Its better if you can get the link one way from the directory and dont have to link back to them, reciprocal links still have their place i think but generally your looking to not link back if you dont need to.
Never form a mesh, ie., never make a cross network of links. Just better to keep submitting your directory to free directories and paid directories to form a good backlink structure. Ofcourse you can always link to your sites from your other sites, but one way link building is always better.
Thanks for the help. One more thing, I see these auto submission software programs are these helpful and more important are they harmful or counter productive for my site?
Its better to use different title/description for every submission.. ( hope you know about duplicate content penalty )
your total reciprocal links must be less then 5% of your total incomming links! anything more than that could be bad! Try getting one way links, from free and paid directories, forget about reciprocal links and 3 way links, they are no good anymore!
here is a list of 11 Free Web Directories WITHOUT reciprocal http://zetadirectory.org http://blogresourceonline.org http://icedirectory.org http://goldirectory.org http://bronzedirectory.org http://silverdirectory.org http://platinumdirectory.org http://diamondirectory.org http://lightdirectory.org http://moondirectory.org http://worldirectory.org Thanks