I really, really try to not go back and read what I have already posted. First of all, it’s not a good use of my time. Secondly, revisiting my work causes me to either be too critical of what I wrote or too generous–neither of which is a healthy consideration. Last, with each re-read, I will inevitably find something that I want to change. I have this propensity towards endless, ongoing improvement—a relentless pursuit of perfection. Sometimes that is good, but usually, it is more akin to “spinning my wheels.”
Having proclaimed all that, I remember that I re-read an old post. In the second paragraph, I discovered a word that I thought I changed. In the fourth paragraph, I found an error that I was sure I had corrected. I thought I was losing my mind—until I discovered that the last two paragraphs were completely missing!
I had thought I know what happened. The program that I used to write my blog was accessed over the Internet. Sometimes it moved much slower than I had the tolerance for. In my impatient mouse-clicking, a preliminary version (I periodically saved my work as I was writing) must have been posted and my completed version somehow lost.
I fixed again the two errors and tried my best to reconstruct the final two paragraphs. To my dismay, I couldn’t remember everything exactly right and I was quite sure that the lost version was much more brilliant than the recreated one. But you’ll need to take my word on that, as the original version was forever and totally lost—only the reconstructed one is available for your consideration.
Have you ever lost work in your computer or permanently deleted an important file? We all have—at one time or another—and I feel your pain!
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Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.