I have to say, as much as I love conferences, I hate luncheon keynote speakers. They are often boring and obvious, while I am overstimulated from the morning's events and just want to site and think, add to my to-do lists and return phone calls. My plan for the ASJA conference was to eat lunch and bolt before the talk began. I was unable to get a seat by the door, the room was crowded, and, well, I was stuck for the speech.

Good thing I had to stay. The speaker was Stefan Fatsis, Wall Street Journal writer, NPR sports commentator, author of "Word Freak", and Scrabble star. And he was funny.

The line that got the most applause?

"Maybe paying half-a-million dollars for the writings of a 17-year-old is not a good idea."

Of course, the cynic in me wants to say, Little, Brown didn't pay for the writings of a 17-year-old.