Rainy Mondays

Every now and then, I think I should water the yard. I worry about my blueberry plants (now with a dozen berries!) or the petunia that my daughter’s class gave me. And then, this being Pennsylvania, it pours. We’ve been here almost a dozen years, and I still find it weird — will always find it slightly tone-deaf — that people can worry about a drought if it doesn’t rain for two months (usually July and August). Two months does not a drought make. (It does, however, lead to times when it’s not ridiculous of me to wonder whether I should water the plants.)

The problem I have with rainy summer days is that it’s hard to want to do anything — read, work on new book covers, write — it doesn’t matter what it is, the motivation is lacking. And I have plenty I need to do:

• Lots of good book to read, books I’ve purchased and books from the library (The Incrementalists, for example, and Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen).
• I’m redoing the book covers for my mystery series, and that takes time and work. Oh, and I’m adding recipes.
• Writing — oh, yes. Sabra’s sequel, the next mystery, the steampunk (which is now no longer a steampunk), planning for an urban fantasy series that I’ll probably start releasing next year.

Maybe the problem is too much to do, and exhaustion when I think of doing it all. I mean, this doesn’t even include time with the kids (Summer, remember? We went to the pool on Friday for a few hours, and today we hit the library and the bike shop.), priming and painting the paneling downstairs (an ongoing project that I hope to finish this summer), and reorganization of art and craft supplies (necessary for sanity).

Having things to do is good, though. Who knows what mischief I would get up to if I were bored? (Yeah, don’t ask my brothers.)

So today, I am grateful for everything — for time with my family, for a good library, for things to read, for creativity and ways of expressing it, for readers waiting to read my next finished project, for people who share advice on the best ways they’ve found to navigate self-publishing, and for you, taking the time to read this.

What are you grateful for today?