I love annual events that get better and better each year. That's what's been happening with the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville, VA. I did some quick math on the drive down and realized I have been going for five years now. I used to zip down on a Friday night and stay til Sunday morning, but my trip has been getting longer and longer each year. This year I started my weekend on Thursday and drove home Sunday afternoon.

Here's my travelogue on what I did there -- my version of "What I Did on My Bookish Vacation."

Friday I had a fun lunch with Michele Martinez, the author of THE FINISHING SCHOOL and MOST WANTED at the Blue Bird Cafe. We found it amusing that she lives in New York and I work there, but we can only make time to get together in places like Charlottesville. Over soup and salad, we talked about the success of THE FINISHING SCHOOL and her tales from the road while touring. She also shared that she's been doing Nancy Grace's Show on CNN a lot speaking as a former NYC Prosecutor, which sounds like fun. Yes, we dished the backstage hair and makeup scene as much as the on air chitchat. I dropped her back at her hotel where she was headed to work on her third book. She said there was a section she was plotting and she wanted a few hours of quiet to work. It made me want to see what she was crafting all the more!

After lunch I found my way to the local Barnes & Noble store. Even with Mapquest my mapping skills leave a lot to be desired. Also, traffic in Charlottesville on a Friday afternoon can be so heavy there are times I thought I was in midtown Manhattan.

The first event was about book clubs. Since we have ReadingGroupGuides.com as one of our web properties I like to hear book club news. The event was moderated by Barbara Drummond Mead from Reading Group Choices. The panelists included Masha Hamilton (The Distance Between Us), Sheila Curran (Diana Lively Is Falling Down), Matthew Sharpe (The Sleeping Father), and bookseller Robert Segedy.

Some highlights from this: Sharpe talked about the content of a book being important for it to work for a book club, but also stressed that language matters. Hamilton talked about how fiction allows writers to live other lives. It also allows her to have dialogues that she might otherwise not have. All were good points to ponder.

Then I raced down the mall to the Blue Ridge Mountain Sports store where they were hosting a panel called "Travel With a Twist" where there were two authors who I wanted to meet. The first was Devyani Saltzman, the author of Shooting Water: A Memoir of Second Chances, Family, and Filmmaking. I am reading this book and it's something we are going to feature on ReadingGroupGuides.com. She was a delight and I am glad we had time to talk before she headed to her flight to Toronto. I will catch up with her again in L.A. at the LA Book Fair next month. Also there was Franz Wisner who wrote Honeymoon with My Brother. Wisner's fiance called off the wedding. Rather than cancel his wedding, he and his brother took the trip. His book is the story of that adventure and a whole lot more. Book clubs and readers across the country are loving this one.

From there I went back to Barnes and Noble for an excellent panel called "At War, At Home: Books on the Military." The two featured authors were Kristin Henderson (While They're at War: The True Story of American Families on the Homefront) and Linda Robinson (Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces). They talked about the stress that war places on soldiers and their families and the lack of support that they receive. The huge takeaway from this is that no matter what your stand is on the war, we need to be there for the soldiers who are doing their jobs. Their presentation was passionate and I see it will be on C-Span 2 this weekend.

I zipped back to my hotel after this and the found that the wireless connection on my laptop was not engaging so I quickly went to DIALUP! Why these things always happen when I am rushed just makes me insane. Note to self: Seriously consider Verizon high-speed modem for laptop that works anywhere Verizon works.

From there I raced (note wording like zipping, racing...this should imply to you that this event runs at a quick pace) to the Central Library for a panel called Strange Worlds: Exploring Fantasy and Horror. Now I am not a real fantasy lover, but I wanted to hear and meet Kevin Brockmeier whose book, The Brief History of the Dead, I have been talking about since I read it. As soon as there was a moment for questions my hand was flying like a little flag ready to ask him more about his book. (I had a flashback to second grade as I did this and refrained from popping out of my seat to wave more excitedly to him.) I HAD to know more about the story and more about the reference to Coke that is so prominent in the book. Hearing him talk about the book made me want to re-read it.

Since Brockmeier has written a number of Young Adult titles, I asked him the difference between writing for teens and writing for adults. He said that with adults you illustrate something with words sentence by sentence. With kids you do it paragraph by paragraph. Ponder that.

