CL Pauwels at Large

Catniss is far more concerned about stealing my attention than my ideas

The first edition of Confessions of a Prodigal Daughter contained a handful of quotes from authors whose books were influential in my spiritual journey. Some authors’ works were in the public domain, such as that Saint Augustine, but others, like Lauren Winner’s memoir Girl Meets God, were not. I hold a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and was certainly not ignorant of plagiarism: I cited each quote with the correct author and the work it was from, in MLA format, no less. What I didn’t know about was copyright infringement, which complicates the rights of authors and artists in ways I did not expect.

Unfortunately, I didn’t learn about the dangers of copyright infringement until after publication. I reasoned that the authors I quoted would never stumble upon my little self-published book; but that would mean I…