Over at New Evangelizers: The Case for Catholic Fiction. And more specifically . . . the case for middlebrow, readable, not-so-literary Catholic fiction.
–> Though I have no beef with the more artful stuff. Bring it on. It’s just that I don’t know those titles so well. But Christian LeBlanc does . . . he loaded the combox with all kinds of grown-up titles. Smart guy.
I read kids’ books. They’re short.
If you can’t get enough of me on the internet, first week of August I’ll be up in Somerset, NJ for a week of Catholic books & writing fun.
BLEG: Would you kindly consider letting your friends and readers know about this conference? You can C&P the info that follows, or make up your own version. Now’s the time to post it, because we know that everyone prefers to register at the last minute.
Two conferences of awesomeness, one convenient location. You only need to register for one conference, and you get into the other on that same ticket. Your registration fee covers the cost of renting the venue and lining up the entertainment, supplies, etc., but if you would like to attend the banquets sponsored by the CMN, make sure you purchase tickets when you register.
Conference #1: The Catholic “Marketing Network” Conference. The title is not quite what it sounds like. This is the trade organization for Catholic bookstores, and producers of Catholic books and goods.
What you’ll get:
Conference #2: The Catholic Writers Guild Live Conference. If you like to write, and want a small, encouraging conference where people will learn your name, take an interest in you, and not try to talk you into soft porn as an “art form”, this is the place.
Non-writers look here: A few of the scheduled speakers will be of interest to anyone who must write, even if they secretly hate it.
What you get:
And that’s everything normal people need to know. Thank you so much for passing on the word.
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And now for the fans of this blog, here’s the rundown on how to get all the Jen Fitz you can stand:
Monday, August 5th, touring NYC with my trusty sidekicks. So, no luck there, we’ll be hard to find.
Sometime Tuesday, August 6th: Probably going to give an intro to the CWG at the Store Education Day. Or, if someone else gets that gig, sidekicks and I’ll ditch the nice clothes and put on jeans and help set up the CWG booth on the tradeshow floor.
Wednesday August 5th – this is where it gets a little silly:
9:00 – 9:45: CWG Welcome, with all the other CWG officers. I think I mostly just smile a lot, and maybe say something about the CWG blog. Unless I draw the short straw.
3:00-3:45pm: Writers as Matchmakers: How do I decide where to submit my work? In which I explain that Ignatius Press does not want your collection of phlebotomy poems, but maybe someone else does, have you called the Association of Literary Phlebotomists?
5:00-5:45pm Legal/Business Matters in Writing: Arthur Powers, Tony Kolenc (moderator), Jennifer Fitz. Art and Tony are the lawyers, I’m the accountant. Exciting slides of schedule C, and her faster little sister, C-EZ. An explanation about why you can’t lump your writing expenses into your plumbing business schedule C, unless you are writing about plumbing. Stern words about apropos commandments from the Decalogue.
5:15pm-6:45pm CMN Welcome Reception, Artist/Author Meet and Greet. I’ll be at one of the Liguori tables, signing copies of this shiny new book you know you want to buy. In quantity.
9:00-11:00pm CWG Ice Cream Social (writers conference attendees only, pre-registration required). Get to know your presenters and fellow writers (Anthony Coniglio, pianist). Trusty sidekicks said they’d rather have ice cream at night and stay up to late, then get up early and go to the breakfast in the morning. So that’s what well be doing.
Thursday August 6th: Fun day.
11 am – Noon: Book signing at the Liguori Publications booth. Discover for yourself the second thing St. Thomas Aquinas and I have in common. (#1, We’re both Catholic.)
Otherwise: Wandering the trade show floor, because, yeah, awesome. And I told the sidekicks they could buy stuff. Twist my arm.
I’ll probably sit in on some workshops as well, because, who wouldn’t?
Friday August 7th: About that blogging habit I’ve developed . . .
10:00 – 11:45 The Super-Dooper Catholic Blogging Panel Free-for-all: Jennifer Fitz (moderator), Pat Gohn, Daria Sockey, Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle, Lisa Mladinich, Patti Armstrong, Margaret Realy. In which I ask people smarter than myself what it is I’m doing all wrong, so you don’t have to. Just kidding, that’s what confession is for. But I will be posing questions about blogging to a very talented pile of bloggers. Also, open Q&A. Margaret Realy is going to do a bonzai demonstration if nobody has any blogging questions. Or so I heard.
