Here’s a silly question, but for those of you who write (or draw, paint etc on your computer), do you back your documents up consistently? I ask because in this day and age, when you can get a USB drive in just about every shape/color/animal possible, I still see people bemoaning the loss of their work when their computer dies. I can’t help but wonder, why aren’t you backing your stuff up?
I’ve always made sure I’ve had copies of my stuff somewhere, either on a CD or an external hard drive, but once I started writing things that I hoped to publish someday, and my laptop got older and slower, I invested in a simple 2GB USB drive. It sits on a shelf on my desk, directly over my laptop, and when I finish with a session of writing and/or editing, I immediately back up my stuff. Every single time. Multiple times a day, if I need to. In addition to that, every few months I’ll email myself copies of all of my manuscripts (completed drafts and works in progress). This is especially necessary during natural disasters (hey, we’ve had two hurricanes in two years over here!). Even if I were to lose my laptop AND USB drive, at least I would still have the manuscripts!
Do yourself a favor and back your work up as often as possible! You never know when your computer will turn on you, wiping away a day, week, or even MONTHS of hard work.
