Miami has nothing to do with writing

I have this obsession about being in the pool. Like any worthwhile obsession there are specific conditions. If I cannot have all of them at the same time then I don't get in and sadly wait in the sidelines of summertime fun.

Some people check the door three times to be sure its locked before leaving the house. I just want to enjoy the pool but it must be hot and sunny outside, by which I mean direct sunlight. Any cloud that crosses the sun even momentarily is like a referee calling a time out for me. The best time is between 11am and 2pm but these hours change with the months, the tilt and distance from the sun changing the hottest times. At the end of July I find the hottest time to be the morning, after noon it's not worth it. And then of course August is often cloudy and spotty. The water also has to be warm.

If its an outdoor pool, then it's no fun to go in alone. Outdoor pools are for playing and lounging and talking about subjects that are bouyant and wet. If a friend goes to the pool but doesn't want to get in, that's also no good. At indoor pools I just do laps and none of the above rules apply. Laps are laps.

But nothing beats an outdoor pool in the hot sun with a friend in the summer.

I'm in Miami with Jon and after waiting for Hurricane Gustav to stop ruining my pool vacation from three hundred miles away, finally, our last day, we got sun. Now I'm showered and mango-scented and laying in a luxury bed on a 2-foot thick matress with the fanciest pillow under my head. I'm hoping for a nap.

Miami has nothing to do with writing, but checking my email does. I'm pleased to see that volume 3 looks like a go, with stories coming from Alexis Clements, Jennifer Viale (a fan ready for first time in print), a triumphant return of Russ Josephs, and hopefully Dave Cole will concede after being asked one thousand times. I'm also sending my 5 last copies to a distributor, Dead Trees and Dye, in England. So I believe I will do a second printing of volume 2. Perhaps this is a good opportunity to find an online printer and see if that's cheaper than the local shop.

Yay for the pool. I vow to do this more often.