Afternoon: Take it all down until next year.
Can’t wait to see you there!
*That’s a SC joke.
Because this came in the mail to my local Catholic bookstore today. (Whom I love even more. And not only because they e-mail me little pictures like this. And not only because they helped edit my manuscript. And not only because . . . _insert 10,000 other reasons here_.)
Why yes, I am wildly excited.
Now returning to the long list of work-items people are hoping I’ll finish soon.
Mid-May update:
Latin Happiness. At CatholicMom.com: In which I explain how I went over to the dark side and paid for flashcards, AND monkey-themed Latin-Lite videos. Also found some other digital person to teach grown-up Latin to the boy and I, and no surprise, all are happier for it.
Shiny happy feeling inside this author: The reprint is at Catholic Lane. (Yay!)
A well-licked baby rat is a happy baby rat. SuperHusband & I have been taking Family Honor’s summer course on Catholic Sex-Ed. (It’s not called that. “Cultural Implications” or something like that.) Astute observers would have predicted: I’m really enjoying the class, whenever I set aside my natural dread of deadlines and obligations, and sit down to do the work.
Double-enjoying it once I realized I didn’t have to sit still and listen to the lectures, because hey, long stretchy headphone cords . . . I can workout while I listen. Score one for online courses.
Right now I’m reading this, of which you can download the executive summary at no charge:
Encouragement for those of us who sometimes doubt whether all this parenting effort is going to have any effect in the long run.
Forming Intentional Questions. The other reason I’m hiding from the internet is to churn out a set of discussion questions for Sherry Weddell’s Forming Intentional Disciples. Because I’m going to be part of a book club. And so are you. Bwahahaha . . . more news soon. Questions are written, and now need to be purged of typos.
Have a great week.
1. My book as available for sale! That is, you can’t actually *have* the book, but you can pay for it. So I guess it’s not so much a sale, yet, as a series of financial transactions straight out of 2nd 3rd year financial accounting, which is the year when nothing is ever just bought and sold, but always, always, passes through a whole series of special accounts that make perfect sense, I promise, if you can just keep ’em lined up right.
I think sometime this summer it graduates to an Accounting 101 exercise, where you can just pay money and have a book, done.
2. My favorite review-book supplier, MTF, seems to feel I need to get into the Year of Faith thing in a serious way. I broke down when I realized that there was no way I could ever remember on page 962 of Introduction to Catholicism for Adults exactly how I’d felt about Chapter 1, no matter how many little notes I penciled into the back inside cover. So I’m reviewing it a chapter (or so) at a time, over at the Happy Catholic Bookshelf. Chapter 1 is up. Hint: So far, so good.
3. Also in my candy box, as I mentioned before, was the 7th Edition of their Daily Roman Missal. I broke Lisa M.’s blog by posting about three-posts-in-one, but my review is up. With some notes on how you actually use such a thing for teaching kids. I don’t think the book fairy knew that I am the kind of catechist who reads from this exact book during class, but you had probably guessed that about me a while ago.
4. The post you really want to read at AC this week is this one.
5. I’m trying to improve my Spanish, which is more difficult if you don’t have cable TV. So I’ve resorted to mining the Spanish-language section of my local Catholic bookstore. I think you could make a sort of Catechist Spanish Language Evaluation test that grades you by which sections of El Youcat you can read, and which ones leave you absolutely puzzled. To give you an idea of my junior-linguist credentials, the bold print on Youcat #374 is no trouble at all. In contrast, that Blaise Pascal quote on the sidebar of p. 191? No comprendo. (I’m okay with that. I don’t think I much understand Pascal in English, either.)
6. I wish all catechisms came with flip-book animation on the bottom right corner. Sometimes I just watch the guy doing cartwheels in Spanish.
7. What I want to do is phone my Spanish-speaking catechist friend and arrange a play date for tomorrow. What I should do is start on my taxes. I think?
We made it to Naples and back with exactly the same number and kind of children with which we set out. Thank you St. John Bosco, whom I did ask for assistance from time to time. St. Augustine, by the way, is completely awesome.
UPDATED to clarify: Both the saint and the city in Florida are awesome. Where they each rank within the category of People, Places, and Things Called “St. Augustine” I leave to the reader’s discretion.
