Back up your work!

[Paul Whybrow]

A friend in Portland, Oregon sent me this sad story about a writer who lost all of her work, when her car was broken into:

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/...e_city_bummer_typewritten_m.html#incart_river

She's offering a good cash reward for the return of her work, so let's hope that she sees it again.

I back-up my work in half-a-dozen places, including Google Drive - a free cloud storage service. Many writers have lost their manuscripts - which qualifies as the ultimate rewrite, I guess.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/23/1000-novels-lost-manuscripts

 

[Carol Rose]

I think in this day and age when it's so easy to back everything up for free in more than one place, anyone who doesn't bother is either lazy or just plain stupid. I use Dropbox. Easy peasy. I also email my work to my gmail account every day. Can access both Dropbox and gmail from any computer and both are free.

 

[Jason Byrne]

I keep all my files on my home computer, on my work computer, and on OneDrive.

"She keeps saying she'd rather our car was stolen with the backpack left behind." — I get this completely.

The fire alarms in our entire complex started going off last night, and we got the cats in their carriers and I took a look around the apartment at what to save: important paperwork and records, pictures, furniture, electronics... I thought "f*** it. I'm out. The story's backed up on OneDrive." And walked out the door with nothing but Toby and Izzy.

Turns out our neighbors, the teenage siblings whose momma rents them their own "pad," burned their dinner.

They'll kill us all. Damned kids.

 

[Carol Rose]

And that's exactly why you *should* back up everything. When we have a tornado warning, I'm not thinking about grabbing my laptop. I'm thinking about grabbing both cats, getting them in carriers, and making sure my husband and daughter are on their way to the basement with me. IF we have enough advance warning I grab my laptop case, but it's not the first thing on my mind in an emergency situation.

And I would *never* keep my laptop or something that important in my car overnight. That doesn't even make sense to me. The only thing taken, Beresford said, was a book bag holding her laptop, a checkbook, phone chargers, assorted papers and an irreplaceable manuscript. WHAT? She was staying with friends. Why wasn't the book bag inside with her all night if it had so many important/irreplaceable things in it?

I won't leave my laptop bag in the car if I know I'm going to be inside a store or a restaurant for longer than a few minutes. Even then, the laptop bag goes in the trunk. Out of sight, out of mind.

 

[Nicole Wilson]

Yes.Yes.Yes. I had a bout of hysteria when I lost all my scene cards for one of my novels. I had written them on index cards; everything I type is automatically backed up on Google Drive. Searched my apartment, my office, my car, and I COULD NOT FIND THEM. Lord have mercy, had I not been at work when I checked the last place I could think of and they still weren't there, I would have cried.

My hubby tore our apartment apart. Even moved appliances around, and I'm glad he did. Apparently one of my kitties batted my stack of notecards under our stove. So, apart from them being gross with anti-bug powder, they were there. And I did cry when he called me to tell me he'd found them.

I learned my lesson and now scan everything I hand write. My story idea notebook, research, and of course my notecards. My poor heart can't handle that again.

 

[Nicole Wilson]

And that's exactly why you *should* back up everything. When we have a tornado warning, I'm not thinking about grabbing my laptop. I'm thinking about grabbing both cats, getting them in carriers, and making sure my husband and daughter are on their way to the basement with me. IF we have enough advance warning I grab my laptop case, but it's not the first thing on my mind in an emergency situation.

And I would *never* keep my laptop or something that important in my car overnight. That doesn't even make sense to me. The only thing taken, Beresford said, was a book bag holding her laptop, a checkbook, phone chargers, assorted papers and an irreplaceable manuscript. WHAT? She was staying with friends. Why wasn't the book bag inside with her all night if it had so many important/irreplaceable things in it?

I won't leave my laptop bag in the car if I know I'm going to be inside a store or a restaurant for longer than a few minutes. Even then, the laptop bag goes in the trunk. Out of sight, out of mind.

Or at the very least hidden under a blanket or towel I keep in the car. But I won't leave my backpack anywhere if I can help it. I carry my story idea notebook, my general notebook, and my daily planner (with more story bits) in there and would be inconsolable if I lost all of those.

 

[Carol Rose]

I'm old school. I have post-it notes and scraps of paper all over the place, but now I also write all that down and back it up as well. When you're writing a series that goes on for 10, 12, or 15 books, you need extensive, detailed notes. I would never chance not having notes with details I need to maintain consistency for that many books backed up at least twice.

 

[Carol Rose]

Or at the very least hidden under a blanket or towel I keep in the car. But I won't leave my backpack anywhere if I can help it. I carry my story idea notebook, my general notebook, and my daily planner (with more story bits) in there and would be inconsolable if I lost all of those.

I really *hate* having to leave my laptop bag in my car, even in the trunk. I'm worried about it the entire time and can't even relax where I am. I take it inside to doctor's appointments with me, which I usually schedule before driving to work. I bring my laptop to work with me every day and I lock it in my desk if I go out to lunch or run an errand. I even hate leaving it home if we go somewhere all day. LOL!!

 

[Nicole Wilson]

I'm old school. I have post-it notes and scraps of paper all over the place, but now I also write all that down and back it up as well. When you're writing a series that goes on for 10, 12, or 15 books, you need extensive, detailed notes. I would never chance not having notes with details I need to maintain consistency for that many books backed up at least twice.

