Manuscript Monday
Know how to give an author a heart attack?
Tell her pages from the latest manuscript she’s working on are missing. Or better yet, let her discover that fact for herself.
What you’ll hear is a high-pitched Noooooooooooo! Followed by a lot of cursing & crying.
That’s what happened to me last week when I was adding some newly typed-up pages of PROJECT: RUNAWAY BRIDE to what I already had on file. Everything was going fine until I tried to piece them together & they didn’t fit. Didn’t fit because a big chunk was missing.
Insert much wailing & hair-pulling & rending of garments.
I had no idea where the pages were or what had happened to them. Where could they have gone? The only explanation I could think of was that the missing section was part of the story I’d typed originally on my Neo (before switching to writing by hand) & that when I’d begin typing up the handwritten pages, I’d accidentally typed over some very important text.
Noooooooooooooooooooooo! :waaa
I was pretty much a basket case for a while, not knowing what I was going to do. I had no idea what was missing, story- & dialogue-wise to write it again. And quite frankly, I don’t have time to rewrite big sections of this story.
Then a miracle occurred. No, really, it was a miracle. I remembered that it’s possible to retrieve a deleted file from the Neo as long as that file hasn’t already had new text typed into it.
Yay! But also yikes! Really, what were the chances that I hadn’t typed over the old stuff thinking it was a nice, empty file?
But I dug out my User’s Manual, anyway, & figured out how to do at least look for the lost text. Then I went through every file on the Neo & desperately tried to retrieve everything that had been deleted. Ever.
Miracle #2 is that I found it. I actually found the chunk of the story that was missing & that I really, really thought was gone forever.
Whew. Major relief & massive panic attack averted.
But it was very, very scary, & I never want something like that to happen again. Twice in a lifetime is plenty. (Yes, this has actually happened to me once before, though not quite the same way.)
And now I can continue to move forward with Juliet’s & Reid’s story instead of floundering around moving backwards.
Comments
6 Comments • Comments Feed
Mary Kirkland says:
I can just imagine that you were a bit of a basket case for a while. Glad it worked out though.
On March 18, 2013 at 2:35 am
Heidi says:
It was definitely a scream-heard-round-the-world moment. And if I hadn’t found the pages, I’d still be crying. :waaa
On March 18, 2013 at 9:04 pm
Dee says:
Glad you found it!
On March 18, 2013 at 12:37 pm
Heidi says:
Thanks, Dee!
On March 18, 2013 at 9:05 pm
Laura J. says:
I know this was horrible, but the way to retell it to us is very funny. (I’m sorry!!) Your life could be a sitcom sometimes (I’m thinking Kelly Cucco could play you).
But in all seriousness now…I’m very glad you found it and I’m sorry you had to have a panic attack in the mean time.
BTW: Have you seen the new Got Milk commercial with Dwayne? If you haven’t, go find it now. It’s great!
On March 18, 2013 at 3:57 pm
Heidi says:
It’s only funny after the fact & from the other point of view. Like America’s Funniest Videos. :tongue
I’ve seen the commercial! Gotta admit, I don’t *love* it, but I also don’t mind watching my Darling Dwayne lookin’ that good for 30 seconds or so. :hot
On March 18, 2013 at 9:06 pm