Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Insecure Writer's Support Group: Dun dun DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNN!

Hey everyone. On the first Wednesday of the month, it's time to post updates to the Insecure Writer's Support Group. The point of this bloghop is to share your writing insecurities, but also to encourage others. There's also a monthly question you can answer if you're not feeling all that insecure. For more information, just click the link.


So right in time for Halloween, I think my current WiP is cursed.

Why? Well. It was the first concept I ever started writing when I first decided to be serious about writing books. In other words, I've been working on it for sixteen years.

The first time I started it I saved it to a floppy disk that malfunctioned. (Yes, it's that old.)

The second time, I saved it to my computer. And then one day, my grandmother (the writer) had a computer malfunction and needed another computer to save her work. So while I was at school (yes, it's that old), my mom ripped the insides out of my computer and installed my grandmother's. And also, because she thought I was only playing minesweeper (that. old.) on my computer, she just trashed the insides.

The third time I tried this book, I finished the rough draft. This time, because I made the point of saving it to Dropbox. It had been written on Ywriter (which is relevant, bear with me.) and I got into the rewrites. I wrote all of the rewrites. And when I finished it and did my final backup, something went wrong, and the entirety of my rewrite disappeared as if I had never written it.

Fourth time I wrote it on Scrivener and finished the rewrite. Yay! Then I discovered I had to rewrite it again. Awe.

And now, on the fifth try, after sixteen years, Scrivener lost me everything I had written on the weekend. Which doesn't sound that bad, but oooooooohhhhh is it bad. Because I had shifted the focus this time, and this chapter had been the moment where the momentum picked up. And Scrivener has successfully gutted it.

And yes, it's them. I save the file to my computer, and then save a copy to my dropbox. So the original file on my hard drive should be stable. And if you're wondering why I don't just get the back-up file Scrivener backed up for me... Did you know that Scrivener's default is to back up only five versions? And did you know that back-up happens every time it autosaves? Yuuuuuuup. In the time it took me to figure out that no, it didn't back up to my dropbox either, Scrivener had overwritten the back-ups from the day.

So yeah.

Cursed.

Have you ever worked on a cursed project? Did you ever manage to finish it?

45 comments:

  1. Yikes! No, I've never worked on a cursed project exactly, but there have been some weird coincidences between my own life and events in the novel I have coming out this month. Mostly small, and nothing bad, but it felt a little freaky at times.

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    1. Strange how stuff like that can happen while writing a book.

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  2. Ack! That's beyond horrible! I've had issues with projects before, but never this extreme. So sorry this WIP has been so much trouble for you over the years!

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    1. Thanks. The bad luck streak has to end at some point, right?

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  3. Oh Misha ... no I've never had that kind of disaster - I tend to write (only write) in Word ... but interesting about Scrivener. I like to keep my machine to myself - thankfully usually no-one else around ... so that's ok normally. Things happen though ... good luck with this cursed project - you need some fairy dust now to magic forward to happiness ... cheers Hilary

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    1. Yeah I literally don't know what happened with Scrivener. I've never had this kind of problem with it before. :-/

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  4. Holy crow! That's beyond awful. I'd tell you just to print the darn thing, but I'm afraid you might have a house fire. I haven't suffered a writing loss that huge. I've been using my gmail account to save stuff. I bet that's a bad idea for some reason. Where my extra drive go?

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    1. LMAO well I do have the rough draft in hand written form, so maybe I should burn that first. ;-)

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  5. Oh, no - that's awful! I've had some disasters with computers, but at work, not with my own writing projects. Hang in there. Cheers - Ellen

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  6. Wow, there are forces really working against you there. Just be all the more determined.

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    1. Agreed. The big thing about this is that I was just getting a sense of momentum, so now I'm feeling a bit like Sisyphus.

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  7. Ugh, how horrible! I lost six pages of a graduate thesis once, because I was careless with a floppy disc and let it bend in my school bag. So yeah, I feel your frustration with technology.

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    1. Nooooooooooo!

