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Wednesday, February 6, 2013

IWSG: Losing My Sh**

I can't believe its been a month since our last session of  Insecure Writers Support Group. Before I dump my woes on you, I have to thank  Alex for being probably one of the best support networks a writer can have in the lonely world of publishing.  Thank you, Alex. 


For this month's IWSG I decided to discuss the importance of backing up all your writing files, even the small ones you may overlook.   *Sigh*  I made significant progress with my YA novel over the last month, but unfortunately hit a major hurdle.  Because I'm an idiot, I lost an important file I was compiling over the last month.  I'm so pissed at myself; I could scream.  I knew better and should have never made the rookie mistake by not backing up that particular file.  Damn me!   What type of file?  A stupid sticky note file.  

 Go ahead and say it..."Dumb a**."   I'm once again reminded what a jerk I can be at times. *Shakes head*  I've tried everything to restore the file, and I've finally given up.  I've been able to salvage some pieces of data, but that's the extent of it.  *Bangs head on wall.*

 Is there a silver lining to losing my sh**?  Yes. This crappy situation has prompted me to change a poor process that I was using.  No more using sticky notes!  They suck, just like I do right about now.  I'm also backing up my work once more to make sure I haven't missed anything.

Has this ever happened to you? Hey, at least it wasn't my novel right? Thank god for small miracles.

What's going on with you this month?  

Mina B.

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17 comments:

  1. Matthew MacNishFebruary 6, 2013 at 8:39 AM

    One word: Dropbox.

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  2. michelleFebruary 6, 2013 at 8:50 AM

    Oops...
    I think you've done a good job of scolding yourself...

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  3. Mina BurrowsFebruary 6, 2013 at 10:32 AM

    Oh, Matthew! Didn't you read the idiot part of my post?

    And Michelle... you're right. I need to stop now.

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  4. Elise FallsonFebruary 6, 2013 at 10:37 AM

    Oh that does suck, but like you said at least it wasn't your novel! I've never lost anything (so far) except once in high school when I left my floppy disk on the computer and the whole thing got erased . . . wow I feel old. :/

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  5. UnknownFebruary 6, 2013 at 12:12 PM

    Yuck! And yes, it's happened to me. Actually, our hard-drive had a complete meltdown in 2008, well before I took my writing serious, but I did have plenty of things on there I hated to lose. We had anyone and everyone try to recover files, but it was all gone. Which now reminds me, I better back up everything on our external drive and my two spare thumb drives. I'm so glad it wasn't your entire novel. Yikes!

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  6. Alex J. CavanaughFebruary 6, 2013 at 1:54 PM

    That always sucks!
    I have three external hard drives and two thumb drives I use to back up my files, and I do it often. As for physical notes, I try to get those in the computer as quickly as possible.

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  7. Julie FlandersFebruary 6, 2013 at 2:59 PM

    Oh, I'm sorry this happened! It does totally suck. But I won't scold you, I have done this too many times myself! Such an annoying situation.

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  8. Gwen GardnerFebruary 6, 2013 at 3:59 PM

    I think it's happened to everyone, Mina. Yours is the second post I've seen today on this subject. Hehe, it reminded me to back up my new files, ones I wouldn't want to lose. I'm wondering is Geek Squad could recover it for you? Sorry :(

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  9. ChanceletFebruary 6, 2013 at 4:44 PM

    Don't beat yourself up too much. We all have those moments we think we're the stupidest people ever to walk the earth just because of some human mistake we all make in some way or other. More power to you for sharing this so more of us, hopefully, will not have that human moment. Believe me, I'm sure some will read this and still lose something... Hopefully not me!

    I've done something almost worse. When I last moved (a bad situation in many aspects) I accidentally left a filing cabinet with my oldest and some very good stories in it. Because the landlord was a jerk, I didn't want to contact him to get it back, and by the time I realized it, he'd probably gotten rid of it anyway. I still have some moments of regret, but I'm okay about it.

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  10. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2013 at 5:40 PM

    Well thank goodness it wasn't a novel! - Maybe that's why Jackie Collins hand writes her.. - I've lost files before and it does suck, now anything important is on external drives. - Not stupid, not a dumbass, just human. :)

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  11. AllisonFebruary 6, 2013 at 6:02 PM

    Oh I hate it when that happens! Never has happened to any of my novels, thankfully. I try to back up regularly, but thanks for the reminder.

    Allison (Geek Banter)

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  12. JackieFebruary 7, 2013 at 1:19 PM

    That's happened to me... a few times. Yeah, I NEVER learn the first time around! LOL
    And yes, thank goodness it wasn't your novel.

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  13. UnknownFebruary 7, 2013 at 11:38 PM

    I'm always afraid of my hard drive dying. So I have my stories on 3 different computers and a flash drive. I just have to remember to update all the files with changes or I send out some that's obsolete. And sometimes that happens.

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  14. Mina LoboFebruary 7, 2013 at 11:44 PM

    Aw, I'm sorry about the loss of your sticky note file! OTOH, we (hopefully) learn not to make the same mistake twice, so you can at least take heart knowing this'll not happen to you again! (((((Mina)))))

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  15. PK HREZOFebruary 8, 2013 at 4:09 PM

    Oh dear. Sorry to hear this Mina. But it's happened to the best of us. Once I heard a few horror stories I started double backing EVERYTHING. I use dropbox like Matt suggested above, and I also save to my flash drive. Post it notes would be lost in my sea of papers so ugh, I know how you feel.

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  16. Nick WilfordFebruary 9, 2013 at 1:46 PM

    Sorry about that. It does happen to us all at some time or another - hey it just happened to me, I lost a rewrite of the novel I was working on last year, on a flash drive that got corrupted. No idea why I hadn't backed it up anywhere else... Luckily, it wasn't a major rewrite, but still annoying!

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  17. CynthiaFebruary 13, 2013 at 6:10 PM

    Don't be so hard on yourself- this sort of thing can happen to the best of us. Once I thought I backed something up- I even emailed myself a copy of the file- and for some reason, both documents, when opened, showed that a huge chunk of my story had been cut. All gone. Don't know where it disappeared to. Sometimes these things just happen.

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