One of the biggest fears a writer may face is: “What if I accidentally delete my writing?”
Or worse: “What if all my life’s work is lost by some unfortunate technical mishap?” Or “What if I become crazy and erase or destroy all my writing by some act of temporary insanity?”
In the age of computers, smart writers or at least tech-savvy ones save everything to the cloud. With a “set it and forget it” mentality, losing everything is the least of a writer’s worries. However, not so long ago, things were different. Writers often lost their work or even (if they were designed for greatness) purposely destroyed it.
For example, in his will, Franz Kafka instructed his friend, Max Brod, to destroy his unfinished works, including his novel The Man Who Disappeared. Brod ignored these instructions and The Man Who Disappeared was published under the title Amerika in 1927 after Kafka’s death.
In 1908, H. P. Lovecraft was eighteen and so disgusted by his lack of experience in fiction writing; he burned all of his stories.
One of the most well-known stories of an author losing their work was Ernest Hemingway. Back in 1922, the only “backup copies” you’d had of your writing were carbon copies. Does anyone remember that? A piece of carbon paper between two sheets of white paper, and as you typed, it made a duplicate? This was Ernest Hemingway’s go-to method. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for him.
In December 1922, Hemingway was in Switzerland, working on an assignment for the Toronto Daily Star. While there, he met Lincoln Steffens, an editor who was impressed with Hemingway’s writing (this was prior to Hemingway’s fame) and asked to review more of his work.
Hemingway sent a message to his wife (Elizabeth “Hadley” Richardson) with instructions to pack up his writing and meet him in Switzerland. Placing all of Hemingway’s writing (including the carbon copies) into a small suitcase, she journeyed by train.
At one stop, Hadley exited to get a refreshment and when she returned, the suitcase with Hemingway’s writing had vanished.
According to an article on the Lost Manuscripts website: Only two of his short stories survived the disaster. “Up in Michigan,” which he had buried in a drawer because Gertrude Stein had said it was unpublishable, and “My Old Man” which was out with a magazine editor.
The suitcase never showed up in the lost and found and Hemingway never ran an ad for its return. In 1922, his writing wasn’t worth that much. However, today these writings would be worth a fortune.
The list doesn’t stop with Hemingway.
James Joyce burned his play, A Brilliant Career, and the first half of his novel Stephen Hero.
L. Frank Baum wrote four novels that were never published and disappeared. According to his son, Baum’s wife burned these after being cut out of his will.
Walter Benjamin had a completed manuscript in his suitcase when he fled France from the Nazis in 1940. Unfortunately, he committed suicide in Portbou, Spain later that year, and the suitcase and its contents disappeared.
I’ve lost a few stories, but not under some of the dire conditions and situations these authors faced. Mine were because of computer failures prior to the cloud. For peace of mind, I use Carbonite and it has saved me a few times.
Have you ever lost, or purposely destroyed (because you are destined for greatness) any or even all of your writing?
T.M. Jacobs, a native to the shoreline area of Connecticut, now resides in various locations along the east coast with his wife traveling and working from their RV motorhome. He has written and published 15 books (one of which was featured on C-SPAN), over 450 articles published in various newspapers and magazines, teaches classes on writing and publishing, and is currently the owner of JWC Publishing. He is the founder and former editor for Patriots of the American Revolution magazine and has been a freelance writer since 1988.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timjacobsghostwriter/
Website: www.jacobswc.com
Email: [email protected]
