100 Words About: ebooks

I'm a big fan of epubbing in a lot of ways. I adore Project Gutenberg and Google Books, because I can find all sorts of wonderful hard-to-find books online for free. I love the fact that ebooks tend to be cheaper and can reach a wider audience. And, of course, there are a lot more open epub markets right now than print ones.

At the same time, when I read I want a print book. If I can get a book in print, I usually will (unlike audio stuff, which I will buy in MP3 format if at all possible). My favorite place to read is in the bathtub, and sorry, I'm just not taking the netbook in with me.

Image: Maggie Smith / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Tuesday Tip: Have a DR Plan

No one wants to think about your house catching on fire, or being damaged or destroyed in a natural disaster. But disasters do happen, and you can't afford to have all your eggs in one basket.

I've talked previously about backing up your work, but this is another level of security that you may want to consider. If you keep your back-up files in your house, a fire could still mean you lose all your work. A fire-proof safe is a good idea, but if the safe gets hot enough the contents inside may well melt or burn. And if you're anything like me, you don't back up to your safe-kept thumb drive nearly often enough, even if you back up to your laptop or other device nightly.

There are a number of options available. You can keep copies of your work on disc or drive at a friend or family member's house, or even in a safe deposit box, but this will only be as up-to-date as you make it. Make sure your plan is reasonable. It does no good to have a plan you continually neglect to implement. However, old files are still better than no files.

You can also email files to yourself. This can be particularly effective if you are emailing from one email address to a different one—double the coverage for the same amount of work. There is a small risk of your email account getting hacked or the email provider losing your files. Alternatively, if you have a trusted writing buddy or buddies you often send files to for critiquing, see if they will keep a folder of your stuff on their computer or in their email.

If you have trusted computer savvy friends, you might consider setting up file servers at each other's houses. This allows you to back up your files to your friend's computer, and vice versa, without necessarily having to go through email.

There are also back-up software packages and online services you can use. Research these heavily. There is always a risk in giving your files to someone else. Make sure they encrypt the files. Expect to pay for this service.

Test your back-ups to make sure they work, and check your logs if you're using software or an automatic back-up to make sure things are being backed up properly. You don't want to go through all that trouble, only to find out that there was a setting that wasn't right and you've lost everything anyway.

100 Words About: Done

Yeah, I'm late. I'm also sick. So sue me.

Done. It's a lovely word. I whisper it to myself, soft as a morning breeze on the beach. Done. I'm done with my stupid novel.

Again.

Any of you who have finished a novel at least once should know what I mean. It's an incredibly liberating feeling. Freedom! I can work on whatever I want! No manuscript-millstone around my literary neck demanding that I finish it. No more little voice in the back of your head reminding you that you haven't worked on it today. Ahhh, blessed silence.

Of course, after a six-month break or so, in which you may have done a lot of other writing, you might find yourself digging the manuscript out (because odds are you haven't had anything but rejection letters on it yet). You look it over. You find places that need fixing. And before you know it…boom. You're shacking up with your old buddy again.

I finished it twice last year alone. I have no idea how many times I've finished it since I started.

But it's done, again, and out the door. With luck I won't have to look at it again until someone else is telling me what they want fixed. Won't that be a nice change?

Tuesday Tip: Make Friends

Writing is generally a lonely business, as I've said before. But today's post is about more than just getting away from the keyboard, it's about having writing buddies. People with whom you can talk shop. Because let's face it, a lot of the people in your life have absolutely no idea what is it you do.

I'm not even talking about critique groups, although critique groups are awesome if you can get into a good one. You average critique group, however, is probably too large for intimate venting, too focused, or too busy.

The nice thing about a writing buddy is you can bounce ideas off each other in a more relaxed atmosphere. Yes, editing and critiquing may occur, but then again, they may not. The important thing is you have someone to talk to who knows exactly what you're dealing with, because they're dealing with it too.

In my case, my writing buddy is the wonderful E. Victoria Wilson, founder of the group Mother Writer! at Shewrites.com, and author of the blogs Mama's Experience Initiative and Penny Jar: A heads up on being at the tail end.

Victoria and I tend to write very different things. I mostly write fiction, she mostly writes memoir and essay, although I have written non-fiction before and her occasional fiction pieces are, in my opinion, awesome. (Still love the plant one.)

She's a stay-at-home mom, and I'm a full-time working DINK, and we both have troubles finding enough time to write. I've got more publishing credits, but she's kicking my butt in the social networking department, and while that sounds kind of competitive, it's actually really nice because we can help each other out. (For example, she's just about talked me into setting up a Twitter account. Sigh.) And of course, since we're both learning about the industry we can send each other useful articles or posts that we come across also.

But I think the best part is just being able to whine about having no idea what I'm going to do for one project, or the fact I'm going insane waiting to hear back on other projects, or whatever, and she actually gets it. And I get to try and help when she has issues or problems. Because anyone can help you celebrate. It's the folks that help you stay sane long enough to have something to celebrate that you need to hang on to.

100 Words About: Deadlines

I love deadlines. They're the only way I get anything done. I wrote two short stories in two weeks, which doesn't seem like all that much at first, a total of around 6000 words which is less than 500 words a day, plus revisions, but still. I swear if I didn’t have external deadlines I'd never get anything done. Why can't I set deadlines for myself and have them work? Probably for the same reason I keep buying potato chips after telling myself I'm not going to buy potato chips anymore. If no one else knows I'm a slacker, what's my motivation to not be one?

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net