Your Royalty Note – May 2015

Spring Fellowship Brunch
May 16, 2015 from 10-Noon in Rancho Bernardo
Guest Speaker: Sandra O’Donnell
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Sandra O'DonnellSDCWG Spring Fellowship Brunch

Early Bird Fall Conference signups for Guild members only will be taken at the Spring event!

Guest Speaker Sandra O’Donnell (sandraodonnell.com). Author of 52 Sundays: An Exploration of Christianity in America.

Writer, speaker, academic and communication consultant Sandra O’Donnell’s current project, 52 Sundays: An Exploration of Christianity in America, provides readers with an entertaining, enlightening, and evocative look at church going in America. After losing her husband to pancreatic cancer, Sandra embarked on a journey to visit a different church every Sunday for a year. Her travels took her from Massachusetts to California and from the deep South to New York City, as well as many places in between, representing the broadest possible Christian experience. The goal of 52 Sundays is to open a dialogue about Christianity in America. The book is aimed at a wide audience, both the 125 million Americans who attend church each-and-every Sunday and those who simply want to know more about America’s religious origins and diversity. It will be published in 2016. Also, a book based on her original research and dissertation on the Pilgrims will be published in 2017/18, just in time for the 400th Anniversary of the Pilgrims voyage to America.

Sandra studied writing with Lee Gutkind, “the godfather of creative non-fiction” and Stephen Pyne, the prolific author of books about fire, ice, and space exploration while working on her Ph.D. She teaches workshops on writing and creative non-fiction, including “Project 52: Your Book this Year.”

Sandra lives in San Diego, where she is currently working on two new books. 52 Weeks of Service is about the volunteer culture in America and 52 Weeks of a Banner Marriage, which provides questions and practices to enhance one of our most important relationships. When she isn’t writing she is exploring San Diego with her husband Kim, whom she met while visiting his church on Sunday 23. (And yes, it was a God thing.)

SDCWG SDCWG Annual Writing Awards: It’s time to submit your published writing from 2014 for the Guild’s annual writing awards. Awards will be presented at the Fall Conference in October. Current members, even past winners, are encouraged to submit their best writing published in 2014 for consideration. Please send five (5) copies of your submissions to PO Box 270403, San Diego, California, 92198 (or bring to the Spring Fellowship Event! The final deadline is May 31, 2015. All entries (except books) may be submitted by sending a PDF formatted copy to info @ sandiegocwg.org.

Rules: Material need not be overtly Christian in nature or published by a Christian publisher/magazine but should not be offensive. Maximum of three entries per person. You must be a current member to submit. Past winners are eligible. Board members are ineligible. Entries will not be returned.

  • Books: Fiction and non-Fiction, traditional or self-published
  • Articles: Magazines, online or printed
  • Blogs
  • Poems: (Poems do not need to have been published. But they must have been written in 2014.)
  • Devotions
  • Songs
  • Plays
SDCWGSDCWG Unpublished Manuscript Contest: Deadline: May 31, 2015. It’s time to submit your unpublished, completed book manuscripts. Also eligible in this category are self-published (non-royalty or subsidized) books. Authors of self-published books (published in 2013) can choose to enter the unpublished manuscript category or the regular, published book category for the writing awards (see above). To enter the unpublished category, send the first 25 and the last 10 pages of your double-spaced manuscript electronically to info @ sandiegocwg.org with subject line: 2014 Award Submission. Please include a title page and the title/author/page number on the upper right hand corner of each page. The first place winner of this new category will receive an appointment at the Fall conference with an editor or agent of his or her choice.
Diana Taylor
Diana Taylor

Diana Taylor: I just signed a contract with Whitaker House for a novel on Mary, Mother of Jesus. Starting in June, there will be a contest to name the book. It must have “Mary” in the title. The three finalists will get a signed copy of the book, the winner will learn his/her title was chosen when the book comes out. Send title submissions to me at deetaylor@cox.net. Synopsis of story will be on my Facebook Author site in June.

Critique Groups
Critique Groups

Critique Groups:

  • VISTA: 1st Wednesday from 10am-Noon at the home of Barb Waite.
  • SANTEE: 1st and 3rd Wednesdays from 6:00-7:30 pm at the Santee library. Tiffany Hayden Hostess.
  • TEMECULA: 2nd Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at the home of Rebecca Farnbach,
  • BEACH CITIES: 3rd Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. at the home of Martha Gorris (Group full)
  • NATIONAL CITY: Contact Bill Bagot host for date and time.
  • POWAY: 3rd Monday at 7:00 pm at the home of Kathryn Hughes
  • RAMONA: 1st and 3rd Mondays at the home of Byron Metler.
  • KINGMAN, AZ: 2nd Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at the home of Jeff Adams.

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