Author Mary Cronk Farrell

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What NOT To Do When You’re On Deadline And Your Computer Fails

12/11/2011

6 Comments

 
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#1—Don’t panic. Seriously, even if you’ve lost your entire manuscript, panicking will not bring it back, it will only cloud your thinking and confirm everything your mother-in-law says about you.

#2—Put your head between your knees and try to take slow deep breaths. Indeed, this will help you stop panicking. If you do it for several hours and your mother-in-law does not witness it.

#3—Recall what back-up provisions you’ve made. If you have no back-up system, go back to #1 and repeat steps one and two until able to call a friend to come and remove all sharp objects from your writing area. Then go directly to step #8.

#4—OK, you have backed up your manuscript. Do NOT let yourself feel cocky at this point. It's still possible you will have lost your most recent work.  You have a dead computer in front of you and you really need to get it working again. Do not call tech support. An hour on hold in this situation could result in severe property damage.

#5—Do not use your smart phone to google your error message and try to understand the sixteen different posts telling you how to fix the problem. If you could fix this problem, you would not be a writer, you would be a computer engineer earning a steady living at a much higher standard.

#6—Do not use your teenager's computer to “chat” with tech support. You will spend 47-minutes and 23-seconds speaking with a robot who will eventually tell you to take your computer to a store in your area and get it fixed. Plus, you will see things on your teenager’s computer that you will wish you had never seen and that you will never be able to forget.

#7—Do not click on System Restore. You might think you know what the word “restore” means, but trust me, if you knew anything about system restore…well, go back and re-read #5.

#8—Do not make any important decisions in the next 24-hours. Do not hit anything with a sledge hammer. Do not throw anything out the window. Do not harm yourself or someone you love. Do not take up a new career. Do not consider taking the social security number of someone in the cemetery, committing identity theft and moving to Tahiti. Your mother-in-law will still find you, plus want to move in permanently.
 
#9—What? You forgot this is a post about what NOT to do? You thought this post would retrieve your manuscript? You thought I would tell you about some magical back-up you didn’t know you had?  No.

But if you can do any of these, please get in touch immediately at 555-1212. Or leave a comment below. I'm standing by at my teenager's computer.

Thanks to WindowErrorHelps for the image.


6 Comments
Kimberly Thacker link
12/12/2011 05:57:44 am

Oh no, Mary! Did this seriously happen to you?! I'm sooooo sorry.

On a good note, this is an awesome post and deserves a place in the New Yorker, or the SCBWI bulletin, at the very least.

Sending virtual hugs...

Reply
Mary
12/12/2011 06:44:02 am

Thanks, Kimberly!

Yes, sadly it did happen to me. And now I know what system restore means, so I'm smarter already. Luckily my manuscripts are backed up, but I lot all my favorites etc.

Reply
Meghan Sayres link
12/12/2011 06:52:41 am

I feel your pain, Mary.

Reply
Greg Pincus link
12/13/2011 08:17:20 am

Ugh. And yuck. And ugh and yuck. Glad you're backed up, but it's still a pain in the patoot. Still, you turned it into lemonade with this post, so that's good for something. Right? Right?! Good :-)

Reply
Mary
12/13/2011 08:38:27 am

Right, Greg. They say inspiration comes from pain...

Reply
Jan Myhre
12/21/2011 09:14:51 am

Josh Smith told me to periodically send my book to myself and then, if I lose it in the gaping maw of my DELL, I can retrieve it when I'm up and running again. Email lives forever in cyberspace, he told me. That boy is sho shmart! Bless 'im.

Reply



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    I'm an award-winning author of Children's/YA books and former journalist with a passion for stories about people facing adversity with courage.

    My books have been named Notable Social Studies Book for Young People, SPUR Award for Best Juvenile Fiction about the American West, Bank Street College List of Best Children's Books, and NY Public Library Best Books for Teens. My journalistic work has received numerous awards for excellence from the Society of Professional Journalists and two Emmy nominations.
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