62 You Have a Book in You can happen when a book is being written. So be prepared for some surprises! Speci昀椀cally, be ready for the possibility that, one way or another, you will actually lose the manuscript you’ve been working on—whether it’s a hard copy or a computer 昀椀le. Does that sound impossible to you? Well, it probably seemed impossible to Ernest Hemingway too, until his wife left the only copy of his 昀椀rst book on a train. When John Milton’s Paradise Lost was complete, his illiter- ate housekeeper burned the manuscript to stay warm. Devastated, he had to rewrite it from scratch. Milton was blind and, fortunately, is said to have had a perfect memory and retention. 吀栀e same thing happened to Victorian essayist 吀栀omas Carlyle and his manuscript on the French Revolution. So keep your work away from housekeepers! 吀栀e point here is simple: recognize that there’s a lot of very sensitive energy present in your work in progress, and always be aware of how you’d feel if your only copy of that work suddenly disappeared. Back up your 昀椀les. Send an email to yourself with the latest version of your book attached. I also send it to my executive assistant and edi- tor. Keep it in the cloud and on a thumb drive or memory stick. Carry the memory stick with your book on it every- where. 吀栀at way you can continue to write more, and