Writers in the Storm

Lainey Cameron

You know what breaks my heart as a fellow writer? When I read tweets like these in the morning, I want to sob into my cereal:

“I just discovered that I lost my 1st draft manuscript of 50k words... because my backup went weird and it wiped all my writing.”

“LOST. THE. OPENING. TO. A. MANUSCRIPT. Why do I not have a backup? Why don’t I save things in the correct places? Whyyyyyyy?!?!?”

The above are real tweets with names removed to protect the traumatized.

The question is why, with so many backup technologies available, does this still happen? It can be overwhelming to figure out the right backup strategy. There are too many choices: backup drives and cloud backup, Scrivener backups, Google Drive and Google Docs, Microsoft OneDrive, and Dropbox, to name just a few. 

As an ex-techie (before I became a digital nomad writer), I’d like to share a framework for how to approach protecting your own work and sanity.

1. Online Backup

The number one solution I recommend to my writer friends is to use an online service. Not to be confused with placing individual files in a cloud location like Dropbox or OneDrive, online backup offers an automated backup of every file on your computer to a secure cloud location. 

Provided as a service to which you subscribe annually, it costs $5-6 a month or around $70 a year for a well-known service like Backblaze or Carbonite. 

Pro Tip: Invest in online backup of all your files.

The biggest benefit of this service is automation. You need not remember to back up. In fact, once set-up, you do nothing. Whenever you are connected to the internet, all of your updated files are automatically backed up to the cloud.

In my opinion, online backup is a better solution than a physical drive. The unfortunate reality is if your house or apartment is flooded or on fire (this has happened to several writer friends), everything will probably be damaged or warped, including the backup drive you “securely” placed in a drawer. 

Although the best advice is to store your backup drive off-site (i.e., not in the same location as you and your laptop), how many of us actually do that? I know for me, as a constant traveler, it would be impossible.

The only downside to online backup is when you first start, it takes significant time to create a copy of your entire hard drive (several days or weeks in the background while you continue to work). 

A view of my Backblaze backup working in the background:

2. A physical ‘recovery’ drive

It is also worthwhile to have a physical backup drive, paired with software that backs up your entire computer, such as Time Machine (for Mac).

If your cat knocks your laptop off the table into the bathtub, a full restore will be easier and faster on a new laptop with a Time Machine-style backup, which saves not only your files, but your configuration and application settings. With a PC, I’m not sure there is an equivalent built-in software yet, but some external drives come with utilities to enable a rapid full restore.

Pro Tip: All hardware eventually fails. Don’t let any physical device be the one place holding your precious files. 

Pro Tip: If you need to plug your hard drive into your computer to back up, schedule this twice a week on your calendar to remind yourself.

 3. Application Level Auto-Saves and Backups 

Within your writing application, saves and backups are different.  Gwen Hernandez does a nice job of explaining the difference in this article: Protect Your Writing with Scrivener Backups.

a. Auto Saves

With Scrivener, your saves are automatic; because the words are saved as you type. Google Docs behaves similarly.

However, with Microsoft Word, it’s up to you to configure your auto-save correctly. You’ll find this setting under Word/Preferences/Save.

Pro Tip: Configure your Word application to auto save at least every five minutes.

Word Auto Save Settings

b. Application File Backups

Both Word and Scrivener will automatically back up your work in progress writing file. For Word, make sure you have “Always create backup copy” checked on the save settings screen. 

For Scrivener, see Gwen’s article above (I strongly support her recommendation to place your backup copy on a cloud drive).

Pro Tip: Saving files to the cloud is great (especially for working on multiple devices). But not the same as having a backup.

It’s now possible to save your working versions of files (Scrivener, Word, Pages) directly to a cloud drive (like Dropbox or Microsoft OneDrive). This is a great option if you work from multiple devices and want to access the same file from each.

