Writing Wednesday: 5 Ways to Protect Your Work From Computer Failure

​Hi everyone. Welcome to the first installment of my new series: Writing Wednesday. Every Wednesday for the rest of the year, I'll be covering a different topic related to writing. Some of the topics on my content calendar include: writing prompts, facing rejection, making money, and more. Be sure to subscribe to my Saturday Digest, a once weekly newsletter to get the latest Writing Wednesday post in your inbox! 

---

 My computer died right before my junior year of college and years of work, much of which I was proud of, died along with it. I put off backing it up. There was never enough time. I don't have that mentality anymore. I didn't write for almost two years because of how discouraged I felt from losing my all of my work. 

It's a horrible feeling to know you lost all of your hard work when it was preventable. There are several ways I keep my work safe from computer failure (now) and I recommend you do the same. 

Disclaimer: The article contains affiliate and referral links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Any money made goes back into this blog so I can keep the content free and helpful. Thank you for reading!

1. Hard Copies
One way that I keep my writing safe is by printing hard copies. Now, I don't necessarily recommend printing the first draft of everything. If you're writing a novel though, that's definitely a good idea! I have a two drawer filing cabinet next to my desk. One drawer is important documents and the other is for my writing. I have folders for poems, essays, and manuscripts. You can organize and store in whatever way you prefer. I also have a brown Sterilite drawer (shown below) on my desk with writing ideas and inspiration.

Here are some examples of good places to keep your hard copies:

 2. Dropbox
Dropbox is a cloud service where you can store photos, documents, PDFs, etc. It doesn't have to be writing. So if you're a creative in more than one field, it's a great option. If you've got 100 poems, its a great option. You can also install Dropbox onto your computer and sync your work automatically. 

The free version of Dropbox allows 2 GB forever. However, you can refer friends and each of you will receive 500 MB. You can refer for up to 16 GB of free storage. If you use my link, we'll both receive 500 MB and you'll end up with 2.5 GB to start. They also have paid plans that start at $9.99 a month.

3. Flash drives
Despite ever evolving technology, flash drives are still an important part of our society. I wouldn't recommend only putting your work on a flash drive because, in my experience, they're easy to lose. That being said, if you have a flash drive or a couple that you can store in a safe place then it's a good option. And it doesn't have monthly fees! You might even consider a different flash drive for each genre or topic. Here are a couple options, with varying disk space, from Amazon:​

---

4. Writing.com
Writing.com is a platform and community for writers of all skill levels. You can create your own portfolio and make your work available to be read publicly or keep it private. If you just want to use the website to store some of your work, that's acceptable and allowed. You retain the copyright for all of your work as well. Some perks of Writing.com:

• Upon registration, you get a free @writing.com email address. This is great for writers who don't have a professional email address and want one.
• Access to tools, motivation, inspiration and more.
• Ability to interact with other writers and readers
• They have options to upgrade your account, but you can use the free one.

You can check out my account  here.  If you decide to make an account, let me know so I can 'fan' you and read your writing! Click here to create your account.

5. Microsoft OneDrive
OneDrive is similar to Dropbox, in that it's a personal cloud software to store your documents and photos. I use both free versions of Dropbox and OneDrive, but I prefer OneDrive. Here's why I like OneDrive:

• The free version offers 5 GB of space
• You can refer for up to 10 GB of free storage. Use my link and we'll both receive .50 GB (so you'll get 5.5 GB FREE upon signing up)
• Provides offline access so you're never without important documents. This is great for travelers!
• You can sync it to your computer to automatically upload your documents, such as writing you've done on Word.
• Pricing starts at $1.99/month for 100 GB! That's a great deal. 
• They even have a deal for $99/year or $9.99/month that includes Microsoft Office and 6 TB of storage. It can also be shared among 6 people.

I personally utilize all 5 of these methods to protect my work, not including utilizing my laptop storage. I would highly recommend backing up your work in multiple places, as well as keeping hard copies (at least of the work you really love).

I hope you've enjoyed Writing Wednesday. 

How do you protect your work? Let me know in the comments or tweet me.