Ninth Month Ethernotes: Why Is It Still Summer?

Dear Etherfriends,

Welcome to Ninth Month!

Up on my mountain, summer drags on. Will it ever end? Probably? Are you as ready for summer to bugger off as I am? Probably not…If you haven't read The Harmony of Falling Snow yet because you've wanted a preview, I added the first three chapters to the Etherary a few weeks ago. Check them out if you haven't!

Life Notes, Still Depressed

1. Still depressed.
   1. It got a lot worse for a while.
      1. Worse like ideations and crying myself to sleep wishing I wouldn’t eventually wake up.
      2. No actual plans about killing myself though, just a desire to not be alive anymore. The distinction is important.
      3. Yes, both of my partners, my therapist, and my doctor all know.
      4. I have an appointment to talk to a new psychiatrist this week, although I don’t know how much a change in medication would help at this point.

   2. Historically, the autumn equinox helps tremendously. And we’re almost there. So hopefully I’m past the worst.

2. Folks are back to work at my ski school and I'm as far into the hiring process as I can be before the mandatory HR event stage.
   1. Am trying to sign up for some specialty training and am attempting to be excited about it.
   2. My excitement is being hampered by my lack of faith it will ever snow again...

Progress Notes, Accommplished Stuff

1. I took off several days midmonth for my mental health.
   
   1. Despite that, I finished the month only an hour and half shy of my hours-worked goal.
   2. I DID make my words-written goal, although I have no idea if I set it ‘right’ or not.
   3. I even managed my blogging goal! I posted four times in August. Although that included a reshare of Eighth Month’s Ethernotes, it was still an improvement.

2. I realized there was no point in finishing the last draft of Melody as I’d written myself into a bunch of dead ends.
3. During my time off, I did a lot of reflecting on what I do and do not want Melody to be.
1. This involved identifying plot arcs to cut.
2. And plot arcs to focus on.

4. I have an outline now.
   1. The first Act has a few new scenes, several cut scenes, and a lot of scenes with notes for changes. But is definitely a revision of the previous Act 1.
   2. Act 2 follows that for the first half. But by the end, it’s almost entirely new scenes that will need written from scratch.
   3. Act 3 wlll be completely new material. Which is hardly surprising since I didn’t even bother finishing the last draft.

5. I’m over halfway through this draft’s Act 1. It’s going well.

Goals for The Harmony of Falling Snow

1. Contact at least one review blogger with open submissions to request a review.
2. Commission some art of the MCs.
3. Share more fun excerpts on Bluesky and Mastodon.

Goals for A Melody of Shining Stars

1. Progress Draft 4 through the end of Act 2.
2. Start Act 3.
3. Start recruiting Beta Readers.

Goals for the blog

Post the following

1. The web version of this letter.
2. A review of the last polaym romance you finished reading.
3. The finished version of that half-written entry about Did-Not-Finish books.
4. One other thing.

Goals for Life

1. Try to keep the depression in check.
2. Be kind to myself.
3. Ask for help when I need it.

Closing Notes

Things still aren't great in the landscape of my psyche. But they are better than they were a couple of weeks ago. I’m trying to focus on fulfilling activities and be more adamant with myself about taking time off when I need it.

I hope you all are doing well. As always, I appreciate you giving you my time and love you all.