After a few sleepless nights, I grabbed the Gremlin rifling through the school network by the neck. A relatively tiny issue converged on a very important piece of the infrastructure in the worst way and made the last week, well, awful. I beat the Gremlin ( along with a consultant — thank you, Jaysen ) into submission. Network Admin 1, Gremlin 0. I had you at hello, Gremlin. At hello.

Since the culling, I’ve had energy for writing and in the past day began reworking one of the characters. Because the character appears in nine of sixty-three chapters, this task is the largest and most involved of edits. I’ve shirked the job long enough. Once clearing the hump, it’s mostly matters of grammar and fine-tuning. If today is any indication, a finish date of mid-March is quite feasible. Then I’ll read it start to end twice, adjust what seems off-kilter and hand the manuscript over to Team Eagle Eye. Whatever they miss — I doubt it will be much — I live with.

Tonight I revise the synopsis, a tight 2.5 pages that captures the key points of the novel.

Surprise parties are a great way to kickoff a thirtieth birthday; this Saturday the Wife took her turn at the birthday wheel. Keeping secrets from the Wife is almost impossible, but I succeeded, along with nearly two dozen conspirators. Muhaha. I’ll post pics when the attendants send some along.

On Saturday I hiked part of the Delaware Water Gap. This meant a long, steep ascent, over boulders the size of basketballs, many of them loose and covered with jagged tips. The descent — over similar terrain — started off miserable, until I quit fighting the rocks and let my body go with gravity. Had a couple of close calls, but my boots doubled as eyes and led me to the bottom in one piece. Guess Keroauc was right, one can’t fall off a mountain.

Work on the novel edits continues. Nearing the 2/3 mark.