Wow! so many responses, since I was here last. Thank you everyone who has posted to this thread. You've all been very supportive, and helpful. And I appreciate the suggestions for moving on from this trajedy. GingerCoffee, thanks for the insight about this type of thing happening to, well, a greater number of writers' than I expected. I presumed it would be less frequent, due to all the warnings and advice getting around about having backups of your work. And I suppose it does offer some comfort but I really ought not to have (literally) put all my usb drives in the same place. Yeah, my laptop hard drive had crashed prior to that, and as I was having some down time in my writing, I hadn't uploaded from the drives to my laptop's hard drive yet :/ Yeah, it's a frustrating example of how you can lose all your backups and main WIP copies at once. Take care tismickib, I've never heard of evernote but I have recently started using google docs to store my newly written work. I'm definitely interested in this emailing yourself idea! Seems like a good option, especially emailling another person who is interested in critiqueing or at least reading it, and giving some feedback! I'd create a folder in my account to store my writing Thanks again mate. Kitonie Bubblegum, I'm sorry to hear a dangerous situation caused you to lose your work. I would resent her for that, personally. I think maybe that's a biased opinion, since my work was lost directly to another's actions. I think you could reobtain your work, if you could get someone to retrieve your belongings, or you could get police to intervene - if she refuses. I'm wondering whether you could write this story on your own. I think you said that you put the work aside during those times you weren't working on it as a group effort. Also a shame you couldn't find another writer who would take it on and treat it as seriously as you would like to. Maybe you and I could work on it together, online? I'd be happy to hear what it's about, and whether I could make decent contributions toward a first draft. My main character in my novel was subject to some unusual sociological conditions which I think I can use in another story as the setting and back story. I'm taking cert 4 in writing and editing, in 2018. I'm hoping to do quite a bit of writing for myself, seeing how the course load isn't going to be so intensive that I wouldn't have time for myself. Haha, I hope you're well, and that you're still writing - as I am deadrats, I know what you mean, I can still write without a computer/keyboard/typewriter, but I honestly prefer typing to write at length. I spent four and a half months in a remand center while my trial was being heard. During that time, I found I couldn't write my personal thoughts at length because my hand would cramp and the volume of writing would be pitiful. So I turned to writing letters, and keeping a sort of journal. Fyi, the "library's" selection isn't great, haha! All the best!
@jedicounsellor thanks! the incident with the crazy bitch happened a few years ago, she got rid of all of it. I walked into a thrift store and saw some of my shit, wasn't happy. I'm okay now though. I am writing, even though it's gone slow I feel ready to really start my main story again, so that's what I'm doing I appreciate the offer, I don't want to collab anymore with the story I'm writing now just because it's so big and important to me but I've been thinking about collaborating with someone, we could talk and see if we would mesh well if you wanted? Right now, it would be a side proj. and sometimes I need long-ish breaks, I can explain in private if you're still interested That's so awesome that you are taking those classes, are you excited?
Kitone Bubblegum, I should have guessed there wasn't a way to get your work back. Sorry again, to hear it. I'd like to talk with you some more, regardless of whether you want to take me on board with your writing project. I'll be doing quite a bit of writing this year and there will be quite a bit of variety. One piece from each graduating student get's a short piece published in a book. I suppose that's a collaborative effort, too - as each student edits another student's. So far, I plan on writing about my "stolen" character, in a new story which I'm thinking will become a short story, and I'd like to have a first draft completed of my most recent WIP, a self help book for people on the [autism] spectrum. It's going to be CBT/memoir of personal experiences. I'm still compiling the topics which will be necessary to make the book as complete and entirely encompassing as possible. I'd also like to write a Simpson's episode... just an idea I had which amused me.
I'd say keep on writing again. I'm sure you'll only write something better! With all your experience and developed skills, honed from your previous works, you're more likely to produce better quality onwards. Who knows, maybe your next work will become an actual success. Keep writing and put it on paper. I've always trusted paper more than digital.
I'm in the same boat you are and got some thumb drives. Also, for anyone relying completely on online storage, don't. I had moved solely to the Cloud, and was screwed last week when the local Internet was overloaded due to everyone shopping online and downloading Christmas movies. Make sure you have physical backup as well. If you scroll through my Progress Journal, you'll see how distressing it was. I lost an entire day's work, and have since had trouble off and on sending to the Cloud, so I'm glad I bought the thumb drives.
@Shenanigator Thanks for the advice, I do have a stick somewhere. I'll have to back up, hopefully I'll be able to do it today. I'm sorry your work was compromised, it's always frustrating when it happens and discouraging. I hope you have a better day and the troubles drive is having gets fixed!
