Earlier this year, on the WOW! Women on Writing blog, I talked about the importance of backing up your work. It’s a habit I haven’t been all that good about following through with, despite having experienced such as the blue screen of death, lost flash drives, and tossing away stories I never thought I’d want to read again.
Well, I have started getting better about saving my stories. I back up my laptop every few months and even stored my notebooks in a couple of fabric storage bins that disguise themselves as furniture so I’m not inclined to toss them. Over the summer, trying to get myself into the mood of writing, I began to wonder whatever happened to a story I wrote in the midst of the pandemic of a woman going out to dinner with a very unusual date. Determined to find it, I uncovered the story in a text file on Google Drive using the words “Italian restaurant.” It was the only thing that came up, so it shows you I really don’t use that word all that often.
Except it was incomplete.
I had recalled continuing the story on, even with my character getting out of the restaurant. Yet these scenes weren’t there. I was so confused because I would have sworn that I had written these scenes and since most of my devices autosave things, I couldn’t figure out what had happened to it.
Well, despite my hunting, I couldn’t find the remainder of the story, chalking it up to me just not saving properly.
Until last night. I just downloaded an app called Bublup which is like a fancy mix of Pinterest and Stumbleupon, except you can also save your files in it too. (Use my link here if you want to try it). I wasn’t sure what I’d find, and to be honest, I was only looking because I was bored.
And there it was.
My story was tucked away in a folder I had started called, “Story Ideas.” There were my missing scenes.
Like anything else you lose, my story was in the last place I looked. I never would have thought I would keep my stories.
With writing, I’m learning more and more that there’s nothing wrong with half-finished stories, and there’s nothing wrong with keeping everything you write. Just keep yourself organized if you do, or you may drive yourself crazy trying to find something you thought you kept.
Some stories just need to be set aside for a little while.
I put things in safe places never to be found again. I use dropbox, but may take a look at Stumbleupon. Like your posts!
Thanks Barbara! 🙂