Bookstore Management Tip: Consider not charging admission to your retail venue.
At Castillo de San Marcos, you have to buy admission before you get into the fort, where the bookstore is located. (This did not stop me from buying books, but not everyone feels the same way about books as I do. Also, we were going to see the fort anyway.)
In contrast, the Pirate Museum has its gift shop built into its entryway. Which is handy for parents who do not want to pay admission to the museum, but feel pretty lucky to get off with just looking at the Pirate Merchandise and buying one small pirate book for the trip home.
On the other hand, if early-modern marauders attempt a raid on the seashell-identification books at San Marcos, there are three lines of defense to keep them at bay.
What with recorded books, DVD’s, and iPods, twenty hours in the car was really quite peaceful. Causing me to come up with the ridiculous, husband-exasperating plan of going to the national March for Life next week. Friends with ulterior motives are aiding and abetting. So I think we’ll go.
And look at this: Pro-Life Feminist Hot Chocolate. It’s a super-bonus . . . and I get a glimpse of the reportedly lovely and delightful Helen Alvaré, and the kids get hot chocolate? See, if that doesn’t convince you of the worthiness of the pro-life cause, I don’t know what does.
I’m beside myself with excitement, because MTF slipped a shiny new super-gorgeous Daily Roman Missal in with the other review book I was expecting (Introduction to Catholicism). You’ll recall I had to glue the old one’s cover back together. But I’ve been virtuously resisting shelling out for a new edition, even though every time I hear the elegant, poetic lines of the new Mass translation, I’m dying to get my own copy.
The new book is about twenty-time awesomer than I had guessed, because the new edition is beefed up with a pile of handy tables and indexes and bits of mini-catechism. So soon very soon I’ll have a post up at AC reviewing the new Missal, and explaining why exactly my old one needed to be glued back together, because I always, always, shove it into my bag on the way to religious ed, because if you have that one book, you can teach the Catholic faith to anybody at all, ever, no matter what weird scheduling surprises come your way when you arrive at class.
I did not make a single pun on the word Missal in those previous paragraphs. We’ll just mark that down on in the big white space where my virtues are tallied. I am the picture of self-restraint. The St. Therese of resisting bad puns. Or something.
The irony is not lost on me. I wrote this great column on winter snow-n-ice appropriate science activities for CatholicMom.com, then promptly spent a week lounging on the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico. And swimming. Outdoors.
This photo taken a different, icier year. And yes, the power was out. For a week. I did not like it. I prefer the beach.
So here’s my experiment: I’m going to write a column for NE (due this week, runs next week), and I think the topic is “Things You Can Do To Evangelize When You Think You Can’t Evangelize”. Will this cause me to suddenly have many opportunities to evangelize?
You’re goofing off browsing the Mid-Atlantic Congress catechetical conference page (which you are not planning to attend), and you notice all these financial management sessions:
Are you not dying to attend? I am. Seriously. Has anyone sat in on any presentations from these speakers (John Eriksen, Peter Denio, or Dennis Corcoran), and have an opinion on how good the workshops will be? For all Darwin doubts the use of an MBA, I begin to think that pastoral associates are the one class of people who might could benefit from such a course of study. Some reputable seminary ought to make a joint MA/MBA program.
I printed out the whole giant nasty sprawling draft, stuck it in a binder, and it’s waiting for me attack it with my tin of magic markers. So I’m making progress. Slowly.
What I’ve been up to so far this Advent:
1. Acquired a cold just strong enough to plant me in front of the PC and get some writing done for a change. I’d complain, except it’s really not that bad. For me. My family wishes I’d start making dinner again. I think.
2. Posted my book review of the Didache series of textbooks up at AmazingCatechists.com. These are awesome books, and the new parish editions bring serious theology to high school and adult faith formation. Long-needed. Don’t cry to me you don’t have priests, but refuse to teach theology. How exactly is a boy supposed to fall in love with a something he’s never met?
3. Guessed at my login information for the Happy Catholic Bookshelf enough times that I finally broke in. And put up my review of Walking Dickens London. Verdict: I still don’t like Dickens all that much, but the guide book is awesome. Of course I had to put a reference to Rerum Novarum in the review. Only logical.
