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| Anyone else remember these? I do! |
Do it. Do back up your writing. All of it. Even the bad stuff.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
You see, I never think about the importance of making sure my writing is backed up until I realize I've lost something. Last week, I accidentally deleted a YouTube video (shockingly easy, might I add). And unfortunately, I couldn't find another copy of the video file. I suspect it's on an old laptop that doesn't really work or a flash drive I can't find. So, there we have it.
After that, I came to realize how I never think to back up my short stories, articles, and other content pieces. They are all in various places. Probably what stops me from making this a regular habit is that I don't have a "central" system. Every now and then I'll think to email myself files, but they quickly become files I never look up again. Not to mention the multiple versions of stories I tend to save in various places.
So, like I said, it isn't until I've deleted or lost something that I even think to back up my work. My announcement for you today is back up your writing. If you have a website, back it up. Do it regularly. Make an appointment for yourself like it's a teeth cleaning.
If you aren't sure of where or how to save your work in extra places, here are a few ideas:
1) Your Google Drive.
Okay, this is probably obvious and it wasn't until recently that I thought to sort of organize it, but that is a good place to store writing.
2) Bublup.
Don't stop at Google Drive. Try other services. I like using Bublup for a variety of reasons but especially to store files. Sign up here using my link.
3) Email yourself.
Kind of obvious but a fail-safe, especially if you email a bunch of files to a few different email addresses you use (am I the only one who has like 3 or 4 different emails?).
4) Dropbox.
Much like Google Drive, my Dropbox account is a disorganized mess. But I'd rather have mess of files that I'd like to keep than lose something I wanted in the first place.
This is my call to action:
Go save those files.
You won't realize what you need until you've lost it.
In other news, I did find a handwritten story that I feared I accidentally tossed. Turns out, it was stuffed in a manilla envelope, obviously with the intent for me to save it and type it one day. I think I know what my next public service announcement will be: type those stories.
Happy writing everyone!
