Jen Fitz Evangelization Talk - 2/26/23
I'll be presenting on Evangelization at the Catholic Writers Guild Online Conference, February 24-26, 2023.
Head’s up for those who may be interested:
Sunday, February 26 I’ll be speaking on “Evangelization for Authors” at the Catholic Writers Guild’s online conference. Before you say to yourself, actually I am not an author and have no such plans, two points I’ll be hitting that will be of general interest:
Written evangelization generally, and by that I mostly mean social media (and e-mail or other correspondence, for the throwbacks).
The reader’s side of evangelization: What authors write is what readers recommend for each other. So when I’m discussing where various types of fiction and non-fiction fit into evangelization and discipleship, I will also be explicitly outlining some thoughts on how different types of books are helpful at various stages in the path towards discipleship.
If you are an author or aspiring author, of course there will be topics specifically for you as well.
—> This is the only talk I’m planning to give in 2023, so if that’s your thing then don’t get all upset I didn’t tell you about your big chance.
Other Conference Highlights
I’ll be attending the conference as an audience member as well (this is why), and having been to quite a few of these, here are some presentations I particularly recommend:
If you freelance in the USA (whether writing or any other gig), go to the taxes workshop (Sunday afternoon). My incongruous presenter bio is because I initially offered to teach this one, but Matthew P. Schmidt was the obvious choice instead. I will be attending this and taking notes.
I’m not saying you need to specifically do the CWG’s presentation? But if you freelance, at all, you need to know how to report your self-employed income and expenses, pay your self-employment taxes, avoid the hobby-loss problem, etc.
—> Check out IRS.gov if you just want to read up on your own. It’s not that hard, but you do have to learn how to do all the things. Something that surprised me when I went to use tax software for the first time is that many platforms didn’t offer Schedule C in their basic package. Insane. Watch out for that.
If you write (anything): Don’t miss Michelle Buckman on fiction (Friday evening), and it looks like it’s going to be point of view this year. Michelle is a pro’s pro on the art and science of telling compelling stories, and she’s a fantastic teacher. Even if you only write non-fiction, storytelling is a skill you need to master. I will never not take notes when Michelle Buckman is talking about the craft.
Also recommended:
I always enjoy Jane Lebak and Antony Barone Kolenc because they are smart, funny, and relatable.
Any topic that catches your interest, either because it aligns with your writing goals or just because you’ve always wanted to know more about it. Looks like there are some good entry-level workshops on the basics of publishing if you’re in the “I’ve thought about writing a book one day” group.
A few technical notes on the conference:
I’m pretty sure the posted schedule times are in CST. Confirm!
It’s a zoom-type platform (but not Zoom, something else), and I don’t recall there being captioning in the past. Reach out in advance if you have any specific access needs, because you don’t want to set aside the time and money only to realize it’s not a good fit.
I’ve generally found the online conference is more effective for sitting back and learning than for socializing and networking. However, if you’re interested in getting involved in The Catholic Writers Guild, then it is a good preview of who’s who, and there are typically some opportunities during the online conference to chat informally, even if it isn’t very extensive or in-depth.
Okay and that’s it for today. As always, if you know someone who’d be interested, feel free to share this post, all content on this substack is always free to read.
And with that, we’ll get back to our regular evangelization topics. If you’re new and want to get on the e-mail list for future newsletters, info about that is here.
