Budding Catholic writers might be interested in checking out the forthcoming Writers Conference Online, organized by the Catholic Writers Guild. Those interested should e-mail Karina Fabian (karina@fabianspace.com). The deadline for registering for the conference is next Monday, February 15. My own involvement at this conference will be to lead an on-line chat on the theme, “What authors can learn from Chesterton”. Here’s a brief description of some of the questions that will be addressed during the chat, which is scheduled for noon on Friday February 26: 

“G.K. Chesterton was a very successful writer across many literary genres and, as such, is a good guide to the art of successful writing. The on-line chat will centre on the various ways in which Chesterton communicated to his audience in a way that was both popular and profound. He managed to earn the respect of the intelligentsia without ever losing the common touch. Using prose that was accessible without ever succumbing to the ‘dumbing-down’ of his style, he employed paradox and humour to great and disarmingly charming effect. How did Chesterton spend so much time arguing with his adversaries without ever quarreling with them? How did he cross swords with the modern world without ever losing the prevailing sense of good-natured charity that animates everything he wrote? How does a writer follow Chesterton’s example in the twenty-first century? These and other questions will be asked, and hopefully answered, during the hour-long chart session.”