The extra bits

We’re quite fond of our writers and we like to treat them. For instance, we hold an annual get-together in London. Last year it was “sold out” (the event is free to our writers but we do have to issue tickets as there is limit on spaces) and although we’ve booked the same venue for next year, I suspect that for the year after we might have to find somewhere bigger.

We’re also looking at doing a similar event in Manchester in the summer.

To me, organising events like this is actually quite creative. I enjoy doing them.

However, these are definitely extra services we offer. They do take time and effort and can be quite tiring on the actual day, though naturally also very rewarding.   

We announced our next call for submissions at the event on 3 December 2016. However, we’ve only just put it out to the public for two reasons:

·         We’ve had problems with our web site provider and couldn’t actually edit our pages for a while.

·         We’ve actually been rather busy on core activities.

Normally we make the announcement on 1 January.   

Sometimes we make a rod for our own backs by offering extra services: people begin to expect the extras and expect them of others.

I’ve seen this happen in various teaching situations as well. As I’ve taught for over forty years, most of it comes to me quite easily, so adding some extras isn’t a problem – except that then students expect everyone to do that and they also expect me to do it every time. It’s not always possible.    

We must manage expectation here.

We do do our best. I find it reasonable to assume that so does everyone else.