Regina Doman's Blog: Regina Doman's Updates, page 9

Catholic Writers to Convene August Conference in Valley Forge

Press Release

June 9, 2011

Contacts: Ann Margaret Lewis, Catholic Writers Guild President

Phone: 317-755-2693 email: annlewis@joesystems.com

Karina Fabian, Catholic Writers Guild Secretary

Phone: 719- 924-5578 email: karina@fabianspace.com

Writer: Clare Bills, Catholic Writers Guild Publicity - email: clarebills@live.com

For Immediate Release

Catholic Writers to Convene August Conference in Valley Forge

Valley Forge, PA--The third annual Catholic Writers' Conference LIVE will take place

August 3-5, 2011, at the Scanticon Hotel Valley Forge in King of Prussia, PA. Sponsored by the Catholic Writer's Guild (CWG) and the Catholic Marketing Network (CMN), it will be held in conjunction with CMN's annual retailer trade show. The Catholic Writers Conference LIVE provides Catholic authors with a prime opportunity to meet and share their faith with editors, publishers, fellow writers, and bookstore owners from across the globe.

CWG President Ann Margaret Lewis said this year's conference will, "focus on marketing and selling one's written work." Highlights of the conference include:

· Over 30 sessions taught by professionals in writing, marketing, blogging and publishing

· Pitch Sessions where writers may meet privately with representatives from four publishers

· One-on-one coaching sessions. For $35 an author can have a 30 minute private consultation with a specialist who will review their manuscript and guide them toward publication.

· Rapid-fire readings. Published authors will each have five minutes to read a selection from one of their books. A mass book sale and signing will follow.

Lewis says the conference comes at a modest cost. "Registration for the jam packed three days is only $90 for CWG members or $100 for non-members. And we have a special price of $42 for students. Our conference allows you to connect personally with Catholic publishers and retailers, to show your work, learn the craft and network." Priests and religious are invited free of charge, but must register at the email address: http://www.catholicwritersconference.com.

This year's conference speakers include:

· Catholic publishing representatives Claudia Volkman of Servant Books/St.Anthony Messenger Press,

· Regina Doman, author of numerous young adult and children's books and acquisitions editor for Sophia Institute Press,

· Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle, EWTN TV host of "Everyday Blessings for Catholic Moms" and author of numerous Catholic books including "Mother Teresa and Me,"

· Michelle Buckman, author of the young adult novel "Maggie Come Lately" and the adult drama "Rachel's Contrition,"

· Angela Breidenbach, author of "Gems of Wisdom" and

· Patti Armstrong, co-author of the best-selling Amazing Grace book series and author of "Catholic Truths for Our Children, Stories for the Homeschool Heart."

Past attendees gave glowing accounts of their experiences at the conference:

· Carol Bannon, author of the children's book "Handshake from Heaven," said, "Attending this conference has been the best thing I have done for myself professionally."

· Writer Melanie Cameron concurs, "I recommend this conference as a resource for any author (or wannabe) at any stage. You will walk away empowered!"

· Maureen Martin, a consultant and trainer said she attended to connect with other professional Catholics. "It was such a wonderful, nurturing environment where we could share our faith and our love for literature."

The Catholic Writers Guild, a religious non-profit organization, sponsors both this live conference in August and an online conference in February to further its mission of promoting Catholic literature. "Our conferences are totally focused on encouraging faithful Catholics to share genuine Catholic culture and faith in their writing no matter what genre," says Lewis. "These events are integral to our mission of 'creating a rebirth of Catholic arts and letters."

Also at this year's conference, the CWG will be presenting its first ever Catholic Arts and Letters Awards (called the "Lilies") for the best in Catholic fiction. This award will recognize one book in the adult market and one in the children's market for its literary merit.

Information for the Catholic Writer's Conference can be found on the conference web site: http://www.catholicwritersconference.com.

The CWG is a professional group of writers, artists, editors, illustrators, and allies whose mission is to build a vibrant Catholic literary culture. The organization is loyal to the teaching authority of the Roman Catholic Church.

- End -

Interviews and further information available upon request.

Shadow of the Bear in POLISH!

I am pleased to announce the release of Shadow of the Bear in its first foreign translation: POLISH!

Yes, Cień Niedźwiedzia: Wspotczesna Basn is available now at Polish sites online, including Gandalf.com.pl. Since my husband is half-Polish and our family has a devotion to both Saint Maximilian Kolbe and Sister Faustina Kowlalska, both Polish saints, we were delighted when we were approached by the Polish publisher Księgarnia św. Jacka for this edition. When we discovered that they are the diocesan publishers for the Diocese of Katowice, the original diocese of Karol Wojtyla, later Pope John Paul II, we were even more thrilled.

We just received six copies of the new edition in the mail today, and they are beautiful, with thick glossy covers and beautiful inside flaps, a detail not often seen on American paperbacks. The publishers did their own typesetting, including lovely sihlouettes of dark and light roses on the chapter headings:

And, what is even more charming, they used a dark rose to indicate sections in Rose's viewpoint, and a white rose to indicate Blanche's, as you can see from this section of the climax:

Thus we are very excited about our first foreign translation. To some authors, a Polish translation of their work might not be a big deal: a Spanish translation might yield a bigger market. But for me and my family, who owe so much physically and spiritually to the Polish people, having the first foreign translation be into the native language of John Paul II is simply fitting. One might even say perfect.

