IWSG started and continued beautifully by Alex and his friends and cohorts. It is a wonderful group, and the insights, reassurance and laughter have been priceless. Why don't you try reading it?
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| Destruction... |
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| Little stinker |
This post illustrates a very important insecurity that I have about my writing. What if it is (shuddering at the thought) lost, destroyed, sent off into the ether, blown to bits, burned up or just plain fouled up? What then? I've been writing for years. I have manuscripts that are older than my family, started when I was still a little stinker of a child. I've saved them. Every word.
So... So what if it is all Lost?
The easy thing is to remind myself of why I write in the first place (see this blog post ) That's why I'm doing it. And, if all I wrote was destroyed, I'd have to soldier on. Moby Dick was lost (pity Melville found it)and he wasn't destroyed. I know of a lot of manuscripts that were lost, starting with Gibbons' The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, accidentally burned by a friend's illiterate servant who mistook the written word on paper for paper to be used to light a fire. Gibbons was charming about it, no one was hurt, and the book was rewritten.
Well, something like that sort of happened to me. Did you notice how the post looks a tad clumsy? Text and color not as usual? Photos wonky? Not up to my usual mediocre style? Well, there's a reason for that, and a lesson.
My computer went kerflooey (conked out, blew up, took a long walk off a short pier, committed seppuku) - pick one; the effect is the same.
So... So what if it is all Lost?
The easy thing is to remind myself of why I write in the first place (see this blog post ) That's why I'm doing it. And, if all I wrote was destroyed, I'd have to soldier on. Moby Dick was lost (pity Melville found it)and he wasn't destroyed. I know of a lot of manuscripts that were lost, starting with Gibbons' The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, accidentally burned by a friend's illiterate servant who mistook the written word on paper for paper to be used to light a fire. Gibbons was charming about it, no one was hurt, and the book was rewritten.
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| Kerflooey! |
My computer went kerflooey (conked out, blew up, took a long walk off a short pier, committed seppuku) - pick one; the effect is the same.
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| The Geek Squad! |
I tried to get it fixed but with no luck. It is gone, unless The Geek Squad (copyrighted name for BestBuy Tech division) is able to repair it.
The computer had everything on its capacious hard drive, and losing it is (or should have been) a real blow. Except that a few safety features were in place:
- I had backed everything up on flash drives. Several of them. Duplicates.
- Microsoft gives everyone one Terabyte (how much? never mind. It's BIG!) of free memory up in the ether. All my work is saved there. And a few other places.
Someone said you have to 'keep on keeping on' (sounds like Yogi Berra), and that's what I'm doing I've seen the worst that can happen (sort of) and I survived it. When my Cloud finishes uploading my storage, I'll be fine. I survived. It happened. and I am okay, though frowning at the learning curve.
I guess I'll need to find something else about which to be insecure. After I accustom myself to the changes on this new system of mine. It should be fun.
I guess I'll need to find something else about which to be insecure. After I accustom myself to the changes on this new system of mine. It should be fun.
Dang! Now to find something else to worry about.
Keep on keeping on...I like that and it IS great advice. But along with that, as you've explained, ya gotta back up that treasure!
ReplyDeleteI really like that picture of the wave rolling over the capital...why? Am I un-American? I didn't think so...
(I still have you as my co-host for the Bonehead Blog Hop...still game?)
It has been a hectic night setting up my system and being grateful for clouds and flash drives. And a worse week, but it is over and I'm firing on all cylinders as of midnight.
ReplyDeleteMiss the Bonehead blog hop? Nah! See you tomorrow!
Yay! :-)
DeleteIt's great that you have things backed up. I back up my writing every day (sometimes hourly), but my laptop crashed once last year and once this year (it's very old). I lost programs, and other things. I'll have to search for this mythical Cloud terrabyte storage and see if I can't back up certain things more often because I know another crash is in my future. Good luck finding something else to worry about! lol
ReplyDeleteSet up a Microsoft account, Lexa. They provide 1 free terabyte of storage in 'the cloud', free, to anyone with an account. I also bought an external hard drive, which I really must start filling. (Thanks for stopping by!)
DeleteOne of my computers crashed a couple times during my first draft. Thankfully, I wasn't too far in, but I remembered a lot. I had a trapper keeper of story ideas that I believe was destroyed by a flood. They weren't great ideas, so I'm still not too bummed, but I do remember most of them, in case I want to make them good. lol
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, though, when you recover those fabulous old stories. Sometimes they are terrible...and sometimes they are so good, they humble you.
DeleteI fear losing my work too. Which is why I have two flash drives, use Drop Box, save my work on my laptop and computer, and even email myself finished drafts.
ReplyDeleteI once lost two almost-finished first drafts. I haven't worked on those two books since but I plan to when I have the time.
IWSG co-host Write with Fey
My new system comes with DropBox, which I had eons ago and forgot about until I tried to set up my account. I plan to use it, too. That's too bad about the first drafts. ...though being busy (with good writing, I hope!) is a good thing.
DeleteOh yucky when a computer crashes or does something else horrible. I have no idea what I would do. I have to save more stuff right now
ReplyDeleteThe fellow at BestBuy, talking about 'backing up' information, told me with a shudder about someone who came in and said, "Backing up my stuff? Of course I do! It's all on my hard drive!"
DeleteUh.............. (Thanks for stopping by!_
It's a frightening thought to imagine losing what has taken hours, weeks, months to perfect. When I finish working on my manuscript, I email it to myself. This way if the computer crashes overnight or something, I can just download my work from email. It makes me feel secure.
ReplyDeleteI've decided to do that, as well. It's accessible from anywhere that you can retrieve your email. Good solution. #thanks!)
DeleteMost of my work is on a flash drive. I've got some backups on my computer, but they're not up-to-date.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness you had most of your work saved elsewhere. *shudders* It's a terrible thought that everything could be lost like that.
God, Entertainment, & Annoying Things
Speaking seriously: flash drives WILL fail, especially PNY brand, in my experience. Back up on several flash drives, and take advantage of Amazon's 5g cloud. Do you have a Microsoft account? You can get, generally free, one terabyte. This isn't the first time I've had a fail. I learned my lesson. But back up to more than one flash drive.
Delete