I don't seem to have a copy of my revised version of "Lawncare in the Afterlife"--this is very almost nearly something like a tragedy!
There is the teeniest, tiniest chance that there's a copy on my work computer--and I'm holding out hope that this is the case--but the three copies I have on hand, including the so-called backup, are old drafts.
More than likely, I deleted the wrong file when I was cleaning things up.
Just goes to show you that you can have all the backup strategies you want, but you still won't be able to avoid human error.
So, after complaining to my husband about how writing at my desk while using my laptop makes my wrists hurt, we debated about the most effective method to eliminate this trouble.
We considered an additional keyboard that would plug into my laptop. Problem: where do you put the desktop's keyboard, then?
We considered a splitter. Problem: Really, they don't make that kind of splitter. We think.
We considered unplugging the keyboard from my desktop and plugging it into my laptop. Problem: Pain In The Butt. Also, we'd need a female PS/2 to male USB converter.
Then, in a moment of brilliance, my husband remembered Synergy, which plays to our local strengths (all our computers are networked), and... is free.
The only drawback is that I have to keep my wireless card in my laptop to make it work, but after a week of having it out, maybe I can recognize that a little self-discipline goes a long way here. I've had one of my most productive weeks on record since getting a wireless card, basically.
That's SAD, by the way, and I'm fully aware of exactly how sad.
I haven't finished the story I said I was going to finish, but not for lack of going pell-mell at it with all my heart. I can probably finish it tonight, if I manage to keep its demonic tendancy to grow in check. (It's a slender 2186 words at the moment. With discipline, I should be able to tell the rest of the story in very few more words. Sure. It could balloon to 6k. But I'm trying to be more concise.)
I have also managed an extremely creditable amount of work on my novel, too. I am definitely in the honeymoon stage with it; I can't picture running out of plot or not knowing what comes next. Yes, I know it can't last. But it sure doesn't hurt that I've been working on this book on one level or another for the past, what, five years? I hatched the premise sometime before that, I think, but since then, I've written two related short stories (of varying degrees of success) and have made running starts at this novel three or four times. And I've outlined it twice. If anything, I have too much material, but to pad is human; to cut is divine.