It's A L I V E

It's true. When you write a book, it's a living, breathing thing. No moss ever grows under a WIP. It never stays stagnant. It seems to go through growing pains. It often needs surgery. Then a little medicine to ease the pain. It goes through stages, from infancy, to adolescence, to adulthood. It's always a good idea to keep old drafts, but keep in mind, old drafts sit and age. They don't breath, they don't change, they don't keep up with the times. It's probably best to stay with one draft and feed only the one. Making copies and working on the new copy will kill the original as surely as if you'd lit a match to it. I'm not encouraging lighting that match, just in case, but remember, if you must go back from a copy to an original draft, you must catch it up.

That brings me to another subject, Back up your work regularly. I have three flash drives, one at home, one I carry with me, and one I keep at work. I'm not too faithful about keeping all copies in sync. That's my bad, but I'll never completely loose all of my work. You know that sinking feeling when your computer quits on you. Back it up.