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When your computer dies, what's your Plan B:
another computer, or the good old fashioned pen? |
I've had a writer's crisis recently. The "pinwheel of death" appeared on my computer, followed by a complete freeze, and then everything on screen faded to black. Eventually I learned that the hard drive had basically died, which meant that everything I had on my computer was also essentially dead.
Fortunately, all of my good manuscripts were safe on a flashdrive, so it wasn't a complete writing tragedy (plus, all the half-baked first drafts I'd be ashamed to reread were gone!). But accounting the time I spent trying to fix the computer myself and the short time the repair place took to resolve the problem, I was without my computer for a little over a week. That's not exactly a long time, but since I'm a student who writes on a blog and has a manuscript to finish before a certain date, sitting back and doing nothing writing-related during that whole week wasn't an option. Doing computer (and writer) related things called for jumping through hoops, which wasn't fun. But the whole experience sure did teach me some important lessons for the next time the pinwheel of death appears.
Be prepared for the worst before it happens. Since system failures happen without warning, it's good to have a well-thought-out plan set up beforehand. And not just an idea of
where to go to get at another computer (like to the library, or to a friend/family member), but it's important to think about
when you'd use the computer, and for
how long. At first when I was computer-less, I borrowed a family member's laptop. However, I hadn't really thought things through, and I failed to consider how the time I would need to use her laptop would stretch beyond its availability. She needed it too, and using it for uninterrupted hours like I usually do on my own would be selfish. So I had to cut back on how much time I gave each task, and skip working on a few things completely.
Have a backup computer that will be available. Fortunately though, there was another computer in the house with far more availability. It was a very old one that we used a lot about a decade ago, but nobody was using it when I needed a computer. Now since this thing was so old and worn down from years and years of daily use, it had a couple tiny problems (like a broken A key; that complicated things a bit). And since I was unfamiliar with the laptop, my hands kept brushing the mousepad and moving the cursor to another line (which got annoying very quickly). But considering how it gave me internet access, a word processor, and all the time I needed to work, it was a very good thing to have ready.
Always have a backup of your files. As I mentioned before, all my precious manuscripts had been saved on a flashdrive before the problems started. But once I actually had to completely start over when I got my computer back (the damage was so severe that they had to wipe it), I realized that there actually were a couple files I hadn't saved but probably should have. Like my study notes from the past three months, my photos, and the sketches I'd done with Paint. It'll definitely take some time to replace the most important things, and some of them can't be replaced at all. And if my computer had crashed while a major essay was due soon, and I lost the essay . . . it would be very, very, very unfortunate. So from now on, all good/important documents will go into a flashdrive ASAP!
Keep writing; on paper when necessary. When I was still trying to use my family member's computer and not rudely take up too much time, it was very tempting to take a backseat on writing until I had my own computer back. But one or two days with zeroes in my word count log was a guilty reminder that it isn't good to choose not to write when you still can. And even without a computer, there
is a way to keep writing; it's with a pencil and paper. Writing something by hand takes longer, and the quality might not be as good for the first draft, but anything is better than nothing. And even a short, lower-quality piece of writing can be useful when one can type again.
Computer problems really stink. But at least lessons can be learned from them, and those lessons can give us measures to take in order to prevent problems the next time dilemmas like that happen.
Have you ever had serious computer problems? How did you handle it as a writer?
Hello, blog world. Again, I apologize for the absence of posts last week. Schedules gone wrong and a few other things have made getting posts done too difficult.