4. I cleaned out my inbox. If I still owe you an e-mail about something, you’d better tell me. Because I’m under the mistaken impression I’m all caught up.
5. Planted the potatoes that were sprouting in the cardboard box in the living room. Ditto for some garlic in the bottom of the fridge.
6. I’ve written about 5,000 words on the homeschooling manuscript. Also pre-wrote my January CatholicMom.com homeschooling column, because once you get school on the brain, and a cup of coffee, these things just pop out.
7. I got all vice-presidential over at the Catholic Writers Guild. Being VP is almost exactly like being the blog manager, except that instead of plaguing the officers all month long with bad ideas and unhelpful suggestions, you also get to do it during the monthly officer’s conference call. I think someone nominated me because the existing officers were already practiced at telling me, “No! Quiet! Sit! No Biscuit!” so it makes their job easier. So mostly as VP I amuse people with my ridiculous ideas, and about 1 time in 10, I think one up that someone makes me go do. And then I regret it, and don’t think up any more ideas for at least 10 minutes.
Also, I goofed off on the internet more than I had planned. It happens. I was sick.
What I’ve been doing instead of posting on the internet:
1. Child with bronchitis.
2. Same child with Chicken Pox.
3. Or is it an allergic reaction to amoxicillian? We may end up back at the doctor again.
4. Building Chicken Prison. It’s still not complete, but almost. I like having free range chickens. Some (by which I mean: All) of the people I live with do not like sharing their backyard with chickens. Who are maybe not the most fastidious creatures you ever met.
That’s not strictly true. Our chickens, given the space to do so, were quite particular about housekeeping. They roosted in one part of the yard where they otherwise spent no time, because what chickens do at night is:
a) Sleep
b) Poop
Yes, they poop and sleep at the same time, it appears, just like your very small children sometimes will. It is not endearing. Where chickens sleep is not a clean place.
But here’s the interesting part: They spend their day avoiding the place where they roost. And note, the chickens avoid a path into the roost that would require them to walk through the muck.
Double interesting: So we went to build chicken prison, and our first location was near the shed, at the time being used to store miscelleanous items that clogged up the around-the-shed area, making it a quiet, dark, and virtually impassable place where no human ever trod. Turns out chickens like this. We moved the old boat stuffed behind the shed, and discovered eggs! We thought the hens weren’t laying yet. But there were eight perfect eggs, neatly layed in an impeccable pine-straw nest. Not a sign of chicken droppings anywhere. The kind of place you could, say, raise a baby.
I was impressed with the chicken hygiene. Who knew?
So . . . in building chicken prison, one of my goals is to try to create spaces suitable for a hen-approved separation of sleeping, laying, eating and lounging areas. Soon as SuperHusband gets the gate and a few pieces of chicken furniture built (kitchen, living-room, nursery) we’ll see how it goes.
Also we’ve been:
5. Making beer. Jon likes this supplier for kits and equipment. Combine orders with your friends to get enough of a bill to get free shipping. While the wort was boiling, our brew partner pointed us to this very cool video of a free-range child left to his own devices:
Viewer Discretion Advised: Not All Homeschooled Children Spontaneously Take Up Arts Like These
6. Top-Secret Catholic Writers Guild Projects.
Okay, not really top-secret, just stuff you don’t announce until it’s done.
Terrifying news, guaranteed to bolster my prayer life: Our current guild president used her mind-rays to talk me into letting them put my name on the ballot for Vice President. So unless “No” defeats me in the guild elections, come December 1 I will be praying every day for the health and vigor of our new president, because basically as long as long as she’s well, the VP’s job is cush enough even for someone like me. I’m kickin’ God in the shins if anything happens that causes me to have to temporarily assume real responsibility.
7. Yes, God has shins.
What you should be doing while you’re wondering when I’ll ever post again:
a) Go ahead and register for the Catholic Writers Conference Online. It’s free, no-commitment, and you don’t even have to be Catholic to attend. Actually, only register if you like to write or have to write, and want to get better at it. Otherwise, do something else those weeks. The world needs chicken prisons built, all kinds of other non-writing work, you reading-only-never-writing people can go do that.
b) Pray for the Hathaways, of course. Hardly need me to remind you at this point.
c) Prepare yourself to say “Yes” if you one of the two or three readers here who I’m going to e-mail and ask you to present a short talk at the online conference, because you have something cool to say to aspiring Catholic writers that will help them do their work better and not make all the mistakes you made when you first started out. Or, since I am probably going to forget to e-mail you, but you’re a great writer who wants to help other new writers, you can just volunteer straight-up. Here’s the link. E-mail me if you’re not sure you really have anything to present, but you kinda want to, or you have this nagging feeling you should e-mail me just ’cause. Blog @ CatholicwritersGuild.com goes all the same places my other e-mail addresses do, any of ’em will work.
