9/6/2025 Etherary SOS, Melody’s Advances, and Harmony’s New Pitch

Etherary: Andy?

Etherary: Andy?

Etherary: Andy!

Me: Huh? What? Uh.. Hey, Etherary. What’s up?

Etherary: Andy? I don’t feel so good, Andy.

Me: Yeah… Tuesday I noticed you were borked bad, but I thought I’d fixed you.

Etherary: I don’t feel fixed.

Me: Yeah, you’re looking a lot better, but I’ve spontaneously lost the ability to set post titles.

Etherary: My old posts still have titles though.

Me: Yeah. It’s really weird. I don’t know why things are breaking all of a sudden. I may need to install a new theme.

Etherary: Will that hurt?

Me: I’m sure it will hurt me, but you’ll be under sedation for the process.

Etherary: Okay then.

Me: Making a note to talk to the spouse that helps me with IT as soon as possible… But since I’m here, did anyone else have anything they want to mention?

Melody: Did you just tell Bluesky and Mastodon that you finished Draft 4 of my first act today?

Me: I did!

Melody: What all is different from my last draft?

Me: You currently contain forty scenes, including ten short posting exchanges at the start of each Act II. Of those forty, ten are completely new. Another six had about half their content replaced. Every scene was edited for clarity and brevity.

Melody: So, you spiffied Act II up a lot, but it doesn’t sound like there were many big changes.

Me: Yeah, exactly. I removed references to an arc that’s going bye-bye and added some more about one that got promoted in importance, but for the most part it’s the same story so far.

Act I: I’m feeling healthier. Although maybe a little bloated?

Me: You’re about five thousand words over target. But I’m focusing on getting this draft through to The End, so I’m punting that issue to Future Andy.

Act II: Can I expect the same amount of adjustment?

Me: The revision outline contains a higher percentage of replaced content for you, and glancing at the Act IIs in Scriviner I’m seeing more stuff that looks like it can be cut or shortened.

Act II: So you plan to attack more of my content?

Me: Try to see it less as an attack and more as a remodel?

Act II: Uh-huh… And how long do you anticipate this remodel taking?

Me: Hard to say. Sort of depends on how many scenes need to be started over when I read them, which is going to include scenes whose summaries stay the same. But based on Act 1, I’d say a fortnight. Unless I get sick.

Act II: Are you planning to get sick?

Me: Not exactly. But I’m feeling a little like it might happen and one of my partners has been sick for over a week now…

Act II: Meep. Don’t get sick. Make me better first!

Melody: Let’s be optimistic here! If you can finish Act 2 in a fortnight, does that mean the draft could finish up Draft 4 this month?

Me: In theory? I’m not going to push myself too hard towards that goal though. I’d rather take longer and not burn out. Plus, Etherary is doing poorly and I need to fix that. Which will take a reasonable amount of time multiplied by four. Because website design is like that.

Melody: Fair. So… Happier things… Looking at your Bluesky, I see you did a chat last night.

Me: Yes! Every Friday, I participate in #QueerWritersChat. This week we talked about autumn. My favorite thing about autumn is that my depression usually eases up during it.

Melody: Has it?

Me: Um… Not so much yet. But technically autumn doesn’t start until the equinox.

Melody: Did the chat establish anything else?

Me: That my favorite fall food/beverage is pumpkin beer and that autumn is important to my setting, although less so than winter.

Niaretya: It’s a shoulder season. Boooorrrrrrring.

Me: But that boredom in the gap between the hikers getting too cold to hang around and the ski lifts starting up is a great time for connecting with your community, making plans for the future, and embracing hope for the winter to come.

Niaretya: Yeah, I guess so. And it’s better than spring by a long shot.

Me: Absolutely!

Harmony: You mentioned me in the chat too. That looks like a new teaser…

Me: Yeah. I rather liked the post promoting you at the end of the chat.

Harmony: Did you just accuse Vil of having a caretaker complex?

Me: Um. Have you read yourself? He totally has a caretaker complex.

Melody: (nodding) It’s driving Bex batty in me…

Me: It rather is.

Act II: So are you starting on me now?

Me: Not tonight. And possibly not tomorrow. Wisdom says I should take a day off and tomorrow features my weekly D&D season and two NFL games I’d like to watch. And I may be wrestling with Etherary’s problem…

Act II: Fine. But I expect your attention as soon as you’re done fixing whatever the rot is suddenly wrong with poor Etherary.

Me: You’ll have it! Unless I’m sick…

Several Minutes Later…

Me: Hey, Etherary. I found a way to set post titles! But I have to save the post, find it on the site dashboard, then use the ‘quick-edit’ dialogue. It’s not ideal.

Etherary: That sounds somewhat cumbersome.

Me: Yes, but it makes me feel less pressured to fix the issue IMMEDIATELY. Which gives me time to research if I want to re-install WordPress, look for a newer theme, or bail to an alternative like Ghost.

Etherary: Just don’t get locked into research and decision paralysis? I have an ominous feeling something else is going to go wrong soon…