Organizing Writing Files

After many errors, tears, and frustrations over time, I've developed my own writing file organizational system and file back-up plan.

We own a large hard drive that is stored in a secure location. This is backed-up once a week. It includes all kinds of files like documents, media files, and in the case of my kids, user settings. It's very handy but it's not my only back-up.

I've also got a document thumbdrive. I back-up my document files even more often. Losing a whole day of data is too much to imagine. Losing several could require mental intervention. I've lost more and I vowed never to lose it again.

As for the files themselves, I save them after each major change. Let's say I've got a story called Boring Book. First of all, I have a whole file folder for Boringbook. Then each version is saved in order with a three digit identity number. Boringbook001, Boringbook027, Boringbook113 etc. This way, each file has its creation date intact on my hard drive. I can go back in time and see what my book looked like a month ago or whenever. It's very handy! I save related files like Boringbookresearch001 or Boringbookcards008 (which had note card pages with story details on them).