Today is World Backup Day. Remember to backup all of your devices on a regular basis. You don’t want to lose that precious data.
What is one of the worst things that happens to a writer? I would say the loss of all your data. Books, files, covers, research, hours and hours of work. Gone! Just like that!
When I first started writing, I wrote either longhand in a notebook or typed on a typewriter. If I would have had to finish a book using either of those methods, I probably never would have submitted a book to a publisher. I was always an inaccurate typist. I remember typing college papers and hoping not to make a mistake that I would have to correct with whiteout or correcting tape. Horrors!
Then a computer came into my life. My husband brought home a portable computer, and my typing mistakes could easily be corrected. You would laugh when I say portable. It came in a suitcase about the size of the carry-on roller bags we use today. It had a five inch floppy disk that held the file. I had to use more than one disc for a whole book. At that time we had no email or internet. There were no cloud backups. If any backup system existed, I didn’t know about it. One night while I was writing, my husband decided to fix something electrical and didn’t tell me. He turned off the circuit breaker, and you guessed it. My work disappeared. Only the beginning of the book remained on the floppy disc. I had to rewrite almost the whole thing.
These days I have a cloud backup besides backing up my work to a thumb drive, emailing files to myself, and having my files in Calibre. Even with all the backups, when the black screen of death appears on my monitor without warning, there is that feeling of loss. One time the screen was black with a bright yellow frowny face. The computer had died. Thankfully with the cloud backup I was able to retrieve all my files, but the not-so-fun part was having to either get a new computer or hard drive. Then the software and files had to be loaded to the new device. Sometimes that can take a couple of days. If I have a looming deadline that can be troublesome. But I do have an old computer that I can fire up for such situations.
Besides a computer, I have a tablet and a phone. These devices are backed up to “the cloud” even though I don’t keep anything very important on either of those devices. The main thing I would lose there are all my contact phone numbers, the numbers I used to have written in a little book.
The interesting thing about the advancement of technology is how quickly it changes. Since I have received the rights back to my books originally published by Harlequin Love Inspired, I have had to update the technology in the books before I reissued them. I had to get rid of flip phones, although it seems some are coming back. I had to update my characters’ thinking. Instead of making notes with paper and pencil, they would type them into their phones or instead of making a call, sending a text. No more answering machines, cassettes, or even CD players.
These are the oldest of my Harlequin Love Inspired books that I have reissued with new covers and new titles. These are the books in the Pinecrest series. You can find out more about them by clicking the link.
Just like in Pinecrest where you can find a second chance, if you backup your devices second chances abound. Do you back up your devices? How often?
I will give away an ebook copy of the first book in my Pinecrest series to one person who leaves a comment. I will draw the winning name on April 1, 2022 at 9PM MST.
“Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.”
Merrillee Whren is an award-winning author who writes inspirational romance. She is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award for best inspirational romance manuscript presented by Romance Writers of America. She has also been the recipient of the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award and the Maggie Award for Excellence. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of thirty plus years, and has two grown daughters. She has lived in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Chicago and Florida but now makes her home in the Arizona desert. When she’s not writing, she spends her free time playing tennis or walking while she does the plotting for her novels.
I have iCloud, which automatically backs up my photos and phones, but I don’t actually store information or files on a computer that isn’t automatically stored elsewhere. For example, my grade book for a class I teach is linked to the system the school uses, so if my computer were to die, it would be in their system and accessible still.
When I used a typewriter, I’d write it out by hand first, then copy it. I continued to write with pen and paper after I began to use a computer, until I became comfortable typing directly into the computer and realized what a time saver it was. I save manuscripts on cloud and flash drives.
