I took Friday as a vacation day, and Monday was my flex day. This was just what I needed, to be honest. It doesn’t mean I wasn’t productive, but I didn’t hit it full speed either.
Start with Friday. Old What’s Her Face had to work, so this was my writing day. I tried to hit it hard, because I didn’t expect a better opportunity. I wound up adding 4100 new words to Lanternfish.
I’ve been setting the stage for some of this for a few chapters now. I started to reveal the con job my crew is going to have to pull once they arrive in the war zone. I also have some seeds that haven’t sprouted yet and look forward to those chapters.
Then I sent Lanternfish into a hot welcome in the form of two Hollish warships. With their little fleet, only Lanternfish is capable of defending herself, unless there is an even older battle tactic that might still have some life in it.
I also finally introduced my ghost into the story. This is an old Japanese legend, and honestly, Japanese ghosts are scary as hell. This involves haunted items. I did a ton of research on them, then made my own up to fit the framework. The result was bloody and gruesome, and I’m well pleased with it.
A root monster earned a name (kind of), and they made a mistake involving a golden phallus. Have to keep some of the humor going here.
My wife was off Saturday and Sunday. We’re doing our best to stay home, and did small things around the house. I pruned my Asian pear a bit, and have more to go. I continued with thinning its fruit. I should have sprayed it for coddling moth, but haven’t done that yet.
We turned on Disney+ and watched the new Star Wars movie. We went to it in the theater, but now that it’s that simple we decided to watch it again.
I dabbled with other writing projects, adding a few words to my short story, and a few more to Lanternfish. I’m debating parking Lizzie and the Hat now, until one of those gets finished. This is always a possibility, and it feels like time.
I had one goal for today, and that was to send a chapter of Lanternfish to my critique group. My iPad seems to have a haunting of its own today. When I selected the chapter, it froze up and wouldn’t let me do anything. I closed the app, and that will sometimes break the strangle hold. Not this time. It decided to arbitrarily delete the last two chapters I’d written.
Rather than throwing the stupid thing against the wall. I put it down and made a pot of coffee. About once a year, Old What’s Her Face buys me a can of chickory as a treat, and I used it. This gave me time to think. Apple just had an update and that could be part of my problem. Doesn’t solve anything, but it came to me in the kitchen.
Pages gives me options upon selection of a part of my work, copy/cut/ delete. Maybe it cut the section and was still on the clipboard. I could simply paste it back… Big nope. It had been deleted.
As a last feeble effort I tried the undo button. It restored everything that I’d lost, and I was able to copy and paste it for my critique group. It’s a miracle that I didn’t reboot the whole thing, which would have cleared the undo button.
Today was a possible writing day, too. I continued, but after my adventure, didn’t accomplish much. If you add on the dabbling with the short story and today, my whole weekend probably landed at about 5000 words. Good progress any way you slice it.
Tomorrow is working from home, and Wednesday I get my turn in the office. I have enough work for one day, but really need to go in for more files and such.
That’s brilliant progress, Craig. I’m so relieved and glad that you managed to get your work back.
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ICloud isn’t much help that way. I wish iPad would allow me a thumb drive. I never seem to have this kind of problem, but maybe the update did some of this.
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I have a friend who e-mails herself every new scene she writes. Then if she loses something, it’s in her e-mail file for each book. Not sure if that would work for you on an iPad or not. 5,000 words for a weekend is great! One of my friends writes horror and read one of her short stories about a Japanese spirit to us and eww! Scary is right! Wishing you a good week at your day job.
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Email would work. It’s an idea.
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That’s a simple, yet brilliant, idea, Judi! You’ve given me one more security tool to consider. Thanks!
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Pages scares the bejesus out of me. That’s why I pay good money for MS Word for MAC and pads. I’m so glad you thought of the undo button. Also, this is why I e-mail work to myself. Last-ditch savior. It sounds like a good weekend
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I may have to start doing that, but the process is the same one that started this problem with copy and paste.
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That certainly was a harrowing tale of at the end. Glad you got everything back.
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Don’t mind admitting I freaked out. It’s a miracle I didn’t reboot and lose the storage of the undo button.
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Lucky break there. I’d have screwed up.
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Pure luck, trust me.
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Losing your work is scary! I’m so glad you got it back. We use Office 365 at work and I’m getting spoiled to automatic saves.
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I actually hate that at work. It seems to save in a different format, and elsewhere. Then I have to overwrite my work to save it. Nobody seems to be able to figure it out, including our tech guy.
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And 5000 words over a weekend is something I can only dream about.
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It was a good weekend, but it was 5000 in four days, if I’m being completely honest.
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Reblogged this on Where Genres Collide Traci Kenworth YA Author & Book Blogger for all Genres as well as craft books and commented:
Your word count is awesome! I know that might not be what you want to hear but we are always harder on ourselves then we need to be.
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No, I’m pretty happy with it. I have a short weekend coming up and don’t expect anything to get done.
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I hope to get more done then I have before but it depends on if the weather cooperates. Inside work will take precedence then.
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File/computer issues are the worst. Sorry for the scare, glad it worked out.
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I’m just glad I thought of that before total panic took over.
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I think your word count is amazing, Craig, even spread over 4 days. You are a powerhouse when you sit down to write, and your computers don’t screw you up. Technical glitches like what you describe would leave me in tears. (Thankfully, that probably doesn’t happen to you. I have visions of “ol’ whats her face” coming home and finding you curled up on the couch, sobbing into a pillow. I’m guessing this would not be a good thing. 😀 😀 : D )
Seriously, congratulations for a) managing to restore your work, and b) producing so much of it to start with! And I’m definitely going to be emailing myself some stuff, as I go, I think. I do save it all to a thumbdrive, but don’t do that with every day’s work. I’d hate to have to start over on a lost chapter or the like.
Keep up the good work. I’ve been saving Lanternfish as a treat for myself, but I’m thinking I better get going on it soon if I want to be ready for the next book. 🙂 Great post!
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Thanks, Marcia. I need to come up with something after that. I kind of want to take a break after Lanternfish 2. I’m thinking another stand alone title.
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I’ve read some books with Japanese ghosts and you’re right – they’re scary as hell. Have to say I’m really looking forward to the scene with the golden phallus – I can just imagine how entertaining that’s going to be, lol.
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I’m laughing right now. Hope it lives up to your expectations.
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I can imagine myself sobbing if I thought I’d deleted two chapters. I am so glad you got that work back. When I’ve had to recreate something I’ve accidentally deleted (usually no more than a scene), it never seems to be as good to me when I have to rewrite it.
You were highly productive, even with the hiccup. Awesome!
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I don’t know what I would have done, but I would feel the same way on the rewrite.
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Sounds like an incredibly productive weekend. Glad you managed to get back those last two chapters when your tablet played up.
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It was pure luck, but I’m so happy it worked.
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Phew! Crisis averted! 🙂
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Pingback: Three Links 5/14/2020 Loleta Abi | Loleta Abi Historical & Fantasy Romance Author & Book Blogger for all genres
Sgoineill! That’s brilliant in Gaelic. Can’t wait to read this – you’ve done a good job getting your followers drawn in!
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Thank you, Noelle.
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