I was cajoled by my internet humor-writer friend, Karen Rinehart, an award-winning author and humorist to attend The National Society of Newspaper Columnist Conference. I acquiesced and immediately regretted my impulsive behavior—this of course after I had purchased the tickets to Ventura, California. I mean really, I write the humor column for the b-town blog and I don’t recall winning any awards recently or for that matter have any other credentials that would allow me entrance to such an esteemed society. But times are hard and Karen said, “It doesn’t matter, they need people to fill the conference room, all the newspapers are shutting down or going Chapter 11, they need bodies man.” So I went.

What a treat, let me tell you about it.

I loved Bruce Cameron who created “8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter.” He’s a hoot and so generous with his information. He wants me to write a screenplay about Mr. Big and Mr. Small. He said so—honest. “Anyone can write a screenplay, its easier than writing a book, you just have to have an interesting premise.” Heck, how easy would that be? Mr. Big and Mr. Small, otherwise known as my dogs, Gus and Jack, don’t even talk—unless you count the fabricated story lines that my husband Tom comes up with.

Jeff  Zaslow, the Wall Street Columnist and co-author of “The Last Lecture” is my new BFF. He doesn’t know it yet but we are gonna be tight. I could tell he liked me after I questioned him about his writing methods. I’m not sure why he walked away so quickly after I gave him my pitch—he’s very important and he probably had an appointment.

Steve Lopez, one of the keynote speakers brought tears to my eyes as he discussed the plight of the homeless. His column featuring the homeless violinist, Nathaniel Ayers morphed into a book and now the movie, The Soloist continues to do well at the box office.

Maybe some of the creative magic will rub off on me—I don’t know but it was a treat all the same.