I've got scraps of paper everywhere, too, I just usually paper clip them in my story idea book which, eventually gets scanned and backed up. Which reminds me.....

 

[Carol Rose]

I've got scraps of paper everywhere, too, I just usually paper clip them in my story idea book which, eventually gets scanned and backed up. Which reminds me.....

LOL!! I've fallen in love with the Note feature on my iPhone. I can talk into it, and then I email the note to myself so it's backed up there as well as in the phone. Eventually it ends up on my master Word doc for whatever book I made the note about. Saves on having to write things down, but I still have paper all over the place.

 

[Nicole Wilson]

I really *hate* having to leave my laptop bag in my car, even in the trunk. I'm worried about it the entire time and can't even relax where I am. I take it inside to doctor's appointments with me, which I usually schedule before driving to work. I bring my laptop to work with me every day and I lock it in my desk if I go out to lunch or run an errand. I even hate leaving it home if we go somewhere all day. LOL!!

YEP. Ha, I have a "purse", which is really just a giant bag, that I transfer my 3 books to when I can't carry my backpack around. I actually worry that someone's going to rob me while I'm carrying it or my backpack and I'm going to yell "take it but give me my notebooks!!"

 

[Damian North]

A mistake I've learned from many years ago. Always back up everything twice a week. I'm not 100% sure, but I think it was Ian Rankin in a documentary kept his backup drives in his fridge, in the event most house fires the contents of fridges often remain intact from the heat and the flames.

 

[Jennifer Stone]

Am I the only one who has an external hard drive? I back everything up on it regularly; including games, programs, photos and writing work. In case of any fire or evacuation, it's small enough to fit in my pocket whilst I grab other things.
Just imagine if 'The Cloud' ever went wrong and lost all your stuff I don't know if it could but I don't like to take that chance.

 

[Nicole Wilson]

Am I the only one who has an external hard drive? I back everything up on it regularly; including games, programs, photos and writing work. In case of any fire or evacuation, it's small enough to fit in my pocket whilst I grab other things.
Just imagine if 'The Cloud' ever went wrong and lost all your stuff I don't know if it could but I don't like to take that chance.

True the cloud could go wrong, but your external hard drive could randomly crash or get damaged, too. Cost of dealing with technology.

 

[Marc Joan]

Am I the only one who has an external hard drive? I back everything up on it regularly; including games, programs, photos and writing work. In case of any fire or evacuation, it's small enough to fit in my pocket whilst I grab other things.
Just imagine if 'The Cloud' ever went wrong and lost all your stuff I don't know if it could but I don't like to take that chance.

No, you're not. I use two external hard drives. One I take with me on holiday, the other stays at home. So even if we are burgled / burnt to the ground while we are away I still have my stuff. In addition, every now and then I add to my copyright registration by sending everything off to the copyright service, so there's a copy there too. The cloud is all very well, but I like to have something I can hold.

 

[Nicole Wilson]

One thing I love about Google Drive is if you install it on your computer to use like regular My Documents in Windows Explorer, then there's always an offline copy as well. So long as it doesn't sync, you'll have offline copies too.

 

[Jason Byrne]

LOL!! I've fallen in love with the Note feature on my iPhone. I can talk into it, and then I email the note to myself so it's backed up there as well as in the phone. Eventually it ends up on my master Word doc for whatever book I made the note about. Saves on having to write things down, but I still have paper all over the place.

Absolutely! I used to carry a notebook in my jacket pocket, and type them up in a master file; now I just dictate them to Notepad on my iPhone, and e-mail them and then compile them.
My wife will leave her purse in the trunk of the car — once or twice I've forgotten my phone on the car dash mount — but that's it. I carry everything in my pockets or jacket, if I have anything to carry. I try not to.

YEP. Ha, I have a "purse", which is really just a giant bag, that I transfer my 3 books to when I can't carry my backpack around. I actually worry that someone's going to rob me while I'm carrying it or my backpack and I'm going to yell "take it but give me my notebooks!!"

I love that your purse is filled with books.

Am I the only one who has an external hard drive? I back everything up on it regularly; including games, programs, photos and writing work. In case of any fire or evacuation, it's small enough to fit in my pocket whilst I grab other things.
Just imagine if 'The Cloud' ever went wrong and lost all your stuff I don't know if it could but I don't like to take that chance.

I do also have an external and also use it for a complete computer backup, but it's mostly filled with movies now and the backups are out of date.

 

[Carol Rose]

Any "cloud" can crash or lose data, and an external hard drive or stick, disc, whatever can get damaged or files on it get corrupt. There is no 100% fool proof system but anything is better than nothing at all. Or better than leaving an irreplaceable manuscript, your checkbook, and your laptop in a book bag overnight in your car, parked in a neighborhood where you don't live.

 

[Jason Byrne]

Any "cloud" can crash or lose data, and an external hard drive or stick, disc, whatever can get damaged or files on it get corrupt. There is no 100% fool proof system but anything is better than nothing at all. Or better than leaving an irreplaceable manuscript, your checkbook, and your laptop in a book bag overnight in your car, parked in a neighborhood where you don't live.

Agreed.