Friday, May 6, 2011

How do you keep track of your edits?

I sit down to edit and I have to remember, where did I save my latest copy to SPKG?  I pull out my three USBs or flashdrives – I’m not even sure what to call them.  Remember when ATMs first came out?  I called them “cashflow” machines.  That’s what my bank called them.  It sounded more normal than “ATM” but no one says “cashflow” anymore.  Does anyone call them “flashdrives”? Are they known exclusively as “USBs”?

My USBs are old.  One only has 128 MB.  That’s the dark ages.  Another one has 1 GB and the other has 2 GB.  Even those seem outdated compared to the amount of memory offered now.  So when I do a major edit on SPKG, I rotate my USBs and even computers.  First edit, desktop. Second edit, laptop. Third edit, my oldest USB. And so on.  But that got too complicated.  It’s much easier to just save it to the same USB.

I feel like I’m doing this wrong.  I have to remember – where did I save it last?  I check the properties to see which version was saved last since I have forgotten.  There has to be a better way.

So what do you do?  Always save over your original copy or do you change the name after an edit.  Do you save it in different places or always the same place?  
Posted by at

5 comments:

  1. mooderinoMay 6, 2011 at 11:51 PM

    I put a date on all files and make a new file every edit. Mens I have a lit of files but boy is it safer that way.

    mood
    Moody Writing

    ReplyDelete
  2. SudamMay 7, 2011 at 2:05 AM

    Kj where are you man? I've installed drop box in my computer and my literary file is seamlessly integrated with it. When i write or do some edit, all these are saved online. I don't need any flash drive or pen drive or anything to track. I name the files First draft, second draft and third draft. When i edit, i make a Edit file and when the edit is finished a copy of the same edit is saved. Then again another copy is made with a different name say third draft. And all those chapters are again edited leading to the final one.

    I don't back up as dropbox do this automatically. This is my online drive. If anyone travel with a laptop the same file is available for reading or editing in the site of dropbox.

    Anyway, how is your edit going on? And when the book hits the stand?

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  3. LexiMay 7, 2011 at 3:03 AM

    Sudam, you got in before me. Dropbox is brill.

    I once lost a scene from a book, rewrote it but never felt it was quite as good. I hope never to have to do that again.

    ReplyDelete
  4. KJ KronMay 7, 2011 at 7:37 AM

    Dropbox - a friend of mine told me about that months, maybe even a year ago and forwarded me a link. I kind of frozen and wondered - what the hell is this? But it sounds like I have to check into it as it appears I'm living in the dark ages. Without a doubt when (if) I start a new manuscript.

    Editing is almost done - I'm finding it hard to make the time so I'm going to call in sick - more details in a future post -

    Thanks for the responses everyone

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousMay 14, 2011 at 10:10 PM

    I save all my files in one place on my mac, and with each edition I save a brand new version... I;m up to V3 now...:(

    Drop box is cool, but I've never used it for writing... hmmm good ideas.

    tania

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)