Do you back up your novel?
Last night, I was out for dinner and a friend asked me if I kept printed copies of my novels. Since I’ve spent the last five years living on a sailboat, my answer was no.
My friend was incredulous.
Of course, I had to start thinking about it – at three in the morning – when the worry fairy comes to visit.
I back up to an external hard drive.
I email a copy to my dad for safe keeping. While we were living on the boat, I worried a lightning strike would take out all out electronics, so even it my back up was on a separate hard drive, I thought it wasn’t enough.
The question is: do I need a paper copy too?
Thanks for reading . . .
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Even though I happen to be working from a paper copy right now, I don’t think it’s necessary anymore personally. I’m like you though, and back up every chance I get! I back up to an external hard drive, I have Carbonite backing up in real time, and have the whole thing posted behind a password and a private queue at Critique Circle! Then because that doesn’t seem like enough, I like to back up to thumb drive once in a while too.
Just in case. 😉
Carbonite? You sound like superman. I’m going to have to check this out. I’ve also never heard of Critique Circle. So much to learn. Thanks for the info.
Like Kirsten, I also use Carbonite, and I back up to a flash drive. I rarely have a paper copy that’s completely current.
Another with Superman technology. I seem to be out of date not knowing about Carbonite. I think it’s hard to keep a current printed copy. Maybe I could just print the copies that I submit to my agent. Then it’s not too many versions and I end up with a house full of paper.
There are hard copies of all versions of your novels at your parents house, with the exception of the one in progress. No need for the fairy worry.
My parents are great to fill there house with my paper and it does make it easier not to worry knowing I as least have some of my work there.
Every time I change even one comma, I back it up to a flash drive. And I often worry that if a fire breaks out, I won’t remember to take the flash drive. I think emailing it to myself would probably be a better idea. 🙂
I worry the same way. I keep the flash drive in my purse so it’s always with me. It’s hard to get back even one sentence after it’s lost.
Exactly! It’s funny, before I wrote, I never obsessed over things like house fires, either! LOL!