Join Debra Murphy February 26 through March 5, 2010, for the Catholic Writers Conference Online, organized by the Catholic Writers Guild. Debra will be leading a five-day workshop, “Ten Commandments for Catholic Fiction Writers”, in which she will share some of the insights and resources she’s gleaned from several decades of reading, writing, editing, and publishing Catholic fiction.

There will be a number of workshops and pitch sessions—opportunities to pitch your work, fiction and non-fiction, to editors. Everything is conducted online, so you never have to leave the comfort of your home. Best of all, registration is FREE.

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First published last winter in Second Spring Journal, Debra’s article, “A Christian looks at the fiction of Ian McEwan”, is now available online at CatholicExchange.

Here’s how the article begins:

Two things need to be gotten out of the way before anyone attempts to address the fiction of English novelist Ian McEwan in a disapproving vein: First, he is one of the most acclaimed writers of our time; Second, unless your name happens to be, oh, John Updike, it is almost certain that McEwan is a better writer than you are.

In other words, one had best proceed with some humility, and I do. Rightly regarded as one of the finest stylists in the English language—McEwan’s prose is as perfectly calibrated as a Swiss watch, or a time bomb―his Booker Prize win in 1998, though for one of his fluffier little books, Amsterdam, was nonetheless not entirely misplaced. Sentence for sentence, it simply doesn’t get much better.

For the rest of the article, click here.

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I will once again be participating in the Southern Oregon Book & Author Fair on Saturday, November 21 in the 2nd floor ballroom of the Ashland Springs Hotel in beautiful downtown. Ashland. I’ll be signing and selling copies of The Mystery of Things, chatting with my fellow regional authors and book lovers, and generally enjoying a day of bookish kanoodling.

Though this is (if memory serves) my fourth time round with the book fair, it will be the first time as an Ashlander, which has allowed me to participate more with behind-the-scenes preparations. Specifically, I’ve been building the book fair’s new website, which is where you should go for more info if you’re thinking of attending!

With something like sixty authors in attendance, It will be a great way to start your Christmas shopping for all those book lovers among your friends and family!

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