Why Do So Many People Think It Is Alright To Lie To Writers

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I am getting seriously sick of petty-minded cruel insensitive lazy, lying morons who promise to read, print or stage my work or create and offer me performance opportunities without really having any intention of doing so. Recently I have had publishers sit on submissions in perpetuity instead of accepting or rejecting them at all, newsletter editors request features from me only to then run their publications as if no communications were ever exchanged from themselves to me and vice-versa way ahead of deadlines, cabaret organizers discussing shows with me in some detail and then ‘forgetting’ to add me to the performance lists and theatre managers promising to stage my shows and even offering me dates for them without actually reading my scripts, offering casting calls or telling the public about them. Various friends ask me if they can look at some of my bigger projects in progress and offer constructive feedback only to then be permanently too busy to look at the work just now. If you are a publisher or editor and someone sends you work, especially if you asked for it however casually, you are morally duty bound to read it. If you can’t use it or dislike it, say so to the author honestly rather than teasing their hopes and dreams by maintaining a promise to use it later rather than letting them send it elsewhere. If you are just a friend with some writing experience of your own, you should know better than to dupe fellow writers and performers with promises of a look at their work if you are unwilling or unable to put such promises into practice. Such unprofessional time-wasters are just using air the rest of humanity could be breathing. Arthur Chappell