Back up and then back up again . . .

(I had a book signing last week at Key West Island Books for the 'lost manuscripts' that went well. On top is a photo of the mayor, Craig Cates, and his wife, Cheryl, at the book signing. If you would like a signed or inscribed copy of either of my books, call and order from the bookstore, 305-294-2904.)

In 1996, I moved for Los Angeles to Key West. My dog Phouka (pooka) in the front seat of my Chevy Celebrity and everything else I owned in the backseat, the trunk or on the roof. We didn't have flash drives or external hard drives then. On my computer were two completed Mick Murphy Mysteries – REVENGE and Tijuana Weekend – and a half-finished story, unnamed and my attempt at thriller writing.

In September 1998, Hurricane Georges blew through the Keys and took my floating home with it, while Phouka and I evacuated Naples, Florida, something I haven’t done since. I lost most everything, my personal library, my computer and most everything I owned. Gone were my novels. One of them, my thriller, There Are No Good Guys Only Terrorists, was told in the third person and dealt with renegade Israeli Mossad officers, posing as Arabs, arranging the training of Palestinians for attacks on hotels in Las Vegas. The Mossad officers believed if the US had a taste of what the people of Israel were going through the American government would let them fight the terrorists the way they wanted.

I recalled all this at Key West Island Books last Friday night at a book signing I called “The Lost Manuscripts.” I have put both books on Kindle and Nook and on Amazon as trade paperbacks. Today, I have two external hard drives and a few flash drives as backups and thought I was safe from ever losing a manuscript again.

Ah, but few of us are as smart as we think! Mid-week I finished a few new chapters on Car Wash Blues, and was ready to put them into my “one document” copy that I consider my finished chapters – ready for a long read and rewrite.

Imagine my surprise when I opened chapter 48 and it was chapter 52. I somehow saved chapter 52 to ALL my backup copies. I couldn't even remember what the chapter was about, I was long past it. I read 47 and 49 and drew a blank. I went into my Norton back up program but it only had copies from the last back up date and by then chapter 48 had the chapter 52 document in it!

Well, it was a hair puller. I tried and tried, but kept coming up with chapter 52. I cussed myself like a drunken sailor for being so stupid as not to look at where I was saving my current work. Too late, to do any good and it didn't make me feel better.

What I eventually thought of doing was restore my computer to an earlier date. I found out I could do that to a document and not my whole C drive. I went back about two weeks and found chapter 48. I wanted to kiss the computer, I was so happy.

However, that didn't mean I wouldn't do something stupid again and all the backups in the world weren't gonna do me any good if they held the wrong document. I have promised myself to look at where I was saving my documents. Have you ever lied to yourself? Yeah, me too.

I have decided the only safe was is to make a hard copy and, if necessary, I can scan it in later.

So, what have I learned for this? Well, yeah, that I can be stupid, but I knew that long before this. I think I’d say I’d learned that you can never be safe enough in saving and protecting your writing. As of right now, the hard copy is my last defense.

If you have a secret that would help me, let me know and I won’t tell a soul, promise.

Oh yeah, if I had “lost manuscripts” how’d I publish the books. Well somehow, God takes care of drunks, fools and Irishmen and I’m batting a thousand. Before leaving for Key West, I gave my sister a floppy disc, just in case I got in an accident in my drive across country. Of course, There Are No Good Guys . . . wasn't one of the stories on the floppy. But, I had three of the four, a moment of sanity in another wise insane life when I made that floppy copy! And, I am thankful that I have a sister that keeps the things I leave behind.

Writing, politics and business planning . . .

What can a writer learn from small-town politics and businesses? When it comes to writing our books, a lot. For one thing, if you follow politics, you know nothing is etched in stone. Nothing.

The example I thought of today, while having breakfast with my son Alex at Banana Café in Key West, had to with do how, only a year or two ago, the chamber of commerce and many business and political leaders decided the city needed to cater to upscale tourists. Shorter stays, more expensive hotel rates.

The business leaders and politicians figure to be rid of the family tourist and go for those that spend big. Hell of an idea and it gets you to fill your coffers and streamline your business and government.

There is a section of the island, when you drive in, called the triangle. Along the triangle, there are four or five motels/hotels (six or one, half dozen of the other) and the plan by the owner of the property was to tear them down and put up condos, one upscale hotel, and a convention center. Great plan, since the economy was booming (or we were fooled into believing it was).

It reminds me of mentally mapping out my second novel. I had a beginning and an end and soon pieced together what was needed to go from page one to page three-hundred. Now, all I had to do was write each day and my story would end on page three-hundred, as I planned it.

Like the plans of the property owner, it didn’t work out as planned.

For him the economy went into the toilet, so he didn’t demolish the property. The motels/hotels stayed open. That was a good thing for him, since he didn’t have a large payment on empty land to make.

However, other businesses on the island were counting on all those rooms to be off the books and that would allow them to raise prices! Oh yeah! In their business plan for the year, some counted on the new rates. Well, they didn’t come.

In writing, for me, sometimes a character says or does something that changes were I am going and I have to adjust. Sometimes, the story takes on a life of its own because of words or actions that I thought I controlled, but in reality, the story flows on its own and all I do is record it!

Of course, as the writer, I could scrap where the story seemed it wanted to go and I could stick to my sketchy outline; I needed to get to the end, which I know, so follow the plan.

My personal belief is if you follow the plan, the story isn’t as strong because the characters are not as strong. Go with the flow and adjust.

Businesses were caught short, because the rooms didn’t go off the market. Some lowered their prices, got ride of mandatory five-night stays and survived. Others kept to the plan, laid off employees and survived, but not as strongly as those that adjusted their prices.

A bad book is not better than no book. A business that survives is not as good as a strong business.

How do politics get involved in this, you ask.

Well, if room rates go way up, upscale visitors come to the island and there is more money and more money equals more tax revenue and that helps the city. Local politicians were in favor of that, but it didn’t happen.

Now, this year’s budget hearings are suggesting higher tax rates, but most property owners are homesteaded and their taxes cannot go up but a certain percentage. So, the part-time resident and business owner have to make up the money.

I am glad all I do is write and can adjust, because if my characters had the opportunity to vote me in or out, like a politician’s constituents, I might lose the election.

Today, at breakfast, I saw four families with children in the café. Two families had infants with them. It is the weekend, people with families can’t afford to fly to many places, so they take thee-day trips to Key West. Maybe once a month. It is not what the businesses wanted, but many are more than happy to put their heads in beds.

Moral of all this: as a writer, plan, in pencil, and when your characters want to make changes, erase and let them fill in the blanks and just remember to record it correctly. It will be a better story.