In prior posts, I’ve mentioned my versioning system, but I want to explore the topic a little more today. If I can save one person from the misery of losing their hard work, then I will have done my job. However, I’m not going to jump into that right away. Instead, I’ll share some of my background, and you’ll see why it’s pertinent.
I’ve been making websites or writing code for my most of my life. In that world, it’s drilled into your head to save often and keep backups. So much so that if I had a file that only existed in one location, I’d become anxious as if a sneeze would forever erase it from the disk.
In those ancient times, backing up and versioning were literally just duplicating the file and copying it by hand somewhere else—at least for me. I knew more advanced tools existed, but I wasn’t formally introduced to them until 2005 or so. That’s when version control and automated backups came into my life.
Despite these tools, I’ve still lost work from time to time. Sometimes, it was because the tool let me down; other times, it was my fault for playing it loose. The early days of cloud documents taught me to download copies at critical milestones. Just because Word says it’s saved and synced doesn’t mean that it’s saved and synced.
Git and GitHub (or whatever service you prefer) are indispensable to developers today. Not only is code backed up, but they allow the opportunity to collaborate in a way I could only dream about when I started. So, let’s say the code worked, then it didn’t. What happened? What changed? Who did it?
Version control can answer all of that. Want to roll it back? Go ahead. Do you want to compare the versions side by side? No problem.
When I started my first book, one of my questions was, “What do I write it in?” The developer in me wanted to use a text editor and version control it. I tried, but it sucked.
I know people who want a distraction-free, simple writing experience. I do, too, but Notepad and its ilk aren’t for me, not for writing a novel. I tried Google Docs and Word, but those didn’t feel right. Was I supposed to create a new file for each chapter? One big file? How would I manage it? How would I juggle drafts?
Most of all, I worried about backups and versioning. Could I trust Google Docs? If I put a year of my life into something, could I be absolutely sure it would be there in the morning?
The answer is no, so I wanted something I could control.
Then, a class I took recommended Scrivener. Someday, I’ll write about that class, but for now, it’s enough to know it was only $10. It was not the greatest course ever made, but it helped me get started and I still use much of what I learned.
Scrivener as a word processor is ok—it gets the job done. But what I truly love about it is how much the app reminds me of an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) mixed with versioning and backup software. I version every draft, and it automatically backs up the entire manuscript, notes, and everything else every time I save. Best of all, it can back up to another location, so even if my computer blows up and iCloud goes down, I still have a copy in Dropbox.
With versioning, I can go back to an earlier draft if, let’s say, I accidentally copy over the wrong chapter, don’t realize it until weeks later, and already saved my mistake. That’s happened more than once.
Can you imagine losing… let’s do some rough math… 10 hours spent on an entire chapter? Now imagine losing hundreds if you had it all saved in Word and it corrupted. I’d want to jump out of a window, too.
I’m super careful and seasoned in safeguarding files, yet it’s happened to me several times. Trust me, it can happen to you too, no matter how organized you are. Crazy stuff happens.
I receive a reminder once a month to perform what I call a full backup. All my important files, not just writing, are synced across multiple file systems. Call it overkill if you want, but since I already pay for them, why not use them?
- iCloud (daily)
- Google Drive (monthly)
- OneDrive (monthly)
- Dropbox (daily)
- Local NAS (Seagate with RAID, monthly)
Then, twice a year, I copy all of them to a standalone hard drive that I intentionally keep unplugged.
It sounds like a lot, and it’s probably more than necessary. But my third book has taken about 15 months, and I’m still not done.
Once recent example is that only a few days ago, Grammarly barfed and garbled a bunch of lines like it messed up mid-edit. However, I didn’t notice it until I copied into Scrivener and it lit up light a Christmas tree with red squiggles. I compared it to the last version in Scrivener, which was clean. So, while I had to redo all my editing, it was much better than having to rewrite the entire chapter.
I recommend using a writing tool you trust and then not trust it. Always assume that it’s fallible and back up constantly. Take redundancy seriously, and don’t consider two cloud storage locations excessive. Then buy some sync software or learn rsync.
You won’t appreciate any of it until the day you need it.