The Dog Ate My Homework
Or - Where did I put Chapter Three?
My teachers never believed in that homework eating dog. I almost always did my homework, but it usually stayed at home, floated out the window of the school bus, or mysteriously found its way to my brother's school bag. The years haven't changed me - just my excuses.
When we're using paper, most of us have folders or files to store things where they can be easily found and are safe from rampaging pets and other family members. You can do the same thing with your digital documents.
Forget the Windows My Documents folder. You deserve better. I recommend you set up folders on the C: drive. That's not as scary as it sounds.
Click on the My Computer icon and look for your hard drive. It may be just C: , or it may be partitioned into two separate drives. You want C:. In it, you'll find a list of existing folders. To create a new one, click on the File menu, select New then choose Folder. The folder will appear - waiting for a name. Let's call it Writing.
Next - open the Writing folder and create some sub-folders. I have a folder for each novel, another for short stories in progress and another for stories that have been sold. There's one called 'Bottom Drawer' - because the one in my desk is overflowing with old ideas that I will go back to one day.
You can have as many folders as you like and folders within folders within... well, you get the idea. Make separate folders for notes, research, letters and the novel itself. This makes them easy to manipulate and backup. If your first draft if a novel is in one folder - copy it, rename it as second draft and re-write while retaining the original.
Now for the shortcut. Right click on the Writing folder - and select Create Shortcut. Drag it out of the window and on to your desktop. Now any time you want to go to your folder, just double click on the shortcut.
When backing up - take the whole folder to your new USB drive - or just the project you're working on. And always leave it on the PC as well. Never have just one copy of anything - just in case your dog decides to play fetch with that memory stick you just dropped.