If you build your library by belonging to a small book club, you might sometimes be lost for words after reading a new book. What should your reading group be discussing after this week’s read? Well, one way to decide is to checkout Reading Group Guides.com - http://www.readinggroupguides.com - which is really an online community for reading groups. You can register your club there, and find reading guides for just about every popular book. Plus they offer suggestions as to what to read next and insightful interviews with librarians and booksellers.

I was reminded recently that the things we hold most precious are only precious to us, not anyone else. You can’t self your friendships. You can’t list respect on E-Bay. And the most precious thing we have is life, yet it has absolutely no trade-in value.

The highlight of my week was a complete surprise.  When I went to speak at a meeting of the Arlington Chapter of the Jaycees a vaguely familiar fellow sat beside me and shook my hand.  After a shameful delay I realized he was my fraternity bother Mark Altman.  In my own defense I haven’t seen this guy in 34 years or so, and we’ve both changed a bit in that time.  But he remembered way more about me than I would have expected, including the superhero-littered skyline mural we painted on the wall in The Executive Suite (the room I shared with 2 others in the Alpha Delta Phi house.)  Mark’s doing some consultant work in my area for a while so we’ll see more of each other and be able to catch up on some old times.

Xaipe Mark.  It has been a while.

That wasn’t all of my good news.  I had a great time at the Bay to Ocean conference, as always, and my presentation on writing dialog was well received.  Hard to believe this was my fifth visit there.  What a fine bunch of folks that run that thing (Thanks Diane, Mala, Judy, Wilson, Laura, Roger, Carla, Ann, Bea, Jim, Linda, Bonna, Terry, Jeanne, Leslie, and especially Carolyn for making it the best conference, both for speakers and the attendees.

Also this week I wrote a guest blog for Leslie Pietrzy’s “Work in Progress” page - http://workinprogressinprogress.blogspot.com/2008/02/guest-in-progress-austin-s-camacho.html which she posted Thursday.  It gave me a chance to defend genre fiction to my literary author friend, and she added some comments to round out the discussion.  The result should be of interest, no matter what you like to read.  It was popular enough to get picked up by other bloggers, like “1001 Things To Do Before I Die” - http://hot-explay.blogspot.com - another literary blog maintained by dinve (yes, that’s the correct spelling.)

I’ll spend tomorrow with lots of fellow authors at the Bay to Ocean Writers Conference - http://www.baytoocean.com. From 8 am to 5 pm, the conference offers inspiration and instruction (not to mention a fine lunch) to aspiring and emerging authors. We’ll hear from Barnes & Nobles Community Relations Manager Hannah Miller, marketing pro Shar McBee, and the best editor I know, Melanie Rigney, will discuss the essentials of writing a good novel: characters, conflict and construction. And that’s barely half the program!

I’ll give a workshop on Writing Effective Dialogue, explaining the art of making conversation between characters look natural and effortless while it moves the story where you want it to go. It will be a blast and if you signed up, find me and say hello!

I often point you to places on line that will help you find great writing. The Book Ninja - http://www.bookninja.com/ <http://www.bookninja.com/> - on the other hand, brings great writing to you. Almost every day, the Book Ninja gathers the most interesting, or controversial, or humorous writing about the world of literature from all over the internet. On your own you might miss an article about the new $100G Sami Rohr prize that asks, "Do Jews write Jewish novels?" or the piece in The Onion claiming satirically that the use of the phrase "don’t skimp on the…" is linked to heart disease.

The mysterious Book Ninja also manages to round up all the news from Australia, Great Britain and other English speaking literary lands. The only negative to this site is that it might get you in a head lock that you can never break free of.

I was chastised this week for not voting in the primaries. Since I’m not committed to a party, I don’t think I should help choose their candidates. In that same conversation I was taken to task for the snide and sometimes humorous remarks I’ve made about all of the candidates. I suppose I deserved that, but the truth is, I don’t generally approve of political jokes. I’ve seen too many of them get elected.

Sometimes in the process of finding myself on line I find some of the best web sites for those interested in the literary world. For example, just because I was at the same fiction seminar with Leslie Pietrzyk I was name-checked on her blog, "Work-in-Progress." - http://workinprogressinprogress.blogspot.com/2008/02/fiction-seminar-on-saturday.html  If I hadn’t been there I may never have stumbled upon this wonderfully enlightening blog. Leslie modestly describes her site as a blog in which she explores the creative process and all things literary. In fact, her entries are startlingly insightful about this addictive and uncontrolled condition we call being a writer, and her blog is often a sounding board for some of the most interesting literary guests on the web.

BTW, when it comes to the universe of literature, Ms Pietrzyk knows whereof she speaks. She has two novels in print and her short fiction has appeared in several prestigious journals. She has received fellowships from the Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers’ Conferences, the KHN Center for the Arts and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and teaches at both Johns Hopkins University and the Writer’s Center. If you want a panoramic view of the world of writing today, bookmark this site and visit it often.

Saturday at the American University event I again came face to face with the fact that people actually go to college to learn how to write. Listening to a few Masters of Fine Arts I wondered if I would have been able to succeed in that environment or if instead some wise professors would have convinced me I have no talent. I think I’ve done pretty well living an "OJT" life, since Public Affairs is an On the Job Training profession. And I must admit that the closest I ever got to a 4.0 in college was my blood alcohol content.

I had a great Saturday at the all-day seminar "A World of Fiction Writing" at American University, jointly sponsored by Washington Independent Writers. The speakers were great, especially the web-savvy team on the "Writers’ Blogs," panel, and my fellow authors on the genre writing panel.

I had to leave a little early to get to the Borders Books & Music in the Capital Shopping Mall. I spent two hours there signing copies of Blood and Bone. I got a great welcome from those folks and will surely go back… when they’ve had time to order more books.

Then Sunday I paid a second visit to the Borders Express at the Dulles Town Center. Paired with fellow crime novelist Rique Johnson, we became more of an improv comedy team than a pair of writers, but together we signed a pile of books.

And for those of you who’d like to hear more about Love is Murder, the conference the weather wouldn’t let me attend, check out the Mystery Turtles blog, where my pal Morgan Mandel chats about last weekend. I was supposed to be on a panel with Morgan, but she seems to have handled things pretty darn well without me. You can read her account at http://mysteryturtles.blogspot.com.

My big news this week is my blog tour stop at Pop Syndicate - http://www.popsyndicate.com/books/story/blog. Red-headed blog queen Angela Wilson introduced me to her audience there, and if you look over on the right side of her web page you’ll see she interviewed me and posted a sample chapter of Damaged Goods. Not to be outdone I added an interview with my fictional detective Hannibal Jones.  Check it out if you get a chance.

I can never resist talking about it when I get positive feedback from a reader.  That’s why I want to introduce you to Shelbie Wells.

We met at a Borders book signing, as is so often the case for me. I always ask people who purchase one of my novels to send me a note when they’ve read it to tell me what they think. Well, this was one reader who was true to her word and sent me a very flattering note about Blood and Bone, the book she picked up. She also asked if I had written more about Kyle, the boy around whom the book revolves. I must admit I haven’t, but now I think I’ll have to feature him in the next book I write.

I’ve made Shelbie’s comments my featured review so you can see them on my web site - http://www.hannibaljonesmysteries.com. Thank you, Shelbie, your kind words.