      I had also carried mine in the back and I guess a pen or something had shifted the overwrite switch.

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  8. OMG! And I thought I was cursed!!! I'd be alcoholic by this time. But what perseverance! I use Carbonite. One of my laptops just died...couldn't retrieve anything. But Carbonite had everything, even down to how my desktop works. And thanks for the heads up about Scrivener. I've tried to use it but while it has some very cool features, I found it clumsy. I was just about ready to upload a manuscript this week to try again, but think I'll still plod along with Word.

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    1. Scrivener is a bit clumsy, so I never use it at full functionality. It is useful for keeping track of my writing, though, which is mostly why I use it when rewriting.

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  9. It's feeling like my current WIP is cursed because of the frequency and variety of delays (the most recent being one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic) but I've never had that much trouble with computers. I love Dropbox, personally. It's been a very handy tool.

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    1. I also adore Dropbox. I just really wish I knew what the heck had caused the problem. :-/

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  10. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad and annoying. Time to move on, I'm sure it is a signal to you that there is another and better story waiting to be written, and that it will be much better because of the wonderful learning you have acquired over the years.

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    1. I considered it, but I love the characters. After all these years, they're like family.

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  11. Oh my gosh! How terribly frustrating, but at the same time it's like, "Okay, universe, I will not be stopped!" Good luck!!

    Enjoy the rest of your week!
    Elsie

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  12. Oh no! That's terrible.

    My first computer stories were on floppy discs. LOL

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  13. Ugh! It does rather sound like you've been cursed. Do you have any enemies with technopathic abilities? Just trying to Sherlock my way to the answer. In any case, I'm shocked (and disturbed) that Scrivener failed you! I write everything on Scrivener. That said, I also print out hard copies of everything at the end of a writing session because I am uber paranoid that technology will ultimately fail us all. Good for you, though, for not giving in to despair and throwing in the towel. I remember floppy disks. I also remember that they sucked. Good luck with everything, and happy writing. Remember, if all else fails, there's the pen and paper method. ;)

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    1. Yeah I honestly don't know what happened with it. I did some tests and everything seems to be working normally. Even the other work I had done to another project after that one was okay.
      It's literally that one chapter that vanished.

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  14. Oh, that is horrible, but you know what? When you finish, you will be an author with one of the best perseverance story ever!

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  15. Oh WOW and no I did not know that, so good to know and so sorry it happened to you. Thanks for sharing that. HUGS
    Juneta @ Writer's Gambit

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    1. It's okay. I'll just take a few deep breaths, maybe write a few poems, and start again.

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  16. Dang. That sucks, dude. I hope it works out somehow.

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  17. I've thought at times I'm cursed whenever I pick up my manuscript because something really bad would always happen. Finally I decided to stop looking at it that way. It's working. Too bad about your bad luck.

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    1. Yeah that's true. I'm trying to move past this sense I have, because I do realize it could easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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  18. Oh wow. Just wow. I can see why you feel the story is cursed. I hope it works out somehow too.

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  19. No horror story can ever scare a writer more than a tale of lost files... :)
    But who knows? Maybe one day you'll write about a cursed story that doesn't want to be told.

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    1. Hahahahaha yeah it's enough to keep people awake at night.

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  20. Oh wow! That does sound like a cursed manuscript. After the ransomware incident in June 2014, I've been anal about backing up stuff between my work computer, Dropbox, email (sent from one email to another), my flash drive, and my personal computer. So far I haven't lost anything since then, but I still dread the day I do.

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    1. Oh yes, I remember. I still cringe for your sake just thinking about it.

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  21. Wow, that is pretty crazy. This is not as bad as your story, but I once typed up a list of notes for a story idea on my phone, then I never saw it again. I can't even remember where I saved it, but it's gone now.

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  22. Misha... that is crazy... what a trial, I think that since you keep working at it, it will be meant to be once you get it fully rewritten xox

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  23. Cursed? Yikes. That's totally frustrating. I think the writing gods are challenging you. It will be awesome when you're done. :)

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