16 March 2011

Silly Mistakes

Lesson learned: make completely new copies of your MS after it's been critiqued by someone.  I don't know how I did it, but when I copied and pasted edits into my MS I ended up deleting a chapter.  Thankfully, I had a version of that chapter from a couple weeks ago, but I can't remember how much I might have changed since then.  Oops.

What else have I done recently that's been a bit absentminded?  I had to re-write a certain part of a chapter twice because it didn't save.  I still think my computer was doing something funky there though and it wasn't my fault in not saving.

Let's see...I've torn up a piece of paper I thought I had copied all information and ideas off of, but actually hadn't.

I've also left a book I was using to research on the floor right where my dog could eat it up.  Thankfully she's grown out of that stage of her puppy-hood.  (The same day, she also chewed up my boyfriend's mother's book she was lending me.  Ugh).

I thought I left my idea notebook at work last week, before the start of spring break (I teach twice a week an hour from home), but it was actually stuffed under the seat of my car.  That about gave me a heart attack.  I carry that thing with me everywhere I go.

At least I've never lost an entire MS.  My computer crashed last year but I had already saved everything to the internet, a flash drive, and a hard drive.  It never hurts to be prepared.

What silly mistakes have you made in your journey of writing?

5 comments:

  1. I learned early, save, save, save, backup, backup, backup. The biggest problem I seem to have is knowing which version is the latest version. I've got to figure out how to make that clear in the file name. Oh, well, live and learn.

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  2. Just about the only way I can keep track of versions is if I date them, Rupert March 17 etc. Otherwise I have no idea which is which.

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  3. That should work for me too. I'll do that in the future.

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  4. I drew your name for the Made in the Usa book giveaway over on my blog.

    Just send me an email with your address and I will get that shipped off to you.

    ~Angela

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  5. How frustrating to lose a chapter!

    I always just type over my manuscript, but I periodically e-mail myself drafts, so I can go back. The reason I e-mail myself drafts is because I've heard too many horror stories of people having hard drives crash.

    Have a great weekend! I have a contest at my blog if you want to check it out.

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