Today is the 32nd in a series of posts by San-Diego-based writer Thomas Shess who has decided to keep a journal on his quest to find a publisher for his first novel.

Agent Reading-A favorite feature of the annual Southern California Writer's Conference [SCWC] in San Diego, is one-on-one session with one of the conference's panel of literary agents. Six weeks prior to the conference I sent in a synopsis of my first novel, along with the first 20 pages. If you sign up as an "Early Bard" you may pick your agent Of course, I signed up late and SCWC staff assigned me to Scott Miller with Trident Media Group. Scott is a young man, who is amiable, but no-nonsense. He launched immediately into his analysis of my package by saying my three-page synopsis was way too complex. "I tend to like query letters rather than a synopsis. Just send me a query letter and 20 pages," he said.

Good News-Scott Miller moved quickly from the synopsis to Chapter One. "You're off to a good start," he smiled. He echoed the comments he made on the margins of the chapter: "good scene," and "pretty good opening chapter." He also noticed that one character rattled off a long answer when she could have just as easily said "OK." Overall, my time with Scott was worth the price of admission. I knew that chapter worked and it was great that a pro liked it as well.

Keynote Speakers--Robert Ferrigno's Prayers for the Assassin [Simon & Schuster] opened the conference with a polished and riveting address. He insisted that a great way to get the attention of publishers/agents was to have intense characters, who are passionate, driven and grab hold of the story and run with it-scene after scene. He added that newspapers were his favorite searching ground for story ideas. Citing the fact most beginning writers have other jobs to support themselves, he outlined how he coped with being a reporter and still finding time for his family and his fiction. "Elmore Leonard told me he got up at 5 am to write every morning. I decided to get up at 4 am because I surely needed more time. After a while, it was easy. I was fresher. ..I finished my novels that way."

Ten Year Overnight Hit-Another mystery writer, Michele Scott opened the first full day of the conference with an 8 a.m. talk on "never giving up." Even with a day job and a family, she was able to find time to work on her fiction. But, her break didn't occur until ten years after she began writing her first novel. After a mountain of rejection slips, things began to click. At the SCWC a few years ago, she met book editor Mike Sirota, whom she hired to work with her on her fiction. When she noticed Mike was in the audience, she paused to thank him and to publicly say how much he contributed to her success. That success began in March 2004, when an agent signed her on and one month later Michele 's Murder Uncorked sold to Berkley Prime Crime in a three-book deal. Nine months later, another three-book deal followed for her Equine Mystery Series, which debuts next year with Saddled with Trouble. The second in her Wine Lover's Mystery Series, Murder by the Glass, is out June, '06.

Local Publisher-For my money, Jennifer Redmond stole the show on the non-fiction side of the conference. She's the engaging and articulate editor-in-chief of Sunbelt Publishing, a San Diego publishing house that focuses on regional fiction and non-fiction related to California and Baja California. She parlayed her keen understanding of the entire publishing scene from publishers to fledgling writers into a fast paced and fascinating discussion. No one left her seminar disappointed.

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. .