Also on this panel were Paul Witcover (Tumbling After), Brandon Massey (Within the Shadows), and River Jordan (The Messenger of Magnolia Street). Witcover at one point when talking about vampires said a line that "Jesus was the first vampire since he rose from the dead." Well, if you want to stir a room to pay attention, say something like THAT. Hey, I just quote 'em as I hear them.

The Friday evening event is typically held in the Culbreath Theatre at the University. This year was no exception. I got there early and got a good parking space. See, this is what happens with experience; newbys end up in the overflow lot or walk far!

This event is always one of the headliners where the folks who are like the top rock acts appear with no opening band. This year's lineup --- Murder and Mayhem: An Evening with Mystery Writers --- did not disappoint. We had Michael Connelly (The Lincoln Lawyer), Jeffery Deaver (The Twelfth Card), Karin Slaughter (Faithless), and Paula Woods (Strange Bedfellows) on a panel moderated by Willetta Heising (Detecting Men, Detecting Women). The conversation was very lively as each of the authors talked about his or her work, the craft of writing and their characters who tug at them. Fabulous evening where none of the authors disappointed.

After this I went to Northern Exposure and grabbed a salad, a pizza and an iced tea. With 20%+ tip, it was $14. Once again I realized I was not in New York. I watched BC get trounced (love those sports words) by Villanova.

Saturday morning I started out at the New Dominion Bookstore on the mall, which is one of my favorite bookstores. Their event space is on the second floor and there is a great creaky staircase that you go up to get there. The panel was called Disparate Housewives: Fiction Panel. I guess this is to make sure everyone knew these women were making these stories up. All three authors --- Sharon Baldacci (A Sundog Moment), Mary Guterson (We Are All Fine Here), and Melanie Lynne Hauser (Confessions of Super Mom) --- were super animated and wonderful. There were terrific stories about writing, getting published and being moms. Each made me want to read their books since I felt I got to know them as they talked.

The panel was moderated by Andi Buchanan, who I had met last year at the Festival. I love catching up with people like this where we do a quick recap of where we both have been in the last year. Andi told a story about going to a bookstore and signing her books that were there. She kept taking books off the shelf and saying I wrote this one ...and this one...until the store clerk asked her for ID. She's had quite a year.

Guterson scored major points with me when she told me about a yarn shop on the mall. I scooted in there and bought some amazing ribbon-like yarn on my way to the next event! Love when something like this happens...it's like getting a present you did not expect when you get a tip like this.

At noon I moderated a panel called Who's Reading and How? My panelists were Ron Hogan (Beatrice.com), David Kipen (NEA Director of Literature), David Montgomery (reviewer, Chicago Sun Times), and Gene Schwartz (ForeWord magazine). We had fun talking about finding readers, reading trends and where people now find books. Kipen is working on the NEA's project, The Big Read, which is an initiative to get cities around the country reading one title like they do in Chicago and Seattle, among others. I look forward to hearing more about this in the months to come.

The entire time we were talking we could hear the rumblings of the crowd next door where Michael Connelly was giving a luncheon speech. Then we could hear laughter. I kept wondering..."What was the joke?"

The next panel, Murderous Times, Murderous Settings, was one I was looking forward to. On in were Steve Berry (The Templar Legacy), Katherine Neville (The Eight), Joseph Kanon (Alibi) and Peter Quinn (Hour of the Cat). Having read all of Berry's books, but never having seen him present, made this one of the best panels of the day for me. Also, I have spent time with Katherine and never tire of hearing her talk in her super-animated style. She is just such fun. And the following of readers for The Eight is soooo strong even 18 years after publication. Kanon and Quinn equally held my attention as they shared their stories.

The last panel of the day was the Pressing Charges: Crime Wave Panel, moderated by David Montgomery, who kept the pace lively and interesting. Authors were Paula L. Woods (Strange Bedfellows), Pat MacEnulty (Time to Say Goodbye), Michele Martinez (The Finishing School), and Karin Slaughter (Faithless). This was one lively chat where David did a nice job of ensuring that each author got to talk about what was unique about their writing. For the record, Karin Slaughter is very wry and witty. I had seen this on the panel the night before and she kept it up here. Knowing Michele's writing and background made it interesting to see her present and after this second panel with Paula I want to get one of her books and see the world that she writes about in L.A.

