What Should Have Been A Bad Day

Today's pages were underway. A terrific exchange between Brendan and Cara, one that really showed an underlying bond between them. This exchange wasn't in the original draft (another reason I love second drafts ... the chance to really explore characterization that might have been missed in the first). I was really enjoying this ... feeling the possible growth of love between the characters. I was even, in the back of my mind, planning my nightly journal as I worked on the new pages.

As I reached the bottom of the second of four pages, the point where I really saw a spark between Brendan and Cara that I noticed a lag in the fonts as I typed. I thought to myself, it might be a good idea to save the file here. My mouse pointer kept disappearing but finally I clicked on the SAVE button. The program stuttered, said it was saving and then the computer completely locked up. I decided to give it some time, a few minutes to make up it's mind. I was afraid if I rebooted I would lose my work. Halfway through the next chapter of "Small Town" I noticed the dreaded Windows Blue Screen of Death. The computer rebooted and never came back. This was the second cataclysmic hard drive crash in the last four days!

Still hoping, since the file I'd been working on was on an external drive, I busted out a second box, got that machine up and running ... but lo and behold ... the save to my file never took. So today's work was lost. A functional computer was lost. The day was spent on computer rebuilding instead of writing.

Still, you'd think I would be lost and angry, frustrated beyond consolation. And yet, I'm not. Sure, I'm bummed about losing that warm and fuzzy conversation between characters, but the love of a good woman goes a long way. So for all the day's aggravation, I'm still the luckiest man in the world ... and I know it.

Goodnight all ... maybe tomorrow's rescripting of the conversation will be even better!

Currently Reading: Small World by Lawrence Block