I can't believe this happened!
I'm so happy I want to jump and scream and dance and cheer!
I went searching, and I FOUND!
Found!
Found!
Found!
And I never had to deal with dust, heavy boxes or open anything other than my inbox! Can I stress enough how vital emails are? Never! Way back in 2008 I was smart enough to email my manuscript to myself, so you will soon be reading it. If you are a writer, I can't say it enough--long enough, loud enough or enough times how important it is to back up your work. Continually. Consistently. Print it, use removable computer storage, put it in one place and then put it in another, and ALWAYS email it to yourself. One. Chapter. At. A. Time. And also send yourself the entire finished project via email. And think about this: You never know if you'll be like one of my classmates who traveled to Europe with her laptop and wrote for a month. She saved all of her writing on a flash drive. As she headed to the airport for her return flight she pulled it from its port and placed it inside a pocket in her computer case. Poor thing had her laptop stolen in its case. She lost everything. Recent work. Past work. All of her manuscripts. That's an extreme loss, but now you can easily see why emails make sense.
Trust me.
I've experienced my own losses. In one gushing whoosh of agony they've pulled the wind right out of me, making it hard to pick up where I left off before the loss, and head forward again. It's a million times easier to edit bad writing with sparks of inspiration, than attempt capturing concepts where only dry ashes remain. And so, because I remembered six years ago to follow my own advice, which I received from a wise instructor in one of my writing classes, very soon I will happily share another novel with you because I found it!
Hidden Secrets
by Leona Palmer Haag
This is the second volume in my Jenn Washington series. Between now and posting time I will be burning the midnight oil making sure I stumbled upon a finished project and not just a WIP (work in progress). Oh, I am so, so happy, happy, happy! *Dance!* Because there have been times, very sad disappointing times, when I've lost every single word I've written for one, two, three or more chapters....
But not this time!
Be assured that if I've stumbled upon a rough WIP that I'll do my best to edit and clean it up before I deliver on a silver blog platter. Bring on the Doves dark chocolate and gallons of Dr. Pepper! I will need them, mucho! Or just want them...
A teaser from chapter 1...
A
soft breeze sifted through the palm fronds and lifted a wisp of hair from
Natalie's shoulder. It felt cool and refreshing. A million stars twinkled so
brightly overhead she wondered if she reached out, would she be able to
touch them? She didn't move. Not even a finger. Her breathing remained light and
shallow, almost nonexistent. Given her current circumstance it would be fatal
to shift anything other than her eyelashes more than an inch. Her hands were securely fastened together in her lap and her feet were latched tightly to them, forcing her knees nearly to her chin. Attached to the line was a taunt cord that almost disappeared into the night except where it was faintly lit in places like a glowing line of fire when it caught the flickering flames cast from Tiki torches shoved into the sand along the beach dozens of yards away. At the end of the binding cords were three trigger lines carefully strung to crossbows....
Head back to my previous novel if you can't remember much about Natalie, or be patient and wait until I reveal more...
Oh, this is fun!
My little Grand's smile says it all!
No comments:
Post a Comment