@Ben Bentz Thanks for your encouragement. I suppose there was an air of enthusiasm in my previous writing which I feel isn't present in my newer work. It isn't boredom but feeling defeated. I'm not sure whether I can produce the same enthusiastic writing which I once enjoyed trying my hand at, but I can rest assured that my command of the English language continues to improve. Do you prefer pen and paper over electronic/keyboard input? An Australian author, Garry Disher, once told me at a local writer's conference, that he prefers pen and paper, because he can't think through a keyboard. I enjoy that my writing remains legible (mostly) no matter how quickly I want to express my thoughts. Back when I still owned my writing, I was able to touch-type. Now I'm less proficient at typing - I've just spent too long away from the discipline.
Maybe you could try writing something a little different drawing from these new feelings, if not a whole novel, maybe just a short story or something. It might make you feel better to externalize these feelings. Also, I'm not him, but paper is really comfy and relaxing to write on, so maybe you could try that as well, since it might get your mind off what you've lost somewhat.
I think I sorely need to express myself about my feelings of loss and of feeling dejected. I'm not sure about committing my words to paper (directly), at the moment because paper copies are so inflexible/permanent. I did some writing exercises in the Writer's Digest magazine I have and didn't mind doing that too much, as it was too much effort to rewrite the exercise's instructions, etc out to answer the simple questions. I suppose it's time I knuckle down and get some writing done. I wrote a bit of a flash fiction to post here the other day but it seems my access doesn't grant me that privilege, yet.
Inspired by IDontDrinkKoolaid. So much for altruism, in light of my recent losses brought about by my good nature, in letting a young couple move in with me. They had nowhere else to go beside the hotel room they were booked into. They stole all my external drives which contained the only copies of all my writing bar one short story which I printed many years ago. I've since published that short story but my enthusiasm for writing has ebbed. I need to find my flow again. I need to touchtype again. I need to write again. And so I'm writing about my lost work, in the hope of resolving my inner conflict. This is that writing task. I've been reading a fair bit. I have a bunch of books which I plan on reading. Some of these books will assist me in my studies next year, other's will help me in other ways. I'd like to learn more about the MIddle East and Islam, and I'm interested in learning Arabic. I just finished reading a chapter of the Qur'an. It's very stilted against non-muslim people. I was out the front having a smoke earlier today when I realised I had to start all over again. Maybe this renewed approach I'll be taking is somehow going to give me a better start. I don't know whether I have the talent to make it as a successful writer. On the other hand, I know I enjoy writing for my self. I suppose I'm in need of a spark of inspiration, a subject I can write about which melds with my personal interests. I'd like to write this self help book for late diagnosees / those who are out of reach of (for example) Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. My book might address our weakest aspects and seek to educate, and motivate / inspire the reader to further study on topics which might be found difficult or ill considered. I have found many such weaknesses in myself, and not all are related to lack of a formal education either, some are topics which aren't encountered in elementary or even secondary schools. At any rate, I'm planning on sharing a bit of social science which I've been privy to study in the past. I suppose I'm a little bit overwhelmed by the amount of writing is necessary to "catch up" to the volume of content I had prior to this loss. Maybe I could produce some more work over the next month or two (before classes commence), and have a bit of something which I can share amongst my fellow students. I really need more work at my disposal, as I use it as reference points, like when I write a good scene, and want elements from that scene to be included in my Work In Progress, and I wanted to work on those drafts at some stage but they are gone. Gone. One was a story I'm working on, the title was applied to another story about a homeless man who is suicidal to begin with but in the end he reconciliates his attitude with those of society and becomes a self made man. I was on the second draft of this novel. I think I'm going to use the character in another story and use the story's problem-resolution in (maybe) another, or the same "one", no pun intended. Another draft I had completed there was an apocalyptic screen play. I was given quite a few kudos for my writing in that. I was enthusiastic when I wrote it, and believe this is the main reason it was met with so much praise. One person accused me of plagiarism, although he didn't mention from where he believed he'd seen my work. I'm not sure whether I'm still interested enough in this storyline to take this project through a second writing. I could write a different story which is similar, however - maybe a good idea for recovering from my losses. I had been getting into flash fiction at my latest writing, of the work that was stolen, and had about 20 pieces of writing that I wanted to work on. It's interesting that that's where I seem to have found an interest again. I didn't realise my work was even called flash fiction, at that time. My writing forum account has insufficient privileges to post such work - yet. It's interesting but while I was away having a smoke, I thought about my losses some more, and determined that I can recover with some flash fiction and my latest interests in larger projects. And while my drives were sitting there, I was taking some time off from writing, so the loss isn't necessarily the worst thing that could have happened to me (as a writer). Maybe I would never have continued working on them. This still begs the question: Where would I be, as a writer, now - had I not had my work stolen? I had some sort of closure by talking with the person responsible for stealing my belongings while he was living with me. He says he's changed now that he's had a son. Got off the drugs and has straightened out his life. He said I'm a wonderful person, and didn't deserve what he did to me. He also expressed some gratitude for allowing him and his girl friend to live there while they were destitute. I guess people are destitute for a good reason, sometimes. tl;dr I suppose this was intended for the flash fiction forums here but reads too much like narrative non-fiction. I'm just exploring my feelings about writing in light of losing all my written work.
