Monday, June 20, 2005

Writers at Work

It seems amazing the people we can get to come to our conference in the middle of June in the middle of Utah. Orientation for Writers at Work Faculty was tonight and everyone is just so generous and kind--maybe because the people who agree to come to Salt Lake during their summer break are already predisposed to kindness. Sometimes, I feel after the conference, that they leave saying "ah, those hicks" but for the most part I think we manage to impress them a bit. And I'm impressed by how genuinely happy they seem to be here--Carol Houck Smith and Peter Steinberg and Carol and Dick Frost and Crystal Williams and, as always, Kevin McIlvoy were all so gracious. I'm not sure why I don't expect them to be--maybe bad faculty at other conferences and programs--but even the Prima Donnas are finally gracious--if you leave them alone for a bit.
So the conference is long and a lot of work, but, just like the garage sale, hard work and missing time I should use to write, apparently not only won't kill me but I will actually find it to be quite a bit of fun.

2 comments:

middlebrow said...

I perform the role of resident hick. Next reading I will be sure to talk to the writers about fishing. Are you a dry fly or wet fly man? I will ask.

Anonymous said...

I am so glad you blogged about the writers@work conference. Writers@work just sent out a competition announcement, but their website has no contact information. I found you by googling. How do I get in touch with writers@work about the conference and the competition?
Thanks, Lill
cclill@comcast.net