I attended the SCWW in 2007 and had a good time. I received an excellent manuscript critique and met some authors and agents that I liked and respected. So I decided to go back in 2008, and convinced my wife to go with me.
Unfortunately my brother passed away just two days before the conference, at age fifty-nine, from complications related to colon cancer. The three months prior to that were spent traveling back and forth to see him when I could and thinking about him the rest of the time. Not much writing got done. Missing the conference was of little consequence in the big picture at the time. Now that I've had a couple of weeks to recover, it has left a very bad impression.
They give no refunds on such short notice, so the money is gone. The Hilton also required a one night cancellation fee. Since my wife was accompanying me this year, we are out about a thousand dollars. My wife appealed to the SCWW, to no avail.
I had also paid one hundred dollars extra for an extended critique. They said there was no way they would arrange for the critique by phone or email, or even tell me who was doing the critique. Both my wife and I appealed via email. Yesterday I got a five line email that contained my extended critique. I won't name who gave the critique, but my impression is simple carelessness. Even though I paid extra, I am just not worth the time or effort because I was unable to attend in person.
So this is my rant against the South Carolina Writers Workshop. If I had been able to attend, no doubt I would have had a very different impression, but the careless and callous treatment I have received will probably prevent me from ever attending again.
No comments:
Post a Comment