The Book in Your Head

That's the subject under discussion today at a panel discussion I'll be taking part in during the lunch hour. The group is the International Association of Business Communicators. I love how IABC has its own blog, which it uses in wonderful ways--for knowledge management, sharing of best practices and question-raising. Someone even posted an invitation to ask panelists some questions in advance of the program. I took the invitation to answer the person, but to also save some of the answer for the program itself. It's just another great example of how this most flexible of communications tools can be used in ever more imaginative ways by individuals and groups.

One of today's special treats will be getting to know fellow panelist Sarah Willis just a little. I've known her companion Ron, himself an accomplished writer, but have only met and chatted with Sarah once, and briefly. Though I'm not much for fiction (my failing, I know) I've made a point to read some of her work, both because she's local and because I've heard it's sublime (I heard right). She's among a modest group of Cleveland writers whose work has found a national audience, for all the right reasons. But her personal journey (explained in part here) in getting these books written, overcoming some long odds, interests me as much as the books themselves. And like IABC, she too is taking part in innovations in her field. You can go to Amazon to download her short story, Air Conditioners, for just 49 cents. This "micropayment" method may or may not prove to be a wave of the future for authors, but it's certainly worth investigating, at least.

Anyway, perhaps this weekend, I'll be posting some of my own notes from the event , as well as whatever ideas I hear from the other speakers and audience members that strike me as interesting.