I mainly write with pen and paper. The main reason is since English isn't my primary language, it takes me longer to process my thoughts. But writing with pen and paper, I find that the flow comes naturally to me as if it's my native language—I would like to think so, at least. And plus I enjoy the writing experience with a nice pen and paper. I hope you're feeling better. Maybe you should try writing with pen and paper, too. If that makes you feel better.
I have been keeping notes with pen and pad, I've tried to write with pen and paper before but find it too difficult to retype it, so it can be edited. Thanks for your support. You write well.
One thing I'd add that I don't think anybody has suggested (I've not read all the posts though) is to make periodic copies of what you write and send them to yourself as email. As long as you have a non-computer-based email system (meaning it's one you can access from anybody's computer) this is an extra backup that doesn't cost you anything. The cloud does cost, eventually. And the cloud can go wonky. Email is fairly reliable. You can also send copies to friends to keep for you as well. I also totally second @GingerCoffee 's suggestion of getting several cheap flash drives and carrying them with you at all times. And don't update them all each time; do it in rotation in case a file gets corrupted. You can also store finished work or important work on flash drives and let friends keep them for you. The important, overriding principle is DON'T put all the eggs in one basket. People do lose handwritten or printed-out work, so hard copies are not necessarily the answer to retaining your work. That being said, I did need to rescue a chapter one time, via my printed-out copy, because the computer file got corrupted—and so did my backups. That's when I learned a) to back up in rotation, on several devices, b) periodically send my work to myself via emails and 3) print off any changes I made! I was lucky that I didn't actually lose any work that time—I only had to re-key the chapter into a new document. I would have been pretty upset if I had lost what I wrote, though, even though it was only one chapter. Having said all that, I'm with the others on this thread who suggested that you start by writing something entirely new. Right now you're in mourning for what you lost, and recreating it will not be a joyful experience. Your enthusiasm will be rock-bottom, and I reckon that lack of enthusiasm will show in the writing. Start with something new. Later on, once your confidence bounces back, you can return to your old stories with a new perspective. If you want to. I suspect you won't want to. I think this loss is certainly a clean slate opportunity for you. Good luck.
@jannert, thanks, I've been a little bit excited about rewriting since last night. I had this idea that I could rewrite all my lost work into one piece. It might actually become something good. I hold back on saying great, because I'm not a great writer. I think some of the inspiring themes can be reapplied in something shorter, as the full length book wasn't all that loaded with information anyways. I suppose this is an extension of my belief that I can't do something great in my writing. That being said, I know that I can improve my writing (in fact I'm going back to study writing and editing this year), but my concern is just that my enthusiasm isn't the same. I suppose it's a different story now, but I'm keen to get those ideas back into physical form by writing them out. Most likely with a keyboard to my phone. I've been using an external keyboard (bluetooth) with my phone to do all my writing - I'm using this method right now to write this post. It's convenient to do, and the keyboard easily fits inside my backpack. I've been thinking about another method of saving my work but I'm having a conflict of conscience about it, as the work would become available for purchase, and would be buyers might expect something better.
Regarding your last paragraph here, if you are thinking of self-publishing as a method of saving your work, I would rethink that. You are quite right. Buyers don't want to spend money on somebody's WIP. And if you ruin your precious reputation as a good writer because you've published substandard stuff too soon, it will be very hard to get that reputation back. There are many better ways to save ongoing projects. Just don't put your faith in only one of them. Use all the different methods you have at your disposal. And don't keep all the backups in one place. It's fiddly, I know. But SO worth it when one form fails. Until recently I was using TimeMachine as one of my backups (for all my computer stuff) which is supposed to be foolproof? Well, it wasn't. The expensive Porsche hard disk I was using to contain the ongoing backups of my entire computer contents (and was less than 2 years old) just died on me. I was very annoyed, and resolved not to use TimeMachine any more. But I have umpteen other backups of all my files, so I didn't lose anything other than my cool. Over Christmas, I spend some time doing a bit of editing of one chapter on my Kindle, because I could sit in a comfortable spot and make notes on the Kindle. And guess what? I got up yesterday morning to discover that the entire document has disappeared from my device. No way can I get it back. I can restore the document, but not the edits I was making. So that's another thing I won't be doing again. Fortunately, this did not represent a LOT of work ...but it was still time wasted. Grrr..... In terms of combining your stories ...there's nothing wrong with that idea. Except that you don't have much enthusiasm for it. I think you're just going to frustrate yourself if you go down that route just now. It's getting your enthusiasm back that's the issue, isn't it? So maybe put that idea on the back burner for now. You say you're going to officially study writing and editing this year? Excellent. So focus on that as a project. And I'd still say start writing something else. Something that has no 'baggage' attached. If you need a prompt, go online and google up a list of story prompts and see if one of them grabs you. If it does, start writing that story. Later on, you could try thinking about your old stories in a new way, and when you feel that spark of enthusiasm for something new, rather than the hopelessness of trying to recover stuff that was lost, then is time to go back to those stories again. I don't know if I totally believe this, but some people say that 'everything happens for a reason.' Meaning that every bad thing can have good consequences. This might mean that instead of working hard and producing stuff that's not quite right, as you were doing, you can skim over what you would have done and produce something even better. Especially after you've studied the craft of writing a bit more. Just work on getting your enthusiasm for writing back. That's your main goal just now. Don't feel compelled to produce just yet. Let the ideas cook a bit first.
