When Mother Nature Calls

Posted by Postado por Dulce on às 18:23 | |

When Mother Nature Calls

When Mother Nature Calls

Posted: 21 Dec 2010 12:51 PM PST

This is the time for love, joy and cheer; a time to be festive and happy. This is also the time to be cautious and play it safe. As the chilly weather of fall gives way to the cold weather of winter more and more people will be reading and writing books, posting information on their sites and blogs and spending increased amount of time on the computer.

Of course there is nothing wrong with that. I mean there is time for everything when you can't really go outside and be productive but the outdoors still plays a role in your activities. You see, you can never be free of Mother Nature. That slight cold breeze you feel on your leg- that's her. That snow building up on your door - that's her. That ice, snow, or thunder storm that just knocked out the power to your home and your computer - that would be her saying hello.

I know that each and every one of us has felt the caress of Mother Nature. There is no need to get angry about it or frustrated (even though we do all the time). Like death and taxes, the presence of Mother Nature will always be there. The key is to be prepared and ready. How do you do that? You play the 'What if' game.

What if the power went out right in the middle of your writing? You set a time interval for you to save your work (every 10 or 15 minutes....for example) and make a strong effort to stick with it until it becomes a habit.

What if your husband/wife/child/pet spilled a drink on your laptop and ruined it? First, you would need to excuse yourself and calm down. Hopefully you will remember that you backed up your manuscript on a flash drive, CD or desktop. Yes, it is critically important that you back up your original to another source.

Well, what if my flash drive was in the laptop and I was accessing the file from that when the laptop was ruined? Check to see if, indeed, the flash drive is ruined. If not, count your blessings. If it is, then this is a perfect example of why you need to back up you back up to another second source.

This is the domino effect that occurred to me one night. I was in my chair, writing away, and looked out my front door at the ice and snow falling. I wondered what would happen if the power went out or if something happened to my laptop or worse yet, my flash drive was destroyed. That line of thought drew me to the conclusion that having the manuscript on my laptop was fine but having it on the laptop and flash drive was better. What is best, for me anyway, is to have it on the laptop, the flash drive, and my desktop. If, by chance, something happens to all three then it was meant to be and we must accept that.

If we prepare as best we can then the visit from Mother Nature is just that - a visit and not a catastrophe. How many back-ups do you have of your manuscript?

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