Due to technical difficulties, this is the only blog this week. If you really want me to continue Alice, please leave a comment to that effect. I have not been getting emails from my new website. On Monday, I realized they were not being forwarded and I had no way to access them otherwise.
As I started to deal with that, my laptop screen went black. The base was hot to touch and when I got it to a tech and opened it up, it had obviously overheated and done major damage. Two tech visits and $175 later, I still don't have my files from the hard drive. I do have an old baby laptop fixed up good enough to do email slowly, and my even older VISTA machine that I can use for Word (the baby can't handle book size files, just short docs). The VISTA machine cannot be hooked up to the internet & therefore cannot print to my new printer. I downloaded Word onto the baby so I can move files there for printing via thumb drives. The first tech said to go buy a new computer; the second said that even though I need a significant number of parts, if I rebuild I'll end up with a better computer for less. I have to decide tomorrow when they give me an estimate with final specs and compare that to what's ready to go. My local options are limited.
But what really has me stressed is not having accessed my data files yet. First tech charged me for "copying" nothing into an empty file on my external drive; that night we tried putting the drive from the damaged computer into my son's desktop and we could see the folders but it wouldn't give us permission to open anything. The second tech is just setting up shop and didn't have the SATT cord necessary to connect the drive to a USB port. So I have a cord being delivered tomorrow and am hoping the baby or the VISTA will be able to let me into those files.
It could be worse. I do have two external hard drives that I normally copy to whenever I've done a significant amount of work. I rotate them so one is at home and one in a safety deposit box (because I lived in fire country). However, with my work space continually changing, I lost track and hadn't backed up in a few weeks. Fortunately, one client's files have all been uploaded to KDP and Ingram; another KDP paperback's published and I have older versions and the paperback proof copy in which I did final edits with highlighters and pens. Worst case scenario, I rebuild the files for ebooks and hardcover on my own time. The new client emailed his files and I hadn't had a chance to work on them yet, so nothing is lost.
My own records and writing will be the hardest to replace if I don't get into those files tomorrow. Please send positive thoughts on that.
When I woke up at three in the morning stressing, I stayed up and organized things better so there won't be a repeat once I have a working computer again. The lesson is learned: I will back up new work each day - either using those external drives religiously and/or getting over my resistance to using the cloud.
Meanwhile, now I have internet again, I'll deal with the email issue while I wait for that cord. It looks like I'll be working with my make-do tech for at least a week, so instead of driving myself crazy with it, I'll do the minimum and focus on settling my environment instead. I still have several days of painting, setup, and unpacking to have both my living and work space settled. I packed up last July and still have 39 boxes of books. Only twelve are for the office - I sorted them tonight while I looked for my Word disc for the baby computer. It was in box 39.