If you in anyway work on a computer/tablet/smart device, please back up your work. RIGHT NOW!! Please, I’m trying to save you from heart ache in case your chosen device fails. I know what I’m talking about as I came perilously close to that happening this week.
Although small, a USB is awesome for saving your work on.
Firstly let me make it clear that I do save my work to my computer as well as a USB, the trouble is that I only save to the USB sporadically. This caused me much heart ache when my computer started doing its own thing this week. Thankfully the issue was resolved, but it did take a while and in the mean time I had to contend with the fact that about 3 weeks worth of work was potentially gone. When everything started working again like normal I saved all my work on 2 different USBs, just in case. I also now save to the USBs every time I finish for the day. An extra few minutes is nothing compared to losing my work.
So please, be smarter with your work than I have previously been. You spend a lot of energy on it, don’t let it be lost because of laziness.
Also, don’t leave things to the last minute. I was rather well known for doing this in high school and university and I would dearly love to say that I have learnt the folly of my ways and no longer do so, but sadly this weekend has proven otherwise. You see, I planned to enter a writing competition with a due date of the 15th of January. First draft was completed quickly and then I let it stagnate, procrastinating like I had in the past. I thought I had got past this fault, but it once again has raised its head.
I didn’t even realise I was doing it until I saw it was the 15th and I figured I may have left my run a bit late (I’m still giving it a go, I have until midnight). I have done precisely one edit and am still 200 words over the limit. Still, I do generally work well under pressure, I’ll let you know next week if I made the deadline or not.
But I have plans for this to never happen again. I’ve already solved the problem of not backing up my work. The USB sits next to my computer, ready for use. And to be completely honest, the scare I had was enough to make me save my work multiple times. As to leaving my story to the last minute, that’s a little more complicated. After a bit of thinking the reason I did it this time is because I wasn’t sure of what story my entry was telling. I was unconsciously putting it off because I wasn’t happy with it. Being forced to work on it or miss out on the competition entirely made it clear how I felt about it.
And because I am aware of it I can put steps in place to stop this from happening again, namely a timeline for when things need to be completed. In theory it should work, I’ll let you know how it goes.
Anyway, save your work on a USB or something similar and have a fantastic week creating 🙂
Samantha House 
My husband recently showed me OneDrive which is basically like the cloud, so you can access your work anywhere with internet and it automatically uploads every time you save. Has been awesome!
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Oh that sounds great, better than having a USB that you can lose! I will have to find out more about it, thanks for telling me Sarah 🙂
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I do both 🙂
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Oh that’s smart thinking 🙂 I just read Marie’s comment about an external hard drive that she leaves plugged in and it automatically saves her work. Have you heard of something like this? Don’t have to worry about it then, but at least with OneDrive you can access it anywhere without lugging things around.
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No I haven’t, but that sounds more convenient than a USB!
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It does, time for some research I think.
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I hope you made the deadline in time! I work best under pressure too – and without children around (as I’ve definitely learnt these school hols!).
Have you invested in an external hard drive? I have one permanently plugged into the main computer that automatically backup daily, but I must admit, I manually do the laptop onto a separate, handy, easy to use device – which is so easy & portably that I often DON’T use it! Thanks for the reminder – the laptop’s due for a backup I think!
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No I haven’t invested in one and have only vaguely heard about them. Sounds good though, the fact that it automatically backs it up. A way to get around my laziness 🙂 And no, I didn’t make the deadline in time, lesson learned. I simply need a decent amount of time in between edits or I think the whole thing is rubbish, regardless of whether or not it is.
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