|
The Write Perspective
BURP!
by: Jason C. McDonald |
|
|||
|
I had a genius moment a couple weeks back and unplugged my writing flash drive from my Mac WITHOUT ejecting it first. For all you Windows people out there, ejecting a removable device from a Mac is vital. Simple enough - drag and drop to the trash can. Easy to forget? You bet. Well, when I tried to open the WIP back up, OpenOffice gave me an odd error message. I tried opening it up in Word instead, only to discover that some computer glitch had devoured my manuscript. And I had no backup. Forty bucks and several hours later, Mom managed to use a file recovery program to retrieve the manuscript, with one exception. Every single space in the six-chapter WIP, as well as an assortment of punctuation, had been eaten - no doubt served up with salsa to my somewhat outdated CPU. So begun the process of restoring the WIP to readable form. It is times like these I thank God for the patience and dedication of my co-author on the project, my "adopted" sister. We agreed to split the six mangled chapters between ourselves to get done with the work sooner. However, it just goes to show you what God meant in Romans 8:28 where He says that He will work all things out for our good. See, for the last few nights before my Mac made itself a document soufflé, my sister and I had reworked some elements of the back story, which of course, resulted in a handful of changes in the dialogue and thoughts of the characters. I had scanned through the written portion of the WIP, searching for the places that I needed to change. And, dog-gone it, I could not remember all the spots. So, in the tedious process of fixing chapter one, I was able to catch all the remaining references to back story, as well as several dozen style changes. This will save my critique partners and editor quite a bit of red ink. I know now, even in the midst of corrections, that God was trying to remind me of the bigger picture – right when I needed the reminder most. And hey, I'll even add a dash of thankfulness to the mix! He didn't just allow me to recover nearly every word of my WIP, He protected the twelve chapter completed manuscript located on the very same flash drive. Talk about mercy. It crossed my mind to recommend this glitch for anyone needing to refine their work, but I'm not sure how to duplicate it, and I'm certainly not up for experimentation. At the very least I've learned to make backups of my work in several different places. Trust God will work everything out for your good, just as He promised. And while you're at it, be sure to save plenty of backups.
Get unlimited access to Dancing Word Writers Network for only $5 a year Write Perspective Is A Production Of Dancing Word Writers Network |
||||
