chicago is within striking distance for you.
The Catholic Writers’ Retreat
This is a picture of my perfect weekend:
I took my daughter to the coast, and while she played ball and then went out to the beach with her friends, I spent a whole day with a gorgeous view and a computer and knocked out a bunch of writing.
The writer’s retreat is a combination of that — quiet time to get writing done in a beautiful location — and a comfortable amount of time with other Catholic writers. It’s organized by Margaret Rose Realy and this year’s speaker is Elizabeth Scalia, two fabulous Catholics who are definitely more retreat-personality than conference-personality. If quiet time is something you need, these women know deep in their bones the ache that you feel when you say that. I will you tell you very frankly that Margaret doesn’t skimp where prayer is concerned, and Elizabeth (no slouch on the Catholic herself) will tell it like it is when she has something to say. You’ll be in good hands.
Both of these events are open to non-members. If either one (or both) sounds like your happy place, take a look at what the Catholic Writers Guild is up to this year.
