August 17, 2011

Setbacks: ROW 80 Check In

I have a love-hate relationship with technology. It can make my life so much easier until it doesn't. I write directly on a computer and save to Word. Beautiful, until something goes wrong. That something occurred yesterday. My computer is dead. I'm at the beach, so I won't know until Sunday if all my data is lost.

Good luck: Mom and I just printed off the first 5 chapters of our sequel to edit and discuss (Mom's a printer, I don't usually).

Bad luck: The rest is saved on my computer along with the fifty pages of editing I've done for a YA novel. Not to mention other started works. Normally I edit on paper but my printer was broken, so I edited directly on the computer. Go figure.

Please wish me luck for data retrieval. I will kiss the Best Buy guy if he can hand me a flash drive with everything!

My progress was completely stalled by yesterday's computer failure. Until then, I was grooving on the sequel. Still not tallying words, but working on plot, characters, and revisions. I posted daily until yesterday, including a review on Mom in Love with Fiction. I am fortunate to be writing this post from my mother's computer (and I thought my computer was slow!).

I'm determined not to lose anymore time to a machine, so this week I will write out my words on paper. GASP! But I will write. Editing will have to wait until I can retrieve the document. Worst case I'll have to start all over.

So this week my goal is to read, read, read in addition to 500 written words a day. I'll be posting using Mom's antiquated computer or my IPad. I have the same luck with technology that I have with plants, so let's hope I don't manage to kill any other electronics before the week is up.

A major thank you to A Round of Words in 80 Days. Without my commitment to this challenge and all the support from its participants, I would take this defeat and do nothing. I'd sit on my duff and blame Life for handing me a lemon. But not now.

Do you back up your writing immediately to a flash drive? I think I might start backing up at least once a week to avoid this fiasco in the future. Or at least for a few months until I get complacent again (hey, nothing but honesty here!). Hope all my ROW80 cohorts are doing well!

6 comments:

Em said...

I need to go and back up my work immediately after reading this! It is hideous when technology fails and as a non-technological person myself it throws me into a tailspin. I hope you manage to retrieve everything. Fingers and toes crossed.

In the meantime enjoy your reading and good luck with your 500 words a day.

Wendy Jane said...

Ugh, sorry to hear about the difficulty. That is such a bummer. My lap top decided to croak awhile back. I was backing everything up, but the back ups were bad. My hubby is a computer tech and he saved everything. It took lots of patience on my part. Now I back up in several different places. I had six working titles at the time. I understand the frustration. And LOVE the pic. So true.

Good work with still trucking along. Very good!

Cate Morgan said...

Sounds like everyone's had some setbecks this week. You're certain not alone. Hopefully the week will improve!

Tia Bach said...

Thanks for all the support and encouragement. This was certainly a great reminder to back up my work!

I have a date with a Best Buy technician as soon as I get back from the beach. Wish me luck!

Being at the beach has helped me cope. ;-)

yikici said...

I had a similar issue with my laptop a few weeks ago -I was lucky it was an adaptor problem and nothing else. I should learn and back-up my work but can't seem to get into the habit (ho hum). I hope your work is retrievable and you get back on track of things. Keep the positive spirit going.

Tia Bach said...

Thanks, Yikici. I appreciate the well wishes!!