I could seriously kick myself!!!! For the first time EVER since I started writing, I screwed up royally! I am dumber than I previously thought. Much dumber... Kicking myself again and once more...
I do my writing in MS Word, and when the manuscript starts to take shape, I print it out, grab a red pen and write in revisions, all kinds of revisions - to plot, character, dialogue - and do some editing and corrections as well.
I finally had enough of the new Sasha book written to print it out and get busy with the red pen. Then I got onto the computer and input all the revisions on the Word file.
I spent about twelve hours working on it yesterday.
I just opened the file tonight and realized immediately that something was wrong... The word count is considerably LESS today that it was last night.
I did not save my changes!
On top of that, last night I took out the garbage and recycling, so all those printed pages, with all that red ink are now long gone.
I have no idea how I managed to do (or rather, NOT do) that. About twelve hours worth of work and creativity are gone. Damn. I am such an idiot.
** Spare me the "You should have...." comments. I already know what you're going to say and I've said it to myself already.
You have no judgement from me, just an empathetic shoulder to vent to. I'm so neurotic about losing my writing that I back-up my back-ups. I have four, count'em FOUR, flashdrives that all share the same exact files. And before I log-off my computer for the night, (or sometimes morning, as I'd be awake all night at times) I double-check all four flashdrives to be sure they all have the same file I just saved.
ReplyDeleteI have this stomach-churning, possibly overblown fear that someone could swipe any of my flashdrives, and then the manuscripts I've been working for years on would be gone forever...or worse, plagiarized. With me having no way to prove it was mine.
Okay, I'll shut up now. LOL!
That is truly a writer's nightmare! Oh god! You need a drink. And I admire you though, for still making revisions long hand. That's what I've always done with my novels.
ReplyDeleteI lost a portion of a novel once when someone unplugged the wrong power cord at the same instant it was saving. It's a nightmare.
ReplyDeleteI once deleted the wrong file because it was named similarly to one I didn't need anymore. I only lost a few sentences that I hadn't transferred to another draft, but it was still heartbreaking. I can't imagine losing all the work that you did!
ReplyDeleteWine and chocolate.
ReplyDeleteKat xx