So. Apple contacted me at 7 a.m. yesterday. Just like they said they would. However the news was not good. At least the customer service was excellent with the tech keeping his word on when he’d call. He followed up with me several times throughout the process.
If you missed my post yesterday you can read it HERE to learn what happened.
“It looks like they have recovered all available files that could be recovered. They also stated that they will have no other ways to recover the data if it is still
missing,” he said.
I looked through my computer to see what files they were able to recover. I noticed three and four copies of the files already there. So now I have a mess to clean up.
I felt a mourning loss for my work. I don’t look forward to my next newsletter that I have to start without the use of the two published newsletters to use as templates.
My son told me something I’ve never heard before. Ernest Hemingway lost 10 years of his work. It was all in one briefcase that he left on a train in France.
I’m not the only one to lose a manuscript. And it happened before computers and the cloud. Who knew?
“Did you know that D.H. Lawrence never edited his drafts?” My son told me. “He threw it out if he didn’t like it and started over.”
He told me to look at my NaNoWriMo missing manuscript as an opportunity, not a loss.
Thinking about that, he may be right. I get too married to my first rough draft. I make little edits here and there on later drafts, but I never get to the meat of throwing out scenes or restructuring my plot. I’ve submitted manuscripts to agents and publishers and have gotten interest. I’ve been given suggestions and have been asked for rewrites. But, after I resubmitted, I’d hear that I didn’t go far enough.
Do you find the silver lining in your mishaps? When life gives you lemons, do you make lemonade? Can you give an example?
Well there’s your answer- some mysterious Apple tech has been tasked with wiping clean the files of writers who need a significant jolt to inspire them…perhaps there is a positive message here, but the whole thing still sucks in my opinion.
You gave me a laugh this morning! Thank you.
Hmmm….I’m better at finding the silver lining for my daughter than I am for myself. However, I had a crappy first marriage, but without that first marriage I would never have met my second husband and had my daughter. Greatest silver lining ever
That is definitely the best!
I try to find silver linings. When my employer’s decided to retire I talked them into letting me be their personal assistant through the transition and that worked into me having my own business for the last 21 years. Still a bummer to lose all that work.
Having your own business is a great accomplishment. Especially to keep it going for 21 years!
It’s hard to find the silver lining when in the middle of a tragedy or crisis; but later, we learn from it.
I agree. In the moment we don’t see the benefits and lessons.
I’m sorry you lost your work. That sucks. Computers are a fickle bunch. I work on a Mac too but don’t use the cloud to back up my files. Not sure why….just always feel better putting them on the external hard drive that sits by my computer. I’m sure someday that will be my downfall. Your son sounds like the eternal optimist. I’m not sure I would have held the same opinion!
I did much better with your method of backing up. Stick with it! I’ve never lost a file before and I’ve used a Mac since 1992!
My kids started on an Apple 2e with the Reader Rabbit game! I’m on my fifth desktop Mac and have a university laptop on loan for teaching. One could say I’m a Mac-brain person. 😀
My first one was a Mac IIcx. My kids used Reader Rabbit too. How fun! Then we got the kids the Bondi Blue (son) and daughter (pink) iMac G3. Do you remember those huge plastic bright colored desktops?
That stinks. Very much a grieving process … you have a great attitude though! Here’s to even better newsletter/manuscript/work/etc. in the future. Good luck!
Thank you for the support!
If a job does not fit and you keep trying, you might find one that does.
Good idea.
I can feel your frustration, I have lost work on computers, especially when I didn’t save something and then turned off the computer! Ugh. I’m sorry. Maybe the Newsletter needs a new format? It’s like being given a fresh sheet of paper! Wishing you all the best, C
Thanks for your understanding. I’ve only done two issues of the newsletter so far. I changed the format after it had been the same for 15 years. The HOA would probably freak out if I changed it again. My son helped me with it, so I’ll ask him to help me again!
Why reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to? Maybe you can find some of your lost files by following up on/with sources you sent them to or got them from.
I organize and save many of my emails just for that purpose. I have done that for so long that I’m not sure if I can still resurrect stuff that way or if I even could do that as much as I thought I could in the first place!
I only emailed the finished pdf’s not the Pages documents. I wish!
Oh that’s terrible, but that silver lining will become apparent. It’s ironic that the lost cloud files has us talking about silver linings. I’m sorry you lost your manuscript…
Thank you. You brightened my day with the silver lining in the cloud!
Your son is very wise
He’s seriously smart.
I have a MacBook that was sitting in my rolling laptop bag for a couple of years after I got the new one. I found that I hadn’t transferred everything over, so I dug it out of hiding. Looks like the battery might have swelled. It’s going to have to go to the shop, and I’ll have to hope they can recover the drive. Or I’ll be in the same boat! It’s frustrating when that happens.
It’s beyond frustrating! I hope your hard drive is okay. Once someone in my family knocked over a cup of cocoa on my laptop. I was able to get it to a local computer repair shop that copied the hard drive!