Carmela A. Martino

I am presenting a talk on "Gathering Your Circle of Saints" at the 2025 Catholic Writers Guild Live Conference. I was inspired to have my own Circle of Saints after hearing Alexis Walkenstein's keynote address at the 2023 CWG Live Conference. You can read Alexis's recap of that keynote on her site. 

 

You can also find discussions of the Saint of the Day on the Fransican Media website and on the Catholic News Agency website, among many others.

 

Below are the quotes I share in my talk:

 

St. Francis de Sales: 

"Be who you are and be that well as a witness to the master craftsman who created you."

 

St. Teresa of Avila:

"Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things pass away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices."

 

St. Anthony of Padua:

"Be just as God made you to be. Do not go seeking another 'you.' Do not make yourself otherwise than he made you."

 

St. Thérèse of Lisieux:

"I'm not relying on my own merits, as I have none, but I put my hope in Him who is goodness and holiness Himself."

 

"To limit your desires and your hopes is to misunderstand God's infinite goodness!"

St. Hildegard of Bingen:

"Become who you are by becoming all that you are. We understand so little of what goes on around us because we don't use what is within us."

 

Closing prayer from St. Teresa of Avila:

"Lord, grant that I may always allow myself to be guided by you, always follow your plans, and perfectly accomplish your holy will. Grant that in all things, great and small, today and all the days of my life, I may do whatever you may require of me. Help me to respond to the slightest prompting of your grace, so that I may be your trustworthy instrument, for your honor. May your will be done in time and eternity—by me, in me, and through me."

If you have any questions about my presentation, feel free to email me through my contact page. I also invite you to subscribe to my Creativity Newsletter here. 

 

 

 

I'm in the process of revising this website and have decided to move the links to my TV, radio, and podcast interviews here. Unfortunately, direct links to some of the interviews are no longer available.

 

Podcast and radio interviews:  

 

• I was interviewed by Dr. Cynthia Toolin-Wilson for her Author to Author program on WCAT radio in March 2024 about how I came to write Playing by Heart. You can hear our conversation here.
• In February 2024, I spoke with TK, host of the For the Love of History Podcast, about the real sisters who inspired my novel, Playing by Heart. You can listen to the interview here.
• I enjoyed a wide-ranging podcast discussion with Jayne de Sales on the July 26, 2022 episode of Tales with de Sales. Our topics included Jane Austen, the harpsichord, computer coding, care of the poor, and my novel Playing by Heart.
• I was interviewed by Antony Kolenc for The Shepherd's Pie podcast on Oct. 10, 2021. The topic was "Culture and Youth," and we discussed ways to help young people appreciate their own heritage and respect the culture of others.  
• I was interviewed for the Catholic Chicago radio program for a second time, on July 26, 2018, this time by Graziano Marcheschi. We discussed both Rosa, Sola and Playing by Heart. The direct link to the recoding is no longer available.
• Fellow author Amy Cattapan and I were interviewed for the Catholic Chicago radio program hosted by Fr. Greg Sakowicz, Rector of Holy Name Cathedral and Wayne Magdziarz, Senior Vice President at Loyola University Chicago on March 27, 2017. We discussed our books and the CatholicTeenBooks website for the first 30 minutes of the one-hour program. The direct link to the recoding is no longer available. 

TV interviews: 

• Author A.J. Cattapan interviewed me about my YA historical, Playing by Heart, for the Book.Ed program on Shalom World TV. The program includes a teen fan of Playing by Heart sharing her thoughts on the novel. You can watch the Book.Ed episode here.   
• EWTN Bookmark host Doug Keck interviewed me at the 2019 Catholic Marketing Nework convention after Playing by Heart won the 2018 Catholic Arts and Letters Award (CALA) for Children's/Young Adult fiction. You can watch the Bookmark interview here.

 

If you watch or listen to any of these interviews, do let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

 

      I'll be presenting a workshop on "Turning Life into Fiction" for the Catholic Writers Guild Online Conference later this month. In addition to Robin Hemley's writing book of the same name, I'll likely be mentioning the following texts:

• The Art of Fiction by John Gardner
• Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
• Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeleine L'Engle
• Stein on Writing by Sol Stein, especially Chapter 17: "How to Use All Six of Your Senses."

I won't have time for any writing exercises during the presentation, but for those who are writing fiction inspired by the lives of others, I recommend an exercise I shared on the TeachingAuthors blog in this post. 

 

Also, if you're writing historical fiction, check out the resources I share in this blog post.

 

And you can find multiple online articles at Writers Digest magazine on turning life into fiction and writing historical fiction here.

 

If you have any questions about my presentation, feel free to post it as a comment below or email me through my contact page.

 

 

     

     I'm excited to announce that I am now represented by Anjanette Barr of Dunham Literary, Inc! I'm looking forward to working with Anjanette to find homes for my latest projects.