This is my public service announcement for the next few months. :)
Y’all—back up your work.
Back up your writing and everything else that’s important to you on your computer.
And…back up to more than one place. What if your backup fails? It’s happened to me before.
Here are some backup options to consider that range from low to higher tech:
Use an online location to store your writing. You can email your book to yourself using any email address that can be accessed by webmail. You can also store your writing on Google Docs or an online story organizer (like Hiveword, from my friend Mike Fleming.)
Use a flash drive. Cheap. Easy.
Use an external hard drive. Word files don’t take up much space, but you might want to buy an external hard drive if you have a lot of music or pictures to back up.
Print a copy. Bulky and a pain, but an option for anyone looking for a really low-tech option.
Use an online storage solution like Dropbox or Carbonite.
Blogs:
You should also backup your blogs. They sometimes disappear, too. Here is an article on the Guide to Literary Agents blog that discusses how to backup a Blogger, WordPress, and LiveJournal blog.
Also, if you’re on Google Reader, remember to subscribe to your own blog there. You’ll be able to access all your old posts from the Reader.
Go forth and back up! And, while you’re at it, change your passwords, too. :)
What do you use for backing up?