Arghhhhhh!

Last week I drafted another sample chapter for a client who is having trouble deciding exactly what they want in the book I’m ghosting. At least I’m 99% sure I did, but somehow I didn’t save it. I ended up emailing the original sample of that style, which she and her adviser had seen before. They wondered why I sent it and I wondered why I hadn’t heard anything one way or the other.

Makes me slightly crazy, or think I am. And yes, I know it happens to everyone once in a while, and yes, it hasn’t happened to me in ages so I guess I was overdue. And yes, re-creating it will probably result in a better chapter. But darn!

Write well and often,

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I tend to add the date to ghostwriting files, like this: wealthms 01-23-07. This works until the year changes as it did recently or I get too many. While I do want three or four of the most recent versions, I don’t need more than that, but they tend to build up.

I usually decide I have too many while I’m picking the right file to add as an attachment to an email to the client. Of course, I can’t do anything about it right then, but every now and again I go into to the client’s folder – yes, I have a folder for each client, with sub-folders called “Contract,” “Chapter Edits” and, sometimes, “Manuscript” – and delete a bunch of files I know I won’t need.

I have to be sure I’m in the right frame of mind. If I’m tired or distracted, I don’t delete because that can be disaster. But deleting files does make my life simpler and it’s worth doing.

Write well and often,

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