[The following public service announcement is part of my sentencing, along with folding several loads of laundry, making lunch, and buying an external hard drive. And believe me, it’s ALL better than having two months’ work flushed down the toilet.]
Hey, kids! Back up your work!
I just about had a heart attack yesterday. Our main computer – the one I’m writing the sequel on – would not boot up again after being turned off.
For one horrible moment I feared I’d lost everything.
Once I calmed down a little, I realized I had e-mailed myself the file – 10 days ago. A lot has happened in the last 10 days, but it was better than losing everything. Then I remembered that I’d e-mailed the most recent chapters to a critique-buddy just two days ago. I could surely piece everything back together; I wasn’t completely screwed, but it was a close thing.
Then Scott came home and fixed the computer, because he is the God of Physics and all must obey his Righteous Laws. Or some crap. That’s not quite how he told me to phrase it, but you get the idea.
Anyway. Now we have an external hard drive. And I will back up my files whenever I remember to every single day. And I will be grateful for my husband until he stops bugging me about it just like I always am, every day, anyway.
Rachel Hartman 
Yay Scott!
Sweetie, get a Dropbox account. I just emailed you an invitation. Then just move your docs into the dropbox folder on your pc and it’ll be continuously synched to the storage space at Dropbox. No more losing files or having to remember to take steps to back it up.
I’ll do that too! This will be the most backed-up novel ON THE PLANET.
I was just about to email you a dropbox link. Seriously, dropbox. I recently spilled seltzer on my laptop. Wrecked the keyboard, but I didn’t have to worry for even a second that I’d lost my book.
I use SyncBack, from 2BrightSparks.com. Once a day, it automatically backs up designated folders to a thumb drive I have permanently plugged in to my computer. Doesn’t do any good if the house burns down, but very handy for when you accidentally wipe out your work folder.
I don’t back up things as often as I should. I lost only a few paragraphs once and it threw off my writing for months because I was never happy with the scene. Hooray that Scott was able to fix things!