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 . . .
Creative Story Editors 
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. 😉
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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.
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Like Kirsten, I also use Carbonite, and I back up to a flash drive. I rarely have a paper copy that’s completely current.
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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 I seem to be out of date not knowing about Carbonite.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.
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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.
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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.
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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. 🙂
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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.
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Exactly! It’s funny, before I wrote, I never obsessed over things like house fires, either! LOL!
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