where did my file go?

So I had this 12 page word file on my flashdrive...it was created back at the end of November...and periodically editted and added to...so I was working on it last week, on my desktop....and after I completed each section I would save it and print parts of it to pdf. After I completed the last 2-page section i was working on, I printed to pdf before saving. And when I went to save it, i received a MS-Word error message that said something about not being able to save it due to a "permission error". I tried several different ways of saving it and none of them worked, so I just closed it. When I went back to open it, the shortcut in my "recent documents" said it wasn't available! I went to look for it on the drive and it was indeed gone! It's not anywhere!...I've searched the flashdrive, the desktop, the recycle bin, everywhere I can think of! and it is nowhere!

So, does anyone know what happened to my file or know how I can recover it other than reenter all 12 pages of information?

Thanks