Thanks jannert, I actually have been stressin over my productivity so maybe I'll leave it for now. On the other hand, I think I should push forward in some way, and I don't know of any other way. I think you're right though, those rewrites are going to be a pain the arse.
I use Scrivener to write with and have it set to automatically save to Dropbox. This gives me a copy in the cloud and one on my hard drive. It also makes a backup every time I close the the programme or hit command s. The thing that stands out in this for me, apart from horror, is not the lesson of how important it is to back stuff up in a variety of ways, but the lesson of the random nature of misfortune. You had backed up. You did a very commendable good deed, and yet you were, and I hesitate to use the word, punished for it. As I read your original post I could not escape an idea that in some way, some obscure and as yet unfathomable way, you have been given a gift. My guess is that this gift is hidden in the words you have yet to write. I feel sure you will discover it.
I found an app which is a plot generator. I'm going to write a little with use of it. I think it will be easiest way to write care free and I've been looking for story ideas, so this will help me out a bit. I hope to be posting flash fiction here at WF in the near future. Do you mean that I've somehow (possibly) grown from this experience, as a writer, and maybe as a human being, in that I would be able to write better stuff now than I would have previously/without going through such an experience? I suppose what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger. I had a look for Scrivener in Play Store but it wasn't available in phone app form. I've been using Google Docs to store my writing, so I can access them from any device. I also don't mind writing in an app called Jotterpad, either - as I can set it to "dark mode" which allows white text on a black background. It's quite nice sometimes when I'm interested in writing soemthing heavier. It just has a certain feel.
An interesting perspective, and you might be right. It would be interesting to know how @jedicounsellor will feel about this, say, 10 years from now. Has anybody else had this kind of experience a good long while ago? If so, what are your feelings about the incident now?
Yeah, sort of, I do think that's a strong possibility. I guess this will only be revealed in what you do next. Scrivener is available for Mac and PC. It also available for IOS, iPhone, iPad. As far as I am aware it is not available for Android. I can not imagine writing on a phone though. I do write on the iPad more and more these days, but for editing I always return to the desktop. Dropbox remains a good free option for cloud back up. You get two gigs free, but you can get more by referring people, up to sixteen gig.
I'll have a check for dropbox in Play Store. I don't use an on-screen keyboard, however as you might imagine but I use an apple magic external bluetooth keyboard which pairs with my phone. It too has an internal batter which has a life span of over 20 hours, which serves my purposes well as I've never run it flat through my time of using it. I've had a habit of playing music through a blue tooth speaker which I connect to my phone but that might be coming to a stop soon as I've been finding the music a source of distraction.
Music can be a distraction. My Master's Thesis years ago explored journal writing productivity paired with various types of music. In general, if the music does not have lyrics, it is generally less distracting to the writing process. Or, if you listen to the same music over and over and over again, so that it becomes background and you're not even paying attention to it, that may benefit you. That said, every individual is different. As for backing up, emailing a copy of your latest update, to a free email account (gmail, hotmail, yahoo) or a free dropbox account (as has been suggested) are easy and inexpensive ways to go, in addition to inexpensive flashdrives. The advantage of the online saving sites/efforts, is that your work is also accessible from pretty much everywhere you have internet access. The only problem would be forgetting passwords, or someone else accessing your accounts...and that is why multiple backup efforts is wise. A tough lesson for you, moving forward to be sure. But it sounds as if you're moving forward, and that's a positive thing.
Thanks TWErvin2, I'll try out techno, and trance music for writing/reading to... Was reading to music a part of your studies? Definitely going to be making use of DropBox from my phone, along with Google Docs, and my phone's internal storage space. I just need a blue tooth mouse for editing docs. My only problem is that I'm still getting used to file storage and management with use of my phone and so get frustrated when I can't get something I've stored previously.
