Did a good job of writing last night. Act II is over. Called Kerry this AM to talk about some specifics that needed ironing out at the top of Act III. (In the outline we had we basically left a gap at this point in the film, saying “and we’ll figure out how this works later.” Now is later.)
Kerry comes up with a good solution and says he’ll email me the minutes of our conversation. In the meantime I dig up last night’s work because I thought of an extra line of dialogue. (Oy, just what it needs — more dialogue!) Anyway, I call up the file and 8 pages are missing! 8 pages are just not there!
Now, I may not be the most computer saavy person, but there’s one thing I know how to do — and that is to save a file. I commence searching for it. It is gone. I call Kerry. I know Kerry can’t do anything, but I call him anyway. “Where could the file be?” Kerry humors me. “Do a search.” “I searched!” He does the right thing — he splashes cold water on my face. Don’t freak out, just re-write it. Do it now. Stop what you are doing and do it now.
He’s right. I look at my outline. It’s two medium-sized sequences and one small sequence. I can do it. I start. But I’m pissed. Can’t concentrate. How did this happen? It makes no sense. I grab a beer. It’s 10:25 AM but I grab a beer. Then I remember, last night I did a “Save As” instead of just a “Save” (before I emailed the work to two different email accounts, which I always do.) Then I experience some bipolarity. I click “Save As.” I see the document wants to save in my Dictionary and Thesaurus folder. (Of course!) So it’s alive! The work is alive!
I drill down. It’s not there. Okay, Hoffman, I say, just accept it. It’s dead. I start work again. One last hope — I “open” the Dictionary and Thesaurus folder from the Final Draft program — not by drilling down. It’s there. HOOOOORAY!!!
I rename it, save it in three places and email the correct document to myself at two different addresses. Pen and paper might be easier.