Reconstructing Oracle

Ugh, what a mess. Between moving a couple years ago and getting a new computer, my original Oracle stuff is in shambles. I have no electronic file for the first 50 or something pages (hard to say exactly what I'm missing, 'cause it's gone) and one of the later chapters is likewise missing. What I do have are the following:

• A list on a post-it that shows which chapters were in which character's POV
• My original notebook where I wrote the first big chunk out long hand
• Some assorted hardcopies with comments from my original go-around submitting it to the gang (though these assorted hardcopies don't account for all of the chapters I submitted, nor all the missing chapters)
• The synopsis I submitted as I was running chapters through the group (so they could remember stuff that had happened in previous months' submissions)
  
• My original note cards (now transferred to the Bible)
• A series of individual chapter-files
• My rewritten first chunk from the contest

As you can see, it's a little bit here, a little bit there, and it's all a bit incoherent. I'm trying to decide on the best way to tackle this, and so far the biggest thing I've decided is that it would be best to do a whole rewrite rather than trying to cut and paste the pieces. So, for some, that means a from-scratch rewrite like I did with the first part. For some, that means a transcription. Even for things I plan on doing a little bit of cut/paste, I think it would still be best to at least transcribe it from an old copy to a new file. It'll help make the style consistent and let me update what I originally had to what I decided to have later.

It's a bit overwhelming to think of, all together, so I'm focusing on the bits and pieces.

• Print out the old stuff
• Dig out my commented-on hardcopies from a couple years ago
• Read through those parts
• Print out the new stuff
• Read through it, and make any corrections/additions I need in order to fit the earlier stuff that I'm going to keep
• Start writing on from the new rewrite, transcribing from what I originally had and filling in what went missing

One step at a time, right? I think I'm going to need some chocolate. And, possibly, binder clips.