I have some bad news.
‘Grin and Beard It’ is delayed indefinitely.
I made changes/added chapters over the last 2 weeks (18k words or more) based on BETA feedback and those changes have been lost. I kept the file open on my desktop and saved new versions daily in 3 places. I closed the file Sunday night for the first time in 2 weeks. When I opened it Monday morning everything was lost. As well, all the back ups (all 28 of them) look just like the file from April 21 (before Window’s 10 was installed).
I’ve spent all day yesterday trying to figure out how to recover the book. All the previous versions (I save and backup daily) do not reflect any of the updates.
My husband has done everything he can; he thinks it’s because of Windows 10; I updated my computer on Thursday April 21 and apparently no updates to word documents have saved since. I was messaged by readers and their techy husbands, certified Microsoft professionals, et. al. Nothing can be done. The data appears to have been stored in memory but never written to the disk.
I can’t think about making these changes again right now. If I did, I would rush it and the quality would suffer. I don’t release sub-par books. I charge a lot of money for my books because they’re worth a lot; I write them with care, I never write to the market, I never write what is expected, I write from the heart, I write with purpose.
I’m walking around in a strange daze of despair. I’m so angry. I know I’ll get over it eventually, but for now I feel like I’ve lost something irreplaceable. As such, this book is on hold. I’m moving on to a new project (maybe for a week, maybe for a few months).
Anyway. . . I wanted to keep you all in the loop. When I know what is happening with the book I’ll let you know.
Best, Penny
Penny Reid is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA TODAY Bestselling Author of the Winston Brothers, Knitting in the City, Rugby, and Hypothesis series. She used to spend her days writing federal grant proposals as a biomedical researcher, but now she just writes books. She’s also a full time mom to three diminutive adults, wife, daughter, knitter, crocheter, sewer, general crafter, and thought ninja.
I’m so sad for you! This is a nightmare and has to be devastating as a writer. I’ve had scares, but not completely lost it, so I feel for you. I look forward to the book when you feel inspired again and are able to finish it 🙂 In the mean time, I’m sure you will entertain us with something else 🙂
Oh no. I’m so sorry to hear that. As a reader I’m bummed, but I feel worse for you! It’s horrible to lose something you’ve worked so long and hard on.
Oh, Penny. I am so sorry. Yes, I have been waiting for this book. I am a writer, so I do understand. You did everything you could. Thanks for letting us know what happened.