No.
welcome today. I have not heard of this day. I am laughing. I know it is not laughing matter for many. When the power goes out or the electronic devise goes wonky it can cause some real problems. I have a husband who is and electrical engineer and he works with computers and has days when everything gets backed up. Thanks for sharing today
I backup my computer sporadically, but I don’t really keep a lot of things on there, other than pictures, and those don’t change much, so if I lost one, I might not even know it! I have no idea how to backup my phone, though it’s a phone I use to call, text, and take pics with, it really wouldn’t be that horrible to lose what’s on there. The biggest inconvenience with it would be all of the phone numbers! I have my Kindle, and again, I have no idea how to do a backup for it, but Amazon has all of the books except the ones I’ve gotten through Bookfunnel, so that works for me! If I’m using Word, I backup every time I finish a chapter of proofreading.
I never backup my phone but I probably should.
I just recently started backing up my phone. Best thing I ever did.
I have the majority of my files and pictures stored in the cloud and my phone also syncs to the cloud. I learned this lesson the hard way after having a hard drive failure on a computer that was only a couple of months old.
Hi Melynda, the world of teaching has changed also with so many things on line. When I taught school, everything was still paper and pen.
Beth,
I found writing with a computer so freeing. I didn’t have to worry about mistakes. They were easily corrected. I love how you can move big chunks of writing around without having to retype the whole thing.
JCP, I hope you don’t lose something important.
Hi Lori,
When we lived in Florida, we would lose power so many times. Even though I backup at the end of the day, if I was in the middle of writing and the power went out, I might lose a paragraph or two. Thankfully I’m not a fast writer, so the 5 minute backup on my word processing program would save most of it.
Trudy,
That’s the nice thing about ereaders, the books are in “the cloud.” I had my first ereader go bad, and I was able to recover all of my books.
Hi Kendra,
I think a lot of smart phones automatically backup everything to “the cloud.” I know my phone keeps telling me that I’ve almost reached the max on my storage and I need to buy more.
Hi Rose,
My phone backs up automatically, but there isn’t much there that isn’t backed up somewhere else.
Hi Jessica,
I had a computer that I really hated. It was a laptop that didn’t tell you when the battery was low and would just shut off. I also had to replace the hard drive in that computer every year for three years. The last time I replaced it, our son-in-law, who is a computer geek, told us which hard drive to get. So now I have a new computer, and my husband is still using that old one. Guess we should have consulted our son-in-law after the first one went bad.
Love the new covers! I prefer working with systems where I know the backup is automatic (like Microsoft or Google Drive) because if it’s up to me, I’d definitely forget/not do it as often as I should.
Hi Priscila, automatic is nice, but I do multiple back ups just as a precaution.
sometimes do it
Oh my goodness what would we do without backup? I just recently had to get a new cell phone because mine quit working, thankfully I had everything backed up to Google! All I had to do was transfer my information from my old phone to my new one; contacts, apps, etc. I could not imagine having to re-create all that from memory.
I’m sure an an author losing an entire draft of their book would be even more devastating. Not to mention expensive if you had to replace your computer!
No need to enter me in the giveaway Merrillee since I’ve read these stories :-)
I am bad about backing up my systems. I do not keep anything important on them so I really do not worry. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.
I use a pendrail to have safeguards in case my computer dies, if it is a university project or something that I cannot lose for the world, I will send it to my mail.
When I was in school once I lost half of a work by mistake because I forgot to save my parents helped me rewrite hahahaha.
It’s a good habit to get into.
Hi Trixi,
Yes, we can’t do without backup.
Debra,
That’s the way I feel about my phone and tablet, but my computer is a different story. I have too many things on there that are important.
Lilly, what is a pendrail? I’ve never heard of that.
I should back up but don’t think about it. I do have some files and photos backed up on an external hard drive and photos at google drive. maybe this weekend I will back up more of the files. I know the external hard drive is close by.
I back up all my writing, ebooks, photos, & everything online from devices on a memory device which holds so much memory in these type of things but games for devices it can’t hold as much unless just PC.
I back mine up on my memory device & email.
After losing a whole laptop after a milk spill I always use virtual storage and download things before saving to a secondary device.
It is as we say in Chile to the USB memory!