It’s Monday. The last Monday in July. Is it just me or has it seemed like July has been full of Mondays?

Malaise. That’s one of those words some some people have to look up (or they just skip over it and hope they can figure out the definition by the narrative surrounding it). It’s a word that shows up in a lot of historical romances. Or at least it used to. I have to admit, I don’t read that many historicals any more. Myabe I should. Anyway, I like the word. It sounds like it’s spelled: mah-laze. And the pronunciation leads to the definition. Anyway, I’m definitely suffering from malaise. The dog days of summer are always a doldrum around here.

I wrote a little. Nothing spectacular. It’s frustrating. When I’m in the waking-dream state in between bouts of insomnia, the story plays out in my head. I see the transitions. I know the order of events. It’s all there. Yet when I wake up and sit down at the computer? Nada. It sucks.

In other people’s book news, I finished off my marathon of Jayne Castle’s Harmony series. All three of her personas–Castle, Jayne Ann Krentz, and Amanda Quick–created a massive “universe” that ran from historical (Quick) to contemporary (Krentz) to paranormal/SciFi (Castle). The books are grouped into sub-series but they are all part of the overall Arcane Society World that she built. I’ve read all of them at one time or another but I am particularly fond of her Hararmy series–set on a distant planet in the future with colonists from Earth bringing their secrets (Hello, Arcane!) with them and then discovering that the environment of the new planet is growing their psychic powers. Fun stuff. And there are dust bunnies. Anyway, the marathon pretty much caught me up to my Goodreads challenge. I’ve listened to 84 books so far this year and I’m finally back to being on track to meet my goal of 150 books for the year. I just finished a relisten of Anne Bishop’s TURNS OF FATE, the first book in her Isle of Wyrd series. The next isn’t out yet but I wish it was! It’s an odd book. Bishop’s stories aren’t for everyone but if you’re looking for something different, you might give her a try. She has several series out. I’ve not read but one or two of her Black Jewels but I loved her The Others series.

I actually pretty much did diddly this past week and weekend. The little bit of writing, a Wallyworld run, laundry, sleeping in two days in a row. It’s hard to get motivated when the outside temp is already in the 80s before 9 a.m. Hect, Saturday night, LG and I just had ice cream for dinner. He was nice enough to brave the heat for a Braum’s run. Forecate is for triple digits most of this week. I’ll be here under the AC whenever possible. Other than a grocery run, I don’t plan on getting out much. As a friend said yesterday, stay cool and peace out! ✌🏼