However, just remember that saving a single copy in the cloud is similar to having a single copy on your desktop. If that copy is corrupted, overwritten or deleted, you may be in trouble. 

Pro tip: Every important file needs, at minimum, one additional backup copy (even if you are saving to the cloud). 

c. Versioning Features

Thankfully, the most common version of losing our work isn’t our laptop going for a swim or a house fire. In my experience, the common way to lose progress is when I accidentally overwrite my own words.

Luckily, some writing software can find what was written in prior versions, without ever leaving your document.

Pro Tip: Versioning features are your friend; it’s worth the time to learn them.

I avidly use Scrivener snapshots. Sometimes, I’ll even click into prior revisions of a scene when I’m stuck for words, just to mine for inspiration. 

A view of my Scrivener snapshots, within a single scene

If you write using Google docs, their version history feature is similar, because it lets you see the full text (and compare) to prior versions.

Where to find Google version history

Within Microsoft Word, this versioning function is not yet as capable. It’s only available if you are saving to Microsoft’s cloud storage, and not as sophisticated, but still worth a peek if you use OneDrive.

What is your backup strategy? What other tips would you give writer colleagues for safe-guarding their work?  

About Lainey

Lainey Cameron is a digital nomad and author of women’s fiction. A tech industry dropout, her first book was inspired by a decade of being the only woman in the corporate board room. The novel won 2^ndplace in the Rising Star Award for unpublished Women’s Fiction and tells the story of a Silicon Valley investor who, when faced with her husband’s mistress across the negotiating table, must learn to work with her or jeopardize both their careers.

An avid travel instagrammer, Lainey finds inspiration everywhere. She is currently working on her second novel, a tale of an instagrammer who witnesses a murder and is pursued around the world.

She’s an active volunteer with Women’s Fiction Writers Association and is on a mission to obliterate the term aspiring writer, which she believes saps writers’ ownership and creative confidence.

Find her online at www.laineycameron.com where she posts progress of her books and tech tips for writers on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Margie Lawson

Hellooo, Writers —

I’m excited to share some truly stellar examples in this blog.

I’ve guest blogged for WITS 30+ times and worked hard to make sure my blogs are power-packed with tips and techniques, examples and analyses. Every teaching point is there to help you make your writing bestseller strong.

I’m always impressed by the comments left by so many writers who are excited about what they’ve learned in my blogs.

But sometimes, I wonder how many of those writers remember and use what they’ve read. I can tell you everything I know in blogs, online classes, and lecture packets. I can even work with you one on one and share all my secrets—but your writing won’t be stronger if you don’t use them.

How do teaching points stick in your mind? How do you learn? Do you take notes? Print the blogs you want to remember or save them in a file?

One of the college courses I used to teach was "The Psychology of Learning." Most of us have to review new material several times, and use it, or it’s gone, gone, gone.

Try it with this blog. Review the material. Use what you learn. And keep reviewing and using. Then see how much you retain as you write forward. I think you’ll be amazed at how much stronger your writing has become.

Here are some gems from two of my earlier WITS blogs.

2014:  Get Fresh!

How often do you get fresh…on the page?

Sometimes writers forget about writing fresh. Or they don’t include enough hits of fresh writing.

Fresh hits may be unexpected. But when they fit the POV character like Peter Pan’s shadow fit him, they’re yummy. Those twists of phrases, tweaks for humor, fresh visuals, and more power the reader through your story. They make your book a page-turner.

Some fresh hits are super subtle. Others grab you and propel you through the passage.

Season of Change, Melinda Curtis, Multi-Immersion-Grad

Example 1 -- Melinda Curtis could have written:

Slade tried to swallow, but his throat was too tight.

But she wrote this fresh piece:

Shameful. The word spiraled up Slade’s windpipe, closing it off to vital functions like breathing and calls for help.

Wow. Fresh and powerful.

Example 2 -- Melinda Curtis could have written:

Slade’s stomach clenched.

