Today is the thirty-first in a series of posts by San-Diego-based writer Thomas Shess who has decided to keep a journal on his journey to find a publisher for his novel.

Conference Manana-I'm heading off to the Southern California Writer's Conference in San Diego, one of the first writer's conferences I've attended since 2002. The last time, I went I was determined to find an agent. I struck out with agents, but did find a great book editor. This year, I'm going in relaxed. What happens will happen. The best thing that happened to me my last conference was hearing speaker book editor Mike Sirota pound into heads to have any submitted manuscript in the best possible shape. No typos. No dead-end scenes. Clean as the proverbial whistle. Four years later, Mike is working with me on the going process of polishing my novel.

Promises-The second good thing that happened to me at the last Southern California Writer's Conference in San Diego was sit in on a lecture by Bill Johnson, author of A Story is a Promise-Good Things to Know Before You Write that Screenplay, Novel or Play [Blue Heron Publishing]. My late father once caught me in a lie and while I was scrambling to cover up, he smiled at me instead of being angry and said, "when all else fails tell the truth." In a way, Bill Johnson says when as a writer you're finished being a latter day Spillane, Tan or Hemingway-be true to yourself and tell a story. When you have a book published, you are promising the reader a story. Deliver on that promise with a good story. Johnson's book tells how to understand many of the elements of good storytelling.

Buzz, Buzz, Buzz-Part of the enjoyment of going to a writer's conference is the anticipation. Much of the fun comes from the SCWC's lively website [www.writersconference.com]. The site does a good job of buzzing. Here's an example: "...A wonderful report from Castiglia Agency literary rep, Sally Van Haitsma: 'I met author Raul Ramos Sanchez at the SCWC conference in San Diego a year ago. His political thriller which contemplates civil war in the southwestern United States, is now known as America Libre, and went through a year's worth of drafts, with final polishing by a professional editor. (Just to give aspiring authors a taste of the long process involved in getting a manuscript ready.) Within the past couple days America Libre has been sent out to four major NYC publishers for consideration.' Wow. As always, many thanks and a great, big (non-Grizzly) hug to Sally for being such a superlatively passionate advocate for emerging writers! . . ." Sally is one of the featured literary agents working with writers by reading advance submissions and offering feedback.

New Mag-Here's more from the SCWC webuzzer: "...Added to the schedule, author/workshop leader Marla Miller has just been named editor-in-chief of Location 3 Magazine, debuting July. Says Marla, 'I'm looking for a 'few good freelancers' that have OC ties. Your San Diego conference - in my humble - draws your best writers and I'd love to harvest some.' As usual, Marla will conduct at least a couple of sessions, sitting in on Sunday's Editors Panel, and giving generously of her time throughout the weekend. We can't wait to hear more about her new gig..."

Conference Speaker-SCWC Friday evening speaker Robert Ferrigno's Prayers for the Assassin [Simon & Schuster] is currently February's "Killer Book" by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Assn. and selected by the Independent Booksellers Assn. as March "Booksense Pick." Simon & Schuster is supporting Ferrigno by with a website.

Meanwhile back at The Zoo, the author of this column is searching for a publisher or a literary agent for my recently fine tuned first novel, a thriller based in San Francisco loaded with plenty of suspense, a damn good story and a plot that works-Drop me an e-mail for a pithy synopsis.

*Because it's a jungle out there.