Today is the 38th 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.

Networking-When I was employed by the San Francisco Examiner, one of my fondest memories as a reporter was seldom knowing in advance what story I would be assigned. As the elevator emptied me into the huge city room, I always wondered who or what would be on my plate that day. Writing this column for MBToolBox is much the same.

This Week-Today, I'm a marketing guy. I've spent a good part of my week designing a press kit and web page for a fellow writer. My pal Tom Basinski is getting ready for the May 3, 2006 debut of his first true crime book NO GOOD DEED (Berkley True Crime). He asked me to help and wondered how much would I charge. I volunteered to help him for free on the condition that he network with me on my crime fiction. Basinski is an ex-street cop and DA investigator. As such, I asked him if he'd be willing to take a look at my novel and point out the unreal crap in my novel that real cops wouldn't do. So, while he's doing that I'm writing a press kit for his debut. One nice thing about writing promotional stuff, like press releases, bios, book synopsis is all of the material, including photos, is that it easily translates to a web page. Thanks to Tom, I now know how to create a website for when my novel is published. His site is still being worked on, but should be up very soon.

My Novel-Four months ago I sent off a query to Poisoned Pen Press in Arizona. They publish crime fiction. Within two days, I received an e-mail asking for a synopsis and 20 pages. I sent it off quickly and to my surprise I received an equally quick response saying the did indeed receive my material and expect a four to five month decision time. Now, the time is up and no word. That's cool. I'm going to check with them this week and report back how that goes down. Poisoned Pen is a real publishing success story. And, they have a great bookstore in the Scottsdale area that does a brisk mail-order business. It would be a coup to be published by them.

ZYZZYVA-The word Zyzzyva is in the dictionary. That's your homework assignment. It's also the title of one of America's best literary journals. Edited by its founder Howard Junker, the San Francisco-based quarterly is sophisticated, classy and must reading for anyone who appreciates damn good writing delivered crisply. Zyzzyva.org is where you'll find it on the web. Subscribe to this West Coast journal of writers and artists. There is life on the left coast-even if Howard hails from East Egg.

Golden Moments-Since its founding in 1985 Zyzzyva has had its share of successes. Here are a few: In 2004, Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby opens in theaters based on the stories of F.X. Toole, whose first time in print was in ZYZZYVA Spring 1999. Two stories in 1993 from Z appear in Best American Short Stories, and two in the Pushcart Prize Anthology. In 1994, Z organizes a show of self-portraits by 80 West Coast artists at the Edith Caldwell Gallery, San Francisco. By 1995, two anthologies taken from its pages are published: The Writer's Notebook by HarperCollins West, and Strange Attraction by the University of Nevada Press.

More Reasons to like Zyzzyva-Howard Junker tells Poets & Writers: "I used to want to publish as many famous writers as I could. But a couple of years ago I had an epiphany, that it would be more fun-and more useful-to publish writers I could help more than they could help me." In 2002, Zyzzyva receives a Shinola Award from a San Francisco area naming-and-branding company, as the ninth worst-named magazine ever.

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 (tomshess at aol.com) for a look at the first 20 pages.