What’s New in Fabianspace

The Catholic Writers Conference ended on March 3 with the last pitch session. What an intense week! We had 285 people attending to hear presentations on writing and marketing.

It’s been such a journey since Ann Lewis and I started this conference back in 2008. We did everything in a chat room and forum with talks, classes, and even pitch sessions. The first years of webinar software (well before 2020 and Zoom), were chaotic times full of lags, people who didn't understand the software, and so much tech support that I seldom heard the speakers!

Now, we have a committee of five, plus mods, and the conference runs over a week. The software was surprisingly smooth, and the webinars averaged over 100 people! 

The classes this year were exceptional, but I think my favorite piece of advice came from a comment in the chat. We were discussing how to hook a writer, and someone said it requires a pinch of worldbuilding, a portion of empathy, and a healthy serving of anticipation of action to come.

Vern will tell you the highlight was when he was used as an example of strong voice by presenter Jane Lebak. “I could listen to Vern read the phone book!” she said, and he’s been preening since.

I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful team and such enthusiastic presenters and attendees. The live conference is in May, and I’m excited to go!

Introducing Andrea Bear

Today, we’re learning about a fellow Guildie, Andrea Bear. She’s a fellow Guild member, and we’re doing a newsletter exchange. I’ll be talking a little about her latest book, The Grieving Daughter’s Club. It’s definitely a women’s fiction book, dealing with some strong themes. It’s not a funny book, but a beautiful one about dealing with the death of one’s mother.

Two years after the death of her mother, forty-year-old Frankie Waters reluctantly joins a parish book club to prove to her family she is coming out of her grief like state. While engaging with the eclectic women who drink wine and never finish their readings, she encounters Olivia a young, single, mother who has a secret that could be life altering. As the weekly book meetings progress, Frankie’s desire to help Olivia and the other women start to lighten her grief. But good intentions aren’t always enough. Could Frankie’s intrusiveness push Olivia to make a horrible decision, or worse cause Frankie regret and return to her cocoon of grief.

About Andrea

Andrea Bear believes God calls us to share stories from our heart. In 2018, she attended a bible study where the women in her group shared personal and inspirational testimonies. That same year, she lost her mother to cancer and began to channel her grief and her faith through writing, which led to the publication of articles in faith-based websites such as Catholicmom.com, queenofpeacemedia.com, Her Life Magazine, and now her debut novel Grieving Daughters’ Club. She is currently working on her second novel to this three-part series, called See You in the Mourning. Outside of her writing she is a high school history teacher. She and her husband Kevin have been married for close to twenty years and make their home in Stockton California. They have three daughters Natalie, Emily and Molly.

Excerpt

Judith leaned forward. “Seems like a coincidence, right? But there’s no such thing as a coincidence.” Judith stared around the room and her eyes ended on Frankie with intense seriousness. “When people just happen to talk about the same topics or just happen to have the same experiences, those aren’t coincidences. There’s a purpose for it. We’re all here for a shared reason, so my guess is there’s a bigger reason you’re here too, Frankie.”

Frankie sat in the ensuing silence repeating the phrase in her head. There’s no such thing as coincidence. How could Judith know she was hiding something? She said nothing yet felt Judith could see everything about her.

“Even if there were no such thing as coincidences, there is such a thing as getting started,” Birdie interjected and started pointing out the parts of the book that everyone needed to read.

But Frankie wasn’t listening. She wondered if there really was a reason for her to attend. She knew coming to the book talk was an effort to work past her grief, but the introductions alone had been enough for her to wonder what she was getting into.