There was a fun author party at the University President's house where there was more time for socializing. Afterwards, Katherine Neville, Steve Berry and my pal from Charlottesville, book designer, Mayapriya Long, and I ended up at the Omni restaurant where we talked books, writing and life for three hours. It was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

At a table that was within my view I could see Jeffery Deaver, Karin Slaughter, Michele Martinez and a host of others having dinner. It was like we were at book camp or something. Just a lot of fun seeing all that literary energy in one place.

The following morning I caught breakfast with Katherine where I ate lots of bacon, which is funny since I NEVER eat bacon normally. Then I jumped in the car and drove home. I already have this event on my calendar for next year! Well worth going to.

Yesterday I drove from my home in New Jersey to Charlottesville, Virginia for the Virginia Festival of the Book. I love road trips. Always have. If a trip is less than 6.5 hours, I drive. I loathe waiting in airports, packing a suitcase to fly and living life on an airline or train schedule. All are real stress inducers.

InsteadI hopped in my car, connected my iPod to the handy dandy car adapter, pulled on my cellphone headset and propped my Blackberry on the center console. I returned all the phone calls that have been hanging over me that I never seem to have time for in the office. Nice feeling.

I cranked up the music and sang along even though I sing really off-key. My iPod loaded with MY favorite music is like having a music score running under my life. As I listened to the tracks I was having memories of other places where I have listened to these same songs. Endless fun.

After making this same trip for the past five or so years, it's very comfortable. I know that in Pennsylvania there will be at least ONE road under construction. The state of Pennsylvania makes an adventure of driving. There's always a place being dug up and they do the most interesting workarounds. Yesterday's thrill was pushing us all westbound travelers into one very narrow lane making one feel like you were driving down the chute of an amusement park ride. You keep your wits about you when there are barriers tucked in close on both sides. I notice the same adventure will be waiting for me eastbound. Lucky me!

There are enough truckers doing enough ridiculous things on Route 81 to keep me awake. At one point there was a truck with "monster jaws" painted on it crawling up my bumper. I found myself writing the prose for a kids' book called Monster Truck's Driving Adventures in my head as he got closer and closer. Being this close to books all day, I can see just about any scenario as a book. In this one, Monster Truck, who dominates the roads with boorish road habits would learn a lesson. I have not figured out what the lesson is yet, but I am sure it would mean he never crawled up behind my Yukon, or any other car, again.

Just north of Charles Town, West Virginia, traffic slowed noticeably (the first time I had slowed since PA). I saw two police cars flying down the road adjacent to the highway. Soon I saw tons of lights and realized there were at least 20 police cars all stopped in the same spot next to the highway. Curiousity got the best of me as I was drawn to the lights. Then there were police officers in varying uniforms racing down a ravine next to the highway and then racing across the highway. Doing a quick look back on the side of the road I saw a woman obviously being detained by the police next to a car. Driving further I saw another parade of police cars racing northbound.

No one who reads thrillers as much as me can watch something like this and then not create a scenario for a book out of it. In my mind, a posse (always like that word) with two men and a woman held up a bank (or maybe something like the local Wal-Mart so there's some political angle to this). They raced away in a stolen burgundy Taurus. The police pursued. Realizing there was nowhere to go as they closed in, the driver set the car in park and the two men ran off across the ravine and the highway leaving the woman behind to take the rap.

The sheriffs, state troopers and other "law" (Wild West tones here) took off after the suspects regretting the extra donuts they had had that morning. Risking their lives they dodged the traffic southbound, jumped the median and then again leapt between the northbound cars with their goal on the woods on the other side where their two suspects had fled. From here I will leave it to an author to take over. (I checked the newspapers online this morning and saw nothing about this so I guess my scenario is probable.)

This reminds me of a talk I heard David Baldacci give at this Festival a few years ago where he told us readers are always giving him ideas for a book. They will tell him they have a plot for a book and give him something like what I wrote out above. He then will tell them to write about 65,000-75,000 more words and it's a book.

