A Tale of Two Books

   About a year and a half ago, shortly after I published my first book The Locket, I began a story about a 16 year old girl with overwhelming responsibilities and a HUGE chip on her shoulder. The story ebbed and flowed as all stories do and soon I had a 135,000 word YA novel.
   As many of you know, this is not the norm for YA novels which run from 50-95,000 words.
   So, as of last week, I have begun revisions on Concerning Amity (Formerly Gilly McNeill) I'm really enjoying this rewrite and have noticed how long and drawn out the original manuscript was. And then I thought about it: How many writers experience this?
   I see spending time with my characters as a privilege rather than a burden. Each and every one of them has a story to tell and I am just an instrument they voice themselves through.
   The title of today's blog is "A Tale of Two Books" because I want to talk about the follow-up to Concerning Amity, appropriately titled, Concerning Love.
   As many of you may know, computers can be our best friends OR our worst enemies and as Sophia Petrillo used to say, "Picture it, Texas, 2010..."
   I am sitting in my little corner of the world, putting the finishing touches on the epilogue of my latest achievement, Concerning Love. When I am satisfied, I close the file and sigh, elated that I have finally put two files together and created one whole book.
   The next day, when I open up the file to start revisions, a box pops up on the screen: Microsoft Works cannot open this file. The file may be corrupted.
   I feel my head detaching from my body. A solid week of work is now stuck somewhere inside my old computer, screaming from its place in the great void for rescue. And I let out a string of obscenities, some my neighbors were able to hear, I'm sure.
   The moral of this story? ALWAYS backup your work on a separate drive!!!!! A lesson I learned the hard way.
   Because I still have the original file of the first half, I am not too bummed. But I have learned to keep abreast of the latest technology to avoid further tragedy.
  
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