So if you have any Polish friends, please let them know about this new translation! And tell them that there's more to come: the publishers hope to bring out the rest of the "Snow White and Rose Red" trilogy as well within the next few years. Black as Night is up next for translation.

In the meantime, we have been contacted by a Spanish Catholic publisher, and I understand I have some Mexican fans who would love to see a Spanish edition.... I joked to my husband that we'll have to ask St. Josemaria Escriva (and Teresa of Avila and Blessed Miguel Pro) to help us out with that one!

And check out the Polish sites: we had fun reading the Google translations. (There's no Amazon for Poland, but it looks like it can be ordered through Amazon Germany)

Regina speaking at Catholic Writer's Conference at Valley Forge in August!

Catholic Writers to Hold Conference in Valley Forge, PA
Press Release: please re-post and pass this on!

The second annual Catholic Writers' Conference LIVE will be held August 4-6, 2010, at the Scanticon Hotel Valley Forge in King of Prussia, PA. Sponsored by the Catholic Writer's Guild and the Catholic Marketing Network (CMN), and held in conjunction with CMN's annual retailer trade show, the Catholic Writers Conference LIVE provides Catholic authors with a prime opportunity to meet and share ...

Alex O`Donnell and the 40 CyberThieves!

Remember this guy?  He was first introduced in Waking Rose , but even first-time readers will quickly warm up to the sword-wielding Alex O'Donnell and his adventures with his nearly technophobic girlfriend Kateri Kovach, and yes, forty cyberthieves in this high tech thriller. 
Alex returns from college to find that his dad, a hacker-turned-software programmer, has developed the Mouse Catcher; tracking software with a cute Super-Cat interface.
But more ominously, his dad has discovered a...

CONTEST: Are You My BIGGEST Fan?

To coincide with the release of Alex, we're having our first Fairy Tale Novel Online Contest to find out: who's the biggest fan of the Fairy Tale Novels?  If you think you're it, prove it by entering this contest! Get points by posting reviews, wearing fan t-shirts, getting your school or library to buy the books, and any other creative ideas you can come up with! Win prizes including a hardcover edition of Alex and lots more!  The contest takes place through August 31st.  Enroll and see the...

My Cup of Tea...

I had the chance to do a new kind of event my friends had dreamed up: a Fairy Tale Novel Tea Party! It was my friend Theresa's idea: she said to me, come to my house, bring your books, and I'll invite my friends to meet for tea and cake and we'll chat and have fun! We held the first ever FTN Tea Party at her house in Alexandria, VA, this past March, and we all enjoyed ourselves so much that we did another one at the Findley's house in Williamsburg, VA two months later!

So I've decided that...

Fairy Tale Novel Fan Gathering (aka ReginaCon) - in Minnesota?

In June we held what some are calling ReginaCon 2010, but which I still prefer to call the Fairy Tale Novel Fan Gathering at our house (the Black Cat Inn) and on our property (Shirefeld) near Front Royal, Virginia. 
 This year Elizabeth Hausladen took over the organization and brought our activities to a whole new level of creativity!  This year we had:
Our own adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest - by the Shirefeld Players

Morning Rosary (of course)
Narnia Treasure Hunt
Midnight...

Summer Events & Recent Conferences and Talks

April 16 & 17, 2010 - I gave two talks at the Mad Anthony Writers' Conference in Hamilton, Ohio (near Cincinnati) on "Decoding Fiction Submission Guidelines" and "Writing Evil Characters." It was great to meet Ohio writers!
 May 21 & 22, 2010 - I and my husband, Andrew, spoke at the Dayton Catholic Homeschool Conference in Dayton, Ohio about imagination, suffering, men & women, marriage, and fatherhood. We also SOLD OUT of 40 preview editions of Alex O'Donnell and the 40 CyberThieves ! 
Talks...

Fairy Tale Novel Fan Gathering This Weekend!

If you are local to me in Virginia, I just wanted to post the schedule for the third Fairy Tale Novel Fan Gathering, held at my home, which we call The Black Cat Inn and organized by Elizabeth Hausladen, moderator and founder of the FTN Forum and director of the Shadow of the Bear movie.

Fairy Tale Novel Fan Gathering 2010
Thursday, June 24th
9 AM Rosary
12:00 Angelus and lunch
1:30 writing workshop on fiction by Regina
3:00 Swimming at Shirefeld and hanging out
5:30 potluck supper (if you come for ...

Editor's Desk: Showing Vs. Telling

A break from Alex work to give my opinion on a question that frequently comes up for new writers:

Yesterday a friend commenting on my posts asked:
Just out of curiosity, what is your view of showing versus telling? I wonder this because there seems to be this very hard and fast rule currently that everything possible must be shown rather than told. But if you go back some years and look at what is considered great literature, there is a lot of telling. I recently read a short story from the...