What's Your Backup Plan?
Or, how to keep your writing fire-proof, theft-proof, and disaster-proof
My dear writer,
I wrote my first short story on my Dad’s computer when I was in Kindergarten. He’d pulled up the MS Paint program on his computer for me to doodle on, and instead I typed out a story in bright pink font about me and my friend Morgan going apple-picking (although I spelled it “apol”). Thirty years later and I’m still writing stories.
This means I have thirty years of story data, and—this is an understatement—writing technology has changed a lot in that time. If you’re anything like me, your writing storage is a little chaotic, too. My childhood stories are backed up on external hard drives and I’ve got digital folders of high school writing—all drafted in Microsoft Word—that have traversed through five different laptops. The first real novel I wrote is saved in Scrivener files, but my new drafts start in Google Docs across different email accounts. To cap it off, I have an office shelf of binders filled with paper printouts and journals with cracked spines still waiting to be typed up.
After our recent move, I decided to organize a better backup system. Every writer I know has a story of losing their work (some worse than others). And the deeper I get into a novel draft or new project, the more paranoid I become.
Imagine with me, my dear writer, that you spilled coffee on your laptop today. Then, when you got up for a coffee refill, someone stole your laptop. What if you returned home—covered in coffee and still missing a laptop—only to find that your email account was compromised and you couldn’t sign in again? Or maybe you couldn’t return because your house burned down and every last copy of your manuscript is now lost forever? I know this might sound dramatic, but the question remains: do you have a backup plan for your writing?
I believe in preparing for the worst, and in backing up your work in every scenario. The best practice is to have backups in each of the following locations: in the cloud, on your local disc, and on a physical device.
You might have a specific writing routine, or you might start a draft with whatever is easiest to reach. I know my own writing is spread out in many locations. Now it’s time to tighten your security and put that 3AM paranoia to bed. Depending on where your writing starts, each of the scenarios below can help you improve your backup plan for every one of those hard-earned words.
If You Draft in the Cloud
You keep current with most technology practices and feel comfortable navigating Google Drive, OneDrive, or other cloud-based word processors. You might even use writing-specific programs like LivingWriter or Evernote to draft stories and organize your notes in the Cloud. As someone who’s always on-the-go, you probably download the companion mobile apps to these Cloud platforms onto your smartphone and your tablet so that you’re never without access.
Your Worst Case Scenario: Your Cloud account is compromised and you lose access, your identity is stolen, or the cloud-based service you use gets shut down
How to Improve Your Backup Plan:
First, go change your password for your Cloud account (no, really, I mean right now). Use a password that’s different from your other online accounts and adheres to strong password recommendations. Better yet, use a password manager like LastPass that can autogenerate strong passwords and remember them for you.
Turn on all security settings for your Cloud account like Two-Factor Authentication and assign a backup account. Turn on notifications that will alert you if any suspicious activity happens within your account.
Download or export hard copies of your writing onto your local disc at a regular cadence (weekly, monthly) and after major milestones (finished a chapter, finished second draft). Save these in a folder on your computer Desktop.
Back up your downloaded files to an external hard drive or a flash drive at a regular cadence (monthly, quarterly) and after major milestones. Store the device in a safe spot (fireproof box or safe, separate location from your computer).
After every major draft, print a hard copy of your manuscript at your local FedEx Office or Staples and store it in a safe spot (fireproof box or safe).
If You Draft on Your Computer (Locally)
You’re the modern day traditionalist—you know the ins and outs of software programs like Scrivener or even good, old-fashioned Microsoft Word (or the free, open source alternatives like Libre Office) and love its dependability. You sit at your desk in the same chair at the same time every day to write and yes, you take your coffee the same way every morning, too.
Your Worst Case Scenario: Your computer is lost/stolen, majorly compromised (malware/ransomware), or physically damaged beyond repair (fire, flood, etc.)
How to Improve Your Backup Plan:
Make sure your computer is up-to-date on the latest operating system available.
Make sure your software of choice is up-to-date with the latest security patches.
Sign up for a Cloud-based storage system and manually back up your local files to the Cloud immediately.
Google Drive: Anyone can sign up for a Gmail account for free which gives you access to Google Drive and up to 15GB of free storage—the most of any popular Cloud platform—with the ability to pay for additional storage. Plus, you gain access to Google Docs and all of the other Google tools for your drafting, note-taking, and brainstorming needs.
Microsoft OneDrive: For those who prefer Microsoft products, OneDrive offers 5GB of free storage and a suite of online tools comparable to Google.
Dropbox: While Dropbox doesn’t have the other tools and programs that Google or Microsoft provide, it’s a simple, dependable way to back up your documents in the Cloud. Dropbox offers 2GB of free storage and the ability to pay for plenty more.
iCloud: If you are already an Apple user, you can tap into your iCloud storage (5GB of free storage) or pay to increase the storage amount.
Set up automatic syncs with your Cloud platform. That way, you don’t have to think about future backups. Each platform does this differently, so be sure to look up instructions for your specific Cloud platform.
If you are using writing-specific software, be sure to check the file type of your backups. Scrivener and other programs can use specific file types (.scriv instead of .doc) which may not be readable if you decide to stop using that program in the future. Most of these softwares should have the capability to export drafts in a PDF or other format, so be sure to export your writing on a regular cadence as well.
Also, back up your local files to an external hard drive or a flash drive at a regular cadence (monthly, quarterly) and after major milestones. Store the device in a safe spot (fireproof box or safe, separate location from your computer).
After every major draft, print a hard copy of your manuscript at your local FedEx Office or Staples and store it in a safe spot (fireproof box or safe).
If You Draft by Hand
You’re either a purist, or you’re so old school that you remember writing novels walking uphill in the snow while barefoot (or however the saying goes). You get your best ideas when you put pen to literal paper and don’t care about how long it takes.
Your Worst Case Scenario: Your notebook is lost/stolen or physically damaged beyond repair (fire, flood, etc.)
How to Improve Your Backup Plan:
Look into smart tech alternatives for those who love to handwrite: Moleskine’s smart notebook digitizes your notebook pages without taking you away from that pen-and-paper feel, and the reMarkable tablet gives an authentic handwritten experience for any tablet lover.
Type up your handwritten pages on a regular cadence (daily, weekly). It’s up to you whether you write in the Cloud or in Microsoft Word. The point is to stay in sync with your typed versions so that you don’t lose half a novel draft because your notebook took an unfortunate swimming lesson in the local pool.
Alternatively, look into text conversion and scanning technology, such as Adobe Scan or Microsoft Lens. There are a number of apps that use OCR (optical character recognition) technology to convert images to text. You may have to try out a few different apps and they won’t be perfect, but it could save you a few hours of typing everything out by hand.
Decide which methods you want to take to secure your digital backups (all of the recommendations in the Cloud and Computer sections still apply here!)
Any other tips and tricks from you, my dear writers? I’d love to know what other backup methods you use. What are you going to start implementing today? Feel free to reply or leave a comment!
- - - Your Literary IT Support