The rest of the drive was much less eventful. Once again I got lost from the time I took the exit until I got to my hotel. And this time I actually followed the Mapquest directions, which means that maybe next year I should try Google maps. My friend Jimmy raves about these. I just want something that will allow me to get to my hotel without making a U-turn!

Once in town I had a fun dinner with Mayapriya Long, who has been on the Committee for this Festival for years and is the person who first invited me down here. We had our annual catchup making me again grateful for this and the many other friendships that this business has brought me. We ate Mexican food and watched Duke get defeated (trounced?) by LSU.

More about the Festival as the weekend rolls on. I am off to check out the pool. May I run into no one I know along the way. I remember one bookish event where there were a number of authors who I knew in the pool. Let's just say that seeing each other in bathing suits is not the same as attending a reading. There were many mumbled hi's and lots of heads down swimming.

I love warm weather. Not hot sticky weather, but warm weather. This week I took an extended weekend trip to Florida and got just that! I had an opportunity to attend Sleuthfest in Ft. Lauderdale or the London Book Fair. I rolled the dice on sun or rain and picked Florida. As I wrote in last week's newsletter, the last time I was in Lauderdale in March was back in my college days. Things drastically improve when you can afford a nice hotel, great food and you are not in the company of crazy college kids though there are moments that mystery/thriller writers can have a lot in common with them!

After Friday morning's panels where I learned fingerprinting techniques and blood analysis from Elizabeth Becka, author of TRACE EVIDENCE and heard Paul Levine talk Hollywood Reality on another panel, Levine and I headed to lunch. We drove down to the Intercoastal for crab salads and sandwiches and bookish conversation. Levine lived in South Florida for years so he filled me in on the yacht/water/social scene while we ate and talked about THE DEEP BLUE ALIBI. Truly a nice way to explore the area.

I headed back to the conference in time to watch a presentation by a Florida medical examiner. He was running autopsy shots and asked us to guess or infer the cause of death. After endless hours of reading suspense/thrillers and watching Law and Order, I confess that my "right" rate was about 25%!

After this, James Born, author of ESCAPE CLAUSE did a seminar on guns. Authors have told me that there is nothing that makes readers more crazy than getting the gun wrong. You will get mail if the gun is wrong. Meaning: if it's not supposed to click, don't make it click. Jim was a LOT more articulate than this. Click had a much better word to describe it! I saw lots of weaponry. If Jim reads this he will laugh since I am sure that I am saying everything wrong. But I did learn a lot like the "tadem dem" sound that guns make on TV is not realistic. There would always be a bullet in the chamber if you were going into a raid or altercation, so that moment of "Let's go, guys" and "tadem dem" is all for show. After this, he had guns for us to check out, but I got caught up talking to Chris Gilson, author of THE DEVIL'S HALO, and his wife, and thus missed this moment. Next time!

Friday evening I drove to Miami to see Mitchell Kaplan, the owner of Books & Books, Miami's preeminent bookstores, at his Coral Gables location. I felt very much at home at this point since I was going back to the Miami area where I spent time at the Miami Book Fair in November. Mitchell is know in the industry as a passionate bookseller and an enthusiastic friend to authors. For me, this evening was one of the reasons I decided to do this trip. I had been to the Books & Books Miami Beach store in November and knew that the atmosphere in these stores inspires book loving and buying. I wanted to touch base with Mitchell who on this evening was a wonderful host at his store in Coral Gables --- and see how he creates the magic in his stores. The store built out like a U with a wonderful courtyard in the middle where there is a cafe and on Friday evenings, live music as well. Over salads, and a very sinfully rich chocolate mousse cake, we talked books and authors while listening to great music.

Books & Books hosts a wealth of author events throughout the year and authors who appear there always speak well of the experience. This evening Dara Horn, author of THE WORLD TO COME, was doing an appearance and a reading, which I attended before meeting up with Mitchell. After dinner, we walked through the store, where I admired the incredible bookshelves where featured titles were displayed both at eye level and then on the higher shelves as well. I wish I had a photo to share. Each room of the store was so inviting --- and made you want to open the books and explore them. I look forward to visiting there again and left with a list of upcoming titles to read from Mitch.

