Finally got my "chapter breakdowns" done for my Sixteen Miles novel so I can get to work on fixing that book. I thought maybe I'd have time to work on it at the beach, but I failed to factor in how hard it was going to be, chasing a two-and-a-half-year-old in the waves.

Drew had no fear of the waves, and he had a ball jumping over the waves as they crashed in on him. Many of 'em were up to his chest. He didn't even mind getting splashed in the face a gew times.

Despite the lack of literary progress (I was on a nice roll the previous week, working on both the novel stuff and a new story!), I had a good time at the beach. It was nice not having to think about work stuff at all, since I was temporarily unemployed. I did have to plan a bit for an upcoming trip to Houston, the headquarters for my new company. Yes, the same Houston that's about to be socked by a hurricane. Is my timing great or what?

I did get to read One for the Money by Janet Evanovich, the first in her Stephanie Plum series, about a brand-new, slightly clueless bounty hunter in Newark. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and a perfect beach read. I really had fun with all the tech gadgets that were cutting edge for 1994 or so -- the car phones, the big antenna on the surveillance vans -- and the lack of cell phones. I guess mystery writers have had to keep up with technology just as much as SF writers do. I loved the voice in the book, and she did a great job of depicting the seedy, blue-collar setting without being condescending. And the plot just clipped along. Great stuff.

So tomorrow I can get going on my new schedule with the new Day Job: get up early, start revising my novel, go for a jog, maybe even do some quick dumbbell reps for my aching arms, head off to work, learn the ropes there as fast as I can. And do some more reading at night (just starting Charles de Lint's Widdershins, since I've got a taste for urban fantasy lately). And watch more of the third season of "Deadwood" on DVD! It's a plan... Later!