–> For the record: I am not queen of the conference. I’m a helper-bee rounding up potential presenters. But round up I will.
Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you when I’m out from the tunnel again.
1. What I’m doing this weekend instead of everything else, ever? Looking through my freshly-edited-by-my-editor manuscript (catechist book), and seeing what’s there.
2. First thought: It is helpful if you spell the names correctly on your acknowledgements page. People will like that. If you are like me, I advise you to only ask for help from people whose names are very easy to spell. Or else you will have to have an embarrassing conversation with your publisher.
3. Thank goodness we are having this conversation now, and not after the thing is actually published.
4. Dorian Speed, not difficult to spell, is doing her annual tour of duty saving me from making very, very dumb mistakes. What will it be next October? I try not to think about it.
5. Before I descended into the pit of despair my annual DSpeed Humility Training Session, here was what I was thinking as I read through the manuscript, which I hadn’t looked at since the end of August: Wow! This is a really good book! As in: I should read this more often!
6. Because, yeah, it’s basically a big long note-to-self. All the things I forget to do, but am always glad if I do manage to remember them half the time.
7. I had something else completely unrelated to post about. But I can’t remember what is.
Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you when I’m out from the tunnel.
Thanks once again to our host, Larry D., who is no doubt terrified by this post.
When my friend real-life friend Sandra told me she was planning a Halloween-themed wedding, let me assure you: I was skeptical. But it turned out absolutely lovely! Which you would expect, if you know Sandra and her beloved Larry L.. Here’s the tour, in 3.5 parts.
1. The Dress.
The event was held at the Robert Mills House (civil ceremony), so you’ll recall Sandra was thinking of a regency-era theme. She raided the silk remnants at the upholstery shop, and put together this:
Awesome period touch: detachable sleeves.
2. Ceremonial Innovation Done Right.
Recall also that I am a curmudgeon’s curmudgeon, and if you tell me that as part of your ceremony you’re going to do some groovy sand-art activity with your children, I’m going to be very, very skeptical. But Larry L. came up with an idea for including the boys in the ceremony, and it went over beautifully. I was impressed. Not many people can pull that off. Well done.
3. Reception = Costume Time.
I think the key to making a Halloween wedding work is to not have a Halloween wedding. Normal wedding, costume-optional reception. Tons of fun.
The decorators-in-law used a deft touch in decorating the reception hall. There were spider webs and all that stuff, but it didn’t pop out like I’m Back In Elementary School For Orange Cupcakes And Candy Corns. The wedding cake was probably the most Halloween-y moment. Which is about right. Wedding cakes are supposed allowed to be fun. Is a giant hairy spider really that much goofier than a chintzy plastic bride-n-groom?
I wish I had a picture of the buffet table, but I’ll just tell you that the secret to a tasteful theme-wedding is to put out a fantabulous spread of good food. Then all the stuffy friends and relatives who might otherwise complain about the decor are too busy noticing the hummus and the curry and the peanut sauce, and the rest is just background. But if you want to put on a Sponge Bob costume, you can.
Or, if you’re a young groomsman, add sunglasses, earbuds, and a suitable weapon, presto-chango, Secret Agent Boy:
(Shown here posing the following day, before we rushed the tux back to the rental place.)
3.5 SuperHusband went medieval for the reception, which is the most comfortable thing you wish you could be wearing anyway. Girls and I stuck to our ordinary wedding attire, but added
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Well, that should give you something to talk about for this week. No, I haven’t finished started my sidebar renovation, so I’m still taking link suggestions.
Hey and while we’re on the topic of good things worth doing right: This week my editor at Liguori is doing her edits on my Classroom Management for Catechists manuscript. So you could say a little prayer that she gets it all cleaned up so that it’s as helpful to readers as possible. Thanks!