She really wrote this version:

Slade’s stomach wound up tighter than a slugger protecting home plate.

Ah. An amplified simile. Smart writing. Perfect cadence.

The Pieces We Keep, Kristina McMorris, Margie-Grad

Example 1 – Kristina McMorris could have written:

The room went quiet.

You’ll be glad Kristina worked harder and wrote this line:

The quiet left behind was the type that followed a shove off a cliff.

Boom. That’s a powerful simile.

Example 2 – Kristina McMorris could have been content with this cliché:

In her frenzied state, she’d follow him anywhere.

Kristina didn’t bore the reader by giving them something they’d read before. She treated them to this sentence:

In her frenzied state, he could lead her to hell and she wouldn’t think to object until waist deep in flames.

2018:  Not Your Mama’s Character Descriptions

Does your real or imaginary writing checklist include:

-- Make Character Descriptions Fresh, Unpredictable, Multi-Powerful?

If not, it could.

Character descriptions can add power on multiple levels. They can boost cadence, add a humor hit, strengthen emotion, and slip in backstory.

You can treat the reader to something fresh, something they haven’t read before. You can slip in details that deepen characterization too.

The more important a character, the more attention and power they deserve in the description.

Attention:  Consider the number of lines.

Power:  Be strategic regarding style and structure.

NEW EXAMPLES:

The Scandal, Nicola Marsh, Margie Grad, USA Today Bestseller

Elly wasn’t the type of woman I’d normally befriend Stunning on the surface, from her designer shoes to her flawless make-up, wearing her sexuality like a killer outfit. But the eyes never lie and I knew, with the instinct of dealing with fragile women for years, that Elly’s overt beauty hid a brittleness she strove to hide.

Deep Edit Analysis

Power Words – stunning, designer, flawless, sexuality, killer, lie, instinct, fragile, hid, bitterness, hide

Deepened Characterization – multiple points

Cliché Play – from her designer shoes to her flawless make-up

Compelling Cadence

A School for Unusual Girls, Kathleen Baldwin, Immersion Grad, USA Today Bestseller

The headmistress, Miss Emma Stranje, sat behind her desk, mute, assessing me with unsettling hawk eyes. In the flickering light of the oil lamp, I couldn’t tell her age. She looked youthful one minute, and ancient the next. She might've been pretty once, if it weren’t for her shrewd measuring expression. She’d pulled her wavy brown hair back into a severe chignon knot, but stray wisps escaped their moorings giving her a feral catlike appearance.

Deep Edit Analysis

Power Words: headmistress, Stranje, mute, assessing, unsettling, hawk, youthful, ancient, pretty, shrewd, measuring, severe, escaped, feral

News-of-a-Difference Details:  throughout

Compelling Cadence

Dear Wife, Kimberly Belle, 5-time Immersion Grad, USA Today Bestseller, International Bestseller

Amanda Shephard steps through my front door, looking just like she did in high school. Blonde, thin, a complicated sort of pretty—big lashes and acrylic nails and long, heat-curled hair. Her face is caked under a layer of makeup I’ve never seen her without, not even the summer before senior year when our entire class spent every day bobbing in blow-up tubes on the river. All the other girls had shiny cheeks pink from the sun, but Amanda’s makeup was like a mask, flawless and im­penetrable.

Deep Edit Analysis

Power Words –  complicated, pretty, never-seen-her-without (makeup), mask, flawless, impenetrable

Rhetorical Device:  polysyndeton –big lashes and acrylic nails and long, heat-curled hair

Rhetorical Device:  Alliteration – bobbing, blow up; makeup, mask

Deepened Characterization:  Throughout

Backstory Slip Ins:  high school, tubing in river

Compelling Cadence

Wrapping Up

I hope this blog motivates you to use what you’ve learned. You can make your writing bestseller-strong. You just have to put in the work.

