Today was supposed to be 'Conundrum'.. had a cutsey little blog with some fun pictures, was going to talk about the need for the unexpected to pop up on your story's protagonist..
.. but then something unexpected happened on the way to writing that blog post.
My computer crashed yesterday.
Oh Fate.. how you mock me.
...
..
.
I know, right? AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!
So I did the first thing any of us would do after stopping the hyperventilating and restarting my computer a dozen times... I called Best Buy's Genius Geek Squad Hookah Bar.. where 'Todd' told me, "Huh, sounds like it's toast."... Yeah, really.. his words.
5 weeks worth of outlining, drafting, writing.. plus outlines on 3 other ideas that I've got on stories, not including the outlines on subsequent stories in my current WIP's series.
Gone. Vanished. *Poof*
But.. then they suggested I call Gateway, because if there's anything Gateway is legendary for, it's their stellar customer service.
So I call Gateway, and after waiting for 42 minutes, I get someone who tells me,
"Yeah, when that happens you need to reformat your hard drive.""Wait, so I'm going to lose everything on my computer?"
"Well, yeah probably."
"Probably? Doesn't reformatting wipe the hard drive clean so that you have to reinstall everything?"
"Yup."
"So.. that 'probably' really is sorta a 'Yes, you're going to lose everything on your computer.', right?
"Right"
....... "Oh darn" (Edited for content)
"So, would you be interested in finding out about our external hard drives we offer that automatically back up your hard drive?"
"!!#$#*@(!@ Off"
OK.. that last line may not have actually been uttered out loud, but you get the mental image I'm sure.
5 weeks worth of outlining, drafting, writing.. plus outlines on 3 other ideas that I've got on stories, not including the outlines on subsequent stories in my current WIP's series.
Oh.. did I happen to mention that I foolishly put off saving all of it to my flash drive for the past few weeks? Didn't even cross my mind.
Now, I've lost weeks of work. Nothing insurmountable of course, but the setback is... disappointing.
So.. word to the wise kiddos, make sure you brush your teeth every morning, and wash your hands before you eat, oh and don't forget to SAVE YOUR FRICKIN WORK EVERY FRICKIN DAY!!!!!!!!!!!
I hate it when I lose work. The last time that happened, I was so depressed I couldn't write for three days.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately crashes are part of a writers life. I'm so so sorry it happened to you and that you lost so much. No, it's not insurmountable but it is devastating. Our words are kind of like children to us, and to loose them, well, it's heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteAt the risk of sounding like the Gateway guy I use dropbox. It's free, (unless you want to expand your space) and I haven't lost anything since I've started using them.
Oh no, poor you. Try looking in the telephone directory because you can often find one-man companies who can recover data from your hard drive. It might still be expensive but according to a man I know - it may not be your hard drive - it could be the motherboard that has crashed and therefore your work can be recovered. Hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteOh, lordie, I feel so bad for you! I email my day's writing to myself, so it's always there online. Also, I use Time Machine. I've had that crash and burn experience one too many times to chance another one!
ReplyDeleteAwww that must have been upsetting. I'm sorry that happened. I'm having problems with my blog template at the moment....
ReplyDeleteJackie's Bookbytes
So sorry to hear about your lost work, but I must admit, I enjoyed this post very much (your writing, not the catastrophe).
ReplyDeleteIt's really not that easy to lose everything on your hard drive - if you know any IT geeks, get them to have a look. You might be able to recover some of it.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
Ugh! I'm so sorry. Such lovely customer service...
ReplyDeleteThat stinks! It's happened to me before so now I habitually save every few minutes. Best of luck continuing with your WIP's.
ReplyDeleteNew follower here. I’m enjoying reading my fellow “A to Z”ers. I look forward to visiting again.
Sylvia
http://www.writinginwonderland.blogspot.com/
Been having some rather upsetting computer problems of my own. After realizing a few years back that such crashes can happen at any time, I've saved all of my files on an external drive that I can easily move to another computer should anything bad happen. I don't even use the computer's internal hard drive for file storage anymore. Plus, like others have said, if your hard drive wasn't the source of the problem, you can simply take it out and put it in a new computer and your files should be just fine. Best of luck...
ReplyDeleteYES!!! Ahem...I mean, yes, I've gone through that and I know how exactly you feel!!! *sigh...*(Now, when I think of it, my heart aches for those lost works that could not be wholly recovered again...)
ReplyDeleteBut...on the bright side, it'll eke out some more more brilliant works from you...that you never thought possible; the frustration could be very inspirational...
p/s. I hate it too when the experts did not want to tell you the truth, and perhaps help you out, but instead try to sell you something else...
So sorry to hear about that. It's so annoying isn't it? Wishing you all the best in catching back up with all the lost work!
ReplyDeleteThis is me, Duncan D. Horne, visiting you from the A-Z challenge, wishing you all the best throughout April and beyond.
Duncan In Kuantan
Oh my gosh...
ReplyDeleteKevin, I'm sick. This is sick. You're living like... all of our worst nightmares... I can't even imagine. Gosh, I wish I could make it better! This is beyond tragic... :/
Oh, that hurts. That hurts so much. Takes USB thingy and sticks it in the relevant socket and saves stuff to it....
ReplyDeleteThank you my friend.
Good luck.