Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Frustrating Stuff

In September I'm going to be an instructor for the Central Coast Writing Conference at Cuesta College. I've been asked to give to classes, one on Mystery Writing 101A and the other on Setting. I'm looking forward to it. This is a conference I've always wanted to attend, but awhile back I made up my mind I wouldn't go to any more writers conferences unless I was a presenter.

While over at the Morro Bay Library giving a joint presentation with several other writers I met the new chairman of the conference. She asked me if I planned to go. I gave her my new rule and guess what? Yep, she invited me to be on their line-up. I was thrilled. Not only is this a paying gig, it's a great conference with lots of good classes, a reception and a party at the end of the conference and it ties in with the Central Coast Book Festival the following day.

So why am I frustrated? Their publicity on the Cuesta College website hasn't really been updated since last year's conference. Though the date has changed, the speakers and schedule are from 2010. The reason is the serious illness of the person who takes care of the website. That's a shame, of course. My frustration comes from the fact that I'd love to help promote the conference, but I can't until they solve their website problem.

Hopefully they have a following who always attends the conference, because my personal opinion is it's a bit late to not have everything ready for attendees to see what's offered and to get registered.

Because I'm heavily involved with the planning and promotion of the PSWA conference http://policewriter.com I can tell you that the website information is correct. The main presenters are up on the blog. There will be panels for authors to be on, but that won't be finalized until June 1. We're already had more registrations than last year--and because we're small without any monetary backing, everyone pays to come--even the main speakers.

As soon as I know the website really is updated, I'll give you the webpage site. Not only is this a good writing conference, it is in a great location. If you've never been to the San Luis Obispo area, it's beautiful. Located close to the Central California Coast you can be sure of ocean breezes, and it's near Morro Bay, a unique coastal town right on the water.

Here's to writing conferences--I always learn something new and come back ready to write.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

3 comments:

Morgan Mandel said...

They need to get someone working on it ASAP or the conference will fall the way of those that have closed because of lack of attendees.

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com

Mark Haile said...

I wish I could be up there for the conference (my folks are in SLO) but I can't be there that weekend. I actually spent a semester at Cuesta College when it was still partly under construction, and some of the wooden barracks built to house doughboys from WWI during basic training and later German POWs in WWII were utilized as classrooms. And then, there was the prison, the only thing of consequence between SLO & Morro Bay that People Didn't Like To Talk About. All that to say, I hope you have the opportunity to take advantage of the surroundings for the atmosphere. In the 19th century that area was rife with bandits, and blood-curdling crimes that the beautiful landscapes seem to work overtime to obscure.

Marilyn Meredith a.k.a. F. M. Meredith said...

I'm looking forward to it. I know that the chairperson is frantically trying to get thinks done.

Marilyn