The Fear of Losing a Computer

I think it's the worst possible thing that could happen to a writer. Losing their computer. Either to physical loss or a crash. And I live every day with the fear that my big computer--my writing computer--is going to crash on me.

That's why I triple back up everything. Every single day.

And I usually back things up every two hundred fifty words or so. Or every fifteen minutes, whichever comes first. I lost things like that before, and I'm terrified of losing things again.

I think it's the biggest fear that I have as far as my writing goes. That and having something of mine stolen. I've lived with both, and I've come through them. But I've learned a lot of different things because of it.

Maybe the biggest lessons I've learned have to do with backing things up. I learned to back up everything often. And that's what I do. And in multiple places. And I also learned to have a hard copy of things. Just to be able to prove that it was yours. Hard copies with dates on them.

I have two computers now. One for writing and one for my day job. But that doesn't mean that I don't keep copies of everything on my new computer. Just in case.

That's my new motto. Just in case.

The importance of keeping a notebook

Writing is such a part of my life that I do it every single day. It is everything to me. And sometimes it's hard to remember the ideas that swirl around in my head. Especially when I have a thousand ideas and fifty things going on at once. So I learned long ago that I should keep a notebook with me at all times.

Every writer should keep a notebook on them. It should be just a basic rule of writing. Rule number 1: Notebook.

My notebook wouldn't make sense to any other writer but me. Sometimes I just jot down titles or phrases that give me a bit of inspiration. Or I might see someone who inspires a new character because of how they move or something they said. Most often, it's names. A strange name that I hear or see will go in the notebook. And every now and then, I may even plan out a story--a few plot points that stick in my mind.

Writers always have so many ideas in their heads and they think of so many things. It's a wonderful thing to have something with you so that you can write down the things that you need to know so that you can write a new story later. Forgetting things is never good.

Keeping a notebook allows a writer to never forget the characters that enter their minds. To never lose the threads of the stories that weave themselves into our minds.

Notebooks are secondary to our laptops. Absolutely necessities.