I’m many things. I’ve had many jobs. I’ve had several educations in various things.
Yes, I’m a writer. And yes, I know a lot of very unusual things, trivia, minutia, facts and factoids, things that I almost have no business knowing.
It all comes from having been so many things in life and done so many jobs.
I’ve talked occasionally about some of those jobs. I’ve worked in kitchens and on construction sites. I’ve worked in a printing plant, and on farms. I’ve been an auctioneer and I’ve been a second hand dealer and I’ve been an antique dealer. I’ve been a computer programmer, and I’ve been a computer technician.
I’ve done stuff
I’ve been a tutor and a trainer and a coach. I’ve been a musician and an on air personality on both radio and television.
I’ve been a writer.
To add to all that …
I have experienced education in one room schools with one teacher and eight grades and I’ve also been to college. I was born in the big city, Toronto, but I grew up on a farm in a rural community, Kemble, Ontario.
I have spent sixty years learning to never say no to the opportunity to try something new.
But
I’ve learned a few things the hard way, and one of those things I’ve learned I seem to have to keep relearning.
But perhaps I can teach this one thing to you so that you, unlike me, can learn it without having to experience the circumstance that makes it a good thing to know, a good thing to do.
In my life …
As a computer technician I often got the opportunity to set up systems for people and make them the most functional they could be.
And I enjoyed that. As cluttered as my own life appears to be, there is usually a system in place and I enjoyed making sure others had the support of their computer systems being set up so as to be the most functional.
As a writer …
As one who creates, I find it very helpful to have my computer system set up in a way that allows me to find what I’m looking for whether I wrote it yesterday or three years ago.
Additionally I like knowing that my work is kept in storage that is structured in a way that finding something that was done for a particular client or project is right where I can find it easily.
When does this fail?
Unfortunately, after years of telling people how to organize and set up systems and how to put fail-safes in place, I once again discovered that setting up schedules for others and telling them to be resolute in their back up practices does not automatically give me a by in doing the same and three weeks when my hard drive failed I realized I should have backed up more recently than a year ago …
So, I’m telling you now, if you’re serious about your writing, or even if you’re not that serious, back up your work, and that doesn’t mean making copies of it on the same hard drive that it’s stored on.
Trust me when I tell you that there is nothing that makes you wonder whether the story you are working on is worth it, like having to start over again at a place you don’t even remember being at.
Listen to me screaming at myself these days to “Back up there, Kelly!” and take that advice for yourself. Okay? Good, I’m glad we had this little talk.