You get a taste of my deep editing techniques from my blogs. But my online courses and lecture packets are each a couple of hundred pages long. And they’re loaded with teaching points and analyzed examples.

Kudos to the Margie grads I referenced in this blog. Impressive writing.

THANK YOU to the WITS gals for hosting me again. Love you all!

THANK YOU for dropping by the blog.

Please post a comment or share a "Hi Margie!" Post something -- and you have two chances to be a winner.

You could win a Lecture Packet from me or an online class from Lawson Writer’s Academy.

The drawing will be Sunday night, 9:00 PM Mountain Time.

Lawson Writer’s Academy – September Courses

• Your First Five Pages, Reader Glue – Instructor: Laura Drake
• Empowering Characters’ Emotions – Instructor: Becky Rawnsley teaching Margie Lawson’s course
• Deep Point of View – Instructor: Rhay Christou
• The Sizzling Scintillating Synopsis – Instructor: Suzanne Purvis
• The Rule of Six – Instructor: Shirley Jump
• Crazy-Easy Social Media for Authors – Instructor: Lisa Norman
• New Course! Kidlit Crash Course: Writing and Publishing Your MG-YA Novel – Instructor: Michelle Schusterman
• New Course! Memoir: For Your Children’s Children – Instructor: Sarah Hamer
• New Course! Set Up for Success: The Author’s Strategic Plan –           Instructor: Donna Alward

About Margie

Margie Lawson—editor and international presenter—teaches writers how to use her psychologically-based editing systems and deep editing techniques to create page turners.

She’s presented over 120 full day master classes in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and France, as well as taught multi-day intensives on cruises in the Caribbean.

To learn about Margie’s 5-day Immersion Master Classes, full day and weekend workshops, keynote speeches, online courses through Lawson Writer’s Academy, lecture packets, and newsletter, please visit: www.margielawson.com

Interested in inviting Margie to present a full day workshop for your writing organization? Contact Margie through her website, or Facebook Message her.

Interested in attending one of Margie’s 5-day Immersion classes? Click over to her website and check them out.

A personal note from Margie:

Many of you know about the tragedy in my life. My husband died in a plane crash on May 15.

It seems inauthentic to not mention this horror.

I miss my Tom every minute. I’m forever sad. Forever adjusting.

All the notes and cards and flowers are so comforting. I’m incredibly appreciative.

Thank you.

See you in the comments.

Psychologist Abraham Maslow developed a theory about what each human needs. The hierarchy, shown below as a five-tier pyramid, attempts to explain the connection between our basic human needs and our motivation.

But we are writers. Our needs might differ a bit from the average human. We are mighty beings formed of stubbornness, creativity and caffeine.

The world will always be crazy. With 7.7 billion people on this planet, there is simply no way to avoid misunderstandings and differences of opinion. However, I believe we are all more alike than we are unalike, especially as writers.

We want to make enough of a living that we can carve out time to write. We want our families to be healthy and happy. We want our kids to have more happiness and opportunities than we had.

We want to write wonderful stories.

What is the Writing Hierarchy of Needs?

I’ll encourage you all to add to these in the comments, but here is my take.

Physiological Needs

Water is awesome and important, but did you see that part above about “the mighty beings formed of caffeine?” Most writers consume prodigious amounts of coffee or tea. At the very least we need something fizzy every once in a while.

The best food for writers should have two qualities:

• Portable
• Able to be eaten at room temperature

We don’t want to have to get up in the middle of a scene just because we’re hungry. It could anything (fruit, chocolate and protein bars come to mind) but it must be food we can ignore for hours on end while our brains are busy creating…and then fall on ravenously when we’re done.

Many writers swear by naps. Having a handy couch or bed near our writing space is helpful.

The writing dress code usually contains one of the following: pajamas, shorts, yoga pants, possible addition of socks and/or hoodies for warmth.

Note: If you wear something different, I want to hear about it in the comments!

