Hi there! :) I had a great time at Malice Domestic, even though I wasn’t officially there. I hung around a lot with my author buddies Karen Cantwell and Kim Hon Kurth-Gray, who isn’t on Twitter as far as I can tell. Kim, please become a tweep, okay? :)

I also got to talk to the very funny Jeff Cohen. What a guy! :)

I even had the chance to exchange words with the most awesome Parnell Hall. Yay!

And I even finally had a chance to meet Lee Goldberg, who was nice enough to reply quickly to my email years and years ago, which he had totally forgotten about (of course), but which helped me immensely. And it blew me away, because we’d never met and I figured he was busy, but he took the time to offer his advice about the television business. And thank God he did, because it saved me a possible costly error or two. And loads of time and aggravation. All because I knew what I didn’t know, and I knew he did, if that makes sense. To a lawyer and librarian, it does.

Lee and I ended up talking about Amazon and bookstores, of course. And Lee started saying things that sounded like the things I was saying way back when. And I said, “Exactly! I couldn’t agree more. That’s why I self-published.” But then when I got into the whole monopoly question, Lee wasn’t as concerned. I kept wondering why, but I listened to his thoughts.

I believe he may have said that Apple was doing fine, but something was gnawing at me.

So later this subject came up with Karen and Kim. And when I mentioned my concerns about Amazon, Karen said, “Well, all companies want to be big.” And it reminded me of what I’d posted before, but I’d explained in another post that things had changed.

Later, I realized I never brought up the Wired Magazine article. That article made all the difference.

As a consumer, author or whatever, that article should scare the shit out of you. :-O

But that’s just my opinion.

Anyway, I’m really glad I finally got to meet Lee Goldberg and thank him personally for the favor he didn’t even know he did me. But he does now, because we met and we had a great time. At least, I did.

When you get to actually meet someone, it’s totally different than just friending them on Facebook or tweeting them on Twitter.

So, I can say with total honesty that Lee Goldberg is truly a mensch. :)

With all that, here’s what I read in today’s papers:

Never lose hope!

Doug Kapustin/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Daffodils are awesome. And not just because the writer found “trumpet daffodils about as subtle as a Mack truck.” Ha ha ha …

Gene Weingarten is a happy fool, too. #iamfoolish

Gene Weingarten's Twitter avatar

Unfortunately, this man took himself a little too seriously chose not to be a happy fool.

HARRY NALTCHAYAN/TWP

And in community news:

This fireman is an awesome and courageous survivor.

Daniel J. Gross/The Gazette

Cops don’t just pepper spray people. They can do awesome things, too.

Holly Nunn/The Gazette

Student artists beautify their community mall by painting a mural.

I can spread the word about awesome local events on my blog(s). Yay! :)

Prince George’s County seeks to revitalize six target neighborhoods. Interesting …

Ahem!

Ever see the movie Rear Window? Well …

And wouldn’t you know this play is currently at Olney Theatre?

UPDATE: I nearly forgot to remind you that the .99 Blue Light special on my books is over at the end of this month, which is in two days! So act fast, because the price will be going up really soon.

Also, you can get ALL my books on Smashwords, where you can buy an ebook in any format you want. Then all you have to do to transfer the file to your device is follow these really easy instructions.

Or you can buy any of them from Barnes & Noble, if you prefer.

And, I am still offering them through Amazon, if you insist. And Amazon UK.

My latest novel is RIPTIDE, which will be coming out in print soon. :)

Sometimes I’m so happy, I forget to promote my own books. #iamfoolish Ha ha ha …

UPDATE 2: I was totally remiss in not mentioning that I ran into a great writer friend and an awesome author Jack Bludis, who is now on Twitter and who you (yes, you reading this here blog) should follow. Please. :)

Word of advice: if you explain your epiphanies, you’ll baffle people sound crazy, but if you tell them you’re a happy fool, they’ll laugh.

BTW, it’s Duke Ellington’s birthday. Duke Ellington was from Washington, DC, of course. Isn’t that awesome? :)

So … in celebration, here’s a great tune (one of my favorites) by Ellington. (via Nik Nak’s Old Peculiar)

UPDATE 3: Oh, for Pete’s sake! I finally got to meet Jenny Milchman, too. :D She’s so awesome.

And that’s just a figure of speech, okay?

Plus I ran across Marcia Talley, but she’s in my writers group, so I see her constantly every month, except when she isn’t there or I’m not there or neither of us is there.

But I’m most remiss in not mentioning Marcia, because she’s a Sisters in Crime member and invited me to appear on this panel, which was so awesome.

And this is why conferences are still awesome. Really! :) Assuming you don’t slip in a bathtub or fall down an escalator. Or have any other horrible shit happen to you. Ha ha ha …