Knock On Wood

by Margie Senechal

While I feel bad for my Wrangler comrades, I'm very pleased to tell you that I am not sick--knock on keyboard. I think working in the public and handling money has it's payoffs--for me, a strong immune system.

But, I am a little heartsick as I write this.

First, I woke up to discover that Alan Rickman passed away. 
  

I have loved him since Die Hard. I even loved his less famous movies like The January Man. He was a dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham. 

And Galaxy Quest--oh, how I loved him in that. "By Grabthar's hammer" 

So, when he got tapped to play Snape in the Harry Potter movies, I thought, "Perfect!" And he was. Almost more than any other actor in the movies--he embodied everything I had read on the page.  RIP, Mr. Rickman, you will be missed.

Second heartsick moment:

I don't know if you remember or not, but back in November, my computer crashed. I had backed up most of my files, so I told my IT guy, Ivar, just to restore to my original settings or something like that.  I had to reinstall Word and get it set up just right, but hey, it's okay.

During that time, I had set Ana's Suitcase story aside to work on a mistletoe romance book that was talking to me. Is it no wonder I don't finish anything???
Focus, Margie.

Anyway, over the past few days, Ana and Danny had started talking to me again, so I'd been writing as in handwriting their words down during breaks in work and life. 

I closed yesterday, so I got up and opened their file and realized that while I had saved their story, I had saved the earliest version--the one where I didn't know what I had made Ana's mother an invalid who needed her constant attention. AGH!

So, in addition to backing up your work, make sure it's current. LOL

Fortunately, I am a hard copy gal. I work best with pen and paper. I write the first draft--thoughts mostly--in hand writing with an array of colorful pens--Acroballs, my new favorite, along with Sharpie's Liquid pencil--on graph paper.

Then I type it into the computer and print out a copy. And then I make changes and type them into the computer. Print and repeat.

The good news is that I do have a copy of the most recent draft--minus three pages at the end. The bad news is I have to retype the whole thing into the computer. The good news is that it's less than 50 pages. Okay, I'm not sure if that's good news or bad news. How don't have I more than that??? 


Oh yeah, I was writing a different book. 

And in the spirit of Alan Rickman and Galaxy Quest, I will "Never give up. Never surrender."




Comments

  1. I'm heartsick, too, Margie. I adored Alan in Robin Hood ... and although I'm not really a Harry Potter fan, he was definitely the embodiment for Snape (for me).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Oh, get on with it!" I loved him in Robin Hood. It was almost like he prepped to play Snape with that role :)

      Delete
  2. My comment committed cyber use! I am bereft, too, at the world's loss of Alan Rickman. Did you See Emma Thompson's tribute? It was lovely.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No. I haven't see Emma's yet. I'll have to go find it. We saw a trailer for Eye In The Sky the other day and were excited to see Alan was going to be in a new movie.

      Delete
  3. Glad to hear you're not under the weather like the rest of the gals! While Alan Rickman will always be Hans Gruber from "Die Hard" for me, I've loved him in everything I've seen him in.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh, honey, so sorry about the file, but I have every faith in you--it's going to come back and be an even better story! My favorite Alan Rickman role for me is as Steven Spurrier in Bottle Shock. If you haven't seen it, find it. He's amazing and the movie is delightful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's my hope, Nan. We all know I'd probably revise it anyway--just wish I had it to revise. LOL

      I saw your recommendation for Bottle Shock on FB and I am definitely going to hunt it down. Until he took the role of Snape, he was definitely underrated, I think. Fortunately, that changed with the Harry Potter films.

      Delete

Post a Comment