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Yes, I have lost a lot - a good two and a half novels plus so many other things I was storing, from old web sites, to band photos, articles and short stories, all my freelance files including invoices, and cartoons of mine I'd scanned, all of it is history.

But, let's look at the up side. A new computer will be faster. Yeah! And this time I promise to keep all my files organized like I should.

If my client still has the first 75% of the novel I sent to him, all I have to re-do is the last 20K. And, I have a hard copy of the work I'd done on my next novel, so this will give me a chance to rewrite as I go, a hard edit if you will.

See, things aren't so bad.

Could be worse.

It might even be a good thing, in the long run. A blessing. A clean slate. A chance to start over. A brand new day. A tabula rasa just waiting for my shiny new brilliance.

Yes, that's it. A blessing.

Now, pardon me while I load a single bullet into this pistol.
Posted by David Terrenoire at 1:47 PM Sandra Ruttan said...

Thank God, David.

I couldn't fathom how you could cope with losing your manuscript. At least it isn't completely gone.

I should name the fourth kitten Terrenoire. That's a good kitten name. I can't spell Sweirczyawhatchamacallum.
 Steve Ordog said...

The silence from here is due to speechlessness in the face of abject despondency. I'm sorry for your troubles.
 JD Rhoades said...

And hey, there's another bright side...after hearing about your misfortune, I backed up my own data! So you've at least provided a cautionary bad example. So cheer up!
 
I feel that I should offer to buy you this poster.


My gift to you for being such an example.
 Daniel Hatadi said...

I hope that's a water pistol.

Even so, don't do it! Never give up! The Planeteers need you!
 

Dinnae worry, son. You're looking at a bloke who had to learn from twice losing a bunch of stuff. And by losing, I mean LOSING. Gone, vanished, all that. And I had to re-write the lot. But I'll tell ya, it made those drafts a lot better, because I'd remembered all the good stuff, and forgotten all the crap.

Maybe. It's entirely possible I added more crap.

Shit, when you're done with that gun, pass it my way.
 Olen Steinhauer said...

Shit, I stay away from the Planet for a few days, and look what happens! Am I going to have to hold your hand for the rest of your life, David?

But really, this sucks. It happened to me many years ago, and I'd like to think I learn from my mistakes, but I still haven't. Even when I haul my laptop across the world with everything inside it. Last year I had a nice external drive for backup, and then suddenly IT went kerplunk. The best solution I've found is to email myself the big drafts of each book, and put them in an Yahoo mail folder called "Stories". I've got a few books worth of crap in that folder that should be safe. Of course, I have to remember to send the damned things.

At least you've got hard copies--I assume they cover most all of your writing work?? And the retyping will improve it, no question.

My sympathies.
 Stephen Blackmoore said...

It could be worse.

Milton lost the first manuscript of Paradise Lost in a fire and had to rewrite the whole thing, by hand. While blind.

Which does sort of explain how painful it is to read.