Safety Needs

I don’t know how you see safety and security, but I see it as a safe writing space and a reliable backup system. You’ll know what makes the best writing space for you, but let’s talk about backup systems.

Oh sure, we knooooow we’re supposed to back up our stuff. We plan to back up our files. We think about backing up our files.

Most of the people I know don’t back up their files, unless it happens automatically with something like Carbonite or Dropbox or Office 365.

Or if they do, they don’t do it regularly. They only do it when there’s “a glitch.” Trust me, I’ve been there myself. And I had to pay the $800+ for data recovery. It hurts…bad.

Because we knoooooow we were supposed to back up…

Note: A few years ago, I did an entire post about backing up called Help Me Computer, For I Have Sinned.

A blankie or talisman is another way to add to the "safety" factor. My favorite writing talismans are a pack of matches, a vanilla candle and a digital kitchen timer. I set the timer before I sit down (digital so the ticking doesn’t distract me). When I smell the sulphur from the match and then the vanilla of the candle, something just unlocks for me and away I go into Word Land.

Belongingness and Love Needs

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I need writing friends.

Online friends are awesome, especially for those who are in less populated locations, but there is something about meeting writing friends in person. Holding their hands, seeing their faces, watching them laugh, acting out the logistics of a scene. There is something so creative about in-person time.

If you are lucky enough to have family and every day friends who will support your writing, that’s an amazing gift. But if you don’t, go get some writing friends.

Your writing pals can be found just about anywhere if you run an online search for writing chapters and organizations in your neck of the woods. And remember, if your neck of the woods is hard to get to – there are huge writing communities online.

Esteem Needs

Even if you aren’t published yet, there are ways to meet those Writing Esteem needs. Take classes. Enter contests. Join a critique group.

Anything that gets you feedback on your writing, or new skills to try out, will meet these needs.

Laura Drake and I talk about this all the time: most professional writers would love to go back to that time when they wrote only for the joy of it. No contracts, no deadlines, no reviews, no pressure. They wouldn’t trade their stories or their careers for anything but when writing is a job, it is easy to get burned out.

Enjoy those writing retreats and times of pure creativity.

Appreciate the beauty of this writing life you have chosen for yourself.

In what other job can we go days on end with no shoes or pants if we don’t want to put them on?

A note on competition:

It is really really hard to keep from being sucked down the Comparison Rabbit Hole. There will always be someone who went further, faster, more SOMETHING than you.

Falling down this Comparison Rabbit Hole is a surefire way to shred your self-esteem. Do what you must to resist. Keep a gratitude journal or a goal list that allows you to see your progress. When you are looking at someone else’s accomplishments all the time, it becomes impossible to see how far you have come yourself.

Self-Actualization

If you’re like me, you’d like to jump over all the rest of the Writing Hierarchy and live here. You just want to create already, right? But every journey starts with a single step.

If you haven’t slept, you can’t create.

If you are hungry or cold, you can’t create.

If you are worried about your loved ones, you can’t create.

But you can forgive yourself and resolve to create at your next opportunity. You can practice the self-care you need to climb back up that pyramid to the exalted Self-Actualization stage. You can scribble notes, to be ready when you get there. You can breathe.

We know you are better, stronger, wittier and prettier when you are writing. We are too. And we are here to encourage you to do what you must to achieve your fully self-actualized potential.

Here is an infographic of the Writing Hierarchy of Needs if you need to post it somewhere prominent as a reminder.

Now go write!!

What would you add to the Writing Hierarchy of Needs? Where are you right now in the Pyramid? Which stage do you find the most challenging?

About Jenny Hansen

By day, Jenny provides training and social media marketing for an accounting firm. By night she writes humor, memoir, women’s fiction and short stories. After 20+ years as a corporate software trainer, she’s delighted to sit down while she works.

When she’s not at her personal blog, More Cowbell, Jenny can be found on Twitter at JennyHansenCA or here at Writers In The Storm.