I drove back to Miami and got to my hotel in Boca at about 12:45. Read Robert Crais' THE TWO-MINUTE RULE for a bit before going to sleep. About 4:15 I heard an alarm and immediately thought the previous guest had left the alarm set. Fumbling, I saw that was not the case. Instead, it was the fire alarm --- and this very cultured voice was saying that there was "an incident" in the hotel and that we should leave immediately by the nearest fire exit. Well there is NO way I am leaving without getting dressed in street clothes. I also pack my backpack, my phone, my Blackberry and Crais' book. So in the midst of all the chaos outside I stand under a streetlight --- and read! Every once in a while I look up and it amazes me what people are wearing. Carol's Rule: If there is no smoke or flames, you can get dressed before you exit!

About 20 minutes later we got an all-clear, with no explanation. Carol's Second Rule: Roust me out of bed and you need to explain.

Saturday morning I swam laps under a perfectly blue sky and again realized Florida had advantages over London! In the pool I met a fellow swimmer who asked me what I was in town for. I said, a convention. He said...CTFA? Now, CTFA is the Cosmetics Toiletries Fragrance Association Convention, which is held the first weekend in March EVERY year at the Boca Raton Hotel and Resort. Besides beauty execs from the business attending you also will find EVERY publisher and beauty editor who wants to court their business. When I worked at Mademoiselle magazine we planned long and hard about the goody bags, parties, etc for this gig. My moment of humor --- I realized out on the lawn in their jammies the night before were these same execs who were staying in the main hotel. Never had the Beach Club or Tower rooms at the hotel been more cool since they were not affected.

Back in real life at Sleuthfest, I met up with Keith Raffel, whose book, dot.murder, will be out in July. We had a nice time talking up Silicon Valley (he taught me to pronounce this right) and murder. Murder is big at these conventions. HOW did it happen? It's like a live discussion of the board game, Clue!

Then I attended the luncheon where Robert Crais was the speaker. His talk was both humorous and informative. What surprised me is that all the questions were about his series --- so I asked one about THE TWO-MINUTE RULE, which is a standalone title. After all, I had reading time under the streetlight in the early morning hours so I knew the plot well. I am wondering how many other people in the room noticed that Crais' shirt matched the cover of his book. 17 years at a fashion magazine and one notices these things!!!

After lunch Linda Fairstein, who is one of my favorite female authors for both her class and her writing, as well as her wonderful brightly colored outfits, was on a panel with Kris Montee, half of the writing team of P.J. Parrish that was moderated by Diane Vogt. Talking plots and drawing readers along and themes, was the order of the day here. Once again I learned, it ain't easy to draw a reader in and bring him or her along for the ride!

The last panel of the day had Michael Connelly being interviewed by Jonathon King. Both are former reporters so they did a terrific job of talking about getting the details right and getting the access you need to write a truthful story ---- Verisimilitude. Say that five times fast.

The rest of the trip was all about reading and writing. Each morning I would take a stack of books to the pool or beach and read typing notes to the office or answering mail on my Blackberry. There were moments I felt like this scenario was my version of the Hollywood bungalow where a screenwriter was sent to do writes and rewrites and call them into the studio. I had manuscripts, galleys and books. It was the most productive three days that I have spent in a while since it was quiet and there were no distractions. There was exploring to be done including a terrific Mexican restaurant in Boca Raton called Moquila and another called Lemon Grass on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach for dinners in the evening, but the days were all about working. I loved the Atlantic Avenue area, which had a decidedly Soho feel to it with restaurants, galleries and a ton of shops I want to explore on another trip.

Tuesday afternoon I drove up to the Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore in Delray Beach. I have heard about this store from mystery authors for years and in fact they were the bookseller at Sleuthfest. It's a definitive stopping point on many mystery/suspense/thriller authors' tours. There was a great collection of first editions, and other collector titles, as well as an entire area dedicated to Florida authors. Sue, the salesperson there told me that readers from all over the world have a penchant for Florida authors and thus seek out this store for their orders. I also met Joanne Sinchuk, who owns the store.

The flight back gave me more time for reading once Jet Blue found my res. That's a story for another day.

I can see that I will want to make this an annual trip. London, you need guaranteed sun to make me interested in journeying across the pond though I did hear that the six days I was in Florida were "Chamber of Commerce" days since it was so perfect. I am booking the same weather for next year.