Until yesterday I was in denial about how much writing I lost when my one-year-old macbook’s hard drive crashed. I’d been taking a lot of notes by hand and I thought they would be sufficient to recreate what I had finished. Yesterday I put my mending elbow to the test and typed for an hour. Then it hit me. I lost fifty pages of my WIP as well as all the research I had carefully bookmarked and excerpted. And some of the scenes I wrote were not in my notebook at all. So now I’m back to square one. I’m trying to get the first 35 pages back in shape to enter the Emily contest. We all have setbacks. I’m trying not to let the extreme irony of this one get me down. Bike crash and hard drive crash in the space of two days. My muse is testing me. The exasperating hussy.
Lessons learned:
Back up! Lapse not into complacency, lest ye lose everything.
Accept not that third glass of wine from the cute tattooed bartender before singing more Liza Minnelli, lest ye be unfit to ride home.
Are you entering the Emily? Are you signing up for the Golden Heart? Are you asking yourself whether you can possibly finish your WIP by December 3rd? I know I am.
Okay, first – you CAN finish your WIP by December 3rd, if you have to peck it out with your nose. 🙂
All you have to do is have a draft – if you’re a GH finalist, you get to submit an updated manuscript for final judging. So just crank it out.
And beware the cute tattooed bartenders… mmmm
I recreated fifteen pages tonight. Yeah me! So maybe I can finish it in time. Thanks for the encouragement, oh goddess of romance.
Honey, that just bites. Good for you to keep on plugging away. I for one can’t WAIT to read the final product!! Best of luck with the contests.
Hey–good luck with school!! 🙂
Oh no!! So sorry to hear this. Yay for recreating fifteen pages, though!!! =)
Thanks Gillian and Erica. I’m going for another fifteen pages tonight.
Congrats again, Erica, on your agent news. That is so fantastic!
I’m so sorry! I know the devistation from a hard drive crash. It’s heart breaking and can really test you. It just means you’ll write an even stellar version the second time around.
I’m trying to figure out if I can finish my book by…oh next month 🙂
Go Shelli! You’re so prolific that it won’t be a problem. I have complete faith in you.
That sucks, but I’m glad you’re muddling through! 15 pages with a bum elbow is fantastic!!
Thanks Darcy!