Monday, April 21, 2014

Always, Always back up your work!

I preach this constantly and then fall down on it myself.

I decided to switch from the online backup service I had previously used to another one but (surprise, surprise, Ms. Procrastination) hadn't gotten around to actually starting the new service. A few days ago I had also backed up to a thumb drive but hadn't done it for the end of the novel I was working on.

So guess whose work computer is having a major failure today, actually found it yesterday. I suspect I sound calmer than I am but I *think* it is a power supply failure not a hard drive failure. I won't know for sure until the repair guy gets here. If I'm right, then my work should still be there. At worst, I only lose a few days work BUT my novel was finished and was supposed to go to the editor today. Because of this, she has to schedule other work and it will have to be pushed back. If there is a large delay I may have to consider finding another editor and having the scheduled editor do my next novel.

OMG! I am so screwed! And this is MY OWN FAULT! *runs around the room screaming*

So it looks like there will be at least a week or two delay in publishing A King Unchained, the sequel to A King Ensnared, but it will not be a lengthy one. I still have all except the last couple of chapters safely on a drive and I am right this second backing THAT up! Double!


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, I am curious which online backup you use and why did you switch from the old one, how is the new one better?

Also, I am wondering if it is better to use one file for my planned novel or separate files for each chapter. I will be using a generic word processor. I'm an aspiring writer :)

I hope are able to retrieve your data and everything works out well. :)

Anonymous said...

Correcting a mistake in the previous post:

"I hope YOU are able to retrieve your data and everything works out well. :) "

J. R. Tomlin said...

I hadn't had a bad experience with Mozy but Carbonite has extremely good reviews and I wanted to give it a try. It was foolish not to immediately switch. I would say either is probably a reasonable choice.

I keep my novel in one file but I don't divide mine into chapters until it is completed. I simply write it as one 'thing' and then decide on divisions. I think a lot of different authors use different methods depending on how they write.

Unfortunately, I did lose the final file but since I had a fairly recent backup, it was only a few chapters. It definitely could have been worse.

Thanks for your good wishes.

J. R. Tomlin said...

I hadn't had a bad experience with Mozy but Carbonite has extremely good reviews and I wanted to give it a try. It was foolish not to immediately switch. I would say either is probably a reasonable choice.

I keep my novel in one file but I don't divide mine into chapters until it is completed. I simply write it as one 'thing' and then decide on divisions. I think a lot of different authors use different methods depending on how they write.

Unfortunately, I did lose the final file but since I had a fairly recent backup, it was only a few chapters. It definitely could have been worse.

Thanks for your good wishes.